Nativities and Creamy Pasta Bliss

I had fun taking down my Christmas decorations today. 

 

 I love this little nativity. Grandma Forga had one just like it when I was growing up, and I believe she had it when my mom was growing up as well. I was excited to find one for 25¢ at a thrift shop down the road.

 

Grandma Forga did this Christmas painting for me. Grandma has been quite a prolific painter since her move to the assisted living; but I am proud to have her one and only sparkly painting. Mom brought me the colorful tin nativity from her last trip to Santa Fe. 

It came with a pretty tin box.

Then I made one of my favorite recipes: creamy tomato-basil pasta with shrimp.

 

{ Those are stuffed mushrooms. }

This was the richest meal ever!!! It didn't hit me that this meal was going to be totally inappropriately rich until it was like almost done and there was no time to fool with making a salad to go with it. I told Josh to just pretend like he was a medieval king. 

Here's the recipe for the pasta (it is killer):

Creamy Tomato-Basil Pasta with Shrimp

adapted from kraftrecipes.com

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

10 ounces uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 cup Kraft sun dried tomato vinaigrette

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons garlic salt

4 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces farfalle (bow-tie) pasta, dry

1 cup (100 grams) freshly grated parmesan

cracked pepper to taste

8 fresh basil leaves, cut into strips

Additional basil leaves for garnish, if desired

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and sautee until browned, 5 to 10 mintues. Add red onions; cook and stir for about a minute. Add shrimp; cook and stir until done, about 4 minutes. Remove vegetables and shrimp from skillet. 
• Add vinaigrette, broth, and garlic salt to skillet; cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Add cream cheese; cook and stir 2 or 3 min or until melted. Add cooked pasta to skillet along with shrimp & vegetables, parmesan, and cracked pepper. 
• Turn heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce has reached desired thickness, 10 minutes or less. Remove from heat and stir in basil strips. Garnish with additional basil if desired.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Calorie content: 1 cup (165 grams) = 300 calories

Note: On the page I've linked to for the original recipe, there's a great explanation of how to slice basil into lovely chiffonade strips. 

Flea Market Haul

What can $4 buy you at a small-town Arkansas flea market? Beauty and functionality, with 50¢ left over for awesomeness. Here is my Friday haul:

 I got this beautiful plate with handles for $1.



I'm very into old plates with gold detailing.  

 
And this beautifully functional spatula for $2.50. 

 
I've been wanting something like this for a long time. A metal spatula made from a very thin piece of metal. It's great for sliding under and lifting with ease. And also scraping. So handy, but not so easy to find in today's stores.

 
It's Ekco, just like my beloved pastry blender.

 
And finally, I got these awesome vintage Christmas cards for 50¢.

 


Roscoe got a sweet box out of the deal.

 
But then he lost it.

Inspired by the Candy Tree

To make a candy tree-inspired treat, you will need 1 leftover "ornament" and a kitchen hammer thing.

Smash up your candy cane.

 

And sprinkle it atop 1 serving (1/2 cup, 70 grams) of vanilla ice cream, for a very good 155-calorie treat.



This beats the 650-calorie peppermint milkshake from Chik-fil-A.

NYE 2012

No sparkly New Year's Eve outfit this year. I ended up wearing basically the same thing I wore to the winter solstice party, but with my beloved cropped denim jacket, and boots instead of ballet flats. Josh and I drove to a neighboring town for Blake & Salina's 2nd annual New Year's Eve party! It was so fun. They are amazing people. Here are some pics I stole from Blake's FB album.

Me with the lovely hostess.

Josh having a good chuckle. 

Hanging out in the kitchen.

Love me some Andrea.

The elusive boots of my dreams are making a cameo appearance in this photo.

My New Year's resolution is to eat more Tex-Mex. Just kidding, I don't really have any. My only intention is to "go where the spirit takes me", as my good ol' father-in-law would say. Happy 2012!!! :)

Christmas Leftovers

Here are some of my Christmas decorations.

