Dinner for One

Every Tuesday night, hubby goes out and plays raquet ball with his buds. Once the baby is in bed, its all ME TIME. So once a week I make a dinner for myself that Ryan isn't crazy about. I happen to have two of these quiet nights to myself this week. Tonight's din-din is roasted roasted veggies with turkey Italian sausage and pasta.

Ingredients
- Random veggies of your choice, in pieces all the same size (I used asparagus, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms and onions)
- clove or two of chopped garlic
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped (but you can use whatever you want)
a few good "glugs" of Olive Oil
1 link Italian sausage, cut into bite size pieces (optional)
2 handfuls of pasta
about 1/2 cup pasta sauce

Preheat oven to 350
Toss oil, veggies and rosemary together. Spread on baking sheet and bake until veggies are done to your liking (I like them super brown) 20-30 min
Boil pasta and toss with sauce
Thats it!

Most of the time when its just me I just pop in a lean cuisine or frozen pizza but sometimes I just have a craving to get in the kitchen.

What do you like to make for yourself?

Jet Fuel

While I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, taking random classes at community college and still living with my parents, I worked as a barista in a coffee shop. This experience turned me into a professional coffee snob. I could whip up a 2% double 180 latte with the best 'em but that was about 5 years ago. Now its Foldgers and coffee creamer 2-3x a day- usually zapped at least once before finishing. But even though my coffee quality has significantly gone downhill I still like to try make it a little bit interesting... by trying new coffee creamers. Most of the time I have at least 2 bottles in my fridge at any given time, one I thought might be fun to try and my 'ol standby, Irish cream. My latest endeavor was Coffee Mate's Honey Vanilla Creme.

Sounds like it should be good right? Who doesn't like honey, or vanilla, or cream? Well its pretty bad in coffee. Other coffee creamer failures are as followed...

- Carmel Apple
- Sweet Butter cream
- Southern Butter Pecan

My top 5 favorites
1. Irish Cream
2. Ameretto
3. Peppermint Mocha
4. Pumpkin Spice
5. Parisian Almond Cream

Flavors I wish they would invent... maybe I should email the creamer companies- any other suggestions?
- Girl Scout's Thin Mint Cookie
- Girl Scout's Samoa Cookie
- Frosted Flakes cereal milk (am I the only one who pours the cereal milk in coffee?)
- Black Walnut

The Who, What and Why

The Who: my name is Ashley. I am 25 years old and live in Minneapolis with my husband, 5 month-old baby boy and 6 pound calico kitty. I love anything to do with food- cooking it, eating it, reading about it. I'm addicted to Facebook, Grey's Anatomy and solitaire. Wish I knew more about flowers and sewing, and was better at keeping our apartment cleaner.

The Why: A lot can change in just one year, and now that I have entered a new chapter in my life, I'd like to document and share it with friends and family and whoever else is interested.

The What: This blog will contain my expirements, opinions and interests in my life... from babies, to cooking, to daytime T.V.