She Cooks...Cajun Chicken Alfredo

It's a few weeks late, but I'm finally getting around to posting about the Valentines Day meal I cooked up a few weeks ago. My main motivation for posting this is not to share a delicious recipe with you (although it is), but to prove to you that, yes, I am indeed capable of producing something other than dessert.

Our Valentines Day plans were a little off kilter this year, as the holiday happened to fall on the same day of the week that I volunteer at the Salvation Army. I felt bad about skipping out just because it was Valentines Day. I decided to be a decent person and go, and then didn't get home until around 8:00. We hadn't made any reservations for dinner, but I was really wiped out, and not in the mood to make anything homemade. So, we went to Chili's. Yes. Romantic, I know.

Tuesday night though, I decided to step it up and actually make the meal I had planned on making the night before, Cajun Chicken Alfredo. I had never made this particular variety of alfredo before, but because I got the recipe from my cousin, who is a fantastic cook, I was pretty confident it would be delicious.

Cajun Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients:

-2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thin strips
-2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
-2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine
-1 green onion, sliced
-1-2 cup heavy cream
-1/4 teaspoon dried basil
-1/4 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/8 teaspoon pepper
-4 ounces linguine, cooked and drained
(I went a little off the beaten path with the noodles, here. See below.)
-grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl or resealable plastic bag, toss or shake to coat. In a large skillet over medium heat sauté chicken in butter until almost tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add onion; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat. Add cream and seasonings; heat through. Add linguine and toss; heat through.

Good news. It WAS delicious. So delicious in fact, that I declared it my new favorite meal right on the spot. Although considering that title is given to a new dish about every two weeks, I wouldn't put too much stock in that declaration.

-alison

Weekend Wisdom

Just sayin'.....

-alison

Inspiration Friday

I really like everything I choose for this post, which you would think goes without saying, but this is the first week in a long time that I've really been excited about Inspiration Friday. I only have four things because I don't know how five things became a rule and I couldn't think of a fith.

1. Mairead Nesbitt
I've been doing a lot of studying/paper writing/reading this week so I've been listening to a lot of my insturmental music and it makes me so happy every time Butterfly plays. Mairead is the fiddle player from Celtic Woman. Here is a video of it, but I like the actual recording a lot better.


2. Abandoned Buildings
I could have done an entire post about this, I had about 100 great pictures to choose from.
3. La Boheme
Apparently these are for weddings, but a lot of them could be worn for anything fancy. They are so pretty and the look pretty easy to recreate.
I also would love to own this dress.
4. Tattoos
My plan is to graduate next December, so I've been thinking a lot about my next tattoo. I think I only want two more and only one would be very visible and I'm a baby when it comes to pain, so I don't want any big ones. I love tattoos that are just outlines or words so I'm pretty sure I don't want any color in any of mine. Here are some of my all time favorites Kayla Roma has since gotten hers filled in and it is still beautiful, but I really liked it at this stage too.
This might be my favorite one ever. Mine is right where the top of this one is and its about half the size of the first word of this one. It only took about 10 minutes, but I almost passed out (did I mention that I'm a baby? I also have a problem with needles...or more accurately razors diging into my skin). So I can't even imagine having one like this, but it looks so great.

-Ana Kristina

Photo sources [weheartit, Skunkboy Creatures]

Something Crafty- Yarn Wreaths

I'm sure you have all alredy figured this out, but in case you haven't, I'm going to let you in on a little secret- when it comes to crafting, I like to take the easy way out. It's true. If it involves a great amount of skill to accomplish, I'm probably not interested. Give me something I can sit in front of the tv and make while I'm watching Bones, and I'm your girl.
Enter the yarn wreath. My sister and I made our first attempt at these a couple of months ago. They were super easy to make, and they turned out great. Last night, I decided to make another one, and post a little tutorial for you.

Supplies:
-wreath form
-yarn
-hot glue gun
-embellishments: buttons, different colored yarn, etc

You can find wreath forms like the one I used, at Michael's or any other craft store. I prefer the green kind like the one below, as they seem to hold up better than others that I've tried.

Before starting, I would recommend cutting several long lengths of yarn off the larger ball. It's much easier to wrap this way. Trying to continuously pull one long piece from the ball without cutting it gets really annoying, and you usually end up with your yarn in giant knots.

Take one of the long pieces you've cut and glue one end to the back of the form. Begin wrapping the yarn tightly around it, repeating until you've come to the end of the yarn. Glue the other end to the back, and repeat the process until you've made it all the way around the wreath.