 

I did a lovey Christmas card display on the "mantle". 

 Lovey Christmas cards.

Candy-cane heart.

I made a candy tree that was sorta cute.

Gumball garland. Spice drops actually. Spice drops are not as easy to string together as popcorn, I learned. I used fishing line for that.

I used white yarn to tie the mini-canes on, and that worked really well. You can barely see the yarn, it just blends in with the white tree.

 

Josh won't let me have a live tree. :(

He bought me this candle last year as a consolation. It doesn't compare to the smell of a cedar tree harvested from family land. But I do enjoy burning it. Marriage is comprise. (Totally worth it BTW.)

Salad Season

Tis the season to lose all that F-in' weight. To that end I'm eating salad. Eating salad doesn't have to be lame, it can be fun! Here is a combination I've been perfecting for the last few days. It's a hybrid of a magazine recipe and my memory of a salad that used to be on the menu at Outback. It's 290 calories, and really yummy. So yummy that I only require 3 Ritz crackers to get it down, not my usual 5.

Here's the formula:

• a pretty big but not huge bed of romaine or red-leaf or whatever you like
• 1 whole green onion, thinly sliced
• 2 1/2 ounces turkey (I like mesquite smoked from the deli counter sliced thick)
• 5 artichoke hearts, chopped
• 10 grams of feta, crumbled (bleu cheese would be great too)
• 6 candied almonds, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons (32 grams) Kraft raspberry vinaigrette with poppyseeds

The raspberry vinaigrette makes it really special. (Thanks Lucy for putting that on my brain.) Candied pecans would be better, but I recently inherited a vast quantity of candied almonds.

Christmas!

OMG I had the best Christmas ever. It was like old times, only better because my husband showed up for lunch. I am so full of the Christmas spirit, and so ready to go out in search of heavily discounted wrapping paper come morning.

If you look very closely you can see me in the blue Christmas ball. I'm wearing the boots of my dreams.

 

Christmas lunch was so good this year. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, homegrown salad, and rolls. It was perfection.

 

The garnish, as promised. Rosemary sprigs from Mom's backyard + cranberries from Thanksgiving.

 

Let me just say, Grandma Forga knows a Southern Living cake when she sees one. 

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. :)

White Christmas Eve

Today I've been enjoying Christmas Eve by making a Southern Living cake for our dessert tomorrow. I'm home alone today. Josh is spending Christmas Eve in Fordyce with his dad & brother. I didn't go with him this year because I've been missing spending Christmas morning at my mom's house. We'll be reunited tomorrow at lunchtime. For now I've been enjoying the solitude and the all-day cooking project. And the leftover shrimp.

 

Roscoe and the cardinal.

Hello!

Our outside friend Ineko. AKA "Sneaky Ineaky."

I like to juice my lemons with this old-timey thing.

Love me some cake batter.

Lemon filling.

Fluffy white frosting.

Pre-frosting.

Pre-coconut.

And done.

Stay tuned for the garnish!

Winter Solstice Party '11

Yesterday evening, my mom hosted a lovely winter solstice party. (Like a Christmas party where you look at the moon.) 

Her house looked amazing, and there was a lot of seriously delicious food.

This is the dining room, where a lot of the food was. And there's Mom getting a shot of the shrimp.

The shrimp... This shrimp is my favorite. Mom has been making it for Christmas parties since I was a little kid. They're coated with olive oil and seasonings.

The beautiful and delicious citrus salad with avocado. I used to be leery of this, but fortunately for me I have come around. And I did my deviled eggs again as you can see in the background. Not pictured but amazing were: Becky's artichoke dip, Lucy's salad with pecans/craisins/feta, Amber's reuben dip, Morgan's reindeer balls, and Jodi's salmon/pesto dip. 

Here's me with my drink and my curly hair.

And here's my whole outfit.