Veggie Garden Growing

I thought that I was going to finish up with the projects we started but this weekend was a whirlwind. Instead of a post today I will get one up for Tuesday. Pinky swear!

I leave you instead with our first red strawberry from our garden! We even made a salad with the lettuce over the weekend. I can't wait for the rest of our veggies to start coming in. :) Anyone else reaping any benefits from their garden yet?

Frost Yourself!

Well maybe not yourself like in "How to lose a guy in 10 days" but in this case the windows.

That's right. I actually tackled another bathroom project. Slowly but surely. This time I took some advice from Young House Love and tackled our bathroom window.

In our small bathroom upstairs we only have one window for light but of course we wanted our privacy so I needed a plan. We don't want to traumatize any neighbors in any way. Then YHL tackled their bathroom window and I thought it looked pretty awesome so I decided to solve the problem with frosting film.

I would recommend following the directions with the film and YHL's picture demo. Both worked pretty well and were self explanatory.

It took some patience and I am not sure I did it 100% right since I do see a little bubble at the top corners but I am liking the overall effect and adding some colored curtains on the side should really make the window pop.

So what do you think? Is frosting film coming back? Or are you still thinking about quotes from "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"? Classic movie.



Creamy Alfredo Pasta= Couch Potato

Whenever I want to render Tim immobile I make a homemade Alfredo dish. When we eat Alfredo you can bet we are spending the next 5 hours on the couch watching TV. We are happy but full. So with that note, here is some cheesy goodness for you. (of course with a slightly healthy twist) I altered a couple of myrecipe.com recipes to make this.

First let's round up the ingredients.

 

Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

• 1 tablespoon butter ( I used smart balance)
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups skim milk *next time I will use a little more so it isn't so thick
• 2 tablespoons light cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided 
• 4 cups hot cooked pasta (cooked without salt) *I used shells but any kind is fine
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• Freshly ground pepper 

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic, and saute 1 minute. Stir in flour.

Gradually add skim milk, stirring with a wire whisk until mixture is blended. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly.

Stir in cream cheese; cook 2 minutes. Add 1 cup Parmesan cheese, stirring constantly until Parmesan cheese melts. This is where it really thickens up. If you want it to be less thick, add more milk.

Pour sauce over hot cooked pasta, and toss well to coat. Top fettuccine with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, and pepper.

 

What I loved about this recipe was that it was heavy but not too heavy. Next time I will add some shrimp or chicken. The hubby liked it and the best part is that it was about 345 calories for a whole cup of that deliciousness. Not too bad for Alfredo.

Do you have any yummy recipes you tried out? What dish is so yummy and filling that it makes your family couch potatoes the rest of the night?

April Showers

Happy Monday! It is pouring here. Apparently it is a "Spring Nor'easter." Luckily we have power still.

This weekend we have done a lot of celebrating. One of my long time friends is expecting a little one in June and we all got together to celebrate at her shower. I wanted to show some great pictures to give some inspiration to anyone out there that is trying to plan a shower or even a theme party. Since they do not know the gender, they focused on fairy tales and classic stories and rhymes.

The tables were simple and full of signs of Spring. A pot of flowers and simple green napkins. Then there were little touches of fairy tales like apples to represent "Snow White" and little frog candles to represent "The Princess and the Frog."

On every window sill was a representation of a fairy tale. We have the 7 dwarfs.

Cinderella

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

And Beauty and the Beast

There was also the cutest cake. Each book was a different flavor. We were able to choose between Chocolate Fudge and Raspberry Lemon.

We also played another great game where it was fairy tale and nursury rhyme trivia.

Example: "What did Little Miss Muffet sit on?"

Simple themes like this in a party make a big impact and are also so adorable! I loved it. Hopefully this gave some of you ideas for other parties.

Anyone else love theme parties? I eat them up. 

I am not the only one that needs exercise

It isn't Hubby either. He's been kickin' some serious butt. Remember my New Years resolution to get in shape? Well I have been doing well. It took awhile but I am back to my pre-holiday weight. A big feat considering all the crap I ate. I feel great but I realized that I am not the only one who needs exercise. You have met him before here. That's right. This guy here relies on me to push him as well.

Sure, he's a little lazy.

Okay- a lot lazy.

So it was time to make a pack with him to get him back into his summer shape. Where he can go camping with us and have a ball running and swimming without feeling out of shape. Plus, at 7 years old, he is not a spring chicken. Well he's not a chicken at all but that is besides the point. We started this week going with him on regular long walks. With his trusty harness on (an 80 pound dog is not easy to walk) we started mapping routes for him on mapmyrun.com. Have you used that site? Its awesome. Basically no matter where you live, you can find running or walking routes that people in your area have done or you can map your own route to see how far it is and what type of terrain. I use it a lot in the summer.

 

So far James has been doing great. He's a little out of shape but it is not as bad as we thought and every day we do this we know that he gets healthier and healthier so we can have him around a long long time.

Have you guys ever gotten your pet on a regular exercise plan? It's like biggest loser all up in our house. Except without the money.... or drama...or Bob.

*I realized I should state that I wasn't in any way perked for talking about mapmyrun. I just really like their site.