Okay, so last week in one of my 7 Things About Me, I mentioned that I had to wear a Jesus First pin in my class picture because my grandma was a tad over religious!  After a quick search through my pictures, I thought I had it, but couldn’t find it.  But my Mom came to the rescue!

She sent both me and my sister – and I totally remember that Jennifer and I agreed to wear our glasses, but then I took mine off at the last second – but these pictures prove that my sister DID wear the pin just like me – only I never took it off and she put it on right before the picture and quickly removed it as soon as the picture was taken.

Jennifer is on the left, I am on the right.

Try not to laugh too hard, okay??!! 😀

BSI – CHEDDAR CHEESE! Thanks to everyone who took the time to submit a recipe – nothing better than cheese in my book!  In no particular order:

Emily at Homecookedem’s made Cheezy Southwest Breakfast Calzones.

Sophie sent two recipes – probably since she won all that Cabot cheese from me! 😀

Green Eggs on Mini Potato-Gratin:

And Scrambled CHEESE with Eggs:

Valerie of Chicago Marathon Val sent me Vegan Cheesey Comfort Quinoa!

Morgan from Live/Love/Eat and Play sent me a kicked up panini:  Apple smoked garlic cheddar cheese panini with tomato preserves (on a side note – I need to find that cheese!

Faith of An Edible Mosaic made White Cheddar Chowder:

Mara from I Made Dinner made Butternut Squash Mac N Cheese:

And the winner is. . . . Faith with White Cheddar Chowder! While I do love my mac n cheese, I loved everything about Faith’s chowder and it is no on my list of things to make.  Awesome photography too!  Email me at bdl319@gmail.com and I’ll send you the Jillian DVD!  I am passing the torch to Val of Chicago Marathon Val!  Thanks for hosting this week – check out her blog later on today to see what the next ingredient will be.

I searched for recipes for homemade corned beef hash since I had a lot leftover.  I found one, and after dicing the potatoes and corned beef, I put it in the pan, looked back at the recipe and found out that the potatoes had to be cooked!  So I added water to the pan to cook the potatoes, but in the process overcooked the corned beef – this was brunch for me since I slept in so late yesterday!

it looks pretty though!

Joe came over to watch football with Tony – Italian beef sandwiches were on the menu!  After I made this sandwich, Tony informed me that he usually puts about 1/2 a pound of Italian Beef on each sandwich, so mine was a little lean – but cheezy!

So I decided to make ravioli with my pasta machine, so I started looking around to see what I could make for a filling.  While I don’t like artichokes by themselves, I love them in dips, so I put this together:

1 jar of artichoke hearts, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, 2 eggs and salt and pepper.

I put that in the fridge until I was ready to use it.  Then I made Tony’s meatballs – his meat is a combination of ground sirloin and Italian sausage.

For me and Hannah I made quinoa meatballs:

I browned them in a little bit of canola oil and Pam, then put them in the sauce to finish cooking:

Now it was time to make the pasta!  I got my Marcella Hazan book out, and followed her instructions – basically 2 eggs to every 1 cup of flour.  Look how pretty hers looks!

Look how messy mine looks!

the eggs kept running away!

But after a few minutes, I had this:

I hooked up the pasta machine to my counter so it would stay in place – note – if you have a machine like this, or if you haven’t used it in a while, run a damp paper towel through to clean it out so your dough stays clean.  Hannah was my photog in this pic!

I ended up using my biscuit cutter:

The verdict? They sucked.  Either my dough wasn’t thin enough, or I didn’t cook them long enough, but they were just plain NOT good.  The filling was very tasty, but the dough overpowered the whole dish.  I will try again though – I think next time I may have better luck with homemade spaghetti!

I had an awesome grocery shop yesterday!

On the menu (remember breakfast and lunch is just for me):

Breakfast:

  • spicy oats with canadian bacon
  • breakfast pizza
  • quinoa with almonds, agave nectar and diced apples
  • spiced french toast
  • red pepper and spinach cheddar omelet

Lunch:

  • Mexican chicken soup – thanks Cory for the recipe!
  • Tofu stir fry with vegetables and thin rice noodles
  • broccoli and cheese stuffed potato
  • quinoa meatball sub
  • flank steak and red pepper fajitas

Dinner:

  • Artichoke Ravioli with Meatballs
  • Fried Chicken and mashed potatoes
  • Classic Beef Stew and Crusty Bread
  • Baked chicken cordon bleu with ham and fontina cheese
  • Steak, baked potatoes and broccoli
  • Party Pizza Friday – with rosemary crust!

Goals for Today:

  • mop kitchen floor
  • 45 minutes exercise
  • 80 ounces of water
  • no wine

Off to jump in the shower and get ready for work – have a great Monday! 😀