Mom's Crazy Cooking Challenge

I was super excited to get an invite from Mom's Crazy Cooking for her monthly Cooking Challenge.  This month's theme was Mac and Cheese...  Oh how I love cheese...   The task was to visit someone else's blog and find a recipe that we could make and share.  

I stopped by Recipes from Newlyweds http://recipesfromnewlyweds.blogspot.com/.   A cute Blog from a Girl named Anna.  Go Visit her!  She made a gnocchi mac and cheese that sounded delicious!!

Here is the recipe.  If you have not tried gnocchi you are missing out!!

Gnocchi Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

1 pound purchased or homemade gnocchi

2 Tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

1/4 cup shredded fontina cheese

1 tsp basil

Salt and white pepper to taste

1/3 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Prepare gnocchi according to package directions. Drain and place gnocchi in a single-layer in a 1-1/2 quart shallow baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in flour until it thickens and bubbles, then whisk in milk and Dijon. Continue to whisk mixture and cook until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes.

Combine Gruyere and fontina, then add by the handful to milk mixture, stirring until melted before adding the next handful. Once all cheese is melted, add basil, salt and pepper.

Pour sauce over gnocchi and sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano over top. Bake gnocchi until they puff and cheese is golden and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Let gnocchi rest for 5 minutes before serving.

 I didn't have a ton of time so I couldn't make my own gnocchi.  I found this in the dry pasta section of the store. Once again gnocchi (NN YOKE EE)is the best pasta ever (find your nearest italian restaurant for fresh stuff if you don't have time to make it)  It is a potato pasta dumpling.

MMMMMM....  Cheesey saucy mixture!

Baked Goodness!

Super YUM!!  The hubs loved it! TRY it!  and vote for me at Mom's crazy cooking!!!

Crock Pot Yumminess

Tina over at Mom's Crazy Cooking is asking for favorite Crock Pot Recipes.  I thought I'd share one that my mom has made forever and I LOVE to make and eat as well.

                                                      Crock Pot Chicken Parisienne

6 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup cooking sherry (You can substitute water or dry white wine but I love the tang!)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 4 oz  mushrooms sliced

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup flour

salt, pepper and paprika - to taste

Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and paprika. Place in crock pot.

Mix wine, soup and mushrooms until well combined. Pour over chicken. Sprinkle with more paprika.

Cover and cook on LOW 7-9 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours.

Remove chicken after done cooking.

Mix sour cream and flour together. Stir into crock and cook for 30 minutes.

Serve over rice or egg noodles.

Paper Crafties

I finally had the energy to work on my brother's girlfriends birthday present last night and one other project.. (A Week Late..)This was quite the accomplishment considering my favorite activity the last few weeks was staring at a tv and only moving if I absolutely had to. Thankfully I'm feeling a ton better and actually got something done!

I saw this adorable idea on pinterest.

Source: simplystoked.blogspot.com via Stacy on Pinterest

I thought It was adorable! So I decided to make my own version.

I started with a small shadow box from Michaels.  I will say if you want a Big heart make sure your shadow box is deeper than the one I purchased.

This one allows for you to just pin your items into place.  I cut a piece of scrapbooking paper to the size I wanted and wrote in the line "Every heart has a story"  I changed it from the original..  I would love to claim it was because it was clever....  but it's just pregnancy brain...

I then took a newspaper ( you can use a book but i didn't have any I was willing to chop up)  and folded it in half.   I then cut out a half heart shape and then stacked and taped all of the pieces together.

I taped the heart in place and that finishes it.   Make sure your pieces splay open so that you can see each one individually.

 Hope she likes it!

Preggo Slacker... and Printables

I've been slacking terribly at my blogging duties! I apologize but it is for a wonderful reason! I am happy to announce that after a lot of trying and waiting I am 9 weeks pregnant! But, along with that has come a lot of fatigue and morning/afternoon/evening sickness.. so I haven't been doing Anything lately....

I heard this quote in a lesson at church and I thought it was such a beautiful thought.  I decided to make a printable.  Here are two versions of it that you can print out and display if you would like.    Enjoy!

From printables

From printables

<a border="0" href="http://sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee450/sweetpeasandbb1/WhatIMadeWednesday.jpg" /></a>
&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href="http://allthingsfee.blogspot.com" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5018/5588365611_b3055bb44c_m.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="Mondays @ All Things Fee!" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;

I'm a chunky monkey.. So why not eat one?

Had the oppourtunity to go to a friends house this week to say goodbye to her daughter and son in law who are going to Kuwait.
I wanted to make a quick and yummy treat and this is what we ended up with. This is really a no measure snack. You make it to your taste.

I started with a bowl containing 2 sticks of cream cheese softened and added some honey peanut butter ( add as much or as little as you would like. )  Mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla  Add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to start with and continue adding until the desired sweetness is reached.

So these little rolled goodies are made with crescent rolls.  Separate each triangle from your tube and stretch them a little.  In the center of the large end of the triangle add a dollop of the cream cheese mixture, 3 chocolate chips and 2 slices of banana.

Roll them up and pinch all of the corners and openings.  Be careful not to overfill!
Once they are all rolled up sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and cook until golden brown.

They went fast.... and none of us waited to eat them so we ended up with burnt tongues..   They aren't the most beautiful dessert but they taste delicious...    Enjoy!

Home Improvements and Lazy Dinners

We've been busy at the homestead... I haven't completed everything that I want to ... but we're getting there.
First project was to organize and prettify the kitchen. Got these awesome labels on etsy!

 Now we have a cabinet that is very wide and very deep and made me crazy because food would disappear! 

 I ordered these awesome expandable rolling shelves and installed them.  Still working on organizing the rest of the kitchen but a great start!

 This is the biggest project this week..  I didn't do anything but I am excited nonetheless.    We have a  PATIO!!!  My father in law and his amazing crew  laid a huge stamped slab and a walkway for us.  We are getting closer and closer to having a use able backyard!

We've been busy and I wasn't feeling like doing a lot.. Including shopping.... So what to make for dinner when there are no groceries and you're a lazy bum? 

Grilled Cheese and Avocado Sandwiches!

Take 2 slices of bread and smear cream cheese on one side.  The other side slice up 1/2 of an avocado and add salt ( do it!! it brings out the natural flavor)  add one slice of cheese (any kind is fine but we only had Kraft Singles and ...  they were delicious)   spray both sides with butter and cook like a regular grilled cheese.. 

We call this  GC x 3 & A

And for a little comic relief.......