Cooking Class #1

Here is the recipe for the wonderful meal that we made last week during our cooking night! It was absolutely delicious and very filling. We made bread crisps and dip, jumbo stuffed pasta shells with marinara, and a spinach leaf salad.

Dip
3-4 slices of bacon
2T brown sugar
chipotle peppers
2T cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
salt & pepper

Mix the brown sugar with the chipotle pepper sauce (about 1 tablespoon). Rub the sauce on the bacon and cook @ 400 degrees for about 15 mins, or until it's crispy. Then, chop up the bacon and mix it in with the remaining ingredients.

For the bread, we cut up pieces of the garlic bread loaves you buy at the store and we soaked it in olive oil and butter and then cooked it so that it was very crispy. Spread the dip on the top of the bread crisps and enjoy!

Marinara Sauce
1/2 red onion
1-2 garlic cloves
2-3T olive oil
red pepper flakes
canned tomatoes
2 tablespoons sugar or brown sugar (we used brown sugar)
assorted herbs (we used rosemary, oregano, and basil)
salt & pepper

Mix all together and spread over the top of the pasta shells.

Pasta Shells and Stuffing
1. Boil Shells
2. Cook chicken breasts @ 350 degrees w/ olive oil and salt & pepper, for about 20 mins
3. Mix 1 egg, 1 cup ricotta cheese, 3/4 cup shredded italian cheese, chopped up chicken, salt & pepper, and herbs (this will be the stuffing inside the shells)

Stuff shells, smother the shells in marinara and sprinkle with cheese, cook for about 20-30 mins.

I forgot to bring my camera and take pictures of what the meal looked like, but I will make sure and do that tonight when we cook.

It's Been A While!

Sorry i've been MIA for a while, I'm sure not many people have missed my blog anyway, but oh well. I figured I'd give friends and family an update on what's been going on in my life the past few months.


#1: I GRADUATED COLLEGE!!!! I had a great graduation weekend, celebrating with my friends and family who were able to come. Here are a few pics from graduation.

#2: I MOVED BACK TO NORMAN AND I AM LIVING WITH TREVOR AND HIS FRIEND BEN IN TREVOR'S NEW HOUSE! In the last three weeks that I've been living in his house, I've painted the walls and woodwork in my bedroom, painted the walls in the hallway, living room, and kitchen. Next, we will paint all the woodwork in the whole house white. I absolutely love living where I do. I love that we have a garden..My mom planted the flowers, but I love watering them and enjoying them. My dog Samson lives with me now and it makes me so happy! He's so sweet and he follows me everywhere. Each of us have our own dog so we are very busy sweeping and vacuuming up all the hair. Once the woodwork is all finished, I will post before and after pictures of the house.

#3: I GOT A JOB AT THE JCPENNEY'S HAIR SALON! I decided after much thought that I wanted to do hair. I applied at a couple of salons in Norman and OKC, but I decided to accept the job at JCPenney's. There are a few reasons for this......A. They pay hourly plus commission on services and product sales. This is a huge plus for me because I don't have a big enough clientele for booth rent, plus I will be getting a paycheck whether or not I have clients in my chair. B. It's located in the Norman mall so there will hopefully be lots of traffic and walk-ins. C. They offer benefits like health and dental insurance, 401K plan, and paid vacations. D. Everyone I talked to there loved it and some of the ladies have been there for over 10 years. My first day of work will be on Aug. 2nd! If you need your hair done, PLEASE come see me, I would love it!

#4: I'M LEARNING HOW TO COOK! My good friend Stephanie attended culinary school for a while and she works as a chef at a catering company in Norman now. Once a week, a group of my friends get together and cook. Stephanie plans what we're going to make and she teaches us how. We've only done it once, but I learned so much and I can't wait for next week! I've always wanted to learn how to cook so I'm very excited about it. Hopefully I will have time to start blogging about what we cook and I'll post pictures of the food and the recipes :)

#5: MY MOM AND I ARE TRAINING FOR THE YMCA TRIATHLON IN SEPTEMBER. Two years ago Trevor and I did the triathlon at the YMCA and I loved it. This year my mom will be doing it with both Trevor and I. We've been training for about a month now. I try to run and swim about four times a week. The triathlon includes 500 meters swimming, 12 miles biking, and a 5k run. I thoroughly enjoying swimming....I think it is so relaxing and such a great full body workout.

Other than that, I'm just enjoying having the month of July off from work. It's really spoiled me, although I haven't had a lot of time to just sit and relax. However, I do get to sleep in everyday :) I can't wait to start doing hair in a salon again and I'm really excited about working hard to build my clientele. Hope you are all doing well, I'd love for you to e-mail me and let me know how your life's going.