So you have a lot of asparagus?

We have a ton of asparagus in our yard. I got a little creative with some of the ways we served it up, and I stole/borrowed some tips from some recipes... so here is one of our winners..

Chicken, Cheese, Asparagus and Penne Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
- 8 ounces penne pasta (i eyeball how much we are going to use...)
- 1 tablespoon EVOO
- 6 or 7 small chicken tenders cut into small pieces
- dash of chipotle seasoning
- 2 tablespoons butter
- dash of garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 1/2 cups mozz cheese
- 1/2 cup shreddred parm cheese
- dash of salt and pepper
- bunch of asapragus (i used all that we had at the time)
- half an onion

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350°. I then sprayd cooking spray on one of my corningware dishes.
Cook penne pasta in boiling salted water. Drain and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add chicken, asparagus, onion, chiptole seasoning and garlic powder. Cook until chicken is cooked through, I cut it into pieces while it was cooking. Remove mixture and set in another bowl.
Melt the butter in the same skillet and stir in garlic powder. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Blend flour into the butter mixture until smooth and bubbly. Stir in milk and chicken broth. Cook, stirring, until thickened. Add 1 1/2 cups of the Mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese and cook until melted. Stir in the chicken mixture.
Combine the sauce and pasta; transfer to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbly.

I made this one night and we baked it and warmed it up the next. I think it served 8 -9 total servings. Very good.

Wordless Wednesday...

One week from today I will be with my favorite family peeps camping at my favorite state park!

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

Wow, this book was amazing. The sheer fact that a man wrote this book in the perspective of a teenage girl/woman and did it well is impressive enough. It brought up fascinating questions that I kept asking myself what I thought throughout my reading, and I am still not sure what to think exactly. The book is written from the perspective of her daughter Connie, many years later. The author brings to play a lot of foreshadowing that can keep you guessing which way the story will play out, which I really enjoyed.

Sybil Danworth is a midwife practicing in Vermont when one of her patients, Charlotte Fuget Bedford dies during childbirth. Sybil is a midwife with no medical training and unlicensed by the state. This is key to the State after Charlotte dies when/after Sybil performs a c-section on Charlotte to save her baby after Charlotte dies in labor. The state argues that Charlotte was NOT dead and that Sybil killed her when she performed the c-section.

That's all I will say about it, because I am afraid if I write anymore, I will give away more details. But the main questioning of the book is, "Are home births more risky than hospital births?" "Should home births be illegal?" and so forth.. To that end, I say those are some tough questions. While I can see the appeal of a home birth and the fact that the child is born into a quiet peaceful environment, without the unnecessary interventions of doctors, I feel that the only way I could relax and not be too anxious, would be to have a hospital birth. But I also think that hospitals and doctors sometimes push women towards unnecessary procedures, episiotomies and c-sections. Home birth or hospital is a very serious choice that people have to make and neither one is ever made lightly.

Would you rather have a home birth or a hospital birth? Have you had a home birth? Have you had a hospital birth? What were your experiences?

Boot Camp

I am giving myself a one week boot camp. This boot camp is needed because I am putting on a swimsuit next weekend and I have been trying to lose weight and it needs a butt kicker of a week to get me excited to go sit on the beach all day! Plus, I have all the time in the world, so I better use it to get in shape, no excuses. (Though I tend to come up with a lot!)

It is so much easier for me to keep eating, sitting on my butt than working out, because I am GOOD at sitting around and eating, but working out? Losing weight? Never been able to do it. I don't like to fail. So I better get my butt working hard. Here is my boot camp for the next week...

Friday - 30 day Shred, run/walk 30 minutes
Saturday - run/walk 30 minutes, bike ride
Sunday - 30 day Shred, run/walk 30 minutes
Monday - walk away the pounds 2 mile, bike ride
Tuesday - 30 day Shred, strength training plan workout
Wednesday - 30 day Shred, run/walk 30 minutes
Thursday - 30 day Shred, strength training plan workout
Friday - 30 day Shred, run/walk 30 minutes

Here's to a busy working out week!

Wordless Wednesday...

Hot and Bothered: a novel by Annie Downey

I read Hot and Bothered yesterday, all of it, yep. It started out a little iffy to me, but I just had to get used to the style it was written. It's almost like blog speak, as if you are reading/hearing the narrator's thoughts. It's definitely a different type of writing style and I found myself really enjoying it. It was super funny, kinda frustrating, and hard to put down.

The main character whose name I do not believe is revealed until the very end is a recently divorced woman who hates her ex-husband known as Ex-Rat. He cheated on her for probably their entire marriage and then asked her for a divorce, got engaged to a much younger lady, and is pretty much an ass in general. She has two kids, Brendan and Demon Princess aka Lucy. The discriptions of Demon Princess made me want to smack her and teach the narrartor how to parent. But then you must realize the narrator is depressed and her daughter is dealing with her parent's divorce. Brendan is a typical teenage boy trying to fnd his way, which sometimes means his mother and him disagree, a lot.

The narrator has a lot of funny experiences with men and usually when she is dealing with said men, is when I wanted to throttle her. She is very neurotic and goes through at least two therapists that the reader is aware of. The Christmas day scene at her house where her Ex shows up (sans fiancee who keeps calling), an old crush from Alaska and her Perfect Guy/semi-employer and her hilarious family is quite entertaining.

Her best-friend Pip, could be a story in itself. She is a meat-eater, dominantrix who works for the Bruins and dating a vegan guy 14 years younger than herself.

Basically, this was a hilarious quick read that was quite entertaining. And I got it for $4.98 at B&N!

Lists..

I love making lists. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes the list is ignored and things don't get crossed off, but I do enjoy making lists and occasinally crossing things off. Other times, lists seem confining and I fight the list and ignore it, causing anxiety and other wierd things. But that's the quirkiness of me. However, I made a list this evening that I am very excited about! It is a list of books to get tomorrow at the library. This makes me happy cuz I have all day to browse or wander if I want because it should be crappy weather and what better way to spend it than at the library!!

Here is my list that I will hopefully get... though I may get more or get less than I have here.

Keeping Faith – Jodi Picoult
Handle with care – Jodi Picoult
Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
Midwives – Chris Bohjalian
The midwife’s tale – Gretchen Moran Laskas
Escape – Carolyn Jessop
The 19th wife – David Ebershoff

Weekend To Do List

1. Breakfast with the parentals
2. Quick road trip to Ohio to drop off a car and see the g-parents
3. Watch the Red Wings kick some Penguin booty on the ice
4. Do some lawn mowing
5. More organizing of the office
6. Read
7. Enjoy the life I live

Happy weekend!!!!

Any big plans?

May's Reads....

15. No Place Like Here- Cecilia Ahearn (May 4th) - This one was wierd... did not like it as much as PS I love you...
16. Mercy – Jodi Picoult (May 16th) - I really enjoyed this one. It asked very thought provoking questions about love and the way you live your life...

In conclusion... I need to read a HECK of a lot this summer to catch myself back up...

step away from the computer.. step away from the computer...

Wordless Wednesday...