My Big Fat Greek Pasta Salad

Finally spring has come to New England! To celebrate the warmer weather I’ve moved on from my heavy, cheese-laden casseroles and thick crock-pot soups of winter to lighter, and usually COLDER, fare.

This recipe is from my mother – she used to make this to accompany burgers on the grill or to bring to a potluck (which would piss me off because I usually wanted it all for myself!) The best part about this pasta salad is that I actually only like half of the ingredients in it (I don’t eat peppers or olives). Yet, in my experimentation over the years I’ve found that if I leave those items out it tastes wrong.

This dish is also good on top of lettuce with a little extra Greek or Italian dressing and some croutons – a meal in and of itself! I’ve also made a vegetarian version by adding fried firm tofu instead of chicken. Enjoy!

Greek Pasta Salad

1 box of rotini (tri-color preferred)
2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 1/4 oz. can sliced black olives, drained
4 oz.  crumbled feta cheese (don’t use flavored but low-fat is ok)
3 green onions, chopped
16 oz. bottle of light Italian dressing

Cook rotini according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold water, set aside in a big bowl.  Boil chicken (or bake in oven) until cooked. Wait till cool and shred – adding to rotini. Add in feta cheese, green and red pepper, olives, celery and green onions. Stir to combine all ingredient. Add 1/2 of bottle of italian dressing and stir to coat. I don’t like my pasta salad drenched so I put it in two 1 gallon freezer bags and squirt a little extra dressing in the bag before sealing and shaking. This pasta salad is best when it’s had time to marinate in the bags in the fridge overnight – so the chicken can soak up some of the feta and dressing.

Scrappin: Peace (for now)

It’s been over a year since our two little monsters joined our family. Buffy was 3 years old and Phinneus only 5 months old when they descended on our home last January. This picture was taken a couple of weeks after their arrival – in a rare moment when Buffy was relaxed enough to come out from her hidey hole in our bedroom cabinet and when Finny was calm enough to actually stop raising hell and take a nap. Since the two of them could care less about each other, finding them on the bed together, fast asleep, was a priceless scrapbooking moment.

Buffy and Phinneus Peace Layout

Color: The black and white of my bedspread and Buffy’s fur left me with a wide open palette of color choices for this layout. I found an amazing cat-themed tag (see below in embellishments) that I wanted to use so based the color scheme for the layout around that. The background printed paper is a mixture of orange, brown, lime green, and dark blue. I offset the busyness of the pattern with a dark blue cardstock – letting the fun print peek out of the right hand side.

Embellishments: This layout makes use of super cute tag I picked up from one of my favorite scrapbook supply stores – Scrapbuck.com. The tag had an orange cat on it that looked just like Finny so I used a sticker I had of a black cat for Buffy on the top tag. The peace tag came from Paper Source. I continued adding textures to the page by running an orange ribbon along the bottom (filling up some dead space) and ending it with a white button – drawing the eye to the tag and my journaling.

Here’s a sketch of the scrapbook layout for your own use. Happy Scrappin!

Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast Pizza

I based my Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast Pizza off of a “Speedy Sausage Squares” Taste of Home recipe.

Yet another addition to our “Breakfast for Dinner” repertoire – we recently enjoyed this cool twist on pizza squares using scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, and of course – copious amounts of cheese. There’s a million different ways you could change this meal up, and the super easy prep and speedy cooking time made it a winner in my house when it came to needing a quick meal idea. I ended up calling our version Green Eggs and Ham because of the spinach we included, which managed to turn the whole thing green. It’s the perfect breakfast tribute for St. Patrick’s Day!

Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast Pizza Squares

1 tube of refrigerated crescent rolls
6 eggs
1 cup of chopped cooked spinach (frozen spinach that’s been thawed works just fine)
1 cup of diced ham
1/4 cup of half and half
1 cup shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup of chopped green onion
Salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll crescent dough into greased 13×9-inch glass baking dish. Press dough in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides. Press all perforations to seal them up – creating one giant sheet of dough. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, half and half, salt and pepper until mixed well. Pour into a greased skillet along with green onions and spinach. Cook over medium heat until eggs are 2/3 scrambled and still slightly wet. Add diced ham and mix well. Pour the entire mixture into the 13×9-inch baking dish over the dough. Sprinkle top with cheese and bake until dough is golden brown and eggs are cooked through – approx. 20-25 minutes.

Leftovers beware – this does re-heat well but shouldn’t be overcooked in the micro – a minute was pushing it when nuking one square. Too long in the microwave and the croissant base got too soft and tasted a little soggy. But in the plus column, you won’t even have leftovers if you serve this to overnight guests as a cool breakfast idea. Really good served with hash browns!

Low-fat/vegetarian version: When we first made these, we used low-fat crescent rolls, low-fat cheese, egg beaters, and Morningstar meatless sausage patties diced up into bite-sized pieces. Everything still tasted delicious!

