Today is the day. The last day of football until training camp begins again in July. It’s always bittersweet–I miss football, but I am always ready for a break.
We are expecting a group over here in a little while for the game. We’ve hit the gym (gotta counteract those extra calories somehow) and completed errands. We’ve vacuumed, we’ve cleaned, we’ve scrubbed. We’ve adorned the table with a gold (hint, hint) tablecloth. We’ve set out serving dishes to prepare for the goodies that are to come.
And now, we just wait. Our guests will be here soon. Surely, there will be way too much food, way too much chaos, but also way too much fun.
Oh, and as is tradition, I decorated a SUPER COOKIE for the occasion.
Go Saints! (To make a long story short–I don’t like Peyton. And I do like Brees. And you know, the Saints have never gone to the Super Bowl. And come on, who doesn’t love an underdog?)
Ahhh, spaghetti. It’s one of the great “staples” in life, isn’t it?
We try to limit our beef consumption, so we went a long time without making meat sauce. Like, a really long time. But then, this past fall, we resurrected it one Friday night and found ourselves wondering, How did we live without this for so long?
Needless to say, we’ve made it several times since. Spaghetti and meat sauce seems particularly perfect for Friday nights, so it was no surprise that we found ourselves making it tonight.
Although it is certainly not made from scratch, this is different from your typical “throw a jar of sauce and a pound of ground beef together” type of meat sauce. Instead, the flavors are completely versatile based on what types of spices and ingredients you decide to throw in. (For instance, we like our sauce to be a bit spicy, so we throw in a lot of red pepper flakes!)
So here, I’ll tell you what I do–but keep in mind that you can add or subtract whatever ingredients you like. Also, I have to warn you… I don’t do measurements with this. I just add a lot of spices, stir, taste, add more, stir, taste, and so on. But I will say that because the sauce starts off unflavored, you do have to add more spices than you might think you would. Go big on spices, because it means big flavor!
Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
Ingredients:
– 1 to 1 & 1/2 lbs. spaghetti
– 1 lb. lean ground beef
– olive oil
– 1 small to medium onion, diced
– 24-32 oz. plain tomato sauce (canned) – We use Hunt’s “No Salt Added”
– 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
– an assortment of dried spices, such as: oregano, basil, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes
– pinch or two of sugar
– grated parmesan cheese for topping
Directions:
1. In the bottom of a large saute pan, drizzle olive oil. Once hot, add ground beef and begin to brown. Add diced onion and continue until beef is browned completely. Drain.
2. Begin to boil water for pasta.
3. Return pan to heat. Add garlic, tomato sauce, spices and sugar. Let simmer over low heat for at least 20 minutes (or up to several hours). Add more spices as necessary (to taste).
4. Cook pasta according to package directions. Serve immediately, covering with meat sauce. Top with grated parmesan cheese.
Just about a year ago, I posted about a Continental Flight 3407 that crashed near Buffalo on February 12, 2009. I was feeling greatly affected by this particular crash, quite simply because it had happened so close to home.
Earlier this week, the NTSB released their official report about what happened that night. Last year, it was widely speculated that the weather, which had been tremendously icy, was the likely culprit.
Now, the NTSB has told us what really happened. It wasn’t the weather. Instead, it was pilot error, and the circumstances surrounding those errors are tremendously disturbing to me. Apparently, the pilot and first officer were acting completely unprofessionally, not paying nearly as much attention to landing the plane as they should have been. Not only that, but when the alarms began to go off signaling that the engines were losing thrust, the pilot not only didn’t do the right thing, but did exactly the wrong thing.
It’s clear that both pilots in the cockpit were too inexperienced to be flying a plane by themselves. The pilot apparently failed five competency tests and was still being allowed to fly planes with passengers on board. It was reported that he lied on his employment application and only reported one failure on the tests. HOW is this possible? Why aren’t the results of these tests recorded in some way that can be easily referenced and checked by airlines looking to hire pilots?
The whole report makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. These 50 people did not have to die that night, but they did, and unfortunately it was at the hands of these two pilots.
I feel horrible for all of the families who lost loved ones. As one family member says in the article, “When it’s something that could have been prevented, and clearly it could have been prevented, that’s really a hard pill to swallow.”
I also feel really terrible for the pilots’ families. Not only did they lose people that they loved, but they also have to live with the knowledge that their family members were responsible for this whole tragedy. I know that can’t be easy.
Whenever I’m talking to people about my fear of getting into a car accident, a lot of them tend to respond with something like, “Well, just drive carefully and you’ll be all right.” My response to that is always, “I’m not so worried about myself–I’m worried about the other people driving out there.” Now, this rings true for me and flying as well.
Are we to accept that when we get onto a commercial airliner, we are playing the lottery? I mean, hell–we could get lucky and end up with a seasoned, expert, hero pilot like Sully Sullenberger, who was responsible for saving the lives of 155 people when he safely landed a plane in the middle of the Hudson River. Or, we could end up putting or lives in the hands of someone who has failed numerous competency tests, doesn’t know what the hell he/she is doing, but somehow still managed to slip through the cracks and become a licensed commercial pilot.
