Chicken and Feta Pasta Florentine

Good Morning!

Well, I decided to change things up a bit this morning and share a quick recipe with you. I made this yummy dish last night for supper and thought I would post it in case anyone was looking for a nice easy romantic supper for tonight. I enjoyed this with a nice Pinot Grigio wine that I had as well. If the hubs was home, I would have made a salad and bread as well...but he's not, so I didn't! Haha!!
I make a lot of these types of pasta dishes. They are easy and very versatile. You can use just about any ingredients you have on hand and make a different and delicious dish every time!

Ingredients:

--Chicken Strips (I used the Tyson grill ready kind....it saved a BUNCH of time! If you use regular chicken...just adjust the recipe for cooking purposes.)
--1/2 onion chopped
-- 4 or 5 strips bacon (I use plain ol' everyday pork bacon...so I can't attest to how it would taste with turkey bacon)
--3/4-1 jar of Alfredo Sauce
--3 cloves of garlic minced
--1/2 box chopped frozen spinach (I find a whole box is just too much)
--1/2 box short pasta (penne, shells, ziti...whatever you have on hand)
--Feta Cheese

Directions:

--Put the water on and start cooking the pasta according to directions (just a little less than al dente)

1. Cut the bacon into pieces and fry until crispy and remove from pan. (If you are cooking chicken add it to the pan and cook once you remove the bacon...and then remove also once it's finished)
2. Lower the heat a little and add the chopped onion. Once the onion has softened, add the garlic and let cook for a few more minutes. Season with a SMALL amount of salt, some pepper and if you like, a little dash of red pepper flakes.
3.(Optional) add a couple of turns of white wine around the pan and let reduce until the liquid is just about all gone
4. Add the spinach and cook for a few minutes.
5. Return the chicken and bacon back to the pan
6. Add the Pasta sauce. (Note: when I made this, I knew I didn't want to make a lot, so I only used the 1/2 box of pasta and about 3/4 of a jar of sauce. Adjust this according to how much you are going to make)
7. Add a handful of feta cheese
8. Stir everything together. Now, at this point your pasta should already be cooking as well. Take a ladle full of the pasta water and slowly stir it into the sauce mixture
9. Drain the pasta and then add it to the sauce and gently combine it together.

Enjoy and if you get a chance, let me know what you think about this recipe!

A video tribute and a card for Whitney: Amazing Grace

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I am here just briefly to share a card that I made to pay tribute to the great Whitney Houston, who as you all know passed away unexpectedly yesterday. She was such a timeless voice and for many of us, her songs were the soundtracks to our lives. I decided also to make a small video with a few pictures I found via internet. When I was trying to decide a song to play, I just couldn't choose a Whitney song. There are just too many to choose from, too many wonderful and amazing songs. So, I decided instead to use a piece of beautiful music that I think reflects her beauty not only on the outside; but the inside as well.

Life is precious, and time past is time gone forever. Love those around you passionately, completely; and forever.

 

Hearts and Flowers

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope everyone is having a happy start to their weekend. Mine has been productive already this morning; but now I intend to just relax and curl up with my book for as long as the kids are occupied (and my oldest is still asleep!) I actually have, not one; but two cards to share with you today! I know, right?! I actually managed to get both of these done yesterday whilst the kids were at school; but didn't have a chance to get them posted.
In other news, I am a little sad to report that none of my cards were selected for Paper Crafts Stamp It 9 call. I was a little discouraged; but I know I'm not the only one either. I thought about going and ahead and sharing what I submitted; but I think I'm going to just hang on to them for a little longer. I haven't quite decided if I want to submit them for Stamping Royalty or not. The competition for getting published is stiff, that's for sure!

Anyhow, enough of my sob story, let's get to these cards!! The first one is for the 2nd Week of Viva La Verve. (I did the 1st one last week; but I haven't uploaded it to my SCS gallery yet.) I have really been liking the look of lots of white space and the dry embossing on white as well. I really wanted to keep this card pretty simply, so I chose a color palette of Enchanted Evening, White and Hawaiian Shores. The sentiment is a Plain Jane from Verve and the "xoxo" at the bottom is a little stamp found in Verve's "Tag Time" Set. The flowers, are of course, from Prima. In the photo, the center flower looks cream; but it's actually white.
 Challenges for this card:

ATC&Cards with Attitude: Flowers
Bloggers Challenge: In Bloom
Allsorts Challenge: Free and Easy February

Now, on to the second card! This one is for February's SFYTT challenge (In case you don't know what that stands for it's Sketch for You to Try!) What a fun sketch this was and easy to work with. I decided to make a card that I can send to my hubby later since he will be gone for a while longer yet. I  took this picture outside and well, you know me...always taking crooked pictures! Anyhow... I used Kraft, Dark Chocolate,  White and Ruby Red for this card. The heart stamps and the sentiments are from Hero Arts "Year Round Sentiment" set. Not a whole lot really to talk about this card. It's really as simple as it looks!


Challenges for this card:

Card Crafter's Circle: Valentine's or Hearts/ Love
Crafty Ann's Challenge: Love is in the Air
Phindy's Place: Circles
2 Sisters Challenge: I heart you
Craft Your Days Away : Get Stitchy


Have a great day everyone and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hero Arts February Challenge.

Hi Everyone!

Just a very quick post to share a card that I've made for the Hero Arts February Challenge. This is my first time entering the monthly contest challenge and to be honest, I really didn't decide until this morning. I woke up this morning planning to work on yesterday's Mojo Monday sketch and my mind just sort of veered off in another direction. I always like to get involved with challenges and contests as often as I can. Not because I'm some great stamper worthy of prizes and rewards (although that would obviously be nice!); but because I think being involved with the various challenges and competitions that are out there forces me to really push myself as it relates to creating. It makes me take the extra mile with a card such as inking the edges with distress ink as I did with this card. It gives me the courage to pull apart a card and re -vamp it if it "just doesn't quite look right" For example, I pulled this card apart 3 times before getting it to how I wanted it to be. After all, if it isn't satisfactory to me, how can I expect someone else to think it is? I am very fortunate that right now I have 3 children who are all in school every day and right now I'm not working, so I have the time to spend doing this hobby I enjoy so much. That will change soon I know, and when it does, I'll put all my "toys" away like a good girl and accept my responsibilities. Until then, however, I will continue to stamp all my cares away!!
For this challenge, I tried to combine elements of each theme for the challenge: The Sketch, The Friendship Theme and using Diecuts. I used two sets of Hero Arts stamps: Classic Fabric Design and Live Life.
Thanks for stopping by and visiting me today, my play time is all over for today; and now I am going to go do something at least a little bit worthy of my title as "Domestic Goddess"
Have a great day, my crafty friends! I'll see y'all tomorrow (with Mojo Monday sketch!)