That touch of fur: Five ways cats have changed my life

I felt inspired to blog about my two monsters after sitting down to the computer tonight to finish my taxes and instead getting a mouthful of fur. Finny, our 1-year-old spunkmeister, felt it necessary to parade back and forth across my desk rubbing his back under my jaw and swipeing his tail across my mouth. The same mouth that just had a coat of chapstick applied to it. Awesome. After throwing him on the floor he proceeded to climb my back instead – this time digging his four-inch claws (that he won’t allow me to clip) into my flesh. When he decides he can’t make it to my head, he SLIDEEESSSSS down my back leaving a trail of bloody welts.

The constant interruptions made me think about how having animals in my life, especially cats, has changed my everyday behavior. Since Finny likes to jump on my back whenever I’m in the bathroom (and inevitably scaring the daylights out of me), I’ve learned to hunch over the sink when brushing my teeth or getting ready to get in the shower. For some reason when my height is diminished he’s not as interested in climbing me like Mt. Everest. But to anyone who doesn’t know this about him, I’m sure I look like a hobbit, a nana, or just plain moronic.

What other weird things do I automatically do to accommodate my animals?

Because this is so helpful to me while I’m trying to work. I can’t even get to my mouse!

Five Ways Pets (ok, mostly cats) Have Changed My Life

5. I put my unfinished meals on the floor.

I can’t tell you how many cereal bowls I’ve set down on the floor next to my computer chair only to step in them an hour later when I go to get up. While vacationing in the Caribbean, J and I had lunch on the patio of a little island eatery and I, being the pied piper of cats, managed to make a mangy friend of the feline variety. I immediately planted my plate on the floor for my friend to enjoy – causing much commotion from the locals and nearly getting us kicked out (an I’m sure I narrowly avoided rabies as well).

4. I sleep like a Cirque du Soleil contortionist.

I am used to have a mound of animal flesh in some of the most awkward places on my bed. Snickers used to like sleeping on my face. Finny enjoys sleeping right between my legs – which makes for some entertaining problem-solving as I try to shift positions in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, not having pets until he met me, J doesn’t understand where the cat is in the bed. I can move myself around Finny in my sleep. He rolls over on top of him 9 out of 10 nights and nearly suffocates him to death.

3. I check the closets, dryer, and oven obsessively.

I don’t even know I’m doing it – it’s second nature to double-check the dryer before closing the door and turning it on. I even wait and listen for an extra loud THUD, just in case. I also open the oven door about 20 times after I turn it on, which is probably why it takes my oven twice as long to pre-heat as it does others. And I’m guilty of shutting Buffy in the hall closet at least a dozen times…mostly because she’s so damn quiet and doesn’t really notice (being blind she sits in there silently until we retrieve her – poor thing). I do not leave the house before checking that both animals are accounted for. Just in case!

2. I can’t have “nice” things.

I actually used to smile and nod at families with young children who would tell me this. Because I was way ahead of them – even before Silas was born I used this phrase all the time. I don’t buy expensive furniture, or bedding, or curtains. I don’t spend a lot of money on new carpets or flooring. Why? We can’t have nice things with cats. It’s going to have puncture marks in it. It’s going to get shredded, covered in hair, thrown up on, peed on, and just plain worn out. And I honestly could care less – because they’re cheap things that can easily be replaced! Now you know why 90% of our home is furnished by IKEA and Big Lots. Note: I’ll never forget the time I watched Snickers walk over to one of our in-floor heating vents and proceed to throw up down it. Seriously. She had the whole house, but she knew this would be the only place I couldn’t clean. Never underestimate a cat – they know how to push your buttons.

1. I repeat myself over, and over, and over, and over, and over…

To me the cats are human and are capable of understanding what I say. But for some reason I still can’t get past repeating every question I ask them a dozen times. It’s like I’m expecting an answer. Spend an hour at my house and you’ll inevitably hear me say, “Whatcha doing Finn? Huh????? Whatcha doin? What????………….Huh? Whatcha doing Finnycakes? Whatcha doing?” I recently took a video of Silas in his pack n play and all you can hear in the background is me saying, “Hey baby whatcha doing?! Huhhh?!?! What do you see? What is it? Whatcha doing? Huh?!?”. It was a real eye opener at how unbelievably annoying I must be to my loved ones.

After being blessed with many an animal in my life over the years I know there won’t be a day that goes by that I won’t have one around. So Silas, when you’re 50 and reading this and you know it’s time to put mom in a nursing home – let me take my cat!

Scrappin: The Perfect Gift

Even though I’ve been scrapping for years, I’ve yet to do a layout focused on Christmas. It took having my first child to inspire me to finally make some holiday-themed layouts. This one is particularly special because I was able to showcase a great random picture I took of Silas in his Santa suit outfit and make it about what I consider to be the greatest gift I’ve ever received.

This layout also showcases two techniques. The first is the use of an item you wouldn’t normally think to use in a scrapbook page – a Christmas gift tag. The second, the use of a black and white photo that has pops of color in it, courtesy of my friend, Adobe Photoshop.