It is disturbing. It is scary. And it’s not fair to the people walking onto planes every day.
When we sit down, fasten our seatbelts, and push back from the gate, we have no idea who is in that cockpit. We have no idea who we are trusting with our lives.
January was my worst blogging month EVER. (Well, the worst since I really committed to blogging in March 2008.) I just barely kept up with my 101 in 1001 goal to make sure to blog at least 20 times every month.
:::sigh:::
Really, I just have the winter blues. I’m sick of being stuck indoors. I’m sick of not feeling 100%. I’m sick of TV and of the computer and of the same ol’ stuff.
I want to be outside. I want to see green leaves on the trees and feel green grass beneath my feet. I want to enjoy warm weather and sunshine. I want to go to barbecues and weddings and graduation parties.
The other thing that is not helping is having to continue to wait to see whether the changes I referred to last week are, in fact, going to take place. Without knowing what’s going to happen, it makes it difficult to plan anything. And I’m nothing without a plan.
I am a PLANNER. I look forward. I concentrate on the future. I love to focus on what’s ahead.
So this state of limbo–this state of not knowing–it’s sooo not my thing. It’s an uncomfortable way of living for me. Still, I know it’s good for me. It’s good to have to spend some time outside of your comfort zone every once in a while. I just hope to be back in the “nice and comfy” area soon.
The bright side: We are in February. Yes, FEBRUARY!
Though I have to admit–I’m really not a fan of February. Although it is a short month, it always seems to be one of the longest. In my mind, February’s only redeeming qualities are my husband’s birthday, Tessa’s birthday, and the fact that it’s one month closer to April. And alright, I guess I could give it the Super Bowl in the “plus” column. But damn, that is it.
I think I need to find a way to keep myself busier. I’m not taking many photos these days because it’s cold and it’s dark and I like outdoors and natural light. I go to work, I go home. I (maybe) go to the gym. It’s boring. But my other problem is that winter just makes me feel lazy. I don’t want to do anything right now. All of this makes for a slow winter, that’s for sure.
Anyone else suffering from the winter blues? What are you doing to combat the depressing feelings that make it seem like spring will NEVER get here?
Pizza dough… made by a bread machine. I mean, really: It’s genius.
I’ve even posted about it before. And while we love the tangy flavor that the beer brings to that recipe, I still longed for a more traditional pizza dough. But I still wanted the convenience of the bread machine, you see.
Thankfully, Google came to the rescue. A bread machine pizza dough sans beer.
It is oh-so-good.
We tried this for the first time last Friday–we actually took the dough and all of the pizza toppings over to our friends’ house and had dinner with them. Unfortunately, in fear of undercooking the pizza, we overcooked it a little bit. It wasn’t burned, but was very crispy. Although we enjoyed it thoroughly (the four of us polished off the whole pizza), we knew we had to make the dough again soon so that we’d be able to judge it the way it was meant to be judged–when baked to perfection.
So another Friday night rolled around, and Michael and I decided we needed to give this another try (plus, we still had extra pizza toppings lying around). Tonight’s pizza was even better than I was expecting. We’ve found our “go-to” pizza dough, that’s for sure.
Depending on how thick you like your pizza crust, this makes quite a bit of dough. When we made it last week, we stretched the dough to cover a 17 1/4″ x 11 1/2″ cookie sheet. The crust was not too thick, and not too thin, and as I mentioned before–this pizza was the perfect amount for four people.
However, for just the two of us tonight, we decided to use half of the dough and freeze the other half. Right at the beginning of the “second rise,” I took the dough out of the bread machine, weighed it on my food scale, and divided it into two equal halves (if you don’t have a food scale, you can just eyeball it). One half, I put back into the bread machine to continue with the second rise. I sprayed the other half with cooking spray, wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap, then put it in a freezer bag. When it comes time to use it, I’ll put it in the fridge the day before to thaw it, then remove it from the fridge and its wrapping and let it rise for 30-60 minutes before making the pizza. With the half we used tonight, I stretched the dough to cover a small cookie sheet (13 1/4″ x 9 1/4″). It was perfect for a “dinner for two.” :)
Easy Peezy Pizza Dough (Bread Machine Pizza Dough)
(Source: Adapted from Recipezaar.com)
Ingredients:
– 1 cup + 2 tbsp. water
– 2 tbsp. olive oil
– 2 tbsp. sugar
– 1 tsp. salt
– 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
– 1 cup whole wheat flour (if you don’t like wheat flour, use all-purpose for this, too)
– 1 packet yeast
– garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano
Directions:
1. In bread machine, add wet ingredients (water and olive oil), then dry (sugar, salt, flours).
2. In the dry ingredients, make a little “well” with your finger. Pour packet of yeast into the indent.
3. Sprinkle garlic powder, basil, and oregano on top of everything. Adjust amounts to your taste–these spices add flavor to your dough.
4. Select the dough cycle on your bread machine; press start.
5. Spray a pan (size of your choice) with cooking spray. Once dough cycle is done, shape the dough and spread evenly into your pan.
6. Add toppings of your choice. Bake pizza in 425 degree oven for 18-25 minutes.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
