Scrap

Meet Scrappy.

Scrappy was originally my husband's dog, now she's kind of the family dog, and definitely his mom's baby.

My brother-in-law usually takes care of her during the day and has left me in charge of Scrappy-duty while he's house-sitting for the week.

We've been enjoying some nice walks and picking flowers together.

When the Bee Stings

I'm currently wearing a frumpy sweater while sipping tea, and enjoying the cool breeze coming in through the windows, as I watch Julie Andrews on The Martha Stewart Show. It's quite a pleasant morning.

Martha asked her guest what some of her favorite things are (fitting, no?). Her list did not consist of brown paper packages tied up with strings or whiskers on kittens, but rather her grandchildren, husband, garden, and dog.

I now sit here thinking about my own favorite things from the simplest pleasures such as hand-picked flowers, warm socks, and hand written letters to the bigger things like my husband, home, and family. I have so much to be thankful for, so much that I adore. Life is filled with tiny little joys that add up to a truly joyful life.

Amatriciana

I'm in love with Italian food. I love the flavors, the cooking style, and the tradition.

I have Giada De Laurentiis' cooking shows Giada at Home and Everyday Italian on my daily DVR recording schedule. My favorite episodes are the ones where she has her Aunt Raffy on, who is from Italy. Her and Giada make traditional dishes and Raffy spends the whole time telling Giada that she's not doing it right. It seems that there is a right way to make a traditional Italian dish, and any minor change makes it the wrong way. It makes me wonder what the Italians think of our jarred pasta sauces that many people refer to as "spaghetti sauce", even though the ingredients in these jars aren't all identical. One of my favorite dishes that Giada and Raffy made was Amatriciana with meatballs. Traditionally, Amatriciana isn't made with meatballs (as Raffy made known to Giada). But, I welcome the addition. This recipe seems basically to be what we Americans call "spaghetti". It actually uses bucatini noodles but I use spaghetti since I always have it in my pantry. Whatever pasta you use, it's the ingredients and cooking style of the sauce that makes it Amatriciana.

Bucatini All'Amatriciana Recipe by Giada De Laurentiis

(NOTE: this recipe makes a LOT of food. I cut it in half when I make it for Lucas and me. We still have plenty of leftovers afterward. I also use ground turkey instead of beef and veal for the meatballs) 

Ingredients for Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 ounces pancetta, diced
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano

Meatballs:

• 1 small (6-ounce) onion, grated
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus 1/4 cup
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 cup
• 1/3 cup Italian-style bread crumbs
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 8 ounces ground beef
• 8 ounces ground veal
• 2 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, cut into 16 (1/2-inch) cubes
• 1 pound bucatini or other long pasta (I used whole wheat spaghetti)

Directions:

For the sauce: In a large heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta and reserve. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and the cooked pancetta. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

For the meatballs: Position an oven rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, combine the onion, 1/2 cup parsley, 2/3 cup Parmesan, bread crumbs, egg, ketchup, garlic, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add the beef and veal. Using your hands, combine all ingredients gently but thoroughly. Shape the meat mixture into 16 (1 1/2-inch-diameter) meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet. Make a hole in the center of each meatball and place a cube of mozzarella inside. Reform the meatball so that the mozzarella is completely covered with the meat mixture. 

Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes until cooked through. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and place in a large serving bowl. Add the meatballs and sauce. Toss gently and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and Parmesan. 

This recipe can also be found here on the Food Network's website.

Labor Day Cookout

Happy Labor Day, friends.

Lucas and I went over my parents' house today for a little family cookout. I was excited to have an opportunity to make some pasta salad (with fresh tomatoes from here at Pohickery Farm!), burgers, and cookies. We've been getting our beef from a local farmer who is at the Farmer's Market on Tuesdays. It's neat knowing where our meat is coming from, what kind of cows provided the meat, how they were fed, and support the local farmers who provide the meat.

