What I'm Cooking
Slow Cooker Paprika Pulled Pork with Parmesan Polenta. This is what I made for our Valentine's Day company, and it was quite good. None of us had ever tried polenta before. The recipe seems to call for a dry good, but all I could find at the store was pre-cooked (it's in a tube, like sausage, but it's a sort of cornmeal mush), so I had to improvise on adding the parmesan and milk to make something the consistency of mashed potatoes. It wasn't bad. I probably wouldn't love it on its own, but it was a very nice starch under the pulled pork.
Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach. You can't really go wrong with Skinny Taste recipes. I don't love cooked spinach, but it's not very noticeable. This was my first experience with uncooked sausage NOT in bulk -- as in, the first time I've ever removed the casing from a sausage link. I did not particularly enjoy the experience. My husband, who accidentally let the casing go down the sink drain and then had to retrieve it from around the garbage disposal, enjoyed it even less. Ew.
Garlic Pesto Chicken with Creamy Tomato Penne. This was not nearly as good as it looked. I have a lot of homemade pesto in the freezer, and I love a creamy tomato sauce, so the recipe seemed to have potential, but I wasn't impressed. Certainly edible, but I won't make it again.
What I'm Reading
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. I first heard of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a fictional hero of the French Revolution of the late 1700s, in its musical form. Several of my musical theater friends sang from the score in various vocal classes I played for. Much more recently, at the recommendation of a librarian friend, I read the Pink Carnation series of novels by Lauren Willig, which are based on the Scarlet Pimpernel but expand the story quite extensively. [For the record, I cannot suggest this series in complete good conscience, as parts of them read very much like a Harlequin romance. If you can get past the occasional heaving bosom and milky thigh, though, they're fun, light-hearted, easy reading.] Anyway, when I spotted the original novel while browsing free Kindle books at Amazon, I figured I ought to be familiar with the original. I suspect a little bit of the excitement is lost because I already know the "secret" identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but I'm still eager to see how it all plays out. As an amusing aside, I just discovered via wikipedia that the Pimpernel is the original "secret identity hero" that inspired such other literary heros as El Zorro and Batman. I'm generally a big fan of both Zorro and Batman. So how about that.
Standing on the Promises by Doug Wilson. Finally finished this. It read much faster once I got out of the theological arguments and into the practical application. The chapter on discipline was pretty convicting, and I've had some serious conversations with Levi this week about my being more consistent in discipline so that I'm obeying God.
Weekly Snapshots: All in an Evening
Favorite pin: Carrot Cake Waffles. I've tried cornbread waffles, to great success, so I'm eager to try these.
Favorite blog post: I'll try not to post from Five in Tow every week, but this post on First Love and Little Boys was quite heart-wrenching to this mama of little boys! I'm also pretty excited about this mama cloth giveaway from the Humbled Homemaker. The giveaway is open until Friday, 2/22, I believe, so hurry on over and get entered!
Slow Cooker Paprika Pulled Pork with Parmesan Polenta. This is what I made for our Valentine's Day company, and it was quite good. None of us had ever tried polenta before. The recipe seems to call for a dry good, but all I could find at the store was pre-cooked (it's in a tube, like sausage, but it's a sort of cornmeal mush), so I had to improvise on adding the parmesan and milk to make something the consistency of mashed potatoes. It wasn't bad. I probably wouldn't love it on its own, but it was a very nice starch under the pulled pork.
Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach. You can't really go wrong with Skinny Taste recipes. I don't love cooked spinach, but it's not very noticeable. This was my first experience with uncooked sausage NOT in bulk -- as in, the first time I've ever removed the casing from a sausage link. I did not particularly enjoy the experience. My husband, who accidentally let the casing go down the sink drain and then had to retrieve it from around the garbage disposal, enjoyed it even less. Ew.
Garlic Pesto Chicken with Creamy Tomato Penne. This was not nearly as good as it looked. I have a lot of homemade pesto in the freezer, and I love a creamy tomato sauce, so the recipe seemed to have potential, but I wasn't impressed. Certainly edible, but I won't make it again.
What I'm Reading
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. I first heard of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a fictional hero of the French Revolution of the late 1700s, in its musical form. Several of my musical theater friends sang from the score in various vocal classes I played for. Much more recently, at the recommendation of a librarian friend, I read the Pink Carnation series of novels by Lauren Willig, which are based on the Scarlet Pimpernel but expand the story quite extensively. [For the record, I cannot suggest this series in complete good conscience, as parts of them read very much like a Harlequin romance. If you can get past the occasional heaving bosom and milky thigh, though, they're fun, light-hearted, easy reading.] Anyway, when I spotted the original novel while browsing free Kindle books at Amazon, I figured I ought to be familiar with the original. I suspect a little bit of the excitement is lost because I already know the "secret" identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but I'm still eager to see how it all plays out. As an amusing aside, I just discovered via wikipedia that the Pimpernel is the original "secret identity hero" that inspired such other literary heros as El Zorro and Batman. I'm generally a big fan of both Zorro and Batman. So how about that.
Standing on the Promises by Doug Wilson. Finally finished this. It read much faster once I got out of the theological arguments and into the practical application. The chapter on discipline was pretty convicting, and I've had some serious conversations with Levi this week about my being more consistent in discipline so that I'm obeying God.
Weekly Snapshots: All in an Evening
Boy #3 working hard on food.
Boy #2 driving Thomas through "the hairy mud."
Boy #1, post-haircut, reading from Proverbs.
Favorite pin: Carrot Cake Waffles. I've tried cornbread waffles, to great success, so I'm eager to try these.
Favorite blog post: I'll try not to post from Five in Tow every week, but this post on First Love and Little Boys was quite heart-wrenching to this mama of little boys! I'm also pretty excited about this mama cloth giveaway from the Humbled Homemaker. The giveaway is open until Friday, 2/22, I believe, so hurry on over and get entered!
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