Here is the recipe for the yummiest, most delicious, incredible, superbly creamy best tasting sauce you will ever taste. *If you make it and hate it, please don't tell me... it would break my heart.
Originally from my dad who originally got the recipe out of Carmines family style cookbook. Dad made some changes to the original recipe and I go with and agree with his changes. Here is our recipe.
Penne Alla Vodka
1/4 C. EVOO (Or extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 of a small yellow onion- thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh garlic
2 Tablespoons dry basil leaves
1 Tablespoon dry parsley
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (or if you don't like spicy- omit it)
1/4 C. Vodka
24oz Bertolli brand vineyard marinara sauce
1/2 C. Heavy cream
1 box Penne pasta
1/2 C. grated Romano cheese
1 C. grated mozzarella cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
1. In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, cook them, stirring 2-3 minutes or until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook the mixture another 2-3 minutes, be careful not to let the garlic burn.
2. Add the basil, parsley and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook the mixture for about a minute.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Vodka. (stand back a little because sometimes alcohol can flame) Return the pan to the heat and cook the sauce for 2 minutes.
4. Add the marinara sauce and simmer for a few minutes. Add the cream and bring the sauce to a boil. Boil it for 3 minutes or so or until the sauce starts to thicken, stirring occasionally. Cover it up and keep it warm while the pasta cooks.
5. Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water for about 7-9 minutes or until done.
6. Drain the penne pasta well. Keep warm in large pot. Stir into the sauce 1/2 C. of grated Romano cheese and season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle the sauce over the noodles, **melt mozzarella cheese over top and enjoy!!!!!!
**If you have oven proof bowls or plates its best to melt mozzarella in the oven until it turns brownish but if not, melt in the microwave for 30 seconds or so....
Enjoy your family~
Friday, August 30, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
# 8
Happy Anniversary to my love. I am blessed and thankful to be spending my life with you. You mean everything to me and you are one of the only people I know who can make me laugh so hard that I have consecutive snorts coming out of my nose. I look forward to our life together, good or bad. Thank you for loving me even through my moody and cranky days. Thank you for saving the curled up chip or popcorn kernels for me just because you know that I like them. You sacrifice stuff, big or small and for that I am thankful. I love you with my entire heart and I look forward to many many many more anniversary golf dates. You are my hole in 1. (cheesy alert!!!!!)
Enjoy your family~
Enjoy your family~
Monday, August 26, 2013
amiamo l'Italia
"We love Italy"
Italy was by far best food we ate. I will post the recipe for the pasta later this week but it was lick off your plate delicious. Yum yum.
On Italy's menu we ate Bruschetta for an appetizer, Pasta Alla Vodka and caramel cheesecake for dessert. We learned about the leaning tower of Pisa, Colosseum, how to say hello and bye and finding Italy on a map. While making dinner we turned on live streaming to a radio station in Rome and listened to music. The girls got a kick out of not being able to understand the deejay on the radio and it took them awhile to understand that it was because he was speaking a different language. Italy is another place I want to travel with my family. I see a nice and long month-long vacation coming up one of these summers (many summers from now) visiting all the countries we have learned about.
Enjoy your family~
Italy was by far best food we ate. I will post the recipe for the pasta later this week but it was lick off your plate delicious. Yum yum.
On Italy's menu we ate Bruschetta for an appetizer, Pasta Alla Vodka and caramel cheesecake for dessert. We learned about the leaning tower of Pisa, Colosseum, how to say hello and bye and finding Italy on a map. While making dinner we turned on live streaming to a radio station in Rome and listened to music. The girls got a kick out of not being able to understand the deejay on the radio and it took them awhile to understand that it was because he was speaking a different language. Italy is another place I want to travel with my family. I see a nice and long month-long vacation coming up one of these summers (many summers from now) visiting all the countries we have learned about.
Enjoy your family~
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Pressure Cooker
Sometimes I feel like the worst mom. Just being honest here. There are days that the pressure to raise the perfectly, well-rounded child almost seems impossible. Being a parent you only want what is best for your child. You want them to be the best they can be, challenge themselves, love themselves for exactly the way God created them on top of training and teaching them the importance of manners, kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, caring and showing respect to others.
