More Cooking

The other day at work I was playing researching on Pinterest and found this lovely recipe.  (The original link is here, but it's one of those things where even that blogger got it from somewhere else.  I try to give credit appropriately, but these kinds of things are tricky -- so feel free to follow the path backwards as much as makes you comfortable to get to the "original" source.)  And hey -- I really do go to Pinterest practically daily for teaching-related stuff.  It's on the up-and-up, I promise ... even if my home page on Pinterest is usually way more fun (and distracting) than pins on lesson plans and manipulatives. 

Since we'd boiled up and shredded some chicken just a few days earlier and had some leftovers, and since I always have heavy cream and lasagna noodles in the house, the only things we needed were cream cheese and parmesan -- and both of those were only on the list because we'd manage to finish off what we had in the house earlier in the week!

So, these lovelies were for dinner.

Sorry about the poor photo quality.  It was later than I was happy with, so I grabbed my cell phone for a quick snapshot.

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Roll-Ups.

Let me put it to you this way:  by the time dinner was ready, I was full.  I kept dipping the extra lasagna noodles into the alfredo sauce.  It was that good.  (And I am definitely a picky alfredo eater.  This sauce was from scratch and was rich and creamy and had just enough kick, but was not that processed-cheese-canned-alfredo nastiness you sometimes take your chances with and end up getting and then deciding, for a moment, that you don't like alfredo.  No, this stuff was fantastic.  Seriously, I could have poured this in a bowl and eaten it with a spoon!  In fact, I may have done that.  I'm not tellin'.)

The gist of the recipe is this:  boil up the lasagna noodles while you make the alfredo sauce.  (It's not just delicious, it's super easy.)  Then rinse the noodles and lay them flat on a work surface.  Spoon some alfredo sauce on the noodle, then top with garlic salt, oregano, chicken, and mozzarella.  Roll and place in a baking dish so that the seam-side is down.  When the pan's full, top with the remaining cheese and alfredo sauce.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  That's it! 

I'm thinking tonight I may just make alfredo sauce to drink and crash potatoes to eat, and call it a night.

--Jen

Look What I Won!

I know, I know, everyone says they never win anything, but it's true.  I don't typically win stuff.  Maybe because I tend to enter contests that have 9,574,748,357 entrants?  Who knows.

But I was reading one of my favorite blogs a few weeks ago and this post really hit home.

Scroll down through the comments and read mine -- I'm Jennifer M.  (I'd link to it but don't know how or if it's even possible ...)

I was not joking.  We were in an office supply store and I had a mild freak-out because I suddenly was sad and upset that I didn't have and couldn't afford a gigundo printer that only a few minutes earlier I'd never thought about more than just as a passing, "hmm that would be nice" kind-of thing.

And lo and behold, I won one!  And the paper to go with it!

Check out this puppy!

In case you were wondering, that's 13 INCHES by 19 INCHES.  Go look at a ruler for a second and contemplate that.  It's crazy!

Thank you, Rachel, a thousand times over.  You made my day, my week, and now my day again -- and I'm sure when I print my awesome humongous printouts, you'll continue to make me smile again and again!

Hmm.  Now I really can't wait to unpack and get my "office" set-up going... 

--Jen

Things You Should Know About Me

This is totally and completely stolen from inspired by Little Miss Momma, whose blog I just discovered today.

This is also the "Jen Trivia" version, not the mushy-gushy version.  The mushy-gushy stuff should go without saying, anyway. I tried to put stuff here that even if you know me, you might not know.

