Rigatoni Florentine

So in our quest to continue eating food that Whitney doesn't like, Dan bought a big thing of fresh spinach this past week. We had spinach salads earlier but I wanted something different. So I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It was really tasty. I cut the recipe in half and supposedly it makes 4 servings now. However it will make six servings in our world, so we'll eat it twice this week and freeze some.

My only changes is to maybe cut back some chicken and add more spinach. Otherwise it was really tasty.

Our finished dish - yummy

Ingredients (Serves 8)

• 1 (16 ounce) package rigatoni pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds boneless chicken, cubed
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 26 ounces spaghetti sauce
• 10 ounces fresh spinach, washed and chopped
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and reserve.
2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute until cooked through and no longer pink inside. Add garlic to skillet; saute until golden. Add cream and spaghetti sauce to skillet; cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until sauce thickens.
3. Add cooked chicken and spinach and cook until spinach reduces. Then add rigatoni; toss with cheese and serve.

My New Favorite Candle

Last weekend, Whitney and I went shopping (many times I might add). And one of those trips ended up at Bath and Body Works. She wanted some hand sanitizer; I just wanted to get out of there without overwhelming my sense of smell. But they had all their fall smells. I love pumpkin stuff so I smelled around. And then I came across this beauty: Mint Chocolate candles.

Bath & Body Works Mint Chocolate

I had never seen a candle that combined these two scents. I was instantly taken to my favorite ice cream, mint chocolate chip. And boy did it smell good. But they were expensive candles, even at the 2 for $20 sale they were having. (I'm a big $5 or less candle buyer unless it is Yankee Candles and then only if it is clearanced). But Whitney was like go ahead mom and buy it. And I did. And my bathroom has smelled good ever since. Luckily I still have another one that I can use when this one goes out. But it definitely is my new favorite candle.

White Dress Part Two

So in May 2010 we had to buy a white dress for Whitney to wear in a photo for pom. Now this is a child that doesn't look good in white, but we found a cute dress that wasn't expensive for the photo. And then it sat in her closet for months and months. This May we decided to dye it red as I described in an earlier blog. So I thought that was the end of the story.

But not so fast. Last night she found out that for her sorority initiation, she has to wear a white dress. Don't these people realize that it is September and not all girls have white dresses nor do they want a white dress. Thank goodness for the internet. We have found several dresses on clearance at Penneys that I'm going to order tonight in multiple sizes and have shipped to her dorm. And then she can return all of them except the one she wants to the closest Penneys. And I can get free shipping. I did this for her prom dress and it worked out well. So I'm crossing my fingers that one of them fits.

Mushroom and Chicken Risotto

One of the things with Whitney being gone is that we are able to cook things that we know she doesn't like and that we do. This recipe combines a couple of them...mushrooms and rice. I had bought a clearanced book at Borders with chicken recipes from Food and Wine magazine.

Courtesy of Food and Wine Magazine

Mushroom and Chicken Risotto

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, cut into thin slices
2/3 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
5 1/2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock, more if needed
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1.In a large pot, heat the butter over moderate heat. Add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Cook until the chicken is just done, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the mixture from the pan. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer.

Chicken and Mushrooms

2.In the large pot, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir until it begins to turn opaque, about 2 minutes.

Risotto

3.Add the wine and the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt to the rice. Cook, stirring frequently, until all of the wine has been absorbed. Add about 1/2 cup of the simmering broth and cook, stirring frequently, until it has been absorbed. The rice and broth should bubble gently; adjust the heat as needed. Continue cooking the rice, adding broth 1/2 cup at a time and allowing the rice to absorb it before adding the next 1/2 cup. Cook the rice in this way until tender, 25 to 30 minutes in all. The broth that hasn't been absorbed should be thickened by the starch from the rice. You may not need to use all the liquid, or you may need more broth or some water.

4.Stir in the chicken and mushrooms, the Parmesan, and the parsley and heat through. Serve the risotto with additional Parmesan.



Our finished product



Things I would change with this recipe is to cook the chicken separately and add more seasoning. By cooking in the same pot as the mushrooms it couldn't get brown and it lacked flavor. We used four cans of chicken broth because it always seems like our risotto is too thick. And I didn't have an onion so we used dried minced onion. We also don't like parsley so we didn't add any.

 

We have a similar recipe that uses italian sausage instead of chicken. I liked that the chunked chicken made it feel more like a meal than the tiny bits of sausage. 

Ugly Uniforms

Yesterday's start of college football introduced another round of "How Ugly Can We Make Our Players?" You know the game within a game to see who can be talked about in the most unflattering terms.

