More YUMMINESS..if that's a word...and HEALTHINESS!

Pasta Primavera

Great Way to Get Kids to Eat Veggies

Pasta Primavera

(Donna Svennevik/ABC)

From the kitchen of Emeril Lagasse

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Servings: 6-8

Difficulty: Easy

Cook Time: 1-30 min

"This colorful sauce is a simpler, lighter version of the primavera sauce most often encountered. Feel free to substitute other veggies, as desired. As you will see, this makes a very large batch of pasta, enough for six to eight healthy appetites."

-Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

1 pound rotini or penne pasta

5 tablespoons butter

2 cups chopped red onions

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

2 teaspoons salt, plus more for the pasta water

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

11/2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 pound zucchini or yellow squash (or a mixture of both), halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch half-moon pieces (about 4 cups)

2 cups frozen mixed peas and carrots

1 cup diced canned tomatoes, with juices

1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving

1/2 cup thinly sliced basil (optional)

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Cooking Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the rotini and cook until just tender, about 11 minutes. Drain, reserving 3 /4 cup of the cooking water, and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a 14-inch sauté pan over medium-high

heat. Add the onions and bell pepper and cook until soft, 4 minutes. Add the 2 teaspoons salt, black pepper, and garlic, and cook for 1 minute longer. Add the squash and continue to cook, stirring as needed, for 2 minutes. Add the peas and carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Add the pasta and the reserved cooking water to the sauce and cook until the pasta is heated through and the ingredients are well combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and fold in the Parmigiano-Reggiano and basil, if desired. Then drizzle with the extra-virgin olive oil. Garnish with more cheese, if desired, and serve hot.

6 to 8 servings

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, from Emeril 20-40-60, HarperStudio Publishers, New York, 2009, copyright MSLO, Inc.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Total: 30 minutes

dun dun dun dun DONE...and other fun news!

So, my fellow blog readers....I thought I would tell you the best news this year is that JOSHUA IS FINISHED WITH HIS FIRST YEAR OF GRAD SCHOOL! Yippy skippy! He will still be working in the lab, but he won't be studying his brains out every night. Thank you, Lord! One year down, several to go...

In other news, many of you may have read on my Facebook page about Alina. She has been very congested here lately...allergies maybe? But it lead to some pretty scary croup this time. We ended up having to take her to the ER...and after many hours of waiting in the waiting room, they called us back. Alina was given a breathing treatment, and a HUGE steroid shot! Yowza. You should have seen the silent gawking taking place between Joshua and I when the nurse came in with that big shot. But, it was either that or give her oral steroids that she tried last time she was getting croup (and we caught it before it got too late in the evening)...which she threw up. (The oral stuff is NASTY!) So, she cried for a few seconds and then was walking around the room...happy. So, it was the right choice. She is still congested but no more croup for now!

Oh...yah...Alina is WALKING!!!!! YAHOOOOO!!!!! Here is a video clip if you'd like to see some of her skills. This was taken on my phone so the quality isn't outstanding but it will do for now...Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Well, friends...here is a yummy, healthy recipe you can enjoy...even on a diet! I needed to find a recipe for a friend of mine who is doing Weight Watchers, and found this. I made it for them and for us, too and it was so good. We just had it for dinner again tonight. You can change it around if you'd like if you don't care about the Weight Watchers points. But here it is...

BBQ Chicken Pizza (Weight Watchers 5 Pts Per Slice)
Recipe #239279 | 25 min | 15 min prep
(It's especially fast if you use precooked chicken.)

SERVES 6 (change servings and units)

Ingredients:

* 1 Boboli whole wheat pizza crust
* 16 ounces chicken, cut into small pieces
* 6 tablespoons barbecue sauce (your favorite)
* 1/4 cup shredded lowfat mozzarella cheese
* 1/4 cup shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
* 1/2 cup regular shredded cheddar cheese
* 1/2 large red onion

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Dice the onion and sauté the onion with 2 of the tablespoons of BBQ sauce. Add chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through.
2. Top your Boboli pizza with the remaining BBQ sauce, fat free cheddar, low fat mozzarella, onion chicken mixture, then the regular cheddar. Bake for approximately 10 minutes.


