Now that July is upon us, our day-t0-day routine consists of watching the Tour, trying to stay out of the heat, and getting the outdoor garage/shed/extra storage room remodeled into a home gym. Brent has been working SO HARD and it is really looking great!
We have definitely been lacking in the cooking inspiration department lately, and as a result we have been eating out way too much. Tonight, while Brent was at physical therapy, I forced myself to fix something for supper….I thought a baked pasta dish sounded good, so I just improvised based on recipes I have made in the past. It turned out really good!
Ingredients:
- 8 oz. pasta – I used Great Value small shells.
- 1/2 lb ground beef, browned
- 24 oz pasta sauce
- 1/2 block low fat cream cheese
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1.5 c shredded mozzarella + provolone cheese blend
I combined the cooked pasta in the skilled with the browned meat and the cream cheese, 1 c shredded cheese, and garlic salt in a mixing bowl. In the baking dish I layered 1/2 of the meat/pasta mixture, 1/2 of the cheese mixture, 1/2 of the pasta sauce, then repeated. Baked at 350 for ~20 minutes, then added 1/2 c of shredded cheese and baked for ~ 10 minutes, until the cheese melted.
It was SO GOOD! Very cheesy. I didn’t have ricotta, which I have used before, so I substituted cream cheese and I think it was better! Brent really liked it. On the side we had squash + mushrooms (me only) sauteed in olive oil and Italian seasoning & tomatoes from our neighbor’s garden.
Last night I went to Sips & Strokes with a friend. Basically, it is a one night, step-by-step painting class and you leave with your own painting. They sell wine + beer and serve free cookies to help all of the Type A personalities (like yours truly) loosen up. It was really, really fun! I was disappointed in my finished product, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process. With a little bit of practice, I’m sure I could improve.
[Edited: Brent is surprised that I would refer to myself as a “Type A Personality.” I am a lazy Type A. Actually, I’m probably pretty balanced, but my Type A/perfectionist side definitely comes out at work, for example, and with these sort of activities. I am DEFINITELY not as Type A as Brent!]
This is what the painting was supposed to look like. It was called “Abstract Poppies.” Looks pretty easy, right? I thought surely I would be able to do something like that. But it is harder than it looks!
My finished product
To be perfectly honest, initially I was horrified with the finished product. You can tell that an obsessive perfectionist painted this because of the heavy BLOCKS of color. Notice that there are no streaks, brush strokes, paint splatters, or drips that you might expect to see on an abstract painting. The teacher kept saying “With abstract painting, you want to AVOID big blocks of color.” I just couldn’t do it. I ran out of paint two times!
When I got home and showed it to Brent, he was surprised that I hated it so much. He sincerely acted like he thought it was pretty. And the COLORS are pretty. But it is very messy & disorganized and the blob of red, blue and white on the far left is visually confusing. I think it looks like something a child would do, but I am so going back!!! It was fun and I think it is good to use a different side of your brain every once and awhile. Next time I am going to try something more defined vs. abstract.
ROBERT BENTLEY FOR GOVERNOR OF ALABAMA! Tonight he won the Republican nomination!
Still very much enjoying my birthday flowers!
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