Rigatoni with Bacon, Beans and Veggies

I posted the above on Instagram and Twitter on Monday and received a handful of requests for the recipe. The thing is...there wasn't a written recipe! So I interviewed J and asked him how he made it.

Rigatoni with Bacon, Beans and Veggies

4 servings (2 for dinner/2 for lunch the next day)

Ingredients

1 box of rigatoni

6 strips of bacon

1 tsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

2 portabella mushroom caps, diced

1 tsp tomato paste

1 tsp anchovy pasts (optional)

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups greens (spinach or broccoli rabe- used a mix of both)

½ cup of water

1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

grated parmesan cheese to taste

chopped Italian parsley (optional)

salt and pepper

    

1. Start boiling water for pasta
2. In a large saucepan (J used a 3 qt but could have used a little more room), fry bacon in the olive oil over medium low heat till fat is rendered and bacon starts to crisp. Reserve 2 tbsp of bacon drippings and toss the rest.
3. Using the reserved bacon dripping, sauté the onion, carrot and celery till softened. Add a pinch of salt.
4. Add the portabella mushrooms and another pinch of salt. Saute till softened.
5. Add tomato paste, anchovy paste and garlic. Stir to combine.
6. Add the greens and water plus a pinch of salt. Cover.
7. Start cooking the pasta.
8. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and add the cannelini beans. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Once the pasta is cooked per box instructions, add to the pan plus 1 ladle of the pasta water.
10. Liberally add parmesan cheese and parsley

Recipe Notes

• There isn't a true sauce for this pasta. The pasta water plus the water from the green combined with the cheese will coat the pasta.
• You can substitute button mushrooms (or any type of mushrooms) for the portabella.
• You can substitute chicken sausage (taken out of the casings) for the bacon.
• You'll notice J salts at each layer he adds to the dish. This is to help bring out the natural flavors of the ingredients. It was a tip we learned from all those cooking shows we watched when we still had cable!

Hope you enjoy this weeknight meal!

How I Fight a case of the wants

We all get a case of the "wants" from time to time. Like me, you may covet a handbag that someone blogged about or a shirt that is featured in the latest issue of "In Style". However, like me, you may not be able to instantly satisfy this want. I will try to rationalize with myself. Also, I don't need more stuff!

One way I've found to curb the "wanting" feeling is to reorganize what I have. I periodically weed out my accessories so not to be overwhelmed by the chaos. Sometimes it seems easier to just buy something new instead of figure out what you already have. I blogged about this back in 2010 and thought it was time to revisit.

I recently purchased the bracelet display stand from Michael's. It was $7. I originally wanted an acrylic one but this one will do just fine! I used to think I did not own many bracelets until I put them on all this stand. Yeah, I own enough!

The display tray was purchased 2 years ago at TJ Maxx. They run anywhere from $6 to $8. However, I see them EVERY TIME I'm there so I'm sure you can too! I keep earrings and pins in the tray. I also keep a selection of necklace extenders. I have a FAT neck. Truly. So to keep a lot of necklaces from looking like Blossom esque chokers, I use the necklace extenders. I purchased a set of 6 (3 silver colored/3 gold colored) from eBay for around $5.

I also keep my sewing supplies nearby in case I notice any wardrobe malfunctions that need quick repair.

The necklace "tree" is actually an old ornament stand that I stole took from my parents' garage a few years ago. I always intended to spray is silver, but alas, two years later, I still haven't done it.

My headbands are hanging off a milkglass vase that I bought at a garage sale for 50 cents.

Hopefully, by keeping my jewelry in order, I'll resist the urge to buy more.

Funny story, I started this blog post on Monday afternoon. Then Monday night, I was looking at the Bellevue Newport flash sale. I saw a tortoiseshell necklace that  really wanted. So I bid but I was too late. Then I go back to finish this post and realized: Self, You did not need that necklace!!

