Pasta Shells with Asparagus and Marinara Sauce

I am actually posting a real recipe! This is an easy recipe to throw together and relatively healthy. Asparagus is a relatively new vegetable to me and I absolutely love it. And, pasta and marinara is just about my favorite combination in the world. So, in the end – I love it!

Recipe adapted from Skinnytaste
Ingredients:
8 oz baby pasta shells (I like to use wheat pasta when possible)
1 bunch thin asparagus, tough ends removed
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup grated Mozzarella
salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Boil about 4 inches of water in a large pot, when boiling add asparagus and cook about 2 to 3 minutes, or until tender crisp. Drain and chop into small bite sized pieces.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (You can use the same pot from step 1). Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente.
3. While pasta is cooking, in a medium saucepan heat 1-1/2 cups marinara sauce. Drain pasta and reserve a cup of the pasta water.
4, Return pasta back to the pot and toss with marinara, asparagus, grated cheese, salt and pepper and a 1/4 cup of the pasta water or as needed to loosen the sauce.

This serves about 4 and is delicious served with grated cheese on top! Enjoy!

Parties all Weekend!

It’s Thanksgiving break! I am feeling very thankful for so many things… but one that is on the top on my list is that my sister, Kim, and sweet Sadie are still doing great! We got to celebrate Sadie this past weekend with Kim’s baby shower. It was a bunch of fun and Kim is blessed with great people in her life who brought lots of presents! :) You know what I did the whole time she was opening presents? I folded the tissue paper to save… Hey – I’m saving money and the Earth! :)

I love my family so much and anytime spent with them is always a good time. I threw the shower with my other sister Julie, my mom, and Kim’s friend, Stephanie. A few things on that table that I made were the pumpkin dip, the spinach artichoke dip, and seasoned pretzels. I am going to get Jonny to take photos of all 3 so that I can make blog posts sharing… because they were delicious. Especially the pumpkin dip. Yum!

Also, this weekend Jonny and I went to a launch party for RedRaspberry Cakes. The owners are friends of ours and Ally made both of our wedding cakes. It was such a fun party… they went all out with a Red Carpet and lots of awesome decorations, not to mention tons of delicious sweets to eat! You should definitely check them out if you are in the area!

I don’t have a picture of this last one yet because they are still on Jonny’s camera but I have to mention that the last party of the weekend was for two of our friends that got engaged! He proposed yesterday and then had a surprise party with all of her friends there to celebrate! I am so very thankful for the community God has surrounded us with.

Tennis

I know a lot of women say this about their husband… But I have to say it… My husband is the best! Seriously.

The other day he took extra long on a trip to Walmart. Turns out he was buying me presents! He gave me one each day for several days. They included a bike shirt, a crayon halloween costume, a halloween witch hat, and a bike odometer. All of which were awesome.

The last day, though, was the best. I have been asking him to play tennis with me for… Well, 6 years, I believe. And he bought me a tennis racket!!!

Better than that, though, was actually going to play together. We rode our bikes up to the middle school and had a blast. Thank you, Jonny. I love you!

P.S. See the lack of food lately? Yeah, it’s been lacking in my house, too. Home cooked real meals need to get back in the picture pronto. Pinterest has been giving me some good recipe ideas lately, too!