Society says the child needs to be great at math, reading, comprehending, writing, spelling, penmanship, science, word problem solving, grammar, great social skills and the list can go on and on... It seems like everyone is trying to 'one up' their neighbor or 'one up' their child's friend from school. On top of making sure that they are A+ students they need to be active, enrolled in some sort of extra curricular activities and excel at them. AHHHHHHHHH!!! Deep breath. The pressure to keep my girls up with the Joneses' is too much sometimes. I didn't really start feeling the pressure until Ava was 5 years old. In kindergarten it started. Now, with Emma starting Kindergarten the pressure on her will begin.
I've come to the realization that I put pressure on my kids, more specifically Ava, because she's older. The pressure on me to create the perfect student is overwhelming. I want her (and Emma also) to excel in their school work, I want it to just come easy to them. School was hard for me. Nothing, N.O.T.H.I.N.G. came easy for me. Everything was a struggle. Everything took practice. I wouldn't have an eraser on the end of any pencils because I used them too often. I didn't want that for my daughters. I wanted "it" to come naturally to them. Math, simple. Reading, whiz through and read like a pro. Seeing things, solving problems, comprehending and memorizing math problems, piece of cake. Reading at the level they should be reading on, continuing to progress in those skills and not decline, easy peasy. I didn't want it to take work. A little work and challenge would be ok, but I just wanted those skills for the most part to just come naturally for them. Every child is different and every family is different. For our family personally its more important for us to eat dinner together every night as opposed to rushing off to after school activities. I cherish my week-nights with my family. I cherish my Saturday & Sunday mornings with my family. Every season the girls pick 1 activity to do. This year Emma picked Ballet and Ava chose gymnastics. If there is ever a time where they don't want to do anything then I wont make them. If we chose more than one per child it doesn't work for our family dynamic and that's Ok. Stop feeling like your child has to be involved in 2, 3, 4 different things all at the same time. They don't, and for us it doesn't work and I don't feel bad and you shouldn't either if your family functions in the same way.
All I know is in my opinion, my parents did it right. They didn't pressure me in any way to be something that I wasn't. They never made me feel dumb or that I was a horrible student. I wasn't a horrible student. The skills just didn't come to me but I did my best and I was always attentive in class, trying to learn and working hard. That's all I can ask of my kids, that they try their best. "As long as you do your best, God will do the rest." Spoken out of the mouth of my mom and I will pass that quote onto my girls. So, with this coming school year, I will help my daughters in any way that I can with their confidence level when it comes to school. Every child has different areas of strength and areas that need to be worked on. Taking the pressure off them to be the best reader, best speller, best math student will also in turn take the pressure off me and that's what I am looking for this year. Less pressure and more confident, happy kids. Bring on the school year!
Enjoy your family~
Society says the child needs to be great at math, reading, comprehending, writing, spelling, penmanship, science, word problem solving, grammar, great social skills and the list can go on and on... It seems like everyone is trying to 'one up' their neighbor or 'one up' their child's friend from school. On top of making sure that they are A+ students they need to be active, enrolled in some sort of extra curricular activities and excel at them. AHHHHHHHHH!!! Deep breath. The pressure to keep my girls up with the Joneses' is too much sometimes. I didn't really start feeling the pressure until Ava was 5 years old. In kindergarten it started. Now, with Emma starting Kindergarten the pressure on her will begin.
I've come to the realization that I put pressure on my kids, more specifically Ava, because she's older. The pressure on me to create the perfect student is overwhelming. I want her (and Emma also) to excel in their school work, I want it to just come easy to them. School was hard for me. Nothing, N.O.T.H.I.N.G. came easy for me. Everything was a struggle. Everything took practice. I wouldn't have an eraser on the end of any pencils because I used them too often. I didn't want that for my daughters. I wanted "it" to come naturally to them. Math, simple. Reading, whiz through and read like a pro. Seeing things, solving problems, comprehending and memorizing math problems, piece of cake. Reading at the level they should be reading on, continuing to progress in those skills and not decline, easy peasy. I didn't want it to take work. A little work and challenge would be ok, but I just wanted those skills for the most part to just come naturally for them. Every child is different and every family is different. For our family personally its more important for us to eat dinner together every night as opposed to rushing off to after school activities. I cherish my week-nights with my family. I cherish my Saturday & Sunday mornings with my family. Every season the girls pick 1 activity to do. This year Emma picked Ballet and Ava chose gymnastics. If there is ever a time where they don't want to do anything then I wont make them. If we chose more than one per child it doesn't work for our family dynamic and that's Ok. Stop feeling like your child has to be involved in 2, 3, 4 different things all at the same time. They don't, and for us it doesn't work and I don't feel bad and you shouldn't either if your family functions in the same way.
