Stuffed Shells

We made stuffed shells a couple of weeks ago. They were SO good!

20 jumbo shells
2 1/2 cups marinara/pasta sauce
10 oz bag of chopped spinach, thawed
8 oz bag of chopped broccoli, thawed
15 oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 small red onion, chopped


Heat oven to 400 degree. Cook pasta according to box.

Mix broccoli and spinach in a large bowl

Stir in the ricotta, Parmesan, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper

 

Stuff shells. Layer sauce on bottom of pan. Put shells on top and sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella. Bake for 10-12 minutes, then broil for 2-3.

While baking...

mix together the oil, vinegar, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

Serve onion mix on top of hot shells.

 

 Enjoy!

Mountain Trip '11

This year, we decided to head to Jefferson, NC. We actually stayed in a cabin outside Piney Creek. That was about 30 minutes from anywhere. We thought we were lost getting to the cabin on gravel roads!

View from cabin

Friday night we grilled chicken and watched Hocus Pocus. The cabin didn't have heat- only portable heaters. When we put them in the bedroom and turned them on, the power went out. Now, we are in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. We can only imagine things from horror movies. Yeah, we blew a breaker (not the only time during the weekend!) Funny now.. not so much then!

Saturday, I made hashbrowns, biscuits, and veggie protein (always look closely when buying things at Whole Foods!) We headed to Mouth of Wilson, VA. The drive was beautiful! We drove on a gravel road along the New River.  We headed on to Grayson Highlands State Park. We hiked some and even saw snow!

After hiking up a steep mountain, we decided to head to Jefferson to find some food. We ended up in West Jefferson at a pizza place. It was so good! We headed back to the cabin to watch some football. We grilled steaks, then headed to the Spooky Forest. We had seen signs for it, but no real address. I typed in part of the address in every city around and picked one. And sure enough, after some gravel roads we ended up there! It wasn't too spooky, but it was cheap and the proceeds went to a good cause. And, again, it was in the middle of nowhere. We hadn't seen that many stars in a long time!

Sunday, we took our time heading home. We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway to near Boone. The colors were amazing. Pictures cannot really capture how beautiful it was!

We stopped at a cafe in Winston-Salem for lunch. I had pumpkin pancakes- delish! It was a great trip! Can't wait to see where we end up for next year's trip!

But before then, we will be heading to Boston with Clark and Amy!

Mountains

Mountain Trip Details coming soon....

View from our cabin

Hello, Autumn!

While it has been very rainy here this week, the temperatures have been nice. This weekend has been sunny and perfect!

Monday night I didn't have class, so I met with a project partner at a coffee shop to work on a video. This is where I discovered red espresso. SO good! No caffeine and apparently, better for you. I had a pumpkin spice red espresso latte. A mouthful for sure, but oh so delicious! The coffee shop is pretty out of out way, so I doubt I will get to stop by often.

Tuesday, I had girls' night with the young married ladies from church. Wednesday, I had class; last week was SOOOO nice with no class. Next Wednesday, we begin clinics where we actually are going to diagnose students with reading problems. Thursday, I video conferenced with a different project partner to work on this week's deadlines. Whew! I feel like I don't sit still. Friday was an interesting day at work that involved some legal issues, so that made for a long day.

J got to wear jeans on Wednesday, which was a treat!

I ordered from jeans and a couple of shirts from J Crew Factory this week. There was a sale and a coupon code. I LOVE my purchases and wished I had ordered more. The jeans I bought fit me almost perfectly.. just an inch too long. I need to figure out what to do about that!

Friday, we had a date night. J even came to the door and rang the doorbell. He also opened doors for me almost all night. I can't remember the last time that happened. We went to eat at a Japanese place in town. We had sushi! (Eel is still our favorite.) Then we went bowling. It was so crowded, but it was fun. I broke 75 both times! Impressed? I was. J beat me both times, of course. We had a good time though!

Today was a beautiful autumn day! We had the windows opened and enjoyed watching football (even if we did lose. That's the typical story for State.) After the game, we went for a nice walk. There is a park with trails within walking distance of our house, but we had never been. We decided to change that. It was a nice area- much bigger than we thought. We took a trail, then took a greenway to the community center, then walked back home. Now that we know how nice the trails are, we will definitely be going back! When we got home, we made stuffed shells. It was intense labor wise, but they turned out great. Hopefully, (if I can find time) I will post pictures and the recipe soon.

This coming week, I have several meetings. I also have class on Monday and Wednesday this week. It has been 3 weeks since that has happened. I was enjoying it! I still have 2 Monday classes where we won't meet and 1 week where my Wednesday class doesn't meet, so I am looking forward to those! I also found out that next semester I will have class from 4-10 on Mondays. Going to be a long semester!

Friday, J is taking off work, and when I get home we are heading to the mountains! So excited :)

Football Weather

J here for my 2nd blog post (I think that's right).

We had a good weekend with Mamaw and Papaw.  We showed them around the area including the farmer's market which was particularly nice.  C was like a kid in a candy store with all of the pumpkins and gourds for sale :)  We bought a pumpkin, a white pumpkin, a bag of decorative gourds, two mums, and apples (for pie).

Last weekend, we went to the Georgia game in Athens.  We stayed Friday night in Anderson, SC and had dinner with old friends.  It was nice to catch up.  Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to Athens.  The campus wasn't quite as nice as I'd hoped, but the stadium was huge.  We were very high up and neglected to wear sunscreen.  So on top of watching State play a horrible game, our faces got burned up.  After the game, we stayed the night at the Omni in downtown Charlotte which was very luxurious (C got a good deal on PriceLine for the room which we were both excited about). We treated ourselves to room service since we got such a good deal on the room.  Sunday we went out for brunch and shopped for a bit and then headed back home.  Overall, it was a good weekend.

We are heading for the mountains on the 21st for the weekend but until then it should be life as usual.  C is at Girl's Night with the girls from church.  Hopefully she will be back soon :)

Football note: So far this football season has been amazingly disappointing.  If we can beat South Carolina though, things will be looking better.  It is hard to believe that things will ever really change though.  Losing to Auburn pretty much sums up what it's like to be a State fan.  At least things are better than they were a few years ago.

Y'all have a good week!

Awesome Potato Soup!

A few weekends ago when we went over to our friends' house for football, she had crockpot potato soup. It was so good, so I asked for the recipe.  I made it tonight, and it was just as good. So I thought I would share it here. It is super easy! I got it ready last night, put it in the fridge, then just moved it to the base and turned it on!

1 lb Sliced Bacon
2 pkgs Diced Hash Browns (32 oz each)
3 cans Chicken Broth
3 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
2 pkgs Cream Cheese,softened and cut up
1/2 cup Minced Onion
1 tbsp. Parsley

1. Cook all bacon and crumble.
2. In crockpot, combine the rest of ingredients. Stir in bacon. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or HIGH for 4-5 hours. Stir before serving.

That's it! Hope you try it and like it.


P.S. It makes a TON! We froze half to eat later.