Pasta. It's What's for Dinner

I made a yummy pasta for dinner tonight. It was similar to the one I whipped up for my friends while I was in Charlotte, but with one small addition, and one thing I forgot. Bacon. And goat cheese. Respectively.

Sound good so far?

Here's how it goes: Boil penne pasta (preferably whole wheat or mulitgrain) until al dente. Toast pine nuts in a little bit of butter. Cook diced pancetta (Italian bacon) in large pan. Remove and drain. Saute garlic and spinach in olive oil in same pan. Add pine nuts, bacon, pasta and one jar of julienned sundried tomatoes and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Top with goat cheese. Done.

Yum. No pictures. Sorry. And this from the girl who loves to read cookbooks, but only if they have lots of pictures!

That's what we had for dinner. Minus the goat cheese. I forgot it, which is really OK, since Nigel doesn't like it anyway. We used Parmesan cheese instead. It was a good substitute.

A Little of This, A Little of That

First, let me tell you what I made for lunch today. Ham and Potato Soup. It was really, really tasty-and I'm not just saying that because I made it. Kingston and Nigel liked it, too! I recommend it. So much so that I am sharing the recipe with you.

Ham and Potato Soup:

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
3 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk


DIRECTIONS
Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.
In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

If you make it, let me know what you think! It was very easy and quick. Hopefully you will have better luck than I at getting your roux to thicken. Why do I always have trouble with that?!

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And now I want to share some craftiness with you. I agreed to make the tree skirt for the Mommy and Me tree for the Hotline Festival of Trees coming up this weekend. I took the scraps from Mrs. Biggs' scrap pile (she makes the most adorable baby/kid clothing and accessories) and fashioned this here tree skirt.

I think it turned out pretty good. It isn't perfect, but I think it will serve it's purpose. I was also thinking that it would be easy and really cool to make a tree skirt out of old baby clothes that you want to keep for sentimental reasons but know won't be worn again. I'd be glad to try it for someone if they are interested. Let me know!

We will decorate the tree tomorrow (Dec. 3) night. I'll try to remember to take pictures of the final product. I taught the moms how to make fabric birds one night and I can't wait to see how they look on the tree. Fun and festive!

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Kingston has just grown enough to fit into these adorable PJ's that Nigel's boss and his wife gave us as a baby present (along with the bath toys that Kingston still loves). He is the cutest thing on the planet in his footy pajamas! I could just look at him and giggle all night. Well, at least until 8:00 when it is time for bed and time for mom to have a break!

I tried to get Kingston to wear this cute Santa hat so that I could get a good Christmas card picture (yes, I'm still on that quest). As you can tell, he was NOT a fan of the hat. So scratch that idea. You will not be getting a Christmas card with Kingston in a Santa hat. Thankyouverymuch.

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We are looking forward to the Christmas season! I'll kick it off with my tree decorating tomorrow night, then we are going to Manteo for the lighting of the Christmas tree with Nana and Grandpa. At some point in the next week or so we will be getting and decorating our very own tree. We love telling Kingston "no" over and over again so the tree and it's decorations will be tons of fun. . .