Pasta with Turkey and Zucchini

I made this for dinner last night from a recipe I found on the Food Network website. This week, I've planned meals that are lighter, simple in flavor, and easier to make and this was my first edition. I ended up making a lot of variations since I was trying to save money and use what I had on hand so the end product was quite a bit different than the original recipe. If you want to see the recipe I based this on, you can find it here. This is what I ended up making:

Pasta with Zucchini and Turkey (catchy name, I know)

1 bag (12 oz.) Bow-tie pasta
1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
1/4 lb. turkey lunch meat, cut into strips
1/4 lb. mozzarella, cut into cubes
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste

First cook the pasta in salted water. Put grated zucchini in a strainer, mix with the 1/4 tsp. salt, and set in the sink to rest for at least 10 minutes. The salt draws out the moisture from the zucchini and seasons it at the same time. Drizzle the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the garlic and saute until lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and let them cook for a few minutes while you squeeze out the excess moisture from the zucchini. Add zucchini to the tomatoes and garlic. Lastly, add the turkey, pasta, and chicken stock. Stir well and simmer for a few minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and fold in the mozzarella chunks. Let sit for a few minutes to allow the mozzarella to heat through and begin melting. I was surprised at how simple the flavors are but how addicting this is, too. As a side note, I used a dash of cayenne pepper when I added the garlic to the oil. It was the perfect amount of spice for me, but too much for the kids. Just a little variation, in case you like a little spice.

The best thing about this was the only I had to buy was the zucchini--I already had everything else. I like that this is versatile and you can easily make substitutions, like squash or cucumber, maybe, or bell peppers, onions, feta, parmesan, ham, shrimp, cilantro, lime juice...anything, really! (Except maybe not all of those things together. :)) Just remember to keep the ratios of dry to wet ingredients the same.

We have walker!

Ethan started trying to take a few steps about two weeks ago but it was really minimal. I thought it would be a month or so before he really got the hang of it. On Saturday, though, I noticed he was starting to stumble with a little more confidence and realized that it was going to happen sooner than I thought. Sure enough, today I think he can officially be classified as a walker. He prefers to walk now and only crawls when he's upset (like if he bonked his head or was pushed by Craig). He's even mastering the art of stopping, standing for a minute, and then walking again. He changes directions, too! I can't believe my little baby is embarking on toddlerhood. I sure love this little boy.

We can all rest easy

I know you've all been losing sleep over my Fairport New York mystery, but I am here to tell you that you can all rest easy. Whoever you are, you don't know your own identity. You see, I "privatized" my blog about 12 hours or so ago and added all of the email addresses of people I know. A few minutes ago I logged on and saw that Fairport New York viewed my blog (and left via many of your blogs) no less than 5 hours ago. So, you are not some pedophile or social miscreant holed up in a basement somewhere. You are a friend or family member of mine who, for some unknown reason, is trolling from a distant zip code. Now I can start posting real stuff again. Once interesting things begin to happen and I remember to get the camera out.

On the other hand, any computer addict worth their salt could probably bypass a blog's privacy setting fairly easily...

Going private

Fairport New York never did step forward, and since the world and the internet can be a scary place, I've decided to take my brother's advice and go private. The reason I didn't go private from the beginning is because I wanted all the people I've known in the past, whether I knew them well or not, to feel comfortable reading my blog without having to announce their presence. So, for those of you out there who I may not know or may not know well, please don't hesitate to request being added. I like being able to network and meet new (normal) people so even if I don't know you, I would like to add you and be able to read your blog, too. I'll leave this up for a day or so before going private just so everyone has a chance to read this. I know Fairport New York will see it. They get on at least twice a day. Also, I'm doing this for your benefit, too. Whoever this mystery person it, they often leave my blog via many of your blogs, too. I guess we'll find them out or weed them out.

I hope this doesn't bore you

I hope that when I talk about couponing it doesn't bore anyone. I'm trying to keep it to a minimum. However, this week I spent a lot of time trying to prefect my system and ended with what I feel is my first truly triumphant, full shopping day savings. So far, I've gotten some great deals here and there on a few things, but I haven't had one of THOSE moments when I'm expecting to pay a certain amount and am shocked when I get the receipt. I've been cleaning out the cupboards the last few weeks so this week I really needed to not only buy practically all of the ingredients for our meals for the next two weeks, but I also had to stock up on several things. Not to mention the box of diapers I needed and various other items that are expensive but I only have to buy them once a month came due this week as well. With all that in mind, picture an overflowing cart and look at the receipt below. The red underline it what I spent and the purple below it is what I saved.
I literally got the chills when I saw that $128.05! Granted, most of the savings came because of the awesome sale the grocery store was having this week, but it took a lot of time for me to go through the ads, find the best sales, and then figure out their system so I could maximize my savings. This couponing thing does take some practice and some time to really get the most for you money, but it is totally worth it to me. People ask where I find the time and my answer is simply that right now, I can't afford to not find the time. Literally.