Our contenders:

Oregon Ducks

This picture does not capture the true essence of the uniforms, the flourescent yellow spats, gloves and numbers. Whitney's description is it looked like they were ready for a black light rave after the game. I thought that maybe they had a secret weapon that would turn off the lights and they would be able to see each other and score touchdowns. And this does seem to be tame compared to some of the Oregon masterpieces of past years. All thanks to the huge donations of Phil Knight of Nike fame. Guess when you have a donor that big you do what he tells you to do.

Georgia Bulldogs

Once again the picture doesn't do look as bad as it did on tv. Quite the color scheme. They played the Boise State Broncos whose uniform didn't match their usual tackiness but the helmet was a mess. Of course if you play on a blue field, color schemes and sanity don't really play into uniform choice.

Poor birds try and land here because it is so blue

Oklahoma State Cowboys

I'm not afraid to add a state team to this list. I hadn't watched any of their game and only was made aware of this ugliness after a friend mentioned it. I'm not sure how to describe this except as a gray shirt with a handwarming patch. Of course it was 90+ degrees during the game so I'm not sure how much they needed to warm their hands.

Personally I think the worst was Oregon. Simply because they looked like they were ready for a black-light party and forgot to tell the others it was that kind of a night.

Who filled the sink with water?

OK. Mysterious things have been happening around my house. The culprit is yet to be identified. Last night thought we may have solved the riddle.

Over the last month, things have been happening overnight in the house. Like strange things. One night my pill bottle that I had left next to the bathroom sink was found in the morning with the lid half off and pills all over the floor. Two nights later disaster struck when said pill bottle was emptied into a full sink of water. Lucky for us the water was turned off after it was filled because we would have had a massive flood. Unfortunately I couldn't get that prescription refilled until September 5 because it was a three month one and I still had two months left.

So Dan and I figured one of us was sleep-walking. We weren't sure which one since those nights I had taken a sleeping pill so it could have been me. But he has been known to do it before. But last night the culprit was caught (at least we are going with that answer). Dan got up at 1:30am and went to the bathroom. No big deal. But then he turned on the light (not usual) and I could hear him rustling around. Turned off the light, went out to the kitchen. Then I heard the ice trays being emptied into the cooler. I yelled at him what he was doing. He was getting ready for work. That he didn't have to leave for until 6:15. Yes, he was sleepwalking. And doing a darn fine job of getting ready for work. Except he took his night medicine instead of his morning medicine and then filled that pill tray with water and put it in the drawer. And leaving ice trays out so they melted. Luckily, me yelling at him woke him up enough so he realized what he was doing and came back to bed. And then went right back to sleep.

So we hope that the mystery is solved. Not sure what we can do about it, but at least I know it isn't me. And isn't that the important thing? 

September is Here

Wow eight months are gone already this year. Phew, it just keeps going and going.

Things I am looking forward to this month:

1. I hope (crossing fingers) to have temperatures that don't have triple digits. And if we could get one or two days in that I have to wear a jacket (haha) in the morning I would greatly appreciate it.

2. Football starts up this weekend. This year I won't be attending the high school games (the only reason I went was to see Whitney) but I still hope the Tigers do well. Their first game is tonight against the other high school in town. OU plays Saturday night and the one good thing about having a number one ranked team is the games are televised (except when we play Idaho State or somplace like that). It used to be that if it wasn't on tv, I wouldn't know anything because I couldn't stand the play-by-play announcer. However he finally retired and they have a new one. So I'll give him a shot on the odd game that isn't on tv.

3. A visit home from Whitney this weekend. The list is long for everything we need to cram into 2 days, but we can do it. Lots of shopping (for the rest of the "uniform" for her scholarship, nice clothes for sorority events), baking (she has requests for two types of cookies to take back), laundry (it hasn't been done since she left home 3 weeks ago), probably a bath since she doesn't have a tub, and sleeping in her own bed with the door closed and no one else to share anything with. The simple things that you miss as an only child living in a dorm.

4. Starting my middle school tutoring. My church started a program that has spun off to do tutoring/mentoring for at-risk middle school children. I wanted to do something and my boss is allowing me to leave work early one day a week to tutor. I hope that I'm prepared to do this, have patience and make a difference in these kids lives. I can't imagine what some of them have gone through at a young age. Makes you appreciate what you have hopefully.

5. United Way Day of Caring. I love doing this event. Once a year work gets a group together to go help out with the city wide event. Last year I put together a book fair for a childcare center. In previous years we've painted, cleared out weeds, cut down trees, sorted donations after Hurricane Katrina. It is definitely a sweaty day but you feel good afterwards. And it was the only day in 23 years of marriage that Dan told me I stunk so bad I had to take a shower right away.

So it will be a busy month. And I really do want cooler weather so when fall shows up on the calendar, it will mean it.