A Great Meal

I absolutely love pasta. I can't get enough of it. If I could, I'm pretty sure I would have some kind of meal that includes pasta in it every night, however that is not so waist friendly. Once a week or every two weeks is ok, right? Hello? Right!!?

I recently discovered a great and very easy bolognese sauce. It's a Kraft Food recipe and soooo delicious (I'll include the actual recipe below). Normally we just have the spaghetti and call it quits, but since I was feeling very generous today and Z got a job, I decided to indulge in some homemade garlic bread!!! Yay!

As I type there is a scrumptious italian bread loaf sitting cut in half lengthwise with melted butter mixed with roasted garlic spread all over it!! I roasted the garlic with olive oil and S&P in a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes. Then, I mixed it with some softened butter. I was a little eager and just threw it all together and then mashed it up, but I would suggest mashing up the garlic first before mixing it up with the butter. Then I just spread it all over the bread. It smells so delicious!!


Just look at all those chunks of roasted garlic!


To start this scrumptious meal, you will cook some Zesty Italian dressing with a small chopped onion until the onion is nice and tender. Then add in a pound of extra lean meat.


Cook until the meat is browned and add in a can of tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes.


Mix it all up nicely and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Place the bread in the oven.


In the meantime, hopefully your pasta water is boiling so you can cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the package. (Please don't judge me by the quality of my photos, I haven't quite mastered the whole cook with one hand and take pictures with the other!)


Once the pasta is al dente, drain it and then sit around and wait a few minutes until your husband comes home from the driving range.


Take out the garlic bread from the oven (I cooked the bread in a 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes and then I turned off the oven and left it in there to keep it warm without it getting too brown.)


With the heat on low or off, mix in the cream cheese and parmesan cheese. Once the cream cheese is completely melted and mixed in, add the spaghetti and mix it up.


Serve with some garlic toast and you could even serve it with a side salad if you wanted to pretend to be healthy!

This is one of my most favorite meals and I hope you enjoy it too!

Spaghetti with Zesty Bolognese (6 servings):

Ingredients:
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup Light Zesty Italian Dressing
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
3/4 lb (12oz) spaghetti (we use whole wheat)
2 Tbsp Light Cream Cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

How to Make it:

Cook and stir onions in dressing in large skillet on medium heat until crisp-tender. Add meat; cook on medium-high heat until browned, stirring frequently. Stir in tomato sauce and tomatoes. Bring to boil; simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti as directed on package.

Remove sauce from heat. Add cream cheese; stir until melted. Drain spaghetti and place in large bowl. Top with sauce and parmesan.

Enjoy!

I wish..

I wish that we never had to leave here


I wish we had a house with a view like this


Luckily, I don't need to wish for this


because I have everything I need.

Waaaayyyy Tooooo Long!!!

I know, I know, it has been way too long since I posted anything. So, I am now going to make up for it. First off, I did get my hair cut actually at the end of January because Aveda had an awesome deal going where you could get a free conditioning treatment with any service. Isn't that sweet. Anywho, here is the picture:


It looks pretty close to the Heidi cut don't you think? I liked it a lot, however it has officially grown out and doesn't look like this anymore. It doesn't look bad, but its not this good.

Secondly, I did go to Maryland a few weeks ago and it was great to see my friends again. It had been way too long since I'd seen them and I hope that we will keep in touch better until we see each other again. What was also really awesome is getting to see the babies!! Page has grown up so much, she is almost 2 and I finally got to meet Jacob, who is 6 months. Here are some cute pics:





Lastly, it has been a tough few weeks. I unfortunately was laid off from my job because the practice was essentially sold to another practitioner and they didn't need an additional employee. Also, our lease on our apartment is up in May and when we went in to renew it, the shortest lease is through March, which is 3 months longer than we were hoping for. Also, Z and I have both been a little under the weather. Good news is that we are together and things really really aren't that bad. I have two interviews tomorrow and Z had a great interview today with Golfsmith. We have also worked out the issue with the lease, we still have it through March but we figured out some options. And, I'm starting to feel better, hopefully Z will also soon!

So, now I've updated you on my hair, my friends, and complained to you about our silly little issues. I think we're caught up for now!

Love ya!