Homemade Pasta Noodles/ Chicken Parmesan over noodles and sauce

The past few weeks I have been making homemade pasta noodles instead of buying the fresh pasta noodles at the store. I was doing this for a few reasons. Mainly, to justify having a pasta maker attachment to my KitchenAid. But, also because it is much more affordable than buying both dried pasta and fresh pasta at the grocery store where I shop. The recipe to do it is so easy and I have played around with adding tons of different spices, oils, etc to give different tastes. But, one of the best combinations is below!

Ingredients
1 Cup Flour
2 eggs (you can omit the yokes if you want to)
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon coriander

Directions
1. Put all ingredients in a bowl

2. mix with hands into a ball of dough
3. allow dough to rest for about 15 minutes

4. put in pasta maker attachment OR roll out with a rolling pin and cut with a pizza cutter

The other night I added some spaghetti sauce with herb seasoning and baked chicken parmesan with fresh mozzarella on top of the pasta and it turned out amazing!

Ingredients:
can of 15 ounces tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon marjoram
2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup flour
1 egg (whipped)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
fresh mozzarella slices

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a bowl, mix together tomato sauce and all spices and put into baking dish
3. Dip chicken breasts in flour and cover completely
4. Dip chicken breasts in egg
5. Coat chicken breasts in breadcrumbs
6. Bake chicken covered for 40 minutes

7. add fresh mozzarella slices to top of chicken and cook for ten more minutes
8. cook fresh pasta in boiling water for three minutes and drain

9. Add fresh pasta to bowl and then add chicken on top


Thanks,
Kristin

Chocolate Cake in a Cup

This summer I discovered (probably really late) that you can bake in a cup if you use your microwave. I love this and do this when Andrew decides he wants dessert and we don't have any options in the house (aka Skittles). The recipe is simple and you can jazz it up with whatever you have in the pantry.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

3 Tablespoons white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 Tablespoons milk (i use 1%)

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil (i have found that olive oil leaves a weird taste)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons pecans

3 Tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips

caramel syrup for topping

Directions

1. Add flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a mug and stir to blend

2. Add milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extra and mix together until smooth

3. Add pecans and chocolate chips

4. bake on high for 90 seconds

5. drizzle top with caramel topping

I have also added ice cream to the top in the past if we have it in the freezer. Or, you can add whipped cream as well. Pretty much anything works in this recipe.

Thanks,

Kristin

Sausage and Cheese Nacho Dip/Baked Potato Stuffing

For the National Championship game earlier this week I made a sausage and nacho cheese dip to go with some lime tortilla chips that we had at the house. It is so simple to make and I put it together in the fondue pot (which is awesome since I always forget to use it). It is only three ingredients which makes it really easy and it's not healthy for you at all! We ended up having leftovers so I used those as the filling for a baked potato that we had for dinner last night. So, we ended up not wasting any of it which is a good thing. I think this is definitely a crowd pleaser when you are watching a sporting event!

Dip:

Ingredients
1 package ground sausage
1 block velvetta cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions
1. Brown sausage

2. add in velvetta cheese (cut into cubes)

3. stir in heavy cream until blended
* stir frequently and keep on low heat setting. Also, add more cream as needed for consistency

Baked Potato:

Ingredients
1 russet potato per person
sausage nacho dip

Directions:
1. preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. scrub potato clean under water
3. rub olive oil and sea salt on skin of potato
4. stab potato all over with fork so that you have tiny holes for baking
5. bake for 55 - 60 minutes
6. slice open and add sausage nacho dip to top for filling

Obviously, this is not healthy at all but it tastes amazing :-)

Kristin

Chili Recipe

So, I have made this chili recipe a half dozen times now and keep making small adjustments. But, I think I have finally gotten it the way I like it! The great thing about this crockpot chili is that it is so forgiving. So, I kind of dump whatever I have in the pantry in here. Since it has been snowing recently I haven't gone to the store as much so it is more of a hodgepodge. But, I think it turned out really well!

Ingredients:
1 pound hamburger meat (I use 93% lean)
3 cloves garlic (minced or grated)
1 small onion (chopped)
6 slices of bacon (chopped)
1 8 ounces can tomato sauce
1 can red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can pinto beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can lima beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can yellow corn (drained and rinsed)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 splash of Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup flour
sour cream (for topping)
cheddar cheese (shredded from the block for topping)
tortilla chips (i like the lime flavored ones)

















Directions 

1. Chop onion and grate garlic and add to a skillet with a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat. 
    Cook until onion is translucent (about 8 minutes)
2. Add hamburger meat and brown completely (about 8-10 minutes)
3. Stir frequently so meat, onions, and garlic do not burn
4. In a separate skillet, add about 6 slices of bacon and cook (normally about 10 minutes on medium-high heat)
5. Add cooked bacon, meat, onion and garlic into crockpot
6. Mix in kidney beans, pinto beans, lima beans and yellow corn
7. Mix in brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, black pepper, oregano, cayenne pepper, salt, 
    Worcestershire sauce and 1/4 cup all purpose flour and stir thoroughly (if it seems too thick add 1/4 cup water)
8. Allow chili to cook on low for 2 hours so all flavors can blend
9. Serve with sour cream topping, grated cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips!

Assuming you have the spices in the cabinet the meal costs about $12 for four servings!

Also, I sometimes omit some of the spices and the beans if I am out and throw in something else instead.

Thanks,
Kristin

Our Wedding!

Hello!

Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures posted but it's been busy lately!! We got our wedding pictures back a few weeks ago but there were so many that it took a awhile to go through and pick out the favorites :-). We had the best photographer (she is the same one we used for our engagement photos and can make everything look amazing. If you need someone in Charleston I highly recommend her. She is also really affordable which is a huge plus!

We got married at White Point Gardens at the Battery in downtown Charleston (it was gorgeous and is a city park so it was open to the public) and here are all of the guys waiting for the ladies to arrive!

Seriously, the gazebo is amazing and we were so lucky that we planned the wedding the weekend after the hurricane!

This is one of my favorite pictures! This is what I mean about Molly capturing the best moments with her photos!!

Richard did the best job with the ceremony. Andrew wrote most of it but Richard added in a few awesome surprises! I am pretty sure they are telling a funny story about how we met here...

Also, I am really obsessed with the fascinator that Ann made me. She is so talented and I am definitely getting another one for Night at the Races in May.

And it's official!! Also, walking down the steps is more challenging than it looks ;-).

So excited that all of my family looks fabulous here! It's hard to get 10 people too look at the camera at the same time. Just missing Josh and Luke!

Luke made it to the reception though!! You can't see it in the picture but he has a bow-tie and suspenders!

While posing for pictures downtown before the reception two exchange students from Poland and Germany asked to take a picture with an American bride and groom! We are hopefully trending in Europe ;-).

Instead of a traditional guestbook we used Alyssa's and Kyle's wedding idea and got a local cookbook instead! This way we will read all of the well-wishes regularly while we are cooking in the kitchen!

We did an oyster roast for our appetizer at the start of the reception for all of our friends and family! Hello... it's oyster season in Charleston!! 

This was seriously the best cake. It was amazing and Andrew and I got cupcakes from each layer so we could sample everything later.

Jan made the BEST place cards out of oyster shells for us and half of our centerpieces were sweetgrass rose bouquets that we got from Mae Hall.  If you aren't familiar with the history of Sweetgrass baskets in Charleston I linked it above. It's an art that is in danger of dying out. I am a little obsessed with these baskets :-).

As we were leaving! Seriously best day ever :-). I have about 2000 pictures so i'm still working through them all so be on the lookout for some more of the reception!

Kristin

Engagement Photos at the Battery

Hi Everyone,

Last week Andrew and I did an engagement photo session so we could pick out a photo for our save the dates! Be on the lookout for one :-). Basically, we didn't have any pictures that were high enough resolution and quality to really look good on an invitation (and I really wanted to have the dogs in the pictures). We found a really awesome photographer on theknot.com and we are also going to use her for the wedding. She is Molly Joseph from Molly Joseph Photography and she was really nice and knew exactly what to do! Not to mention she worked with our unruly dogs like it was no problem!

Here are some of my favorite pictures (I definitely have already put them in frames all over the house)!

We decided that we wanted to take the pictures downtown near the battery since it is so pretty and there are a lot of good places to snap a picture (and it is pet friendly at the park)!

David came along to hold the dogs when we weren't taking a photo with them and I am pretty sure he hated me afterward :-). They were a little excited to be downtown and see so many other dogs walking around!

Surprisingly, Pippa was not a fan of getting her photo taken but Molly snapped this amazing photo ofo her actually looking at the camera!

I am pretty sure I am going to print this out as an oil on canvas for Andrew to have at his office! I think it looks really distinguished :-).

This one is my personal favorite at the pineapple fountain! And I love that it is in black and white.

And this one is the save the date! The dogs look happy and we are looking at the camera so it's a win!

I am really glad we got these pictures taken and I am still impressed the dogs (mostly) behaved!

Kristin

Crockpot Baby Back Ribs

Hi Everyone,

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I have been using my new crockpot nonstop and we just made the best recipe for ribs. I would highly recommend trying this out (especially for social events)! It was really easy to prepare and to clean up and was ready in a relatively short amount of time. I got the recipe from a Slow Cooker cookbook from William Sonoma that I got for Christmas! I served this with vegetables and homemade bread.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

1 small yellow onion (finely chopped)

3 cloves of garlic (minced) 

1 cup ketchup (I used Heinz)

3 T Worcestershire sauce

3 T dry white wine (I used some chardonnay from my wine club: https://www.clubw.com/2ctss1w1q0).

1 t lemon zest (I omitted this the second time I made the recipe)

1.5 T fresh lemon juice

1.5 T brown sugar

1.5 t dry mustard

1.5 t chili powder

1 t ground cumin

¼ t celery salt

Salt

1 t hot-pepper sauce

5 pound baby back ribs (The second time I used regular back ribs that the butcher cut for me. This was the butcher’s recommendation and we could not tell a difference in taste. Also, they were very meaty and cost ½ the price of the baby back ribs)

Directions:

Sauce:

Heat in T of oil in a saucepan over medium heat

Add the onion and garlic to cook for about 5 minutes

Stir in the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, brown sugar, mustard, chili powder, cumin, celery salt, and a dash of salt.

Bring ingredients to simmer and then reduce heat to low and stir occasionally for 15 minutes.

Stir in hot pepper sauce (you can add in more than recommended for taste)

 Transfer to a bowl to cool (can be stored in refrigerator for up to 24 hours)

Ribs:

Cut the racks into individual ribs.

Preheat the oven to broiler and put a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and arrange the ribs.

 Broil the ribs for 6 minutes per side (total of 12 minutes).

 Place the ribs in the slow cooker and add the sauce. Make sure ribs are coated evenly.

Cover and cook the ribs on low for 5-6 hours.

Transfer ribs to plates and pour on remaining sauce from slow cooker.

 Serve immediately!

Enjoy!

Kristin