One Pot Creamy Garlic Noodles

I've seen a lot or one pot pasta recipes on Pinterest lately.  I even tried a few.  Then I cam up with one all on my own.  My daughter loves noodles.  I was trying to come up with a different way of making them since we were all a little tired of macaroni and cheese. This recipe is so fast!  Plus it can easily be jazzed up for grownups or left simple for the kiddos.  And it really does only take one pot!

Ingredients:
8 oz of thin spaghetti or angle hair noodles
2 cups of chicken broth
2 tbs of butter
1 clove of garlic
1/2 cup of whole milk
1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Place a large non-stick saute pan over medium heat. Melt butter and add garlic. (I love using those little frozen garlic cubes.)  Saute butter for a minute or two, then add the chicken broth.  As soon as it begins to simmer add the noodles.  I used angel hair this time but I actually like the thin spaghetti a little better.  I find that it doesn't "gum up" as much.  If you use angel hair cook for about 3 minutes.  If' you use the thin spaghetti it takes about 6 minutes.  Stir every minute or so.  If the pasta absorbs the liquid too quickly you can add a little more broth.  After 3 (or 6) minutes, reduce heat to low and stir in milk and parmesan, again if it starts to get clumpy or is too thick you can add a little more broth to thin it out. Remove from heat, and serve immediately.  I like to add cherry tomatoes and a little basil and sometimes a little rotisserie chicken, but you can get creative with your toppings.

It's nice to have a fast go to dinner or lunch for your little ones (and big ones) and I promise, you won't be disappointed!

A few spring touches in my dining room

Hello Friends...

I haven't had much time to post lately.  We've had a rough time with sick kids lately.  Lily Claire is still recovering from her unexplained fevers and is on antibiotics for a sinus infection and bronchitis. Miss Ella had a cough and complained her ears hurt so I took her to the doctor yesterday and it turned out to be pneumonia.

One thing I have been able to do is some pretty heavy spring cleaning.

We also got new windows!  It's really amazing what a huge difference they make.

A few fresh flowers, a little extra light from the new windows and some heavy dusting, and my dining room is feeling light and fresh.

I hope your week is off to a better start than mine.  Thanks for stopping by!

Crock Pot Pork Tacos

I stuck 3 boneless thick cut pork chops in a crock pot today with a jar of salsa verde. That's it! No salt, seasoning...

The result? The perfect taco meat! I fried my shells, but flour, corn, fried, unfriend... The meat was perfection.

Happy Friday!

Sour Cream Apple Pie

I love apple pie.  Who doesn't?  It's the all American desert.  Or breakfast.  Sometimes a snack. Okay, let's get back on track...  Have you ever tried Sour Cream Apple Pie?  My mom would make this recipe for special occasions when we were little.  It's a little different because it's missing the top pie crust, but trust me, it's heavenly and totally worth the effort.  If you are looking for a dessert to make for Easter or any other day, this pie is it!

Ingredients:
5-6 large tart apples
1 pastry lined 9" pie pan
1 tbs lemon juice
3/4 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of sour cream

Directions:
Peel and cut apples into thick slices.  Arrange slices in an overlapping pattern.  Sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Cut in butter until crumbly.  Spoon mixture over apples.  Spread sour cream over the top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes longer.

Enjoy!

Spring Photos

A few weeks ago I had my amazing friend and photographer, Laurie Theriault, take some new pictures of my family.  If you follow my page and have explored the blog, than you are probably familiar with her work.  She's done nearly all the photos from the "My Family" section of the blog.  I met her when Ella was just a few weeks old and she came to my house to take some newborn pictures.  I instantly fell in love with her work and absolutely love the way she works with children. If you live in the Sacramento area and are looking for someone to capture some priceless images of your family, email me and I'll pass along her info to you.  In the mean time, here are a few of my favorites from our most recent shoot.

Garden Time

Every year the girls and I get really excited about planting a vegetable garden.  This year things are a little different, however.  We have an 8 month old black lab/golden retriever mix, River.  Do you have a lab?  Do you know someone with a lab?  If you do then you understand that nothing is off limits to her little chewing teeth.  Here's an example- a few months ago we had a new internet connection installed.  River noticed there were now cables tacked to the side of the house where there once were none.  She was happy to remove them and chew them to bits.  The installer came back and moved the connection to a higher location.

