Upside-down Pizza

Okay folks, here's an oldie but goodie! 

My dear friend, Karen, gave me this recipe over 10 years ago. I was freshly moved out of my parents house & trying to learn to cook for Jason and myself. My mom is an excellent cook but like most teenagers & young 20ish year olds, I didn't really pay attention in the kitchen until it was time for me to fend for myself. This recipe always takes us back to some of our fondest memories in the ratty little duplex that Jason & I left our parents nest to start our adulthood together. Thanks Karen for this gem & for 18 years of friendship. Love ya' beotch! Now, enough of the mushy stuff & on to the cheese please! 

I had forgotten for a minute that I had promised to blog this recipe & had started cooking the ground beef before I snapped the ingredient pick so don't forget the beef!! 

Step 1: Brown the beef & onions, then let cool for 3-5 mins. Remember to pre-heat oven to 350 while you're browning. 

Step 2: Add 1/2 -3/4 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce & 1 beaten egg to the cooled meat. We love mushrooms & pepperoni so normally I add that here but we were out & I was already in my pj's. (So what it's 6:30 on a Friday night. Don't judge.) 

Step 3: Spread mixture into a prayed 9X13 Pyrex. (I am only cooking a half recipe so please ignore the 8X8 in pic's below.) 

Step 4: Top with cheese!! 

Step 5: Open up the can of crescent rolls & lay them on a piece of wax paper. Pinch the preferrations together to make one huge rectangle. You can GENTLY stretch it to fit the 9X13. It will puff up!

Step 6: Lay the crescent roll on top and bast with the other lightly beaten egg. This will make it golden & glorious! 

Step 7: Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until golden brown & bubbly. 

I hope you enjoy this as much and as long as we have! 

Upside-down pizza Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef

1 small onion chopped

2 large eggs (divided)

1/2 - 3/4 jar spaghetti sauce

2 c pizza cheese (motzeralla & cheddar)

1 can creasent rolls 

Shrimp Alfredo

By request, I will be posting a few recipes that are on our weekly menu! I apologize that I don't have picture to post of the pasta from last night but I will flood the next few posts with pictures from beginning to end. :)

Shrimp Alfredo:

1 lb peeled & deveined uncooked shrimp

2 tbsp butter

Old Bay Seasoning (optional)

2 cloves minced garlic

2 c heavy cream

1/2 c white wine

1/2 + c grated parmesan cheese

1 lb linguini pasta (We like the one in the refrigerated section)

olive oil

S&P

1 large pot (for pasta)

1 large skillet

• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil with a healthy drizzle of olive oil added to the water. (It keeps the pasta from sticking together.)

• In the large skillet, heat butter & garlic over med-high heat. (Be careful not to let the garlic burn!)

• Rinse the shrimp and pat them dry then season with S&P and Old Bay, if you like. Add them to the butter & garlic until they start to turn pink, then take them out & set them to the side.

• Add cream, wine & Parmesan to the same skillet & turn heat down to medium or med-low depending on your stove. A good simmer is what you're looking for. You want the cream to thicken up!

•  The fresh pasta only takes a few minutes to cook so add the pasta to the boiling water while the sauce is thickening. Cook according to package & drain. (I like to reserve a little of the pasta water in-case I get my sauce too think or you could use a splash of milk.)

• Once the noodles are done, add the noodles & the shrimp to the cream sauce, turn the heat to low. Cook until shrimp are fully cooked.

I like to serve garlic bread with pasta because of you're going to eat carbs you might as well go into a carb's comma!

~Enjoy! 

Weekend Rewind

This past weekend was gorgeous here in Southwest Georgia so I was "pin"spired to get a little crafty!

I have fallen in love with a few candles at Target over the last several months, which are not cheap. I decided to take a crack at making my own soy candles. I read several tutorials that I found on Pinterest and a quick web search. I stumbled upon one that I was pretty sure I couldn't mess up and wouldn't make a huge mess to clean up. You melt the soy flakes in the microwave... That's right, the microwave! So off to my local craft store I went to buy soy flakes, wicks & scents. They were incredibly easy & super quick to make! It may take a couple of tries to get it perfect but over all, I am happy! 

(The fork was to keep the wick straight and from sinking. I was pretty proud that I thought of that on the fly!) 

My next project was actually one of my very first Pin's. I love fresh herbs! The way they look, smell, taste... everything! There is just something about walking outside your door and grabbing a handful right from Mother Nature.

I already had the large clay pot (that was home to a dead asparagus fern) so all I had to buy was the two smaller clay pots and the delicious herbs. My total cost was less than $30! This isn't even the best part though... check out these precious labels!!

In the Pin, they used real silverware but unfortuately we didn't have any to spare so I busted out the plastic forks I had stashed & spray painted them. We have a bowl of wine corks that I have been itching to do something with & twine leftover from Christmas. Free & easy! 

¡Viola! My perfect little potted herb garden. 

~Enjoy!

5 months past due

I completely forgot to post a follow up picture of our beautiful brick pavers! I must have posted a million pictures on Instagram but definitely dropped the ball on my extremely sporatic little blog. My apologies. 

They could not be anymore perfect!! The best part is they show absolutely no dirt!! Well, maybe that's not the best thing but it's definitely a perk! 

We also painted the kitchen to give it a face-lift that would compliment the pavers. I have not been known to pick the greatest paint colors but this time I was spot on. Thank you Martha Stewart, Buckwheat Flour is perfect! I am seriously considering painting the entire inside of the house this color but I am afraid that my husband may lay the smack down if I ask anytime soon. So for now, I will sip my wine quietly in my "new" kitchen. 