I have used whole wheat and white pizza crust from the store, and it was good on both. It doesn't have to be Boboli brand. I really don't measure how much sauce or cheese I use when I am making it just for us, and tonight I didn't use the fat free or lowfat cheese. You can also use frozen chopped white onion if you'd like. I also use a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil on the crust, and a little when cooking the chicken too but you don't have to. Like I said, make it your own! And enjoy it!

Earth Day. Really?

One of my friends had this posted on his Facebook page, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I thought it was worth re-posting here on my blog. Enjoy! (And thanks, Garet!)

My Own Earth Hour
Written by Michelle Malkin

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Today at 8:51am

Tonight at 8:30 p.m. EDT, my house is going to be lit up brighter than Perth, Australia when John Glenn flew over in Friendship 7. Here’s why…

Another “Earth Hour” is upon us. This is the night we’re supposed to turn off all our lights in solidarity with… darkness, or something. It’s also symbolic of a desire to “take action on global climate change.”

I tend to get a little offended at these kinds of things. For one, in my house, we celebrate Earth Hour every day. We don’t leave lights on in rooms that nobody is in. We keep the thermostat fairly low (mostly because I’m usually too hot). We carpool when possible. We don’t waste gas. We pick up trash alongside the road when we’re walking. We volunteer to clean up the riverwalk, and we plant trees because we like trees — not because we’ve fooled ourselves into believing that planting trees is helping make Streisand’s environmentally-unfriendly concert tours carbon-neutral.

As such, I tend to get a little put off when being preached to by fat cats who swim in their own heated pools, travel in private jets, heat mansions they’re not even living in for months at a time and ride in limo caravans to speeches to tell the rest of us how our Chevy Cobalts, lawn mowers, hamburgers and light bulbs are killing the planet.

Additionally, I refuse to acknowledge, symbolically or otherwise, that electricity is the problem and that civilization can be saved by turning itself into North Korea for any length of time. The harnessing of electricity is among the greatest discoveries ever. It’s helped make the world safer and more sanitary. Electricity runs the equipment that is used to make the medicine that saves lives. It runs the cameras that allow us to see evils that are being perpetuated around the world that we might not have otherwise known about — except in North Korea, where you can’t see crimes at night because Earth Hour is mandatory 365 days a year. The list goes on. We should be celebrating electricity instead of pretending it’s some sort of cancer that needs to be cut out of our lives.

Somebody on Facebook’s Earth Hour 2010 page actually wrote, “I can’t wait to turn everything off tonight!” Well why don’t you just turn everything off now then, Tesla?

After Earth Hour is over, I pledge to turn my lights off for a full eight hours or so, just like we do every night, no doubt while Al Gore’s pool filter is still whirring away and outdoor flood lights protect his property. But during Earth Hour, we’ll have so many lights on that my family will have tan lines by the time the 60 minutes is up. I realize I’ll probably get hit with an Obamacare tanning bed tax, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay.

Quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel wife, Gisele Bündchen, have also joined the crusade to turn off our lights — just not during one of the Patriots night games at Gillette Stadium that goes through enough electricity to power my house until well into the 24th century:

And certainly don’t shut those lights off at one of Gisele’s photo shoots — however, if we did, we might be able to extend the life of the polar ice caps by at least a decade:

My own theory for the thinking behind Earth Hour is that Al Gore and his fellow enviro-scammers have settled on going dark as the single best way to make sure nobody can see them pick-pocketing the world.

Weekend in Wilmington

Well friends, I am posting AGAIN. I know...two posts in ONE day! Can you believe it? So, my iphoto uploader on the good 'ol Apple Computer won't work so updating all my pictures to Facebook was no easy task. I did upload over 30 (5 at a time...took me forever). But, I didn't get to these. So, I thought I would post some on the blog first! I know, you're excited. So, here are some of my favorites from our long weekend to Wilmington a few weeks ago. The first few are from when we visited the aquarium. The rest are from the beach. Enjoy!

