Author: Jo

The Patio is Finished!

I’m sorry for not writing for the past couple days.  This weekend has been a little busy.  Yesterday, I spent the whole day cleaning and hanging up new pictures….

 

 

….such as this one of Fancy….

 

 

…and this one of our sweet Kaylee…

 

 

…and this ridiculous one of Lazarus.

But today, after much procrastination, I finally finished the last 2 curtains and curtain ties, which means that our covered patio is finally complete!  In case you didn’t read this post when I was contemplating between 2 different patio furniture sets, we ended up choosing the blue set, which actually turned out to be a light aqua/green color.  Luckily the pillows and curtain ties I had already made still matched.

It’s been almost a month since I started this patio project, which probably should have only taken a week or so.  But since I’m a procrastinator and like to take alot of breaks, it ended up taking significantly longer.  I’m so happy with the outcome, though.  It looks way better than I pictured it.

So without further ado…here is our new patio, complete with a lovely seating area and hand made curtains and pillows by yours truly.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a screen door that leads out to the yard, but if you look closely, you can see that we had to put a baby gate up in front of the door so that Camelot wouldn’t push the door open.  We had a latch that kept the door closed, but Camelot didn’t let that deter him.  He would somehow push the door open enough for him to squeeze through.  Then he would bark because he was trapped inside the patio.  When I would go out there to let him out, I could never figure out how he got into the porch.  The latch was still locked, and when I would pull on the door it would only open a couple inches.  Definitely not far enough for 150 lb Camelot to squeeze through.  I had a Houdini dog on my hands!

Finally, Camelot must have pushed the door too far, because he ended up breaking the latch.  So now, I have to put a baby gate in front of the door, as well as a door stopper on the other side so that the wind doesn’t keep pushing it open.  We really need to get that latch fixed.  Every time there’s a storm I can hear the screen door slamming closed every few minutes.  Thanks alot, Camelot!

 

 

The kitties like the patio too, because they can experience the outside world without being able to run away.

 

 

We got this cute lantern at the Ikea in Atlanta when we were there for the Pioneer Woman Book Signing.  I thought it would be a great little accessory for the patio.  And get this….it was only $4.99!  That Ikea, man….they have some great deals!

 

 

Here’s a close up of the curtain ties I made.  I’m most proud of the fact that I figured out how to sew a button hole and a button with my sewing machine!  I’m moving up in the world!

 

Triple Toe Loop

I had some amazing friends growing up.  And what’s more amazing is that I am still very close with almost all of them today!  Some of these friends were in the nursery with me at the school where our mothers were teachers.  We were practically friends from birth, and we made up some awesome games throughout the years.

One game in particular comes to mind 15 years later.  Every day during recess, my friends and I would go onto the grassy field and figure skate.  This field had a large dirt patch that ran along one side of the fence, and was about 10-12 feet wide.  During this time in our lives, Oksana Baiul, Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Tara Lipinski were our figure skating idols, and we would choreograph routines and pretend to ice skate on the dirt.

Our favorite move was the triple toe loop.  This is where the ice skater will skate backwards gaining speed and then sink her toe into the ice and spin 3 times in the air, landing perfectly with her leg in the air.  Of course, none of us could ever even dream of performing this move in real life, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t choreograph it into our routines.  Who cares if we were only able to spin half way around in the air.  To us, we were professional dirt ice skaters.

While one person performed, the others would sing a song for her to skate to.  We didn’t upgrade to an actual sound track until we were at my house, where I was able to bring the stereo out into the garage.  We would strap on our roller blades and do our routines in the drive way.  At least at home we could actually glide around on our roller blades instead of skimming our tennis shoes across the dirt field.

Ahh, the memories.  Of course we are WAY too sophisticated now to make up such a game…..or are we?  Girls, anyone up for some dirt figure skating? 🙂

Here’s the whole gang.  From left to right:  Alexis, Leah, Me, Missy, Renee (front and center), Jessica, and Katie.  Oh and there’s Jason Jamal in the white shirt in the background.  My elementary school crush. 🙂  Nevermind that I was about a foot taller than him.