You will have to really pull tight on the yarn to make it look nice. You'll know you are doing it right, if you have a hard time seeing each individual wrap of yarn. It should almost look like felt.

Once you've covered your wreath, you can set about adding embellishments. For one of mine, I used another color of yarn, and some pearl pins. For the other, I used a fabric flower that I made a long time ago, but hadn't found a use for. This is the fun part. You can get really creative with the stuff you add to your wreath. If you're looking for some inspiration, just head over to etsy. There are some sellers there making really amazing wreaths like this.

Like I said, this another really easy craft that anybody could do. If you end up giving it a try, I would love to see pictures of how yours turns out!

-alison

Into the Wardrobe- Epic Fail

The story of my morning:
Woke up and remembered that, since my sister has a crazy week of tests and projects, I was supposed to post today.
Realized I was running late, and snapped a few pictures of the outfit I already had on (jeans, flats, jacket, and scarf- not that impressive).
Tried to upload photos- figured out that internet is down.
Ripped memory card out of computer in over dramatic fashion, and headed off to work.
Attempted to upload photos on work computer, and realized I'd forgotten the adapter to make my memory card work.
Angrily stomped around work for a while.
Epic Fail. No outfit post today, because of my utter lack of organization, and ability to think clearly in the early am. Sorry guys. Check back tomorrow for a fun and easy craft post that will (hopefully)be more successful than my morning was.

Fresh Finds + Giveaway News

I love winter, really I do. But it snowed again yesterday, and I feel like I've now had about all I can take. I've decided to drown my sorrows at Terrain, where spring has already sprung. I would love to have one of their beautiful indoor blooming plants, like the flowering oregano in my kitchen to hold me over until spring actually decides to show up in Wisconsin.

Now to everybody's favorite part- the giveaway news. The winner of last week's giveaway, the flower hair pin is....drumroll please... Danielle of Home Sweet Home Cupcakes! Congrats Danielle! Send us your info, and we'll get your prize in the mail.

Our last(but not least)weekly giveaway for February features a set of nine gift tags from one of my all time favorite Etsy shops, Paper Junkies.

All followers get one entry. For an extra entry leave a comment below letting us know what YOUR favorite Etsy shop is. Good luck everyone, and thanks for helping us celebrate our relaunch month!

-alison

[images: terrain, paper junkies]

She Cooks- Rainbow Cupcakes

These cupcakes are so much fun and they look a lot harder than they are. We simply used two boxes of white cake mix. We ended up with way more batter than we needed, so we made a cake too. I'm sure you could get away with one box. Once we mixed the batter, we divided it into five bowls and mixed in the food coloring. Then we just made a layer of each color in each cupcake liner.


It does take a long time to layer the colors. The first one we tried ended up overflowing a lot, so we had to do very thin layers, which is what took so long. However, it would be a lot easier if you only use four colors instead of five.
Any frosting will work for these, I know everyone prefers different kinds for their cupcakes. I don't remember what we used for these.
The girls on my floor devoured these before I could get any good pictures of them, so all you get are some awesome cell phone pictures.

-Ana Kristina

Book of the Month

I haven't actually finished this one yet, but all the other books I've read in the past few months were either super depressing (Beautiful Boy) or not something that someone in college should be reading (Hush, Hush...yep, I read it), and while I really liked these books, I'm certainly not going to go on about how much I liked them.

I was hesitant to read something by Gregory Maguire because I know he can be a little shady (Wicked), but the person who recommended this one seemed pretty trustworthy. I haven't run into anything bad yet, but like I said, I'm not done with it yet. As you might have guessed, its a take on the story of Cinderella, as told by one of the stepsisters. Its set in Holland and the characters are much more real than they appear in the fairy tale. I know a lot of people haven't liked this book, and I can see how people might think its a little slow, but I still think its worth reading.

-Ana Kristina

Inspiration Friday

It's Friday. Get inspired, people. Here's what I love this week.

1. The HPM

Or...the hot pink moustache. The kids behind this are way cool. I need to get me one.

2. Olivia Wilde's Glorious Confection of a Golden Globes Dress

Was it over the top? Yes, but who really cares. Plus, I'm pretty sure her shoes could beat you up.

3. Marcel the Shell

Inspiring? Ok, maybe not. Funny? Heck yes.

4. Clever Harry Potter References

Yeah, I'm a dork, but I just can't help it. I love this stuff.
p.s. WHERE can I find this shirt? I must have it.

5. Chris Waind Art

I love this guy's stuff. It's so simple and cool.

Have a great weekend everyone! Don't forget to enter our giveaways, both here and at Sunday Morning Sugar.

-alison