Month: November 2018

vegetable pasta

I love to cook but refuse to touch raw meat, so my cooking choices are often limited to what I can churn out with vegetables, beans, and pasta. This vegetable pasta is one of my favorite dishes. It’s a go-to in our house and start-to-finish, takes about 20 minutes.

It’s super simple and can be doctored to whatever liking you have. I don’t measure when I cook but came up with measurements to share this recipe here:

1 box pasta (I use quinoa pasta, typically)
1/2c olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2c broccoli
4c spinach
1 can artichoke hearts (quartered, drained)
1/2c kalamata olives
1c cherry tomatoes, halved
2/3c feta

IMG_2722
Directions:
1. Start salted water for pasta and cook as instructed
2. In a separate pan, heat oil
3. Add garlic cloves and choice of spices
4. Add broccoli; stir until tender
5. Add spinach
6. Once spinach is cooked, add artichokes
7. (By this time, pasta should be finishing) – add drained pasta
8. Mix and add tomatoes, olives & feta; stir
9. Enjoy!

painting, painting, and more painting

Our new kitchen is sparkly and beautiful, and the first floor was completely repainted before we moved back our furniture. Now, I want ALL of the rooms to be painted.

We bought our house three years ago and didn’t bother painting because it had all just been repainted the traditional beige new-house color when it went on the market. Basically, it was move-in ready and we weren’t in any position to paint each room with two kids roaming around and an IVF cycle looming.

As time went on, we managed to get the bedrooms painted: 12’s bedroom re-do was a Christmas present, our master was painted when I was out of town (surprise!), the boys’ room was done before 3 moved in, and the guest room was a project my husband took on with the two older ones.

We (my husband) have been chipping away at the rooms but now that the first floor is beautiful, I realize how ugly the family room/basement and our bathrooms are.

Cue my brilliant idea:
We can paint ALL of the remaining rooms this weekend.

It was vetoed. We have a painter coming to give us an estimate tomorrow and my husband agreed to paint the bathrooms. He started on the basement bathroom tonight — it’s tiny: The trim took under an hour and the rest will likely take 90 minutes for two coats.

I am so excited to have the bathrooms painted and shiny like the rest of our house and CANNOT WAIT to have the basement finished!