What I’m about to tell you may not be good for your waistline.
Still with me?
Ok… Authentic fettuccine Alfredo takes all of ten minutes and needs only three ingredients. For real.
The stuff you get at Olive Garden isn’t the real deal… it’s (big surprise!) the Americanized version of a very simple dish. You can read all about the origin of fettuccine Alfredo (or fettuccine al burro if you want to be technical) in this Wiki article.
So much like the Chinese and Mexican food we all love, Italian food in America isn’t really very Italian.
Ok, so back to the recipe…If you can really call it that.
– Fettuccine (or spaghetti if that’s all you have)
– Butter
– Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (It really does need to be freshly grated. The pre-grated stuff contains an anti-caking agent that will keep it from melting into a smooth sauce.)
That’s it!
Once your pasta is done, strain it and get it into a bowl or plate. Quickly (don’t let it cool!) add butter and cheese. Toss it around and a sauce will form. There doesn’t seem to be a hard and fast rule for the ratio of butter to cheese. I like to go with a lot and a lot.
I’m just being honest.
You can add things if you like… but it’s extremely good in it’s own. Today I did throw in a little dried basil and a smidge of garlic. Sometimes I like to sprinkle on my favorite Cajun seasoning.
About five seconds after I took this picture that bowl was empty.
So there you have it. Really good, really easy, and super good for you!
Maybe I lied about that last part…
Well, spring is here… even though in good ol’ Indiana we still have snow on the ground.
True story.
I’ve been doing a lot of digital spring cleaning… my voicemail inbox is empty (Did I listen to them? Of course not), my email is less frightening, and my Facebook friends list is about to get smaller. I’ve also been cleaning out my photo library to free up some memory.
I take a lot of pictures, y’all. LOTS of them involve food.
Anyhow, I thought I’d share some randoms with you guys!
For your viewing pleasure:
Turkey smoked sausage and asparagus
Dry summer
Birthday boy
Why was this gem on the clearance rack?
Grandma
The BF's peanut butter birthday cake
Chicks, man
Birthday cake for my mama
My grandma made this pillow for her first great-grandchild... back in November of 2002
I miss bingo night
Not quite Things That Make You Go Hmmmm... but it'll do.
It's a bloomin' onion! Sorta...
Hi, my name is Rooty and I'm like a nosy pepper...
I didn't come up with it but I wish I had. Way too funny...
It’s Sunday, so y’all know what that means!
…I wish it meant football…
Nope, it means I’ve tested another pin and I’m about to tell you all about it.
I’m sure you’ve seen these two ingredient cookies floating around Pinterest. What isn’t to love here? Bananas + oatmeal = cookie
Healthy, easy, pretty quick to make and you can customize them. They also seemed like a good way to make oatmeal easier to eat. I’m not a fan of the stuff but I’ve been eating it every morning because oatmeal is thought to help with breastmilk production. I had high hopes for this pin.
Sigh
I mashed up two nanners and mixed in a cup of oats. I decided to leave them plain for the first batch… if they were good I planned to throw some chocolate chips into the next batch.
I plopped about a tablespoon full onto an ungreased cookie sheet and smashed them down a bit so they looked even. Into the oven they went (preheated to 350) while I did some cleaning up. After 15 minutes I took them out to investigate…
Well, they were definitely warmer…
I bit into a cookie and was rather unpleasantly surprised at the texture… really lumpy and gummy and… yuck. I figured they just weren’t done and put them back in the oven for ten minutes.
The next time I took them out they still felt spongy and had stuck to the cookie sheet. I decided they were done and scraped them off.
I ended up choking them down since I hate wasting food… but I don’t think I’ll make them again. The only similarity they had to a cookie was shape… the texture was pretty gross and the flavor was just eh. I’m betting the tree-hugging, hemp-wearing, shower-once-a-week-to-save-Mother-Earth types would love these, though… they don’t seem to like anything that tastes good.
It figures, the one time I follow directions exactly and I end up with a total flop. Super lame, Pinterest.
So my sister-in-law’s shower was last Sunday. Because I’m competitive about everything (examples here, here, and here) I wanted to make sure mine was the BEST PRESENT EVER**.