"100 Floors" (Not the app)

After 5 & 1/2 years of owning our home, we are finally giving our kitchen floors a face lift!

When we moved in to our simple home, we were blessed to have no renovations right off the bat. The previous owner was an interior decorator so the walls were great neutral colors & the hardwood floors were in good condition. We just signed & started unloading... literally! The only part of the house that started bothering me pretty much immediately was the kitchen floor. As you can tell by my previous posts, I am in the kitchen a lot; therefore, with every spill & slosh I began hating the floor. Have I mentioned yet that is was white, peel-n-stick tiles? Yep, over 300 square feet of white, not so sticky anymore tiles...

After much debate & hours upon hours of Pinterest and Houzz surfing, we decided on brick pavers! Truly, it has always been between hardwood and those beautiful, southern, charming little bricks. I am not a big fan of tile for what ever reason. If we went with the hardwood then we knew we would need to refinish the hardwoods throughout the rest of the house and that really started adding up quickly. 

Below are a few pictures of our remodeling journey...

"The Before"

"Bye-Bye Old & Ugly"

Jason & I scrapped up the "tile" ourselves. It was actually quite nice to take out my aggression on those mocking little white squares. Muahahahaha!! 

"The Call"

Until after 2 hours of our contractor ripping out the floor... we got the call. We had a sub-floor problem. Agghhh! To quote my friend, "There ain't no surprise like a sub-floor surprise!"

"The Demo" 

Yes, this is our sub-floor being cut out... all. three. layers.Ugh, it hurt just to look at this picture. Luckily, they discovered the last layer was still in great condition. 

"Watch for Splinters"

On the bright side, at least we got to walk on that pretty, new sub-floor for 5 days. It really helped me to feel like we got our monies worth.

"Drop the Base"

Permabase that is! The last layer of sound, permanent structure until our floor starts to look like... well, a floor! Hooray! 

  I will post the big reveal later next week when we are back in our home.

Man massage

For my birthday, back in June, my thoughtful hubs gave me a gift certificate to a local spa in town. While rifling through my purse a couple of weeks ago I came across it. Completely unused & glorious! 

For whatever reason, a thought came to me & I immediately called the spa to see what their policy is on how you can use their gift certificates. "How ever you like!" was their response. Awesome! 

Now on very rare occasions, I get bursts of unselfish spontaneity so I have to act quickly before I realize what I have done. :) Before I knew it, I had booked a couples massage for Jason & I for last Saturday morning!

Jason had never had a massage before... ever... in his life. "What??", you say. I know! I was given a massage as a matron of honor gift years ago and have delighted in a facial before so I knew we were about to thoroughly enjoy this. 

Jason was excited about it that morning but nothing compared to my overjoyed jabbering self. He asked a few questions about what to expect & verified that I would choose Mark the masseur and he would have Misty. There was plenty of teasing that he would get the dude until the morning of. I can't resist trying to get one over on that man! 

We arrived at the spa on time & were taken back to the room quickly. We stripped down & slid underneath the sheet on our appointed separate tables. My excitement was almost uncontrollable! As the hour passed, we were pampered, rubbed, kneaded, karate chopped and transported to a jelly like state. It was WONDERFUL!! Jason kept commenting through out "if only I had known sooner" and "how often do you recommend getting a massage". Needless to say, he is hooked! 

I think I can count on getting that perfect little packaged certificate of love for every holiday & occasion until the end of time. Score! 

So with a pound of lotion in our hair and muscles made of noodle soup, we left the spa... grabbed a Starbucks and bite of lunch and poured ourselves onto the sofa for the rest of the afternoon. It was the perfect way to spend our Saturday! 

                                                                       Ahh.....

Hey, hey, we love our CSA!

My husband & I joined a local CSA from an organic, zero waste farm about an hour away from our hometown, White Oak Pastures. Here in Southwest Georgia, our city is surrounded with farms large and small. We love fresh veggies but have always stayed in our comfort zone; beans, corn, mushrooms... you know "the norm". We have been receiving our weekly CSA crate from a few months now and boy, have we had to get creative! Between googling some of the surprises to find out what it actually is & recipes to use them in, thankfully most of our unfamiliar items have not gone to waste. 

Here is a weekly menu from a couple of weeks ago that incorporates at least one delicious organic goodie each! (None of which are the meats...)

Wednesday's pork tenderloin was to die for! I take absolutely no credit for this gem. This bad boy is all Martha's! Here is the link, Sage- and Garlic-Crusted Pork Tenderloin. I shared this recipe the next day with a girl friend of mine and she agreed, two thumbs way up!

Thursday's was a quick "throw it together" kind of meal due to working all day then taking my unmotivated behind to zumba before coming home to cook. Not to complain, but even those of us that love to cook have our days we wish we had that damn magic wand we saw as a child! Bibity-bobity-boo! (Dang it!!) All belly aching aside, it was so worth making this! It was excellent and gone in a flash. I used the pesto recipe that was attached to our CSA's blog, it was divine! Probably the best pesto I have ever had. 

The eggplants were so tender and browned beautifully. I peeled the eggplants, cut them into hearty slices and dredged them though an egg wash then bread crumbs seasoned with italian spices and S&P. I fried them in a little olive oil until golden brown, transferred them to a pyrex, topped them with thick slices of mozzarella cheese then smeared marinara on top. Popped them in a 350 degree oven until the cheese started melting and the sauce was bubbling. That's it! It was just that easy! (I just eyed it & didn't really use any measurements, sorry!) Below are a couple pictures I snapped during the process... 

     (Yes, that is a white eggplant!!) 

                               

                          

Disclaimer: I was too pooped to make the caprise salad... I know, I know, I am worthless :) 

XOXO