So there's that. :)

Hey, That's Pin-tastic!: Salted Toffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies

For this week's linkup with AP at I Love You More Than Carrots, I decided to bake for a good friend of mine who just had a baby. I know you are supposed to bring a casserole or something. But I firmly believe a woman with a new baby NEEDS chocolate more :) I checked out her "Yums for the Tums" board on Pinterest and re-pinned one of her pins. Pinterest definitely made it easier to select a recipe that I already know will appeal to her! It reminded me of a Salted Caramel drink from Starbucks.
And really. It is salty and sweet. Who doesn't like that?

Source: blueeyedbakers.com via natylite78 on Pinterest

The original recipe calls for you to use chopped semi-sweet chocolate. I substituted dark chocolate chips. Here is my mise en place.

The original recipe also uses a muffin top tin to make giganitic yet uniform cookies. They indicate the yield as 16 cookies. However, I used a cookie scoop and got 4 dozen out of it.

The fleur de sel is what makes this cookie special. The salt and crunch set off the richness of the chocolate and Heath bar bits. If you like salty-sweet desserts, then you will enjoy this recipe!

Happy Halloween!!

From the cutest lobster EVER :)

Hey, That's Pin-tastic!: 3 Ingredient Brownies!

I'm linking up with the fab AP at I Love You More than Carrots for Hey, that's Pin-tastic. It was pretty easy to pick what I was going to do. After I pinned the below, it was repinned 30 times. I just had to see if the recipe was legit! It sounded too good to be true.

Source: dressinterest.com via natylite78 on Pinterest

I do take issue with the pin as the referring website did not provide any details such as baking time and temperature! At the time I wrote this post, the referring website was not even active! To spare you the trouble, visit here to get the necessary details. She includes optional ingredients such as salt (I agree) and chocolate chips (not necessary but yummy!).

In trying this recipe, I did not use a mini cupcake pan as I don't own one! I used an 8 by 8 cake pan, lined with parchment paper. This resulted in thinner brownies, but did not affect it otherwise. I also baked mine for 20 minutes since it was not in the mini cupcake pan.

The verdict is that this recipe is legit! As you can see in the top lefthand picture, the 3 ingredients looked like brownie batter! This is not the best brownie recipe around, however I would recommend it in a pinch. The flavor isn't too heavy on the hazelnut, so they really just taste like brownies.

Could this really be the same baby?

I finally found my elusive camera cord! Jack's 1 month picture had been trapped on my camera. I decided to do a side by side comparison of his 1 month to 3 month picture. All I have to say is, Could this really be the same baby??

The thrill of the hunt

When it comes to shopping, I like the thrill of the hunt. I don't think I'm alone in this, based on what I've read on y'alls blogs and Twitter! Usually, I like hunting at TJ Maxx and Ross. Lately, I've been checking out consignment and thrift stores. I was inspired by Kimberly at Fab Finds Under $50, who discovers the best stuff at her local Goodwill in Indianapolis. Her Goodwill regularly has Target new stock plus random designer items. I was also inspired by Gracie Beth's post at Preppy Southern Princess, where she shared her tips on "Goodwill Hunting"

I popped into my local Goodwill and found this Merona (Target) twill jacket, which is the perfect weight for Florida winter and spring. Cost: $5.

Did I see any designer items? Not really, but I did see a lot of J Crew in smaller sizes as well as some Lilly. Hopefully these items get snatched up quick!

My consignment shop is part of a local chain. I frequent two locations. One location has a great selection of designer items from Milly, DVF, Chanel, and more. The other location carries dowdy grandmotherly clothing, but on a rare occasion, carries some stylish items. Here are two of my most recent consignment finds. Both are Talbots and cost $24 and $20.

I hope whomever is consigning these clothes continues to do so! I'm convinced these pieces are from the same person. I'm also convinced the animal print cardigan from my last post was hers as well!

So if you are a hunter, say hi! Also, tell me about your favorite consignment or thrift store finds!