Big Spaghetti Dinner

Big spaghetti dinners were one of my favorite meals growing up.

I would sit in my big, wooden chair at the dinner table as my mom placed a pot of steaming noodles on a hot plate in front of me. The steam from the noodles would moisten my face with a warm heat and my stomach would growl in anticipation. Next to me would be a bread basket filled with buttery garlic bread for easy access.

My mom would make this dinner for me the night before I had a cross country meet in junior high.

I would get so nervous before a meet even though I was not even kind of good and the team never really depended on me. I hated the competitive nature of meets and would nearly make myself sick with nerves. A big spaghetti dinner was one of the things that calmed me down and made me relax.

Though tonight’s dinner wasn’t quite as fantastic as the spaghetti dinners I  enjoyed growing up, it still was quite tasty.

I prepare our pasta feast using Barilla thin spaghetti.

 

While the noodles bubbled away in a big pot of boiling water, I chopped up steamed broccoli florets to toss on top of the cooked pasta.

I also popped open a can of clams to add a little protein and salty flavor to the mix.

Before digging in, I topped the spaghetti, broccoli and clams with marinara sauce.

Even though I’m not the teeniest bit Italian, I sure do like eating like I am! 😀

Question of the Evening

• What is a meal that always makes you feel relaxed and calm?

Pantry Scroungin’

During our early evening walk with Sadie, Ryan and I realized we didn’t have anything on the horizon for dinner. Uh oh!

Time for some pantry scroungin’!

I wanted pasta (surprise, surprise) but Ryan was in the mood for chicken, so while he unloaded the dishwasher, I got work making two separate, but equally tasty dinners.

My dinner:

Clammy Pasta Bowl

Parmesan Cheese Fo' Me

My pasta bowl contained:

• Carba Nada egg fettuccine noodles
• Marinara meat sauce
• Parmesan cheese
• Broccoli
• Clams

Ryan’s dinner:

Chicken with Red Beans and Rice

Ryan’s rice bowl included:

• Brown rice
• Kidney beans
• Chicken strips

The million dollar question… Which dinner would you chooose?

Clammed Up

Seafood may be one of my best friends.

Clams

Our relationship began when I was very young. Since several of you seemed to enjoy my “What did you do today to be a boss and a leader” story about my dad, here’s another charming tale involving my father.

In first grade we had to fill out a questionnaire about our favorite things. One of the questions I had to fill out asked me about my favorite food and my favorite restaurant. My reply? “I love going to Hooters to eat clams with my dad.” Yes, that Hooters.

The One and Only

Classy response for a first grader, huh?

As you can see, my love for seafood runs deep. Tonight I used canned clams as the inspiration for my meal. I paired the clammies with spinach, mushrooms, pasta and Parmesan cheese for a delicious noodle bowl.

Clammy Pasta

With Lots of Parm!

I ate while Sadie watched. 😀

"Wanna share, Mama?"

I did let her lick the bowl clean (once I made sure it was mushroom free… mushrooms are a no-go for dogs).

Ryan is at a soccer game tonight so I will be using this alone time to do some dishes before reading some more of the first Sookie Stackhouse book. 

G’night all! Yay for Friday tomorrow!

All Clammed Up

I was clammed up twice after work today… once when I walked through the door and was shocked by what lay before me and the second time when I was eating my delicious pasta dinner full of clams!

When I got home I was greeted by doggie doo doo. Little Sadie decided to leave me quite the stanky treat on the front rug which was completely shocking since she’s 100 percent potty trained and hasn’t done anything like this in well over a year. I think her poor lil’ puppy belly is a little upset tonight.

After taking Sadie on a walk and feeling relieved when I saw a little pep in her step, I felt comfortable leaving her on her own for 30 minutes when I headed off to the grocery store.

It was an awesome trip because I saw something on the shelves that made me veeeery excited:

Christmas Cookies!

Yay! I can’t WAIT for the holidays!

Dinner was a mumbo-jumbo of pasta, veggies and clams.

First I sauted onions and Portobello mushrooms in a bit of olive oil while boiling egg noodles.

Mushrooms and Onions

I combined a can of little neck clams with the veggies and some sauted spinach and topped the pasta with the mixture.

Clammy Pasta

 This pasta dish was veeeery filling, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying a post-dinner pack of chocolate-covered soy nuts.

I’m off to continue watchin’ season one of Gossip Girl… this show is addicting! Oh and I am officially obsessed with Serena’s hair.

Ft. Lauderdale is for Lovers

As Ryan’s main birthday gift, I planned a mini weekend vacation to Ft. Lauderdale for the two of us, not knowing at the time that it would be our first vacation as an engaged couple. 🙂 Woohoo!

Happy Couple in Ft. Lauderdale

We woke up nice and early on Saturday morning, took the pup on a walk (thanks Laurel for watching her!), and made a quick breakfast before embarking on the three hour drive (Yes, three hours from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale. Ryan is “efficient.”).

