Rigatoni Pie

                I love pasta.  And carbs. And more carbs.  Have I mentioned I love carbs?  I often look for new ways to treat myself to carbs besides the ol’ spaghetti and red sauce meal.  Last night I tried a new recipe called rigatoni pie.  I found the recipe at http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/2013/02/27/pasta-pie/ and knew from the moment I saw it I had to try it!  Who would have thought to stand up rigatoni in a spring form pan and add tomato and meat goodness on top?  I sure would not have thought about it!  I did make some changes to the recipe.  I used ground beef instead of turkey because it is what we always have on hand.  I also added green chili to the meat/sauce to give it extra flavor and added whatever spices from the cabinet that looked good, not just red pepper flakes like the recipe calls for.  Bottom line: it turned out amazing.  I thought the arranging of rigatonis would take a long time but it really didn’t!  It was a quick meal!  I baked it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and then had it under the broiler for about the last 3.  I loved it, Michael loved it and we will eat leftovers again today and love it! 

Quiet!

Sometimes life is pretty quiet on the funny farm.  This would be one of those times.  There really has not been much going on and I am ok with that!  Daylight savings time allows for Michael to be outside working late into the evening and me more daylight to do things after work.  The weather has been amazing! Yesterday when I got off work it was in the high 70’s so as soon as I got home I washed the car. I still had plenty of daylight after that to check on the chickens, gather eggs and make it to the grocery store and back all before dark!

                As far as orchard work to be done right now life consists of trimming trees, changing water and cleaning out sprinklers.  At the ranch we only have a few cows left to calve and then it will be time to work them.  Working them consists of branding, vaccinating and castrating all the bull calves.  The calves are just the cutest things ever and I love going out to see them!  We will probably do that in late April.

                I have been getting a lot of sewing done and hope to get more done this coming weekend.  I will set out to travel again next week so I will take advantage of this while I can!  I am up to speed on my blocks for quilt guild so this weekend I am going to work on a burlap and lace table runner.  I may make placemats as well if I have any leftover material.

                Like I said, not much going on so just assume that no news is good news!

Shopping!

                This week my job took me to Albuquerque for a couple days which meant I got to have an evening for shopping.  I love the chance to explore and try new stores and I received a recommendation for a good one this week!  The store is called Buffalo Exchange (www.buffaloexchange.com) and it specializes in “New and Recycled Fashion” and was a blast.  Basically, it’s a consignment store with a vintage and eclectic feel.  It is filled with great finds from clothing to shoes to jewelry and lots in between.  The selection was great and I had to practice extreme self-control in order to not spend every penny in my wallet.  I ended up purchasing a beautiful turquoise ring for a very affordable price.  The stone is oval and a lovely green with some dark striations through the middle.  I am wearing it today and loving it!

It was fun to shop in a store that doesn’t specialize in cattle and horse feed.  Living in a small town it is easy to get in a shopping rut of the same things over and over again.  Adjusting to limited shopping options was one of the more difficult things I faced when I first moved to this desolate area.  I remember a specific shopping experience awhile back when I went shopping in the “big city” about three hours away.  I called my mom ecstatically (who is also my favorite shopping partner) when I found a pair of jeans at Ann Taylor Loft.  I was so excited because it was the first time in almost two years that I bought clothes at a store without “tractor” or “feed supply” in the name.  It is the little things in life!  I honestly don’t mind shopping at the “country” or small town stores as their clothes fit me well, they usually last a long time and they fit my life style.  Surprisingly, my very large collections of high heels and fancy shoes from my college sorority days don’t get used very often anymore!  Living without all of the typical shopping options saves some pennies and also makes going to bigger towns that much more exciting.  I was an avid shopper before and I still am but my purchases have just happened to change! 

The Couscous Incident

The other night while I was making chicken alfredo I was reaching to get some items out of the fridge and knocked out a Tupperware container filled with left over couscous from supper the night before.  Not only did it fall from high up in the fridge (we have one where the freezer is on the bottom) but it happened to explode all over once it hit the ground.  Couscous went everywhere.  There may have been a few choice words that jumped out of my mouth but I grabbed the dust pan and hand broom and started cleaning it up.  There was a pretty wide area of impact so I just swept up anything in the area.  Turned out our floor was pretty darn dirty.  Because the entire container had been ruined I decided that it would be good chicken feed.  This also meant that it didn’t matter that I empty the dust pan into the Tupperware container, it was going to go outside anyway.  I set the Tupperware on the counter to bring out to the chickens later and went on with my supper not thinking twice of what had happened.  Boy was I wrong.

                Yesterday when I started making dinner I opened the fridge and saw the Tupperware container that had the couscous in it was on the shelf in the fridge.  I turned to Michael and said, “You know, we don’t need to keep this in the fridge, it’s for the chickens.”  Michael gave me a confused look and said, “Why would it be for the chickens?  It’s perfectly good for leftovers.”  At this point I got worried.  I proceeded to tell Michael, “No, it is what spilled all over our filthy floor the other night.  I swept it up and had it on the counter to go to the chickens.  Everything spilled and I put all the grime back in the container, the chickens will love it.”  All I was returned with was an even grimmer look from Michael.  The next words out of his mouth were, “Well, I sure missed that.  I ate couscous for lunch!”  My goodness, did this really happen?  I am surprised this man is not dead on the floor.  I have not swept or mopped our floors in… a very long time.  The things that went into the container are indescribable.  I guess I have learned my lesson.  Either feed the chickens right away or make sure the food makes it into our usual chicken scrap buckets.  I guess it is just a strengthening of the immune system!