bow tie fiesta

the FRG committee for d's ship put together a meal train for a family in need this past week. i've started to really enjoy cooking, but its not much fun just cooking for one person- so when this email came out i jumped on the chance to make them dinner. i tried a DELICIOUS recipe from Erin @ the Blue Eyed Bride. I'm having company over for dinner tonight and decided to make it again it looked so good. its called bow tie fiesta however mine came out as spiral fiesta because the grocery store didn't have bow tie pasta. 

anywho. delicious, easy & i will definitely be making for d when he returns. thank you to erin for sharing :) 

Bow Tie Fiesta

Ingredients:

8 ounces bow tie pasta

1 pound ground beef

½ onion, chopped

½ green bell pepper, chopped

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon chili powder

Salt to taste

1 cup sour cream

1 cup salsa

½ cup sliced black olives

¼ cup sliced jalapenos (optional)

1 tomato, chopped

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Optional: baby in bumbo to supervise

Directions:

Cook the pasta using package directions and cooking for 7 minutes; drain. Brown the beef in a skillet, stirring until crumbly; drain. Add the onion and green pepper and mix well. Cook until the onion is tender, stirring constantly. Stir in the tomato sauce, chili powder, and salt.  Combine the pasta, ground beef mixture, sour cream, salsa, black olives, jalapenos, and tomato in a bowl and mix well. Spoon into a 9×11-inch or 9×9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly. Yield: 8 servings

this is what it looked like before going into my 9x11. Forgot to take a final picture :(

xoxoxoxo

guilty pleasure

sometimes you need to give in...

dont hate. 

case and point: dinner last night. 


xoxoxoxo

crazy for avocados

last night i tried the tastiest recipe from Oh She Glows.

recipe here. it blends my two favorite things: pasta and avocados.

my yummy avocado concoction:

i love love love avocados but d hates them, so when he is out of town i make sure to cook with them as much as i can.

she recommends using spaghetti which i think would work better, however all i had was penne...

absolutely delicious and SO EASY. i'm learning to love my food processor.

my meal (which i ate every last bite of):

this is definitely a keeper!

xoxoxoxo

jumping on the green bandwagon

i made my first green monster smoothie yesterday and it turned out delicious. i've been reading about these for months and finally got out the blender and tried a recipe of my own.

i included:

1 cup almond milk

2 handfuls spinach

2 stalks celery

1 small handful of broccoli

1 pear

handful cherries

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

i'll be honest it wasn't the BEST tasting drink i've ever had in my life. but i think with a little more tweaking green smoothies will become a staple in my diet. i have a hard time getting all of my fruits and vegetables in a given day- and its usually at the end of the day i realize i'm way below my veggie intake, etc. hopefully these help me out a little bit. i stocked up on frozen fruits at the grocery store last week, so i'll let you guys know which i think taste best as this experiment continues!

xoxoxoxo

yummy nutella pie

you need to make this recipe stat.

SO GOOD.

i made this for one of d's work functions and could have eaten the entire pan myself. its like a mousse whip pie- absolutely delicious especially if you have a sweet tooth for hazelnut.

**these pictures were taken with my iPhone, not my Rebel so sorry for the quality!**

{lovely mess in the kitchen}

{the yummy end result}

I found the recipe here- I love this blog I've tried a lot of her recipes and have really enjoyed them all. Definitely worth checking out!

Easy Nutella Pie

8 oz cream cheese, softened

12 oz cool whip

2/3 cup Nutella

1 cup toffee bits, divided

graham cracker crust

In an electric mixer, mix together cream cheese and Nutella until combined. Add in coolwhip and mix on low until combined. Stir in 3/4 cup toffee bits. Pour mixture into prepared graham cracker crust. Top with remaining toffee bits. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Enjoy!

xoxoxoxo

pumpkin bread & christmas music

Im sorry to announce out first haloween as a married couple wasn’t a memorable one :/

With work & our trip we didn’t get the chance to carve a pumpkin, dress up OR hand out candy to the cute little trick or treaters :(

to compensate, i'm made yummy pumpkin bread today. DELICIOUS.

d is on duty, so i've been baking & listening to the christmas pandora station all day. we're having dinner together tonight on the ship, i'm planning on making macaroni & cheese with this new recipe. it looks too good NOT to make. can you tell i've been on a cooking/baking kick?

happy sunday everyone!

xoxoxoxo,