Fairport, NY anyone?

For the past few months I've had this widget on my blog that tells me the general vicinity of the computers that access my blog. I look at it once in a while and can tell that it isn't always exactly right on. For example, it'll say Pleasantville, UT. I know I have several friends who come to my blog who live in Utah, so it could be any number of then who live anywhere near Pleasantville. And sometimes it changes the location, even though it's the same computer accessing it. Sometimes it says I accessed from Fountain Hills (where we live) and other times it says Tempe. I've been able to assign a person who I know gets on this blog with every location I've seen, except one. And this location comes very often. I've been dying to find out who it is, so I've decided to just ask. The location is Fairport, NY. Now, this could be someone who lives on the East Cost somewhere, or maybe their computer was originally purchased there but now they live somewhere out west. I just know that I cannot think of anyone further east than Indiana that I know who gets on my blog. So, Fairport New York, would you please name yourself? I certainly don't mind if I don't know you. I blog stalk, too. But my overly imaginative mind has been picturing a reclusive, middle-aged stranger in pajamas and slippers who gets on my blog for who-knows-why and I just need that alleviated. Anyone, if you think you might possibly be Fairport, NY, let me know. Thanks!

Funny boys

We had spaghetti the other night and it was Ethan's first time. As Craig just said when this picture popped up, 'Messy baby." Yes, Craig, there is a VERY messy baby right there. But they don't get much cuter, do they?

Speaking of Craig and his language skills, he's been randomly coming up to me the last few days, grabbing my hand, shaking it, and saying, "How are you?" I have absolutely no idea where he got that, but it's so cute and I've been trying to teach him how to say "Good" in response. We're working on it.

A cold stone and a wet boy

While my mother in law was here, we decided to try to a little gelato shop here in town. I've never had much gelato before, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with this place. For the four of us (Robert, me, Cassie, and Craig) we spent $20 for the ice cream! Now, if this was the best I'd ever tasted, that would be one thing. But it wasn't. It had good texture, but the flavors seemed like they were trying too hard to be different and instead of being unique, it was more like buying mint chip and getting amaretto. It was just weird and a total waste of money. Well, I guess not a TOTAL waste. We did have a nice evening together and had fun walking around outside by the pond for a bit. But we could've done that without buying the gelato.

Anyway, the next night we wanted to get ice cream again so we decided if we were serious about it, we'd go all out and find the nearest Coldstone. The GPS took us down the freeway (which was a bad idea at 5:30 in the evening) and finally we found the place: Coldstone University at their headquarters in Scottsdale. Who knew? Of course, they were closed and there was no ice cream shop, so since we were out, we searched again thinking that there MUST be a Coldstone near the headquarters, right? Nope. About 10 miles later, we were in the heart of Scottsdale (a ritzy community) driving down a narrow lane in front of stores like Barney's of New York, Talbots, Saks Fifth Avenue, and We Sell Shoes Made by Chinese Children for $500. Finally, we found the Coldstone after passing a brand new Rolls Royce (the first I'd ever seen in person). Oddly enough, even though we were in an area surrounded by more wealth an affluence than I'd ever seen in my life, that night we only spent $13 for our ice cream. (I guess if you call something "gelato" you get to charge a lot for it so people can pretend it's awesome to justify the expense.)

We had all been in the car for a while, so it was nice to get out and enjoy to warm summer air. After a few minutes, Craig spotted a little park with some other kids and upon further inspection, it turned out to be one of those little splash pads...with some spigots of water shooting out of the ground. I let him take off his pants and run wild. He had a blast getting wet and playing with the other kids. We didn't get home until after bed time, but it turned out to be a great night with great ice cream and happy kids. What more could you want?

A fun visit

My mother in law came to visit for about five days last week. She only lives about two and half hours away, but we only manage to see each other a couple times a year. She doesn't have a car that is reliable and with Robert's work schedule, we have a hard time getting away. Luckily, she has some friends who were coming down here to visit family so she was able to hitch a ride with them. We had a really fun time and it was nice to have someone else around to help out.

We tried to stay busy, but with nap times, we were a little limited. We did get to the Youth Museum one day, we went to the splash pad another day, McDonalds for lunch (they have a play area), and we went for ice cream a couple of times (that's another post). Here, I have pictures of the Youth Museum. It's mostly a big, glorified indoor park but Craig and Ethan love it. They have a little padded area just for babies, too.

Here's Cassie (my MIL) with Ethan and her little Pomeranian Latisha (who is a sweet little dog and a joy to have around--Craig adored her...probably too much).