NEW YEAR 2013 & Alfredo Sauce

Holy Moly! It's already March and I'm way behind! Not much new here at the Lombardo house, but here's the start of our year.

We had family over to ring in the 2013 year with THE BEST white chicken chili and of course, I copied my favorite blog for a chalk board and printed out the subway art.

This would be right before everyone out voted me to turn the island into a ping pong table.....


The best part about the holidays, I'm off and actually cook.

Alfredo Sauce

 What you need:
1 pint half & half
3-4 garlic cloves chopped finely
8 oz sour cream
1 stick of butter
Parmesan cheese (I wish I woul have used the fresh stuff instead but I forgot when I was at the store, Kraft will work in an emergency)
Noodles!

What to do:
Cook noodles, drain, set aside
1. In a small sauce pan, put chopped up garlic and 3 TBS of butter and saute. Don't burn!
2. Place remaining butter, half and half and sour cream in a pot. Whisk consistently.
3. Little by little, pour in parmesan cheese until completely melted.
4. Add putter and garlic to pot and whisk.
5. Pour over noodles and enjoy!

I put a wooden spoon over my noodles while they boil so that the water doesn't over boil. Just a little side note that I found on pinterest.

Winter = DESSERTS!!

I haven't updated in a long time....
I started baking some desserts; they aren't lasting very long. =)
My mom calls these turtles, I call them: perfect snack for my hand.
 Pretzel with Rolo on top, 200 degrees for about 4 minutes and then smashed down with a pecan.

I'm not as fancy as others. I've seen some Martha Stewarts drizzle chocolate over the pecan....I'm not about presentation. I just want it to be delicious!










I made these cherry cookies last week. I wasn't impressed with them like Michael. Here's the link with the original recipe.

I'm tempted to give them a second try and skip out on the Kiss. I think the flattening part ruined them.










DECORATING

I didn't really have the urge to put up the tree this year since Colt gets in it and I spend each night trying to get him out. However, after some Christmas music I had the tree up in 30 minutes. I love this picture of his face rubbing the branch. I think Colt was happier than I was when the tree was finished.

My DIY- ornaments from Lowe's that we bought our first year (plastic) and a Christmas bowl as my island center piece. Fancy, I know.

We went to opportunity village and enjoyed some lights.

I made the banner from pinterest, the chalkboard I copied from my favorite blog. I really wanted to decorate hard core since this is the first year I have a mantle but the JOY from Target broke the budget for that idea. I'll have to hit up pinterest for some more DIY. (I personally like that I have candles as weights for the banner)

I was organizing my crap craft supplies and Colt got a hold of a pipe cleaner. It has been his number one play item for over a week now! If I'd have known this earlier....man oh man, I could have saved some money.



I was devastated Friday when I heard about the shooting at Sandy Hook E.S. My prayers go out to the families and educators at that school. For those teachers who did best for their students, my out most respect for you. This is my fourth year teaching and every year we practice a Hard Lock Down and I thank the Lord that I haven't had to go through what these teachers and students went through. I pray that the families will heal and that all schools change/revise/edit/update their safety policy.

This photo is one from a teacher I currently work with that she has had on her door since day 1. I think this is an awesome idea for any teacher, especially if there is sub. I've been saving it for when I update my teaching page but I thought I'd share now.

Tater Tots and Monkey Bread

The Maranos came over Sunday to watch some football, poor Browns...they didn't win. I LOVE pinterest. I think  have an addiction to it. I found this recipe (grouprecipes.com) and made it today. It was pretty dang good and my favorite, easy to throw together.

What you need:

1- 2 lb. bag frozen tots

2 c. milk

4 c. shredded cheddar cheese

4 eggs

1 lb of EITHER: ham, sausage, bacon ALREADY COOKED

What to do:

In a 9x13 dish layer out ham (or whatever you chose), layer cheese over the meat, in a separate bowl, beat eggs and milk then pour over cheese. Layer tots over egg mixture. Bake in oven at 350 degrees.

***Pinterest said 45mins, I had to do an hour because the eggs were done when I checked***

 What you need

I used ham from the wall deli since it was already cooked and cut up.

Spread cheese on top of meat and then pour egg mixture on top. Add frozen tots and bake!!

MONKEY BREAD

This is straight from Grama Nancy's recipe cards. Yes, we spell it grama. Side note- one of my favorite bridal shower gifts was from grama Nancy. She gave me a laundry basket full of spices and cooking items with a recipe book with hand written recipes....I love it!

What you need:

3- 10oz biscuits

1 c. white sugar

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 c. brown sugar

1 stick butter

What to do:

In bowl, mix white sugar and ground cinnamon. Cut biscuits in half and roll into balls. Roll balls in sugar mixture and put in bundt pan.

On stove, melt butter and brown sugar. Boil for one minute. Pour mixture over biscuits. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Invert onto plate, Enjoy!

Michael turns 27!

Michael is old. He turned 27 today! Last night we celebrated with family and of course, a cookie cake. I don't know who in the world would want a cookie over a real piece of cake, but it was his birthday not mine. I made pasta from pinterest. It was delicious and home made garlic cheesy bread. We played what I thought was Scategories, but our families took it out of context. Oh, and Hypnotic liquor is not the same as Curacao...just in case you wondering. However,  I still drank it in my purple drink martini. Happy Birthday Michael!

 One more reason I love the chalkboard.

He had to have a cookie cake....

He loves me.

My mom loves me too.

Halloween

Colt was ready to pass out candy. This is the first time in 3 years that I have ran out of candy. The first year in our house I spent $50 on candy and had 2 trick-or-treaters. I cut back on the spending last year and had 6 kids show up. This year, I thought a 40 count bag of Reese's and KitKat would be enough...I had to pass out fruit snacks! Eventually I just turned our light off. It was out of control!

We went to my grandma Carole's house the Sunda before Halloween to carve pumpkins.

Yes, that is a Cleveland pumpkin carving kit!

I made ALL 3 tutus. I saw a picture on pinterest and then found a youtube video that showed step-by-step directions (thank goodness). I had a blast at work with my co-workers. Plus, I liked wearing a tutu all day.

Chalkboard (finally)

I finally got around to making my chalkboard. I had bought a piece of wood at Joann's and painted it but I didn't sand the wood and it was a hot mess! I saw on pinterest (surprise) how someone had painted glass and it worked. So, since I had Nevada Day I off I went to Michael's with my coupon and bought a picture frame with glass. Side note, teachers who show their CCSD badge receive an additional 15% off the total....just sayin'. I bought the paint at Lowe's months ago and finally painted! I used Crayola Chalk.

I love to paint, but I was a little impatient. It really needed more than 4 coats. I've already scratched off parts.

I didn't wait for it to dry completely. I'm very impatient.

TA-DA!!!



2 Years!

I'm a little behind in blogging.... so I'm going to catch up really fast. First-
We celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary October 23rd. I can't believe it has already been two years! Thank you to all who made it THE BEST Party/day! Michael and I both still talk about how our wedding was a blast!

We celebrated by going to NY earlier in October, but there's nothing better than cake! I loved, enjoyed, devoured our cake at our wedding because it was soooo good. Last year, we unfroze the top layer and it was terrible! I was so upset! I had been waiting to have that delicious cake in my mouth and was disappointed. I wanted cake this year (surprise) and was was able to order one that was FABULOUS! One of the girls on our softball team, Kim, her sister does cakes out of her house. Angel Wings Creations (on facebook). I would order from her again. The picture above looks exactly like what I had sent her, plus, it was moist and tasted just like our wedding cake minus the cake being smashed in my face. It was a great night of Caprioti's and watching the wedding DVD.