So, the bottom line is, we could spend a lot of time and effort to attempt to puppy proof our garden bed or we could skip a garden this year and try next year when River is (fingers crossed) a little more mellow and not so apt to dig it up as soon as we turn our backs.

Since we still wanted to be able to plant something, we moved our big green pots to the front porch and bought a bunch of flowers and herbs and planted them.

We also added a few more plants to the front beds.

They turned out so pretty and really give the porch a nice pop of color. We are having new windows installed throughout the entire house in a few weeks and then would love to get the house painted.  I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

Those are the wicker chairs that I found in a junk pile last year.  They could use a little sprucing up, but they are perfect for relaxing and sipping iced tea while the kids play outside.

I hope this inspires you to plant something this weekend!

Lemon & Herb Roasted Chicken Thighs

Sometimes you have all these plans.  A planner full of play dates, a menu full of meals, jobs scheduled, volunteer hours to complete.  Sometimes, instead of any of these things happening, you spend the night in the emergency room with a very sick child instead.

All those plans? All that preparation?  It goes out the window when your daughter's fever spikes up to 105 degrees.  And sometimes you feel like the most helpless person in the world.  For as much Tylenol, Motrin and mom cuddles that you give, nothing helps.

Last week was like that for me and my family.  On Monday the secretary from Lily Claire's school called and said she wasn't feeling well.  I went and picked her up early and could tell she was sick. She was running a temperature and seemed pretty miserable.  Tuesday wasn't any better.  By Wednesday I was starting to get worried and we went to the doctor.  She did a few tests, but seem to think Lily Claire had a virus.  Thursday evening her fever was at 104 and we couldn't get it to come down.  We decided to take her to the ER.  They took it very seriously and started running tests immediately.  Chest x-ray, blood cultures... All inconclusive, the only thing we all agreed on was Lily Claire was a sick little girl.

Friday Lily was seen by another doctor who ordered more lab work.  She suspected Lily Claire had the Epstein Barr virus (also commonly called mono).  Friday evening Lily Claire's fever reached 105 degrees.  As a mother I've never been so worried.

We were so tired on Friday, hadn't slept well in days... The dogs had barely gotten any attention all week.  With an 8 month old lab puppy that is a recipe for disaster.  And so when we woke up on Saturday morning and discovered Lily Claire's beloved doll, Sara had been literally "gutted" by River we were distraught.

In complete and utter panic mode, I texted my friend Gina who is a seamstress and costume designer. I asked for a miracle, but was pretty certain that Sara was not going to survive.

When your child is sick you would go to the moon and back to give them what they want.  Sara was something I could not fix.

Thank God there are angels out there, because Gina fixed Sara.  She stuffed her full of original stuffing and used a favorite old shirt of Lily Claire's to make her dress.  She sewed new arms and cut new hair and she used Sara's original face.

My little girl has her sweet Sara back.  Lily Claire is feeling better.  We are on the road to recovery after 8 days of fevers between 101-105 degrees.  With the exception of a few hours, when she was getting repaired, Sara has been by her side every minute.  We still don't know what caused Lily Claire to get sick.  Her blood work indicated that there could be an underlying auto-immune issue.  It could have just been a bad virus.  I'm not sure we'll ever really know.

But I do know, without the kindness and artistry of a very dear friend, my Lily would be heartbroken.

Gina's having dinner on me tonight.  There's nothing I can do to repay her kindness, but cooking is what I am good at and it comes right from my heart, the same way fixing Sara came from her's.

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs, patted dry (bone in skin on)
1 fennel bulb cut into chunks
1 head of garlic, removed from the head, skins still on cloves
2 lemons sliced
handful of fresh thyme
olive oil
salt & pepper
fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat for 3-4 minutes.  Add a couple tables spoons of olive oil.  Season your chicken liberally with salt and pepper and place skin side down in the skillet.  Brown for about 5 minutes, then turn to the other side and brown for 5 more minutes.  Add the fennel and lemon and top with the thyme.  Place in the oven and continue to cook for about 35-40 more minutes.  Top with fresh parsley and enjoy!