Friday Family Faves....Creamy Asparagus Pasta

A delicious dish full of whole wheat pasta and asparagus covered in a light creamy sauce.  We LOVE this dish at the Peterson's....and it's quick and super easy.  The pic I took definitely doesn't do it justice!

Ingredients:

2 bunches of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pint whipping cream (for lighter dish, you can use Fat Free Evaporated milk)

1/2 c. shredded parmesan

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

Additional parmesan for topping 

8oz whole wheat spaghetti, cooked and drained.  

Directions:

1. Boil asparagus ~3 minutes.  We like our asparagus with a little crunch, if you don't like the crunch then boil longer.  Drain, set aside.

2.  Melt Butter in large skillet, add garlic.  sautee ~30sec to 1min to infuse butter with garlic...careful, do not burn garlic.  Add asparagus, stir to coat, and cook additional minute.

3.  Add cream and 1/2c. parmesan, simmer ~3 min until cheese melts and cream begins to thicken.

4.  Top over cooked noodles.  Add lemon juice.  Stir to coat.  Top with salt and pepper to taste.  Finish by topping with additional shredded parm and serve.  

ENJOY!

The Family That Runs Together, Stays Together!

Well, it was Rock N Roll 5K time again!  This year we even added a kids fun run so Ethan was able to join in the family racing.  Of course, I'm in my first trimester and my running has gone from 8.30min/mi to 10min/mi, if I'm lucky, and Justin has had some major back and ankle issues going on, so needless to say, we did not place this year...good thing they gave out participation medals :) Ethan LOVED his 1/2 mi race.  He got an awesome medal and all the kids got a pedometer too.  He didn't win any of the raffle prizes but he didn't care...He loved RACING.  Claire was too young for the kids fun run, but she did have gymnastics that morning so she was still active and a great cheering section...she even helped Mimi on the kids race course direct the kids.  It was a fun-filled, physical, family day that we topped off by going to our local Back to the Fifties Festival.  Can't wait til next year!

Stretching with Coach Megan

Pre-race smiles

Ethan And Daddy coming around the bend

At the Back to the Fifties festival.  Our Library had a Superhero themed scavenger hunt and a Superhero Mask Making station...And, yes, Ethan wore his bib number and race medal all day.

A Little Man is on His Way!...Melissa's Baby Shower

This past weekend, I hosted a baby shower for a friend.  It was such a blast, and I'm so grateful for all those that attended.  The theme was "A Little Man is on his Way", so there were lots of mustaches and tie decorations everywhere.  It was so great to be able to throw Melissa this baby shower, since she has thrown 2 for us!  We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet the "Little Man"

Baby Shower invite...the rest of the invite had a sweet little tie and also all my RSVP info on it so I had to crop it :) 

The serving table included butter pecan cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, white chocolate popcorn, mustache straws, mustache props, mustache white chocolate suckers (thank you Allison Bewley for making them, You're amazing!), and a diaper cake topped with mustache pacifier....and everything was handmade...even my cake stands!  I'm no Martha Stewart.  In fact, I usually don't even enjoy crafting, but I had so much fun with this and very excited on how things turned out.

The Shower also included tie garland, tie onsies, a tie wreath, and of course a "Guess the Stache" game...again all homemade.

And the guests arrive!  

A house packed full of Melissa's Family and Friends...so grateful!

Our surprise guest!  A friend who'd moved away a few years ago, drove in for the shower in secret!  What a fun Surprise for Melissa!

Present Time!

An ENTIRE TUB of goodies from Brenda.

Of course some Colts gear.

I had Melissa's children over one week to decorate onsies with fabric markers for their new baby brother.

Beautiful hand made blanket from Pam, made by her mom.

Superman shoes Ethan picked out for the new baby.



Thanks everyone for celebrating with us.  It was a fun, joyous day!

Conversations with a Toddler

Playing a family game of Apples to Apples, someone hands me a card that says "Plato" so I say, Plato out loud and begin reading the description of him being a philosopher and yadda yadda yadda when I'm interrupted by Ethan,

"Yeah mom, and we don't eat Plato either"
"No Ethan that's right, we don't eat Playdough"



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Gearing up for a trip to the farm to see some cows, I try to make the trip educational and begin asking the kids questions over breakfast....

"What do cows eat?"
Ethan, "HAM!"
Claire, "Moooooo"


"Do you guys know what cows give us?"
Ethan, "They don't give us toys."
"That's right Ethan, they don't give us toys.  They give us milk and hamburger and steaks...."
Ethan interrupting, "'And, Mom, if a cow pees on me, then I'll turn into a cow"
what?!  where does he get this stuff?  I love that little man!

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We had some friends over this week for a family dinner and family game night.  Since the kids were busy playing, the parents decided to play "Battle of the Sexes"  My friend Lindsay read the first female card to the men,

"What type of cream is used in hair removal"?"

While the men were thinking, Ethan comes into the room and yells

"SOUR CREAM!"

good guess buddy...good guess.

Making Dreams Come True...Claire visits the cows.

Well, Claire is obsessed with cows, so we thought we'd take a trip to the farm.  We headed to Trader's Point Creamery in Zionsville with the kids so Claire could see her cows in person.  The kids loved it.  Makes for a nice inexpensive family excursion.  They also have great icecream, and we hear their all natural, organic restaurant is delish...yet we still haven't made it to the restaurant to try it out :).

On the way to the farm.  Had to bring her own cow.

This cow was a little too close for Claire's liking