All I know is in my opinion, my parents did it right. They didn't pressure me in any way to be something that I wasn't. They never made me feel dumb or that I was a horrible student. I wasn't a horrible student. The skills just didn't come to me but I did my best and I was always attentive in class, trying to learn and working hard. That's all I can ask of my kids, that they try their best. "As long as you do your best, God will do the rest." Spoken out of the mouth of my mom and I will pass that quote onto my girls. So, with this coming school year, I will help my daughters in any way that I can with their confidence level when it comes to school. Every child has different areas of strength and areas that need to be worked on. Taking the pressure off them to be the best reader, best speller, best math student will also in turn take the pressure off me and that's what I am looking for this year. Less pressure and more confident, happy kids. Bring on the school year!
Enjoy your family~
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Un jour en France
"A day in France"
Several weeks ago we virtually visited Germany and last week was time for us to visit France for the day. Side Note: Every time I type France, I end up typing Franco and I have to delete the O and add an E. I just did it again. My finger is used to typing Franco I guess- Ok, on with the story.
This is turning into a fun activity that we are all enjoying. The best part is the girls are retaining the information. Randomly I will hear them greeting each other in German or French. Personally I am loving the pictures off of Google images. When it was time for us to "travel" to France we gathered around the kitchen table with my laptop. We read facts about France, looked and learned about the Eiffel Tower and why its called the Eiffel Tower. The girls learned a couple new French words, "Bonjour and Au Revoir," and we learned what the French flag looked like and replicated it. We ended the day with eating the French meal Steak Au Poivre with Ratatouille.
Apparently Emma thinks there are apple tree's in France :) Her picture is of the Eiffel Tower (in yellow) a bridge by the tower (in brown), sunflower and mountains.
The girls helped me prepare dinner again. Here they are helping me prepare the Ratatouille which is basically roasted vegetables.
Taking a picture of the finished product surprised me because with Germany I ate all the food then remembered I didn't take a picture. So, here you go... France's meal.
Next Up: ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Learning about daddies people.
Enjoy your family~
Several weeks ago we virtually visited Germany and last week was time for us to visit France for the day. Side Note: Every time I type France, I end up typing Franco and I have to delete the O and add an E. I just did it again. My finger is used to typing Franco I guess- Ok, on with the story.
This is turning into a fun activity that we are all enjoying. The best part is the girls are retaining the information. Randomly I will hear them greeting each other in German or French. Personally I am loving the pictures off of Google images. When it was time for us to "travel" to France we gathered around the kitchen table with my laptop. We read facts about France, looked and learned about the Eiffel Tower and why its called the Eiffel Tower. The girls learned a couple new French words, "Bonjour and Au Revoir," and we learned what the French flag looked like and replicated it. We ended the day with eating the French meal Steak Au Poivre with Ratatouille.
Ava colored the Eiffel Tower. There is also a bridge with people walking over and a bicycle just randomly sitting by the Eiffel Tower (that's getting rained on) She told me the bike was for the "Tour de France"
The girls helped me prepare dinner again. Here they are helping me prepare the Ratatouille which is basically roasted vegetables.
Taking a picture of the finished product surprised me because with Germany I ate all the food then remembered I didn't take a picture. So, here you go... France's meal.
Next Up: ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Learning about daddies people.
Enjoy your family~
Friday, August 2, 2013
Bleeding Orange
Planning things and researching trips is how I function the best. Joe functions best flying by the seat of his pants. He walked into the kitchen Friday morning saying "I'm thinking of taking my girls to Stillwater today." Big smile on his face and a blank stare staring back at him. Quickly though I said "Ok" because I know that he loves Stillwater, Oklahoma State University and he's always wanted to take us to eat at Eskimo Joe's for their famous Cheese and Bacon Fries. After we got out of our PJ's and into something orange we headed out for our days adventure. Spending the day with Joe and my daughters is the best thing. When its just the four of us we function like a well oiled machine and with most of the outings the girls are on their best behavior with slight dueling between them.
We walked around the campus and Joe showed them the library -which we actually walked through- and the girls didn't make a peep and library lawn where students gather during the school months to study. He also showed them their dorm buildings that they will be living in when they are freshman. I am looking forward in 11 years to be taking another picture of Ava sitting in the same area of the library and in 13 years with Miss Emma. How cool would that picture be?
Ending the day with orange ice-cream only seemed fitting. We had a great time spending the day together and visiting one of Joe's favorite cities... Thank you honey for being more spontaneous than me. I had fun!
Enjoy your family~
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