I have a friend who makes the most adorable tu-tus ever so I made sure to order one. I even asked that she add a cute little initial charm to make it extra special.
Of course, the super cute tu-tu couldn’t just be put in any old gift bag…no sir. So I found an adorable hat box and some ribbon that would match the tu-tu. I already had a paper flower (I made it a couple of weeks ago to test out my new glue gun) and the fabric was leftover from the other gift.
Obviously, that was not enough.
I formed a plan to make a cute picture frame to hang in her bedroom. Unfortunately, after spending THREE HOURS in Hobby Lobby I realized I wouldn’t be able to make exactly what I pictured. I ended up grabbing everything that I thought I could use to make something and crossing my fingers that it would actually work. I like to live dangerously y’all.
I was pretty happy with the results…But I forgot to take a picture of it completely finished. Here’s a pic before everything was glued down:
That still wasn’t enough so I threw together a box full of goodies and a three-pack of Tommee Tippee bottles.
I’m pretty sure that I had the super coolest most awesome gifts**. Plus, I had so much fun making all of this stuff that I’m thinking I’ll have to make something similar for little O. Win-win!
The chick on the left is my SIL. I feel the need to point that out because girlfriend is due in May and she looks like she just ate a big burrito. Of course, she was the teeniest person ever before getting knocked up so it makes sense.
She also isn’t one of these (shameless promotion of another post right there. Yep).
**Ok, I don’t want anyone to get upset and think I’m saying everyone else got her gifts that sucked. I seriously did not see a single crappy gift…If fact, everyone got her really great stuff. I’m simply poking fun at my tendency to be competitive about ridiculous things.
Have you liked me on Facebook yet? Help me get to 500 likes and you might win an awesome prize!
I completely skipped sharing a new Pin with you guys yesterday… Sorry, but I was kind of busy having lots of family time. My sister-in-law’s baby shower happened (I’m getting a niece in May!) and so afterwards I spent some QT with the fam. It was a good day. Next week I’ll be back to normal with a brand new Pin to test out. I’m pretty excited to try this one so I hope it works!
Yup.
So I’m one of those moms that tastes everything I give my kid…mostly (how’s that for a good segue?). Poly-Vi-Sol is nasty, cherry flavor Pedia Care is surprisingly good, gas drops are chalky but not bad and formula is awful. The one and only thing I’ve given my baby that I haven’t tasted first is breast milk. I just can NOT bring myself to taste it. Some people say “Why not? It comes from your body!” Well to those people I would like to just point out that so do things like poop and pee… you wouldn’t taste those, right?!
Anyhow, last night we decided to give little O rice cereal for the first time (his pediatrician asked that we start a week before his 4 month appointment). The box said to mix 1 tablespoon of rice with 4-5 tablespoons of liquid. I pulled a bottle from the fridge, warmed it to room temp, and started mixing. As I stirred, I wondered what rice cereal tastes like. Without a second thought I took a baby spoon-sized bite.
Hey…that’s not so bad… it’s a little sweet. I don’t remember seeing sugar in the ingredients…I wonder…
…
Oh.
Oh my.
At this point I’m sure I turned a little green. Realizing I had just accidentally consumed my own breast milk (and liked it!) just about made me toss my cookies. I wanted to brush my tongue… with bleach. I promptly marched into the living room to tell the BF.
Do you know what I just did?!
-No…
I just ate the rice cereal.
-…So you need to make more?
Dude, I mixed it with breast milk!
– Ok…
NOT OK! I just put MY OWN BREAST MILK in MY MOUTH!
No matter how loud or panicked I sounded and regardless of my wildly flailing arms the BF completely failed to see the issue. I was so appalled at his lack of concern that I turned on my heel and stomped right back into the kitchen (or the, scene of the crime if you will).
We haven’t spoken of it since, and though it still haunts me I’m sure he’s completely forgotten about it. I’m happy to say that I’m still alive and so far I haven’t broken out in hives or anything… but even now the thought of what I did gives me the heebs. I guess if I were to be the silver lining type I could say that I’ve tasted everything my child eats now. I’m not really the most positive person, though…
Now I think I’ll go brush my teeth again, if y’all don’t mind.
Yuck.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled silliness to announce that Willfully Disobedient has been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award!
