One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta - Win!

Yet another winner from Damn Delicious! Seriously, this girl has a lot of solid recipes.

As the move-in-chaos settles down I'm slowly getting back into cooking. But I'm also very quickly getting uninspired and bored of my recipes. Maybe it's because I have a really bad desire to reno my kitchen, I'm not sure. So once again Pinterest came to save the dinner!

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta.

Seriously some of my favourite words in this recipe, one pot, garlic, and pasta. Can't go wrong here! And when I asked my hubby after a few bites what he thought, and the response was "Can't talk - Devouring", I figured this is a good one. The recipe is super easy and involves your every day ingredients. And as advertised, it's an under 30 minute dinner.

I personally had a few hiccups, but that could be because I'm still working out the kinks in my new stove (medium heat is hot, and high heat is 'better call the pizza guy, Mommy just burnt dinner'). Mainly my pot ran out of liquid and I ended up adding about one additional cup of milk while cooking. This could be because a) too much heat or b) too much pasta. SO next time I'll start with a bit more liquid and go from there.

Also, when it says stir...STIR! I had to whip out my wooden spatula and scrape the bottom a few times to keep the pasta from sticking.

I used 1% milk, spaghetti instead of fettuccine, and added a pinch of thyme, and the recipe was amazing. 

Now the pasta alone is obviously vegetarian. It can be served as a side, or you could amp it up with some meat and or veggies and make it a full meal. This time I used grilled chicken and broccoli and it was perfect. Even my son, who has been refusing any dinner that isn't PB&J for about a week, devoured it. The possibilities are endless! Broccoli, asparagus, peas, bean, or even wilt some spinach in there and it would be a lovely addition. And chicken, shrimp, salmon, or lobster if you want to go decadent, for proteins. This can easily go from one pot side to a full balanced meal with a couple additions and still remain an easy week night meal. 

My hubby wanted to lick the bowl. Really. Not kidding. 

This recipe will definitely be in our regular rotation. Check it out for something a little different!

Enjoy!

No Egg Cookie Dough - Win

Oh yet another dessert post. But come on, who doesn't love cookie dough? And here you have the perfect chance to enjoy your raw cookie dough without that pesky salmonella!
Cookie dough without eggs. And yes, it does work. It's really quick to put together and is all from stuff most people have in their pantry.

This tasty treat from Family Fresh Meals is super simple. It's suppose to be for two, but *ahem* you might not want to share. My only note is I found it a tad flour-y, but a touch more vanilla to moisten the mixture and a really good stir should do the trick. 

You could use any type of chocolate chip you want. I used regular and white chocolate, but a peanut butter or butterscotch would be awesome too. Get creative!

Command Center - Pinterest Inspired Win!

WE MOVED!

Oh how I hate moving. 
Really REALLY hate moving.

So we're finally settled into our new home and are slowly making it our own. It's difficult, especially because before we took possession we had never been inside our new home. A risk of moving across the country is buying a house sight unseen, and well...that was us. But we have lucked out and landed a lovely home. Sadly, this one as a much smaller kitchen and no desk space. As I type I'm using a small couch table as my desk and typing on my lap while sitting on a stool. This also means that all of our mail, cellphones, and other stuff end up in the already packed kitchen. 
Luckily Pinterest is FULL of organization inspiration. I decided on going for a 'command centre' style area since it was the best option for what we needed and it was something I could throw together quickly. It seriously took me 2 days of crafting and shopping and it's done. And the whole thing cost about $100 total!

How to make a command centre?

Pick an area - We chose the hallway leading to the kitchen. It was preferable over the front door since we don't have much of an entry way and it's accessible by all three doors into the house. 

Get an idea - figure out what you need. I needed a space for my son's homework, our mail and other papers, plus a calendar, and a spot for notes and random papers. Figure out your basics and go from there

Get crafty - I enjoyed this part! I got a large letter from Michaels and painted it. I was originally thinking chevrons, but I found stencils in my scrapbook box and used those instead. I also used the scrapbook paper I had stashed away too. 
I dug into my online stash of printables and framed up some of my kid's art work to add a personal touch. 

In addition to my mail slots, I have my calendar which I can fill in every month using dry erase markers, my weekly menu planner, our cleaning schedule, a magnet board, and buckets for the markers, phones and sunglasses, and hooks for backpacks and jackets.

Most of my inspiration for the heart of my command centre came from here at Girl Loves Glam. There are some great ideas and it's very simple. 
The calendar is a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper with a calendar drawn directly on it with sharpie. I then placed it in a cheap glass picture frame from Michaels. This allows me to change it each month and keep things up to date. The cleaning schedule and menu were also taken from Girl Loves Glam, but I modified them for our own needs. Again, both are on scrapbook paper. Note to self - don't put glitter paper through the printer.
Live and learn.
This is just an early draft. As we update our new home and paint, or as our needs change, I can change out the scrapbook sheets easily. It only took me a few hours to make up everything.

I hope this helps give you some ideas for your own command centre and help you realize it's not as hard as you may think!

Happy Crafting!