While Ryan opted for yogurt and a protein shake, I made myself a healthified egg McMuffin, using Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese, egg whites, Canadian bacon and a sweet wheat alternative bagel.

Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese

Egg McMuffin: Revised

Breakfast

After a few rounds of 20 questions and lots of wedding talk (I can’t help it!), we arrived at our hotel.

The Pillars Hotel

I booked our room at The Pillars Hotel, a gorgeous, small boutique hotel about a block from the beach. Ryan and I instantly fell in love with the romantic, comfortably elegant atmosphere of The Pillars.

Our room overlooked the pool and had a view of the intercoastal waterway.

The Pool at the Pillars

Outside Our Room

By the Water

There were a bunch of cute lounging areas in various cozy spots around the hotel.

Lounging Area

Outside our room was a gorgeous high top table and snuggly love seat.

Our Room

I can honestly say this hotel was beautiful, luxurious, quiet and oh-so-romantic. Ryan and I both agreed it was one of the nicest hotels we’ve ever stayed in on a vacation. Boutique hotels are the best!

In Our Room

After checking in and getting situated, our tummies were grumbling, so we headed out to Las Olas Boulevard, where lots of cute shops and restaurants line the street.

In passing, Ryan selected Indigo, a restaurant located on the bottom floor of the Riverside Hotel to stop for lunch. In support of breast cancer awareness month, the tablecloths and napkins in the restaurant were pink. I loved it!

Indigo Restaurant

After looking over the menu, Ryan opted for a tuna salad sandwich and a cup of white bean soup.

Tuna Salad and Soup

Fishy!

I chose the marinated vegetable sandwich with feta cheese and sweet potato fries.

Veggie Sandwich and Fries

We both agreed that our lunch was just “meh.” Not particularly good, but not bad either. We left full, but not overly impressed with our food or the service at Indigo. At least the company was good!

After lunch we made our way over to the Rivership Cruises platform for a 90 minute tour of Ft. Lauderdale on the water.

Boat Tour

On the tour we got to see lots of multi-million dollar yachts and homes. Wow, Ft. Lauderdale is one wealthy lil’ place. We saw the old homes of Sonny and Cher, John F. Kennedy’s mother, Farrah Fawcett and more.

After the boat tour, we headed back to our hotel and changed for a walk on the beach. The water was so pretty and the perfect temperature. We ended up on a part of the beach that was, um, male dominated… and Ryan got a lot of looks! 🙂 My fiance is a hottie!

We then jumped in the pool at our hotel and lounged on the chairs overlooking the water before showering and heading off to dinner.

Before Dinner

Being on the ocean made both of us want seafood. We decided to go to 15th Street Fisheries Dockside Cafe, a restaurant that was pointed out to us on the boat tour.

We started off with an order of two dozen steamed clams and a dozen mussels steamed in a garlic sauce.

Clams

Mussels

I LOVE steamed clams and mussels and these were absolutely perfect. So tasty. I think I could eat hundreds.

For our main dinner, I ordered peel-and-eat shrimp and Ryan ordered a Cuban sandwich.

Shrimpies

Cuban Sandwich

Both options were phenomenal, though Ryan said my selection was “too much work.” 😉 His sandwich was the best Cuban sandwich I’ve ever tasted. (I’ve only had about two ever, but this was the best!).

His sandwich came with plantain chips which were super-addicting. They were attacked first!

Plantain Chips

As we were eating outside, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and had a great time watching other diners feed the tarpon and fish near the dock. Those fish were huge! Very creepy.

Check Out the Rays!

Heeeere Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

(Yes, the above picture caption is a Deuce Bigalow reference. ;))

Though we were full, that didn’t stop us from hittin’ up Cold Stone Creamery for an extremely thick cookies ‘n’ cream milkshake. We slurped that puppy down before I snapped a picture, but it looked an awful lot like this:

Shake, Shake, Shake

Taaasty! Day one in Ft. Lauderdale was a success!!!

Day Two

Ryan and I are both cursed with the inability to sleep past 7:30 a.m. on weekends, so we were up before the sun this morning and headed out to the beach to catch the sunrise.

Me and Da Suuuun

Though light clouds blocked the view, we still enjoyed the refreshing morning air… and a nice sunrise kiss!

Sunrise Kiss

We also enjoyed watching a passed-out college kid wake up on the beach as the sand-churning truck was headed straight for him. Classic.

Today Ryan is playing in a soccer game at 1 p.m., so we packed up our bags and hit the road by 7:45 a.m., stopping at McDonald’s for breakfast (the first time I’ve been there for anything other than ice cream in years), and I ordered an egg McMuffin while Ryan opted for two breakfast burritos (and a Snickers bar at the next rest stop… thatta boy!).  We arrived back in Orlando just in time for an early lunch. Our Ft. Lauderdale mini vacation was a perfect escape from Orlando.

Today will be relaxing. I plan to hit the gym and grocery store and run some errands with Ryan while showering Sadie with lots of puppy-love since I missed my lil’ girl this weekend. Happy Sunday!