The Perfect Gift

Here’s how I made this layout:

Color: I had some Christmas paper lying around from a Christmas card crafting project I did last year. Red and turquoise are striking colors when used together – the red pops against the cool turquoise. I wanted the layout to be simple so the photo and my journaling were the focus and not the crazy patterned paper around them. I have a soft spot for “story paper” – what I call scrapbooking paper that’s already full of journaling or wording relative to the theme. While I use it sparingly, I find it’s a real lifesaver on layouts like this one where I don’t have a lot to say to begin with and something that incorporates words into a patterned paper is an extra added touch.

Photo: The photo of Silas was a zoomed in/cropped shot from our trip to the annual Christmas parade in town. Since he was in his stroller, I zoomed in heavily to cut out the toys and shoulder straps that were framing his face. You miss out on his santa suit, but see just enough of his hat to know he’s dressed as such. To make the photo black and white with pops of color, I imported the image into Photoshop and duplicated the photo, adding it as a layer on top of the original. I then desaturated the duplicate layer and used the eraser tool over the red parts of his Santa suit. By “erasing” the top black and white layer, you allow the red of the colored photo underneath it to come through.

Embellishments: I used one of my extra gift tags – the red Christmas present – to offset the patterned paper and photo and add a little pop to the page. Since it’s chunky, it gives a lot of dimension to the layout and draws the eye over to the photo and then down to the title. I also included a glittery snowflake sticker with a jewel in the center next to the title to fill some dead space and add a little more bling.

Title: The title was made with sparkly alphabet stickers in red. The stickers came in several fonts so I mixed and matched the letters to give the layout some character. If you’re anal about uniformity like me – this is a great way to mix things up and make your layouts look a bit more artistic without sacrificing it to the chaos gods.

Journaling: I didn’t have too much to say about this photo, but what I did have to say was important – so I included it in the top left-hand section of the layout. Since the month and year were important to me, I included them in the bottom left.

Here’s a sketch of the scrapbook layout for your own use. Happy Scrappin!

An experiment gone right: Cow patty cookies

I enjoy baking goodies for my new office.  Since it’s 98% men, I could probably bring in the worst cookies I’ve ever made and they’d still scarf them down. So while scouring my kitchen this weekend in search of some ingredients to use in a batch of cookies, I came across a bag of white chocolate chips and a bag of shredded coconut. Feeling like the menfolk would probably really like something chocolatey, I decided to experiment. I took a chocolate cookie recipe base and turned it upside down, adding cinnamon, hazelnut coffee (these guys are programmers – their blood is pure caffeine), and the white chocolate chips and coconut.

The resulting cookies were flat discs full of chunky goodness – and the first thing I thought of was, “These look like cow turds.” But they sure don’t taste like it – the hazelnut coffee and cinnamon makes the chocolate pop and the white chocolate/coconut combo gives you a little sugary flavor burst in every bite. Enjoy!

Cow Patty Cookies

1/2 cup of margarine
1 1/4 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of hazelnut coffee (or flavor of your choice)
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup of shredded coconut

Cream the margarine and sugar until smooth. Add the cocoa, baking soda, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and egg and beat until mixed. Add the flour and the hazelnut coffee and blend until well mixed. Finally, add in the white chocolate chips and shredded coconut and stir well until the dough is like a thick brownie batter consistency. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet with about an inch of space around each cookie ( I got about 6 cookies on a standard sheet – you need to leave lots of room because they spread out). Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes until set and edges look crispie. Cool for several minutes before removing them to a wire rack of wax paper (they’re super soft so fall apart easily). Makes about 30 cookies.

Crafty Gift Idea: Picture Frame “To-Do” List

A couple of months ago while scouring the web for a Christmas gift for my sister, I got the bright idea to visit her Pinterest board to see what she was liking these days.

JACKPOT. She had pinned a half a dozen crafts and do-dads that she thought were cool (and that I knew she’d never be inclined to make for herself). Feeling particularly motivated to do something crafty, I decided to make her a picture frame “to-do” list based on a photo of one she had pinned. The to-do list is a great gift idea for anyone you know who’s got some serious OCD tendencies (like myself), and makes a million to-do lists that you find lying around the house (I currently have 3 going). It’s basically a picture frame that you gussy up depending on the tastes of the gift recipient. You attach a dry-erase marker and voila! Instant gift.

Here’s how I made mine…

Picture Frame To-Do List

Store-bought picture frame: This one was a 8 by 10 frame I found at the Christmas Tree Shops for a couple of bucks. It was pink and hideous, so I knew my sister would like it.

A sheet of ruled paper: This is the genius of the whole craft – frame a sheet of lined notepad paper to create the “list” portion of the gift. I used a standard peice of yellow notepad paper but you can also make your own on the computer or use a sheet of stationery that’s pre-decorated.

Various do-dads for decorating: My sister works at an animal shelter so I found some pawprint ribbon and hot glue-gunned it to the sides of the frame. I also tied a big bow around a dry erase marker and glue-gunned that to one of the corners of the frame. I found some neat fabric flowers and cat-shaped buttons that I also adhered to the frame edges.

Total time: 20 minutes