Alina is not so sure about that alligator.

but she thinks the Albino one is pretty silly looking.

Here are some turtles chilling on a log outside the aquarium.

Alina and Daddy.

Alina and Mommy...and Giant Frog.

I loved how inquisitive she was about everything!

Alina and Da-Da on the beach.

Her Auntie Karen made her this one-of-a-kind sand chair.

She went from "sand is scary" to "let's throw sand on Da-Da."

This may have been about the point where we were ready to go. Sand in eyes, naptime...

Thanks for letting us stay with you, Auntie Karen!!! We love you!

Hitting is so not cool.

Hello dear friends and family....

Well, as some of you know my little sweetie pie has had another ear infection this week. This is only her third one, but if you have had a child with an ear infection, you know how miserable an experience it is...for the baby and for YOU! My usually super happy child was a super grump on Sunday evening through Tuesday. Thankfully, she is starting to feel a lot better. She has some strange red spots on her face that we are going to inquire about tomorrow from a dermatologist. (It is nice living in a medical community where the leader of your small group is a resident dermatologist that can get you an appointment in a day's notice.)

Anyways, my child has started hitting lately. And, I know this is very common with children her age...testing the limits, seeing what kind of reaction they can get, and that sort of thing. But, I am having difficulty knowing what to do about it. I believe in spanking...don't get me wrong...but does it make sense to spank, or "hit" in a sense, when the crime itself is hitting? I don't know if that is confusing to a child her age. Is time-out at this age effective? So, if you are a Mom, and are experiencing this problem, or have experienced this problem before...let me know what you do/did about it. I would love some ideas, opinions...advice! Thanks!

Rachael Ray is my hero!

Well, as many people know I was NEVER a good cook, nor did I ever even ENJOY the thought of cooking. Cooking to me was always a chore that got devoured in 5 minutes, leaving you with a heap of dishes to clean and the rest of a meal to save and eat over and over again until it was gone. Okay, so some of that is still true but I have found myself enjoying it for the first time in our marriage. You really can't blame me...if you know Joshua, you know he is a fabulous cook (especially with anything Italian), and he enjoys the whole cooking thing! So, I always let him do his thing in the kitchen. Well, with grad school and mounds of studying going on now, he has NO time. So, me being the stay-at-home Mom had to step up to the plate, and learn how to make some food!

My mom gave me some Rachael Ray magazines (which some day I will subscribe to and receive regularly), which inspired me to cook. A lot of her recipes are using things you may already have around the house, or that you can go out and buy fairly inexpensively. Now, some of her recipes are NOT, so you have to be smart, and look for things. But anyways, a lot of her recipes you can make in 30 minutes or less...and she makes it look so easy. Here is one of her recipes, that is cheap, healthy, and easy to change around if you want to make it healthier, or simpler, or even more extravagant...AND the whole meal can be made and ready to eat in 30 minutes. FABULOUS. My husband talks about this meal all the time since it is so easy to make, and yummy! Try it out!

Chicken Pasta
4 servings
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups shredded store-bought rotisserie chicken (or whatever kind of chicken you have, to shred. If you have to cook it, it will add a few extra steps and time to the preparation.)
1 cup frozen baby peas (You can use regular peas!)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional - I don't use it)
12 ounces of wagon wheels or other short pasta (like penne pasta)
1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling
1 tbsp. of butter
Salt

1. In large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the skillet and heat through. Stir in the peas, broth, garlic and cayenne and simmer until the broth has reduced slightly, about two minutes. Keep warm over low heat.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta for 5 minutes. Drain and add to the chicken. Stir in the 1/2 cup of cheese and butter and simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the pasta is al dente, about 3 minutes. Season with salt, if necessary, and serve with additional parmesan.

You can probably make this even more healthy by using whole wheat pasta or low-fat cheese. I haven't tried that yet, but you never know! Hope you enjoy this easy, yummy meal! Thanks, Rachael!

