Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

Mmmm... I do love me some spicy food. Not like "HOLY CRAP MY MOUTH IS ON FIRE" spicy but enough spice to make my eyes water a little. Inherited from my mother, I have the ability to withstand a fair amount of heat when it comes to food. With that being said, the one instance that my husband and I experienced made us sweat... and cry. Honey and Siracha is a lovely combination when used to coat chicken.  Just not when your friend makes it and doesn't understand the spice to sweetness ratio. OMG. Really, I cried, sweated, then drank a gallon of water. 

This "Cajun" meal comes from a tumblr that posted it on Pinterest as well. I didn't have several of the ingredients so I substituted and omitted where needed. I also ended up making a cajun seasoning instead of buying one (I'm cheap). The creaminess then the spiciness even each other out and create and perfect spring meal to eat out on your porch.

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips 
• 4 ounces linguine, cooked al dente 
• 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning (your recipe, Cajun Seasoning Mix or store-bought) 
• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1 -2 cup heavy whipping cream 
• 1 small can of diced tomatoes, well drained
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

Directions:

1. Place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl and toss to coat. 
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté chicken in butter or margarine until chicken is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. 
3. Reduce heat add heavy cream, tomatoes, basil, salt, garlic powder, black pepper and heat through. 
4. Pour over hot linguine and toss with Parmesan cheese.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Marble Cookies

I get a craving for peanut butter cookies every so often and it just so happens that my husband does too. We were just made for each other. And of course this craving never comes while I'm making my grocery list or in the middle of the day when it is actually an acceptable hour to bake cookies. Of course not. That's how cravings work, right?

Despite the late hour, we ran to the market to buy the peanut butter cookie mix. YES A MIX. I sometimes don't want to make the effort of REALLY baking.

But I did change things up a bit. Made these bad boys a little bit spunky. Chocolate. And like my effort towards really baking I really didn't want to melt chocolate. Solution? Hot cocoa mix. 

Ingredients:

• PB cookie mix of your choice
• Ingredients for your cookie mix (usually oil, water, and egg)
• 2 pkg of hot cocoa mix or 4 Tbs of cocoa powder
• 1 Tbs milk

Directions:

1. Mix PB cookies according to the directions on the package
2. Once mixed, set aside. In a small bowl, combine cocoa mix and milk together. Consistency should be that of melted chocolate (paste-like). You can add more milk if it is too thick. 
3. Combine cocoa and pb cookie mix until just incorporated and evenly distributed.
4. Place on non-stick cookie sheet and bake according to package. 

Wedding Card Album

I never thought that I would be so sentimental about everything from our wedding until I started to go through it and was deciding what to keep and what to give away. The cards were the hardest part in some sense. I sat in our living room right before we moved to a new city and spent hours going through the cards and gift bags/boxes that our wedding gifts had come in. I'm not even kidding. I teared up a little reading all the wonderful things that people wrote in those cards. 

Even though I tried to make my solution to my card situation as cute as this one (she also has a much better tutorial) I still love it and it's SO much better than these cards sitting in a shoe box in our spare bedroom. 

The front of the album is a gift sack that I cut down to size of the largest card we received. I layered the back of it with cardstock to make it a little sturdier. I put a large card in the front and a large card it the back. The back cover is the gift sack and cardstock combo as well. 

The tricky part is getting all the holes that you will punch in your cards to line up. It might take some practice on plain paper. (That's what I ended up doing first instead of ruining my cards.) 

To hold everything together I took ribbon from yet another gift bag and tied them all together at the corner then I took a larger ribbon to wrap around it. And apparently I can't tie bows. 

I'll probably add more decoration to the front of it as I think of it and if I remember it next time I'm at Hobby Lobby. This isn't something that fits into a photo album and it isn't something your photographer can whip up. These cards are your family wishing you well on your journey together. It's irreplaceable. And trust me. When your grandma sees this next time she's over, she will think it's awesome.