Today is Bella’s birthday and as a present for all the Twilight fans out there, they have released another trailer for Part 1 of Breaking Dawn that comes out November 18, 2011. Fandango also announced that tickets will go on sale starting October 1st. Who is going to be getting their tickets early and waiting in line? Just might be me.

Also, don’t you just LOVE these new movie posters?

 

 

Such a cute video that I had to share. Rocco punishes himself when he knows he did something wrong. It’s so funny every time he does it. I could only imagine if there were more than one dog in the house. I’m sure he’d rat them out.

 

It’s St. Patrick’s Day and that lead to the most logical dinner tonight. . . Corned Beef.  But, I wanted to try something different this year.  Usually I just toss it in the slow cooker with some potatoes, carrots, Guinness and seasoning.  This year, a couple days before the holiday, I received a recipe in my email box from Cuisine at Home.  I was intrigued and decided to take a break from the norm and try something new.  I went shopping for the ingredients, buying things that I don’t remember ever having in my kitchen.  I also had to go buy a broiler pan.  I have never personally used a broiler but this recipe called for caramelizing a glaze in the oven.  Additionally, I was going to make cabbage this year.  I didn’t usually add this element to my meal but along with the corned beef recipe I was sent a buttered cabbage recipe that looked easy and yummy.

In the morning, before I went to work I tossed the Corned Beef, Carrots and Potatoes in the slow cooker.  The hardest part of this step was cutting the visible fat off the corned beef brisket and cleaning the potatoes.  After setting the timer for 8 hours, I head out the door to work with my fingers crossed.  When I came home, I was greeted with the wonderful smell of the corned beef cooking in the slow cooker.  I began to salivate.  I started my buttered cabbage recipe and mixed the glaze for the corned beef.  I then took the corned beef out of the slow cooker, put it on the broiler pan, brushed the glaze on and caramelized it under the broiler.   I was really unsure about the glaze.   It smelled strong of vinegar and the flavor on its own was not that great in my opinion.  The results were amazing.   After the glaze had time to caramelize and intensify, the flavors were WONDERFUL with the corned beef.  I only wish I would have thought sooner to reduce the remaining glaze to top the corned beef with after slicing.  Next time, I will be doing it for sure.  Also, the cabbage was great.  Just the right amount of cooking so it was still slightly crisp and the seasoning was not overpowering but gave the cabbage just the right amount of flavor.

I have included a PDF of both recipes for you (click on the images above from Cuisine at Home to download the recipe).  I hope you give them a try.  It does not need to be a special holiday to enjoy this meal.   Happy St. Patrick’s day to everyone!  Hope you found a great meal to enjoy with family and friends tonight.

 

So absence seems to be the theme for me on here these days.  I’ve popped in now and then to check on things and update the behind the scenes software but still no posting.  As I was waking up this morning, I decided that today is the day.  I really want to update my layout but it seems if I wait for this my site will never move forward so I’m leaving the updating for another day.  Life has been hectic since . . . oh . . . SEPTEMBER of last year.  I’ve hardly had time to do ANYTHING extra unless it involves checking on Facebook from my iPad as I scarf down some lunch or wait for the kids to get out of school or while I wait for sleep to overcome me in bed.  I don’t know what I would do without my iPad some days.  It helps me be mobile and still keep up with the world even though life seems to be racing by.

So why the sudden post?  After 17 years of living in the same cute little older place, I’ve moved to a old/newerish townhouse.  It was a scary and exciting change and I still am not sure what to think of it.  I like some of the new things but I still miss lots about the old place.  It definitely has given me a new outlook on my day and my life.  The main reason for this is my house is completely ABOVE ground.  My old place was more at garden level so the house stayed cool and darker most the time.  The coolness was wonderful in the warm summer months because it wasn’t too hard to keep the house temp down (unless it was near 100º during the day).  It was also mostly North/South facing so I didn’t get much sun except for a little in the morning in one kitchen window that faced East.  The new place gets all kinds of sun during the day.  My bedroom windows are upstairs and EAST facing.  I am woken up almost every morning with bright warm sun.  If I feel like sleeping in it is really difficult with the sun glaring in your eyes at 6 AM.  It makes getting up for work easier since there is no sense in fighting the sun.  I’m probably going to have to get some black-out curtains for those rare occasions when I can sleep in on a weekend or holiday.  Downstairs, I open the blinds on the sliding glass back door and living room window and between 10 and noon the sun starts to pour in, showering the carpet and room with beautiful sunshine.  Rocco is in heaven on the weekends.  He spends hours playing and sunning himself on the soft, warm carpet.  It is actually adorable and I feel like I can see a smile on his face while he suns.  All this sunshine in my house makes it easier to wake up with a smile and a good outlook on the day.  I’m not saying I didn’t like my old house, I’m just saying I feel different when I wake up at my new place.  I can’t wait till maintenance gets screens put in our windows so we can let the fresh air in also.  It is starting to warm up and I can feel spring in the air.  It is time to pull out the capris, flip flops and open the windows.  Time to put away the heavy coats and gloves and just grab a light jacket “just in case”.  Time to spend time outside soaking up the sun, having friends over and firing up the BBQ.

I just had to share my new feelings and my new outlook on my day.  I have enjoyed getting up early and getting my day rolling early with the sun pouring in my room.  Here’s to MANY more sunny days full of smiles and great feelings.

This month when I got my newsletter from my Pampered Chef consultant there was a featured recipe in it that I just HAD to try.  It sounded so good and so easy, I could not wait.  Last night Tyler and I went to the store, gathered the ingredients (which proved to be a little difficult to find but we managed) and assembled this yummy meal.  The results were WONDERFUL.  I just had to share the recipe with everyone.

Turkey & Pesto Ravioli with Fresh Tomato Sauce

The only thing I would have changed on the recipe was the sauce seemed a little thin to me.  I did double the recipe since I had the kids but I’ll tell you, it was really unnecessary.  There would have been plenty if I made just a single batch.  Since I doubled it, I think I did not put enough grape tomatoes in the pan so that may have contributed to the thin sauce.  I did cut back a little on the garlic in the sauce since we don’t like much garlic.  It was still VERY tasty it was just pretty thin.  I think next time I’m going to try to thicken the sauce with something before I add the ravioli to it.  I was surprised very much by the wine in the sauce.   I don’t usually cook with wine and the sauce had a fair amount in it.  I wasn’t sure how this was going to affect the taste but it was amazing.  I think I’m going to have to try to cook with wine more often.  I could see this simple sauce being used with linguine or some other pasta/meat dishes.  An adventure I will have to try soon since I still have some wine left.

Hope you try the recipe and like it as much as we did.   If you try it, let me know what you think.  I’d love to hear about changes you might have made in the preparation.