A Celebration with Pasta

Friends, it's been awhile.  But I totally plan on making it up to you with this next recipe.


A friend of ours found out this past year that she had cancer... and then she proceeded to completely kick its ass.  Her determination, bravery and health were most definitely something to celebrate! We picked out a lovely Saturday evening and had our friends over for dinner.  I decided to make a seafood pasta dish with some bright veggies.  Since the weather was so nice, I cranked up the grill and threw some shrimp tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper on there for a few minutes.  I'm a big fan of grilled shrimp and I think that along with the brightness of the vegetables, it gives the pasta a nice "Spring-y" taste, but you certainly don't have to grill yours first.  This turns out just as well when everything is done in a big pot on the stove.


Here's a recipe for my most favorite seafood pasta!

Seafood Linguini

*one pound of large shrimp, peeled and deveined

*one pound of black mussels, cleaned and de-bearded

*1/2 pound of bay scallops

*4 tbls olive oil

*one shallot, chopped

*2 tbls minced garlic

*one pack (8oz) sliced fresh baby portabella mushrooms

*2 roma tomatoes, chopped

*1.5 cups of chopped asparagus

*2 cups white wine (I use pinot grigio)

*juice from one lemon

*1/2 lb of linguini, cooked al dente

*a handful of chopped Italian parsley

*one cup fresh parmesan cheese

*salt and pepper

Toss your prepared shrimp with 2 tbls olive oil, some salt and pepper.  If you choose to grill them, put them on for 2 minutes per side on medium-high heat and then set aside.  Otherwise, grab a large skillet and heat to medium-high heat and lay your shrimp in the hot pan.  Cook for 2 minutes and flip to the other side.  Cook for another minute or two and then set shrimp aside.  In the same pan, add the other two tbls olive oil and then add the shallot and garlic.  Cook for a minute and then add your asparagus.  Let cook for a minute and then add the mushrooms.  Let cook for about 4-5 minutes, but be careful not to let the garlic or shallots burn.  You'll want to stir it up often.  Add the wine and let simmer down and reduce by about half. While it's simmering down, add the mussels, scallops, tomatoes and lemon juice.  Cover for just a minute or two until the mussels open.  Any mussels that don't open need to be discarded.  Add the cooked shrimp and cooked linguini.  Remove from heat, throw in the parmesan cheese, a bit of salt and pepper and the chopped parsley.  Serve with garlic bread for a fresh, fantastic dish your family or guests will LOVE.

What's your fav thing to make when you have friends over? 

Spring is in the Air

Spring is in the air here (again, thankfully) and we are in full force at the W household!  With temps in the upper 60's yesterday, we were all about the sunshine.  My girls got all dressed up fancy in their Easter dresses to take pics with the Easter Bunny at the mall, followed up with a delicious lunch.  We hurried home to get into play clothes and get OUTside!  I made them each bags with their names, and we went on a springtime treasure hunt, looking for anything that reminded us of spring. We do this a few times during each season... they have so much fun!  Since it's very early in Spring, we mostly just came up with rocks they thought looked pretty, so we brought them back to the house, got out some paint and started painting our rocks beautiful Easter-y colors.  While we painted, we talked all about the wonderful things Springtime brings, but most of all, the REAL meaning behind Easter.  (Hint: it's not the adorable clothes, shoes, bunny and egg coloring.  Though all those things are really fun, and we certainly enjoy them too!) One of those wonderful things was the birds coming back from the South.  Once the weather gets warmed, we get out the bird feeders.  My husband is in charge of all the larger feeders, but the kids and I love to make our own.  A SUPER simple way of doing that is grabbing a toilet paper roll, (I save them like crazy under our sink for all kinds of different projects) peanut butter, a foot of ribbon or twine and about a cup of bird seed.  I let the girls slather peanut butter all over the rolls, and then they can roll the roll in bird seed.  Voila!  A sweet little (easy) feeder to hang outside for the birds to enjoy.

I'm obviously a fan of easy little crafty things to keep the little busy (rock painting and a TP bird feeder!) but I find those uncomplicated things that my kids can basically do on their own end up being favorites they remember and bring up throughout the year.  Three and six year olds, LOVE to be independent and these little things make them feel so accomplished!

Another little project we worked on were these adorable little tootsie carrots.  I think little hands and feet are so cute at this age... don't you?!?

I recently made some DELICIOUS brussel sprouts.  Yes, I really did just say that.  They're caramelized, sweet... you just need to give them a try!  If you're looking for a perfect side dish to bring to Easter brunch, this works out great.  Serve hot for a side veggie, or warm with toothpicks for a healthy little appetizer.  This recipe is very similar to the broccoli one I posted a week or so back.

Caramelized Brussel Sprouts

*one bag of fresh brussel sprouts (this will not work with frozen)

*1 tsp butter, melted

*1/2 tsp olive oil

*salt and pepper

*handful of sliced almonds

*honey

Set your oven to 400.  Take one bag of brussel sprouts and cut off all the woody bottoms. Put them in a small casserole dish.  Mix the melted butter and olive oil and pour over sprouts.  Toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a handful of sliced almonds. Stir it all up again and bake for about 40 minutes, stirring after 15-20 minutes and then again after another 10.  Remove from oven and drizzle honey over it all.  Serve hot or warm.  Personally, I liked the taste of them best when they were warm.  They're FANTASTIC!

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Of course, our day wouldn't be complete without decorating some Easter eggs. I hope you and your family have a most wonderful, blessed Easter.