Tasty Tuesday - Val's Prosciutto, Asparagus & Parmesan Spaghetti

Sorry for the late post today! Things are starting to get busy around the work place and my attention span is that of a gnat's! Speaking of gnats, they're getting bad around here. I've got the marks on my legs to prove it. Pretty.

Moving on to the main reason for this post - you've probably all seen this recipe pinned on Pinterest a million times..and for a good reason. It looks amazing and not only that, it TASTES amazing! So light and refreshing. The perfect meal to eat on your back porch with a glass of white wine.

Prosciutto, Asparagus & Parmesan Spaghetti

Photo and Recipe by the AMAZING Val.

(Check out all of her recipes. You will not be disappointed.

8 ounce of angel hair pasta
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
4 oz. of prosciutto, cut into strips
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

     Cook pasta according to directions and put back in pot.

      Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Cook
onion, garlic, and mushrooms until fragrant and semi done. Add prosciutto
and asparagus and cook until asparagus is bright green, about 3 min. Add
cream, 1/3 cup cheese, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat
to simmer and cook until sauce has thickened, about 4 minutes.

      Pour sauce with vegetables over pasta and toss to coat.

For extra yumminess, put more parmesan cheese on top and baked crisp prosciutto pieces.

Easter Weekend!

I hope you all had a very nice, relaxing Easter weekend with your families! We definitely did more eating than relaxing and I'm still full from yesterday.

Saturday Cameron and I spent the majority of the day running errands and working in the yard. That night, we went to a beautiful wedding at Magnolia Plantation.

Sunday we went to church with his parents and then went and ate an early dinner at my Grandma's house. In between visits, I made sure to reward myself for giving up beer for Lent by....drinking a beer! It was so tasty and refreshing!

Later that night we went over to Cameron's Aunt and Uncle's house to celebrate his cousin's birthday and his grandfather's 90th birthday! He now has two grandparents in their 90's and they're still going strong!

Blowing out his candles on the SUPER delicious banana pudding!

I love you.

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But why do you have to be so expensive?!?

Tasty Tuesday - Mediterranean Chicken Casserole.

Although this recipe sounded great, I was a little wary of it because a lot of the reviews said that it was bland. I read each review and decided to use some of their addition suggestions. Turned out great! Cameron even gave it the "you can make this one again" approval.

Mediterranean Chicken Casserole

Recipe and photo found here.

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free) I used 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup.

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained

2 cups cubed cooked chicken OR 3 (4.5 ounces) cans of canned chicken

2/3 cup orzo pasta, cooked and drained I used about 3/4 cup of orzo.

1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

Additions:
Tbsp minced garlic
2 pinches of red pepper flakes


Next time additions:
Artichoke hearts
Mushrooms
Tomatoes

Stir the soup, water, oregano, black pepper, spinach, chicken and pasta in a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Cover the baking dish. I stirred in about 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese into the mixture.

Bake at 375°F. for 30 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbling. Sprinkle with the cheese.

Recent buys.

Thanks to babysitting 3 days last week, I was able to add a few items to my closet, put the deposit down on our ceremony musician, pay a little more than normal on my credit cards AND put some $ away in savings! Proud of myself for not blowing it all!

J.Crew black Cafe Capri's via Ebay

Target



China Glaze Gold Digger

J.Crew Factory 3" Chino Shorts

 Ok, back to pinching pennies..



33 Years!

Today marks my parent's 33rd wedding anniversary..and that is no April Fool's joke!

My parents have set such an amazing example of what a marriage should be like and while no marriage is perfect, my parents' comes pretty darn close.

Emily re-pinned an article the other day on Pinterest and it was titled "10 actions that kids learn from their parent’s marriage." I clicked on the link and sure enough, each bullet on the list made me think of my parents and nod my head.

Before you get confused about who Cathy is, the article is written by the husband, Doug Fields, who seems to be a youth minister.

1. Affection: Cathy & I are very affectionate and I like having my kids see me holding their mom’s hand, hugging, kissing, cuddling, etc… as often as I can.

She may kill me for posting this picture, but it's one of my favorites!

2. Saying “I’m sorry”: I want to be quick to use this phrase and I want my kids to hear me say it (and I have to say it a lot more than Cathy).

3. Affirmation: this is my primary love language so it’s easy for me to dish out encouraging words. My kids get a lot of verbal affirmation, but they also hear me directing it toward my wife (which is really easy).

4. Attraction: I think Cathy is hot… and, I make it known around our family. I’ll regularly say, “Isn’t your mom beautiful?”

His caption says, "With a wife like this..........why woudn't I be smilin'!!"

5. Time: our kids know that we like to spend time together. When they see us steal time away to sit in the backyard and talk, or go in the hot tub, or go on a date night, or sneak away for the weekend…that’s a good message I want them to see.

Dad's Valentine set up for my Mom this year.

6. Laughter: we laugh a lot in our house and my wife’s cute sense of humor cracks me up. I like having my kids see that my wife makes me laugh.

7. Respect: opening the door for Cathy, saying “thank you” and “please” and showing her simple signs of respect.

8. Faith conversations: we’re not always praying in front of our kids, but they hear and see our faith conversations and know that we’re always talking about Jesus and what it means to be a follower.

9. The value of friends: our house is well worn from the traffic of friends in/out of our house. We love having people over and the Fields’ house is a regular hangout for some incredible friends.

Our favorite kind of friends...the garnet & black kind! :)

10. Servanthood: I know my kids have had a better example in Cathy than with me because she’s the ultimate servant. Always asking, “How can I help? What do you need to make life better?” Serving one another is seen in the daily, little things and there’s many opportunities to serve.

Thank you, Mom & Dad, for showing me what true love is. I hope Cameron & I follow in your footsteps!

Cameron & I with my parents the night we got engaged.

Cheers to many, many more! I love you both!

Friday night at work = random post.

Have a rehearsal dinner going on upstairs right now so I didn't have to be at work until 3:30pm, which was nice. The internet was down from about 5-6pm and when it came back up - BAM! No Facebook and no Hulu. My two go-to websites for event nights. Now what the HECK am I supposed to do during my events?? Luckily, I can still read blogs and get on Pinterest..and I can always get on Facebook and watch ABC shows on my phone. It's just not the same though..

So in order to pass a few minutes of the last two hours I have here, a few random thoughts on my mind...

-Today marks the ONE YEAR countdown until I marry my favorite guy in the world!!

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-My mom and I met with the caterer today, which made me even more excited about the countdown! Wedding Wednesday post to come soon about that!

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You KNOW these will be on the menu!

-Speaking on delicious green niblets, these were on my desk today when I got to work!

German pickles! Vielen dank! (The translator tells me that means thank you.)

-Yesterday I had the bright idea to volunteer to babysit on my day off. Little did I know when I volunteered that it was from 7am - 10:30pm. That's 15.5 hours, people!!! 3 kids, too! The oldest one (ages 7 and 10) were in school...but only for a half day. The 3 year old never took a nap. They had some good moments, but for the most part they were awful. I almost cried. I just wanted to go home! Luckily, a friend suggested I bring my Wii over there and I could just kiss her for that suggestion! It saved my sanity.

-And lastly, Cameron and I ordered a bookshelf for his office YESTERDAY from Target and guess what was on our porch TODAY! The bookshelf! That is some crazy fast shipping, Target. Kudos to you!

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That's all the randomness for now! Have a good night and a great weekend!