Simply Italian.

This pasta dish is delicious served either warm or cold. I preferred it cold drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. I'm not much of a tomato person; I almost didn't toss them in but they look so pretty!

Pretty simple;

Just one pound of penne pasta cooked a little past al dente, tossed together with homemade pesto sauce, cherry tomatoes, bite size fresh mozzarella balls, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. 

Homemade pesto sauce:

1 bunch fresh basil

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup pine nuts

2-3 cloves garlic

Zest from one lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine in food processor until smooth

Jar Makeover

So this is the original idea I was going for....

From Polka pics- Turning old spaghetti jars into pretty containers by adding a knob to the lid and spray painting.

This is how mine turned out.... I think it's pretty cute! It adds a little bit of flair to my dresser. The pink is a little ridiculous but not bad for a craft that didn't even take 30 minutes!

I wasn't sure where to find a knob, so I just used a large bead and hot glued it to the lid of a parmesan jar that I rinsed out. 

I also didn't have the right kind of spray paint. I don't think my dad would have appreciated me using his car paint from the garage. Instead, I just applied two coats of white craft paint to cover up the colors on the lid, and then applied a final coat of pink. 

Olive Garden should be jealous.

I made this shrimp scampi for dinner tonight and it was a pretty big hit! I was going to make a pasta dish with alfredo sauce from a jar but then I decided to search for a pasta and shrimp dish on Pinterest. This is what I ended up with! It was super tasty, just the perfect amount of sauce made it a light spring dish. The recipe called for white wine in the sauce, but I used chicken broth instead. If it was delicious without the wine, I can't imagine how yummy it would be with it! I'll have to follow the recipe exactly next time. I have cut the original recipe down to serve 3-4 people.

Lemon-Garlic Shrimp Scampi

Recipe via The Daring Gourmet

Ingredients:
1/2 pound linguine or fettuchine pasta cooked according to directions
1/2 pound shrimp, tails removed
1/2 cup white wine (I used chicken stock + 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar)
3 tablespoons butter (I used the leftover garlic and herb butter that I previously made for a different recipe)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2-3 cloves garlic
A few shakes of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for topping and garnishing
Parsley for garnishing

Directions:
1. On medium heat in a skillet, heat butter and olive oil until melted and hot. Toss is shrimp, cook for 1 minute. Flip the shrimp and toss in garlic and red pepper. Cook an additional minute or two (but that's it! don't overcook) and remove shrimp from pan, set aside.
2. To the remaining butter and oil, add white wine, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Boil sauce for 3 minutes and then reduce to medium heat. Toss the shrimp back into the sauce along with the pre-cooked pasta. Toss around until fully coated, and sprinkle in parmesan and parsley just before serving.

Bon appétit!

Holy yum.

These muffins are TOTALLY my new favorite. Who wouldn't want to eat one of these for breakfast? (or maybe two!) I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I'm not that innovative! I found this via Pinterest on My Baking Addiction. See the link for the recipe, it is pretty long to write out! The picture below is my batch, which couldn't have turned out better! I don't think I've ever seen a batter that rises so perfectly, and the glaze just completes them.

Old Fashioned Donut Muffins

                                   

Candy in a Cookie

My boyfriend had the idea to make a Reese's cookie, and this is what we came up with. Reese's peanut butter cookies!

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Reese's peanut butter chips
1 stick softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
A splash of vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 bag chocolate chips (we used semi-sweet, but milk chocolate would be best for a true Reese's flavor)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder
3. In a large bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, and sugar until smooth. Mix in egg and vanilla until combined. Fold in Reese's peanut butter chips.
4. Gradually combine flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
5. Roll the dough into small balls and place on prepared cookie sheet. Use a fork to gently press down each cookie and create a criss-cross pattern.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden.
7. In the meantime, combine chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of butter or shortening (to improve consistency) and melt in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each until melted
8. When the cookies are finished, let cool slightly, and then dip each cookie into chocolate and place back onto cookie sheet to set.

Super Duper Stain Remover!

I have a crazy amount of white T-shirts that I wasn't wearing anymore because of the embarrassing underarm stains that we all hate with a passion. I saw this recipe for a stain remover that's supposed to remove those tricky stains. It totally worked! I didn't post the after pictures because it was hard to tell the difference in a picture, but trust me, they looked much better!

Just make up a little concoction of one part dish soap, two parts hydrogen peroxide, and a dash of baking soda. Scrub the stains with a dollop of the mixture and a toothbrush. Then throw it in the wash with plenty of bleach! 

DIY Headwrap

I have seen this style of hair wrap ALL over Pinterest, but every link doesn't have the tutorial on how to make it. I remember seeing the instructions on one post, but I didn't pin it and never saw it again. SO, I recreated the wrap to the best of my memory and it turned out pretty well! (Although there was a lot of fiddling with the sewing machine after years of not using it). I figured I'd post my instructions so that it would be easier for other pinners to find.

DIY HAIR WRAP 

Instructions:

1. Find two long pieces (and about 4-5 inches wide) of a fabric that you like.

2. Fold each piece in half horizontally with the ugly side on the inside. 

3. Sew each piece along the open side.

4. You will now have two "tubes" of fabric. Turn each tube inside out so that the pretty side faces out. (Sorry for my lack of better terms)

5. Make an X with both tubes.

6. Fold each tube over and join all four ends on one side.

7. Wrap it around your head and mark about where you want it to come together. Then, lay each of the four ends on top of one another and sew along the line that you marked.

8. Lastly, cut off the excess and turn it inside out so that the seam is hidden. TA-DA! Your hair wrap is ready to wear!