Pasta con Carne di Maiale

Recipe for Pork Pasta


Ingredients:


Onion
Olive Oil
Ground Pork
White wine
Chopped tomatoes
Sage (fresh is best but can used dried)
(Quantities of each vary depending on how big a crowd you are cooking for.)


Saute' onion in olive oil. Add ground pork and let brown. Add white wine and let evaporate a few minutes. Add canned tomatoes. When almost done cooking, add sage and salt to taste. Serve over pasta cooked al dente.


Want to see a picture? It looks sort of like Bolognese sauce but with chunky tomatoes rather than puree'. It also has a different hue since the pork is "the other white meat." The sage lends such a distinctive yummy flavor.

Make your own baking powder

I was baking something and noticed that I was running out of baking powder and I had read that you can make your own. A quick internet search led me to a recipe. I increased the quantity by using ratios (math lesson!) and came up with the following recipe:

·         1 T baking soda

·         2 T cream of tartar

·         1 T cornstarch

Mix all ingredients together using a mini whisk until well combined. Store in a plastic container.

I think it's much cheaper and it contains no aluminum! Happy baking!

Bucket List

In December of '98, Michael and I sat down with a scrap piece of paper and came up with a list, 5 each, of things we wanted to do. Following the adage "A failure to plan is a plan to fail" we set it in writing so we could start crossing things off our list. Our combined list comes to 10 things but I can easily add 5 more things for Just Ask's Bucket List Getaway.

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details. 


So ready for my (our) list? (We do these together so what is his is mine too.)


1. Grand Canyon Double. Being a marathoner and Ironman, it's been Michael's dream to run the Grand Canyon rim to rim. We would combine that with a family trip to the Grand Canyon, of course.


2. Go for a gondola ride in Venice with my husband. I'd been to Venice before and had even been on a gondola ride before but I wanted to go with Michael. We checked this one off our list in May of '99 with two little kids in tow. Not exactly as romantic as I'd pictured it (15 month old threw his sippy cup in the dirty canal water...) but hey, it was a gondola ride in Venice with my HUSBAND! How unromantic can that be, right?


3. Go to the top of the Eiffel tower. This is actually on Michael's list even though it was my dream. I went backpacking through Europe the summer of '90 and had gone to the 2nd level of the Eiffel tower for lack of time and funds (I actually had the funds; we were just scrimping). It was a regret of mine that I had not gone all the way to the top when I had had the opportunity. My husband, being the knight in shining armor that he is, wanted to reverse that for me. We got to check this one off our list on September 7, 2011, in celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary. Now THAT was romantic! Here's a picture to prove it:

I love this man!!


4. Three month trip across the US. This is on my list but kind of because of something that Michael did as a teen. His family took the RV across the US for a month. I'm the one who upped it to 3 months. Too much to see and do in 1 month! I had taken a "Physical Landscapes" class in college (to satisfy a science credit for my liberal arts degree) which gave me such a taste to visit the country. We haven't done this one yet and time is running out. Our first born is 16...


5. Fly fish the Snake River in WY. This is on Michael's list. I'm not a fly fisherman by any means but I love the outdoors and I like to keep him company while he fishes. I sit on the river bank and read, knit, whatever. Of course it's been YEARS since he's been fly fishing but it's still on his list. 


6. Sea kayak the Baja Peninsula. This was on my list but I'm ready to switch it out with Canal Cruise of a river in France. Didn't know about that when we created this list. Now that I'm getting older and have a bum arm, not sure I'd enjoy the kayaking anymore.


7. Run the Boston Marathon. This was one of Michael's dreams and he fulfilled it in 1994. And again in 1995. The first time we made it into a family trip, and because we homeschool and were studying US history that year, it made a perfect field trip. The following year we made it into a romantic getaway. And it was.


8. Bike tour of California vineyards. I love wine (perhaps because I'm Italian?) and thought this would be so fun! We got to check this one off in May of '02 when Michael ran the Big Sur Marathon. It was such a fun trip because we went with two other running couples, friends from church. We toured San Francisco, Malibu and then Sonoma and Napa Valleys. The biking part was actually quite short (driving is so much more efficient!). Those vineyards are spread out a good distance! But the whole trip was a blast!


9. Sail the Polynesian Islands (Vanuatu in particular). This is on Michael's list. I used to want to sail, but long story short, after owning a sailboat and having our dream shattered, I'm not so keen on the idea anymore. I'm still willing to bareboat charter though, so this may actually happen....ONE day...


10. Cruise the Panama Canal. Going through all those locks would be so cool. Again, I used to want to do it on our boat, but now I'm thinking a cruise ship. Maybe we'll knock out 9 and 10 out with one stone.


That's the end of our list that we created in '98. Out of 10 items we've crossed off 4 things. Not too bad! Now for my extra 5...


11. Visit our Compassion International child in Honduras. I went to Honduras this past summer with my first born for a mission trip. We had a great trip, but logistics didn't allow for us to visit A. I'd like to go back sometime and do that.


12. Own a Bernina sewing machine. I bought myself a Sonata sewing machine as a graduation (B.A.) present to myself oh so many years ago. It's not fancy at all but it works and I've made lots of things with it. But it's my DREAM to own a really *really* nice sewing machine.


13. Take my kids to Spain. We've been to Italy several times to visit my family. But in 20 years of marriage we've not been to Spain to visit Michael's family. My kids know they are part Italian but it doesn't sink in that they are part Spanish. I want to take them to visit that side of the family.


14. Take my family on a surfing vacation. I'm not a surfer (although I did have lessons two years ago and stood up on a surfboard!) but my whole family surfs. I'm thinking Costa Rica so then we can also go zip lining. That sounds fun!


15. Fix up the house. All those little (and big!) things that need doing. The bathrooms, the kitchen, put in a pool....


What about you? Do you have a list?

Pinterest

I did it. I gave in.

I had first heard about this website one morning about a month ago from some friends as we were having coffee together. It sounded interesting, however I didn't want to get involved in ONE. MORE. THING! It's all I can do to keep up with teens and tweens, homeschooling, working, housework, email, facebook and blogging (not to mention any hobbies I might want to pursue, oh and exercise! and relationships! and ministry!)

But I was chatting with some friends this morning about following blogs and how to "bookmark" something I see that I'm interested in, or want to try to find again and they all said "PINTEREST!"

So reluctantly, fearfully, I logged in and got started...oh dear! What have I gotten myself into!? Another "opportunity" to practice self-discipline?