50 Things You Should Know About Me If We Are Going To Be BFF

1. I can’t stand poor grammar, especially if you’re educated and should know better.  That's not to say I am always perfect, but if you're chronically NOT, it makes me cringe.
2. I will be snarky about it.  (And about virtually anything else, really.)
3. I love 40% off coupons from Michael’s and it’s almost to the point where I won’t buy anything there without one.
4. I love, love, love the smell of laundry detergent and have been known to leave an entire box of Bounce in my car in the summer, just to get the concentrated smell.  “Clean Cotton” Yankee Candles?  Made. For. Me.
5. I can get over a lot of things, but if you hurt my feelings I am not likely to forget it.  I might get over it, but I won’t forget it.  Unless you’re Tara.  In which case I feel certain we’ve both hurt each others’ feelings, but I can’t recall a single time. I hope she feels the same way.
6. I knocked out my two front teeth when I was getting ready to go to sixth grade (or seventh?) and I’ve had all sorts of dental work done ever since. Say Cheese!
7. I will do laundry like a madwoman and get through 12 loads in a day if I have to, but it will sit in giant piles, unfolded at the foot of my bed, for weeks at a time sometimes.
8. I iron everything.   Well, except underwear.
9. I am allergic to Nutra-Sweet and can smell it if someone next to me is chewing sugar-free gum.
10. When I was pregnant, I could smell Diet Coke on Mick's breath from a mile away and it made me sick (and drove him crazy).
11. I can’t stand blogs and other web pages that use a ton of different-sized fonts and {brackets} in awkward places to look cute.  It’s hard to read and makes me batty.  I’ve been known to stop reading really great blogs because they look like they were formatted by fifth-grade girls.
12. I went to Catholic School for a day when I was in sixth grade.
13. Sometimes I am amazed by the complete junk on blogs, and then astounded to learn those bloggers have ads and sponsors and thousands of followers … and they are telling me to spray paint a screen and sew through it and hang that trash in my house as “art.”
14. Mick and I met on a blind date.  He was told that I was from Rhode Island and went to Boston College.  50% of those four words are correct.
15. I try to always give people the benefit of the doubt about almost anything, unless they are grammatically incompetent, in which case I will judge them repeatedly.
16. I can’t stand “text-speak," even in text messages, and I will take up three texts to say the same thing I could have said in one, just to avoid those abbreviations.
17. I don’t think it’s appropriate to tell an adult “shut-up” ever, even in the joking “Shut up! Really?!” kind-of way.
18. I grew up with St. Bernards, but don’t like other peoples’ dogs.
19. I can’t stand cats.  Don’t try to win me over.  You will only make me angry.  I hate cats.
20. I had to go to college a week early for band camp.
21. I can’t stand lying.  ‘Fess up if you mess up, and we can go from there.
22. You will hurt my feelings more if you leave me out of invites than about almost anything else you can do.
23. I will tell you the truth even if you don’t want to hear it, and I will back up my opinion.
24. My grandfather died on my sister’s birthday, and I had to fight the ladies in the front office of my own high school for them to allow me to go to her classroom to get her.  I knew that as soon as they paged for her she would break down, and I wouldn’t let that happen. 
25. My youngest sister and I are born ten years apart to the day.  Mick and CAM share a birthday.  For a while in Alabama, we were four people under one roof -- with only two birthdays!
26. I make lists, and then I make sub-lists and lists of lists.  And I love it.
27. I would rather do without than have something cheap – most of the time.
28. I drive a Mercedes, but I really miss my Tahoe, and that’s something I never thought I would say.  (Actually, I never thought I would say either of those!)
29. I can’t dive. 
30. When I was a kid I took organ lessons for a few years.
31. I owe about 6 people wedding gifts, and I remember every single one and it bothers me.  A lot. And I want to remedy it in a grand way one day.
32. I have a strange memory and will pull things seemingly out of nowhere.  
33. I can "measure" most things without a ruler, and I'm pretty accurate.
34. I make Monica Gellar look disorganized.
35. I will dislike you if you are rude to wait staff for no reason.
36. I think "excuse me" is the most under-used phrase in American English.
37. Nerds Rope, Nerds Rope, Nerds Rope.
38. I love to sing!  Especially ... well, everywhere.
39. I am known to listen to the 50s station on Sirius/XM for road trips.  
40. My college roommate only liked Red and Purple Skittles, and I only like Orange and Green.  I miss her. :)
41. Dark chocolate, not milk chocolate.
42. I can't do shots.  
43. I love corn on the cob, and whenever we cook it for our family I always buy three extra ears just for me! 
44. Mick and I planned our wedding around the SEC and ACC football schedules -- and Holy Days. 
45. One summer day when I was a kid, the priest said it was just too hot for a homily, and ended mass early.  That was the best church day ever, until I got to college and had a hilarious run-in with some hockey players and a couple who took "peace be with you" a little too seriously.
46. I love badminton.
47. I couldn't wear thong-style flip-flops until I was 31 years old!  
48. I find it relaxing to wash my car or go grocery shopping. 
49. I still race out to the mailbox every day like a kid, hoping for goodies! 
50. I really hope you like my blog, and I get as excited about your comments as I do about mail!

Okay, your turn!  Is there anything I need to know about you?

--Jen

Have You Ever ...

... logged in to write a blog post, realized you needed to email yourself some snapshots from your cell phone in order to write the post you wanted to write, gotten sidetracked by a Pinterest find of some super-cool-but-maybe-not-appropriate-for-legal-jobs resumes, and then logged into your other gmail account only to realize it brought you your other Blogger dashboard, because you were originally waiting around on your blogger dashboard while you waited for your cell phone snapshots to arrive?  And only then did you remember you were supposed to be writing a new post?

Never?

Really?

Well, then.  Maybe I really am crazy.

(But you already knew that!)  Happy Monday ... more tomorrow, folks!

--Jen

Facebook and Stuff

Hello, my dear readers!  So, have you noticed I added a "Pin it" button to the  bottom of my posts?  No, I haven't suddenly gone all DIY-homemaker-crafting-blog on you, but I saw a blog post a few weeks ago that talked about if you're blogging, do it right.  One of the tips was that you should add the Facebook and Pinterest buttons before you think you need them, so that the one day you go viral and wish you'd had them, they will already be there. That's wisdom, if you ask me, so I'm acting on it.

That being said, I don't exactly anticipate going viral anytime soon.  But that's kind-of the point, right?  And I thought the blogging advice was dead-on everywhere else, so I've been gradually learning how to do the buttons.  (Word of advice:  it's not hard, but it is a pain and thank goodness there are blogs out there to teach non-programming bloggers what the heck to do.  If I didn't still remember how much I hated computer programming in college, this kind of stuff would make me wish I'd been a comp sci person.)

I also started a blog Facebook page!  (It's so exciting! It already has one post.  Contain yourselves, I know this is earth-shattering.)  So hopefully in the next few days, I'll also be adding a follow-me/like-me/whatever-it's-called-today Facebook button.  Facebook doesn't make anything easy, either, so that's an after-the-kids-go-to-bed project.  If I go viral and end up on the Today Show, I promise to thank my first ten followers. 

Oh -- if you're wondering where I learned about the button adding stuff, it's from this Web page:
Blogger Sentral

And that excellent blogging advice?  From one of the funniest bloggers in the history of, well, ever:
People I Want to Punch in the Throat. 

--Jen