Courtesy of Brown and Coconut
Thank you, Brown and Coconut!
In order to be officially called a Versatile Blogger:
Thank the person who gave you this award. Include a link to their blog.
Done!
Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
Okie dokie!
Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.
You betcha!
Here are 15 awesome blogs I’d like to nominate (in no particular order):
3. Scary Mommy
5. The Life and Times of Nathan Badley
7. My Parents Are Crazier Than Yours
10. Ally’s Sweet and Savory Eats
11. I Do Things So You Don’t Have To
12. Life Just Keeps Getting Weirder
15. I Am Bossy
And… Seven things about me:
1. At 31 years old I still have two baby teeth.
2. I’m actually more comfortable walking in heels than flats, thanks to five years in Show Choir.
3. I don’t eat or cook meat on the bone.
4. When I was in college I had a pet lizard (an anole, to be exact) named Mojo.
5. I was in 4-H for ten years. Walnut Willing Workers, WHOOP!
6. I sometimes make race car noises when driving.
7. Nothing will get me laughing quicker than a good fart.
This week I decided to test out a beauty pin.
Source: beautybets.com via Ashlee on Pinterest
According to this pin, a simple paste of orange juice and baking soda will make your skin BEE-utiful. Since I’m obsessed with removing the nasties from my face I had to try it. I’ve tried a DIY pore strip recipe before and was less than impressed with the results…Maybe this would be better?
I didn’t use the exact amounts listed (me not following directions…big surprise), I just dumped some OJ into a pile of baking soda and mixed it up.
I have to say…this smells better than the last pore strip experiment.
After mixing it up I smeared it all over my face in a pretty thick layer. This step can get messy… It kept sliding off of my face and plopping onto the counter in clumps.
It’s pretty important to maintain a neutral expression… smiling or moving any part of your face will cause this to crack and flake off. You’ll be trailing baking soda all over your house if you aren’t careful.
If you have a 4 month old baby that’s starting to wake up from a nap go peek over his bassinet and watch his reaction. I’d say he was a little startled at the sight of me.
I think I left it on for around 30 minutes, and instead of washing it off in the sink I just decided it would be less messy to go ahead and take a shower…It was in my hair, anyway. After showering and drying off I smeared a layer of lotion on.
So…did it work?
Well… It’s hard to tell in this picture but I wasn’t super impressed. I might have plastered some pore strips all over my face the day before but there were some stubborn blackheads on my nose I had hoped this would take care of. They were still there… I was actually surprised because there was definitely a tingle while I had it on AND my face burned a little when I rinsed it off. I figured that meant it did something…
I guess not.
Maybe this is the sort of thing you have to do once a week for a few weeks to really see results but I don’t have that kind of patience. I suppose I’ll just stick to my beloved apricot scrub and store-bought pore strips. Pinterest failed me this time.
Have you liked Willfully Disobedient on Facebook yet? All you have to do is click the Like button in the sidebar and you’re automatically entered to win a super neat prize from me!
I’ll randomly select a winner once I get 500 likes so be sure to share with your friends!
Stay tuned for more info, including more info on the super neat prize. Hint: it isn’t a million dollars.
Happy Saturday y’all!
Do you like free stuff? I like free stuff. I really like free stuff that doesn’t require a lot of effort on my part.
I mean, free stuff you have to work for really isn’t free, is it?
Here’s the deal:
Once I get 500 likes on Facebook I’m going to give something away. To enter, all you have to do is like my page on Facebook. Feel free to share my page with your friends, too!
Once I hit the magic number I’ll randomly select one winner. I only have one stipulation… the winner must be here in the good ol’ US of A.
I’ll let you know what the prize will be soon… Good luck!
This is a perfect illustration of how I feel today:
Image from http://www.knowmemes.com
Wasting my morning (and the better part of the afternoon) dealing with health insurance nonsense has left me in a fairly rotten mood. APPARENTLY my coverage has lapsed (no, I did not forget to pay a bill). In order to get my coverage back I have to jump through more hoops than a dog in a circus. And then there is a substantial waiting period. For “processing“.
Truth be told, I heart Grumpy Cat even when I’m not in a bad mood.
Anyway, I’m busy saying nothing because I have nothing nice to say. About anything.
Willfully Disobedient 