Linguine with Asparagus, Parmesan, and Bacon

By far, my FAVORITE dinner meal!!

This is a recipe I got from my Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2007 cook book. It is so delicious and not too bad for you either. 360 calories for a 2 cup serving with 2 Tbs of Parmesan cheese isn't too bad for a dinner meal.

The light sauce is perfect with the fresh linguine. I love the flavor the bacon gives as well.

It comes together very fast so be prepared. 20 minutes is all.

I'm a more is always better kind of gal. I used more asparagus and bacon than it calls for so my calorie intake is more but you can follow the recipe and have a healthier meal :)

See here. Lots of asparagus. It calls for 1 lb but I didn't weigh it. I just picked up  2 bunches and used all of it!

You start off boiling a large pot of water and cooking the linguine according to package directions throwing in the asparagus in with it. Drain and set aside.

This is the brand I use. It says to cook it for 2 - 3 min is all.

Next, cook up 4 strips of bacon (I cooked up 6). Drain bacon grease, leaving 2 tsp in pan. Cool bacon and crumble.

Here's the next group of ingredients. From top left, chicken broth, lemon juice and oregano. From bottom left, cherry tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 2 cloves garlic.

Add onion, garlic, and oregano to pan with bacon drippings and saute for 4 minutes or until onion is lightly browned. Add tomatoes and saute for 2 more min.

Add broth and bring to boil, then add 1 Tbs butter, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and remove from heat.

 Place asparagus mixture in a large bowl, add tomato mixture and lemon juice, tossing well.

Top with bacon and Parmesan.

My hubby always needs more protein than any recipe calls for so I cooked up some chicken breasts for him to throw on top. He loves this dish and so do my boys. Very family friendly and so fast to prepare, it's great for busy mom's.

So good and good for you!!! I hope you all enjoy this!!

Here is a link to the recipe from My Recipes

Have a great day and thanx for stopping by!!!!

DIY Sketch Book

What a fun quick project this was. Right up my alley!!!

I made this for my husband for his birthday. He loves to do wood working but just doesn't have the time right now. He commented awhile back about how he has all these ideas of things to carve but when he actually sits down to do it, nothing comes to mind. So I thought maybe a sketch book might be nice to have around so when those ideas come to mind, he can sketch them out and refer back to them later.

I got this Studio Calico Journal Kit form the craft store and went to town!! So fun and easy!

The FabRips were really neat. I used it as the binding. The gal at the store recommended butting a strip in the middle of the book as well for extra support.

First thing I did was I sprayed the cover and back with Mister Huey's Passport spray ink.

once that was dry, I clipped the whole thing together, front cover, paper, and back cover and added the binding.

Then it was time to embellish!! My favorite part!
I used Echo Park Note To Self. Thought that would be perfect for this.

Not the best pic but oh well. I really like how the whole thing turned out. Chris liked it too :)

Thanx for stopping by and have a great day!!!

Mod Podge!!!

I think I've been hiding under a rock or something. I have never used Mod Podge before. I know, I know, what is wrong with me right?!?!?! I love it and can't wait to play around with it again!!!

This is a gift I made for a friends daughters birthday. It was so fun to make :)

I started with a chipboard letter and traced it on a piece of scrapbook paper. I used the Heidi Swapp Sugar Chic line for this project.

↑ This is the second letter I cut out because I traced the first on on the wrong side of the paper and as you can see I messed this one up too. Look at the top of the A. There was a boarder on the paper I didn't consider :( That's OK, cuz I just put it down a smidgen high and used sand paper to even out the edges and that part came right off and you can't even tell :)

↓ I made a pinwheel for an embellishment ↓

As you can see, my hubby spray painted the back of it. I screwed in some hardware so she can hang it up.

I didn't get any pics of my applying the Mod Podge :( But here's the finished project as well as some close ups of the embellishments.

What a fun project!!! I am flooded with ideas now of what else I want to Mod Podge :)

Have a great day!! Thanx for stopping by!!

Aunt D's Brownies

This is the best thing you'll ever put in your mouth!!! My Mom called them brownies but they are more like a cake with the best frosting ever!!! This was my Aunt D's recipe, actually my mom's cousin, and this is another recipe that if my mom was alive she would have a come apart knowing I put this out there for the world to see. She did not like sharing her recipes much :) Sorry mom but it's way too good to keep to myself.

Brownie Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour

2 Cups Sugar

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Sticks Butter

4 Tbs Cocoa Powder

1 cup Water

1 tsp Vanilla 2 Eggs

1/2 cup Buttermilk

Directions:

Stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. In a med sauce pan, bring to a boil butter, cocoa powder, and water. Pour this over dry ingredients and stir well. Add vanilla, eggs, and buttermilk. Stir well and pour into well greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350º for 15/20 min.

** Let brownies cool before frosting**

Frosting Ingredients:

1 Stick of Butter

3 Tbs cocoa powder

1 lb Powdered Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

5-6 Tbs Buttermilk

Melt all this on stove on med heat until it starts to bubble, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour immediately onto cooled brownies.

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family does. I made them for my hubby's B-day recently. Always a hit. I even texted a pic to my sister Tammy to make her jealous. :) I stole my mom's recipe book from her awhile back so she doesn't have any of these recipes. ha ha. She'll just have to follow my blog to get it huh! Love ya Tammy!!!

Have a great day my friends!!!