Cajun Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Oh, man!  We had an awesome dinner tonight.  I don’t know how it even popped into my head, but while I was trying to decide what to make for dinner I thought back to a delicious pasta dish I had at Chili’s a while back and decided to recreate it.  I didn’t remember exactly what ingredients were in the dish, but I knew it was some sort of Cajun chicken fettuccine alfredo.  So this is my take on it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

boneless, skinless chicken breasts

fettuccine pasta

Emeril’s Original Essence seasoning (recipe below, in case you don’t have the pre made version)

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
  • 1 tablespoon dried thyme

roasted red peppers (found on the same grocery aisle as pickles, banana peppers, etc.)

your favorite alfredo sauce (since I was adding roasted red peppers to the dish, I decided on some alfredo sauce with some red peppers already mixed in)

I don’t think you could ask for a recipe with more simple ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Liberally sprinkle Emeril’s Original Essence on chicken.  If you’re wondering why there is only one large chicken breast while the rest are chicken tenders, it is because when I brilliantly decided to make this dish I didn’t realize that I only had one normal sized chicken breast left until I had already gotten all my other ingredients together.  So the only other option was my chicken tenders in the freezer.  It actually worked out better though, because the chicken tenders chop up quicker. 🙂

Now, if you are feeling extra frisky and spicy, get out your cayenne pepper and pour a little in the palm of your hand.  In case you’re wondering, I did not use this much cayenne pepper.  If I had, I’m pretty sure my mouth would still be on fire.  A little goes a long way with cayenne pepper, so you should pour it in your hand first and then sprinkle it on using your other hand.  That way, you won’t mistakenly dump half the container on your chicken.

This is how much I sprinkled onto my chicken.  You can add more or less depending on how spicy you want it.  Or you can just omit it all together if you don’t like spiciness, like my friend Elizabeth.

Learned that one the hard way.  She and her fiance, Rustin, came over for dinner one night and I made my Jambasta (which is a Rachael Ray Jambalaya recipe using pasta instead of rice).  I did not know at the time that she was not a fan of spicy foods.  Now if you’ve ever had Jambalaya, you know that it is really spicy.  So when we sat down to dinner, she took one bite and that was enough for her.  I had to find her something else to eat quickly, and like an idiot, I gave her our left over Fulin’s Lo Mein from the night before.  But I had forgotten that we had asked for it extra spicy.  Sigh….another fail on my part.  She ended up eating a bagel for dinner.  Not one of my best moments.

Put the chicken in a hot pan seasoned side down.

Season the other side of the chicken the same way as the first side.

Cook chicken on the first side for about 3 minutes.  You want the pan to be pretty hot so that it blackens the seasoning.  Turn chicken over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Then, place the entire pan into your preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through.

Meanwhile, place the fettuccine pasta in some boiling water.  I used linguine since I didn’t have any fettuccine, but you can use whatever you have.

Pour alfredo sauce into a sauce pan and heat over medium heat.

Place 3 roasted red peppers on a cutting board.  You may want to dry them off on a paper towel first, as they can be quite wet out of the can.

Chop into a small dice.

Throw peppers into a small skillet and heat over medium high heat.

Take chicken out of the oven and let rest on a cutting board.  You don’t want to cut into meat when it is fresh out of the oven, grill, or skillet.  Let it rest for a few minutes to let the juices redistribute.

Drain pasta and toss it into the pan that the chicken just came out of.

Throw the peppers in and mix around so that all the yummy drippings from the pan are coating the pasta.  Talk about flavor!  Why let it go to waste?

Pour heated alfredo sauce over pasta and mix well.

Cut chicken into bite sized strips.  This is why the chicken tenders came in handy. 🙂

Place pasta on a place and lay chicken strips on top.  Doesn’t that look delish!?

If you are feeling especially dangerous…..as I clearly was…..pour some left over alfredo sauce on top of the chicken.  Yum!  My tummy is happy.  As are my taste buds.  I know yours will thank you as well.