Oh and remind me to post a yummy BBQ chicken pizza recipe I made for a weight watchers friend...that was SO yummy! That's right...pizza on a diet...and it was fabulous.

Healthy Kick

Well my friends, it is time to get in shape and get healthy for the Stone clan. Not that we have ever been non-healthy, fast food people by any means, but now I am really trying to think about the fat, sodium, calories...ya know..the stuff that leaves that layer of fat on your belly. haha. Anyways, there are many new recipes I am trying out lately and I plan to post the yummy ones. They may not all be low fat and what not, but they are pretty good. Good thing I like to cook now, huh? And I am working out 3 times a week, too. Ha! Should be more but you do what you can do, right?

Well, here is a recipe we did for today's lunch. SO yummy! Even my "burgers are made of beef" hubby enjoyed them. So, here is a good recipe for some turkey burgers! By the way, this recipe was for an army and yields 12 burgers...so if you just want 4 or something, you're gonna use one pound of the turkey, and so on. If you wanna let the computer calculate for you, go to: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Actually-Delicious-Turkey-Burgers/Detail.aspx?src=etaf
and it should take you to this site. I use www.allrecipes.com for everything. It is great! You can type in ingredients you want, and don't want...and it will show you the results. You can read reviews which are very helpful...etc. I love it. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 3 pounds ground turkey
• 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix ground turkey, seasoned bread crumbs, onion, egg whites, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper. Form into 12 patties.
2. Cook the patties in a medium skillet over medium heat, turning once, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C).

The latest...

Hey folks. The latest news is that we have a house under contract. It is super cute (and old). We are suckers for old homes, what can we say? Anyways, the inspection happened Friday and we are currently looking over the repair list. So, we will see what the Lord has in store. We always pray for black & white answers...open and closed doors...so we keep praying the same thing for this house. We just want to be obedient...and happy!

Anyways, Alina has had some ups and downs lately. She has been getting constipated a bunch over the last several months, but seems to be getting more regular thanks to some Miralax. Haha. She started standing up today! That was kind of a surprise. She has tried pulling up on furniture in the past but now if we are sitting on the floor with her, she will steady herself on our legs, and stand on up! We praise her a bunch and she is very excited about it. She is SUCH a happy, happy girl! We are enjoying her so very much!!!

Joshua has a 4.0 GPA...oh yah...my brilliant hubby is doing very well in school and still loving it! I am very proud of him, in case you can't tell. I hope he doesn't mind that I am telling the world his GPA, but I can't help it. I can brag. As for myself...I am still home with Alinabug, but am thinking about getting a part-time job, and looking into getting a masters degree for myself. So, a lot to think about...and pray about here. It is difficult when you have been home with your baby for a year, to think about getting back out to work or school even, but we will see where the Lord takes me in these next few months, or years.

Well, that was short but we are going to watch Julie&Julia and I am excited. Never seen it. We don't ever have date nights, so when the kiddo is in bed, it is nice to plop in a movie and pretend we are on a date. Hehe. Can't believe we will have been married 5 whole years in May. What a blessing! Okay, enough rambling for now...talk to you again in a few months...haha..just kidding.

Greenville

So, in case you are WAY behind, we moved to Greenville. Josh is going to be Dr. Stone in 4-5 years, and we are excited about this new journey! Our baby girl is growing up...and becoming more and more like Daddy. She points to EVERYTHING and asks "Dat? dat?" So, we are in the stage of telling her what everything is....and you should hear her try to say "button" and "zipper"...sooo cute. (Note..I said 'try'.) Well, we are renting a little patio home, surrounded by neighbors who leave their dogs outside all day to bark at everyone...kind of annoying when you have a child that takes 2 naps per day. Anyways, we have been here for several months now and so to sum up our entire time here would take pages. But, I can tell you that the Lord is blessing us...even when I become extremely lonely staying at home and knowing hardly anyone...He is giving us friends..and I am SO grateful.

(Our church had a fall festival, and my baby was a duck!! My favorite picture of her in her costume is up top...my cutie pie!!! We LOVE her!!!)