I made pasta salad for the first time a couple months ago. When searching for a recipe for pasta salad, I stumbled upon this article, Five Steps to Perfect Pasta Salad. It's a really nice, simple outline of how to make pasta salad using your favorite ingredients. These steps include pasta, key ingredients, intense flavors, onions & herbs, and dressing. The article includes a link to a recipe for dressing, but simple zesty italian dressing from the grocery store works just fine, as does balsamic vinaigrette. However, balsamic vinaigrette tends to brown your salad and make it less pretty looking. After trying many different combinations of ingredients, I settled on rotelle and penne pasta with yellow peppers, celery, red onion, feta or peccorino romano cheese, basil, and grape tomatoes as my go-to pasta. One of the main reasons I like this combination is because of how colorful it ends up being. You can also do pasta salad in different themes like Italian (sun-dried tomatoes & Italian sausage), Asian (sesame seeds & citrus zest), or Greek (feta cheese & olives).

You can just have fun with it and make it fit whoever you're serving it to!

Wedding Gift

On the day of our wedding, I walked into our soon to be home to be greeted by my bridesmaids. We said our hellos and they requested a tour of our tiny little barn apartment. As I walked them through the doorway of our bedroom, I spotted a small jewelry box on the dresser with a little card next to it that said "Starrs". The card also featured the little cross stitch daisies we had put on our wedding invitations.

I blushed as the girls urged me to read the card aloud and open the box. The card simply quoted "Here we are in heaven, for you are mine at last", from the song "At Last" by Etta James. I soon discovered that there was something even more special about this jewelry box- it had a music box that played "At Last". It was the perfect gift; a perfect little surprise so sweetly thought out by my darling fiance.

I'm so happy to now know him as my husband, who is still just as sweet and thoughtful as ever, and to have my sweet little wooden jewelry box to remind me of how lucky I am.

Photo by Heather Vaught of Steadfast Media (http://steadfastmedia.net)

Changing Seasons

The few days we had of colder weather kicked me into full on Fall mode. I'm packing up my summer clothing and bringing out my sweaters. I perused Target's website looking for their new line of cardigans, then promptly bought them in various colors. I'm now on the search for the perfect fall boots.

Changing seasons always seem to prompt my urge to clean, throw things out, and reorganize. My projects for the next couple of weeks include making new curtains for our living room window, finding a better way to organize our clothing in the bedroom, creating an office space in the bedroom, planting my Fall seeds, and prettying up the bathroom. Maybe it's Autumn, but I have the desire to make our home feel more warm and inviting. Stay tuned. Pictures of these projects are sure to come.

Preparing

Unified Underground , a conference held by Hope for the Rejected (the ministry Lucas and I volunteer for), is only a few weeks away.

Lucas and I are teaching a seminar this year and I could not be more excited. Or nervous. I've spoken before in front of groups of people. I've given presentations when I worked for the library. I've given presentations in front of classrooms as a student. I've read books in crazy voices to a classroom full of restless three and four year-old preschoolers as well as first and second graders. But, I've never felt much confidence in myself in terms of "teaching" my friends. I know it'll be fine though because it won't just be me speaking, it'll be the Lord. Thank God... Literally. I've been trying to push my boundaries lately, to be more open and available to love and help people. This is one of those areas where I need to just go for it and trust that God will use me.

Our seminar is about godly relationships; a topic that has been a huge part of our lives. We're really excited to share with others what amazing things the Lord has done in our lives and all that we've learned in the past two years in time of singleness, dating, and marriage. I'm so thankful for this journey of finding ourselves and each other. The times of brokenness, renewal, and discovery have all been so equally beautiful and vitally important to our relationship.

It's really something I should think about more often. I have so much to be thankful for. God has been such an active facilitator in this amazing love story of ours. We've also had the pleasure of seeing him do the same for several of our friends in the last few months. Lucas once noted the fact that many of our friends (including us) came to Christ in the same year. Now, many of those same friends are entering marriage in the same year. We've been able to learn from and teach one another. Our community is growing right before our eyes. It's such a beautiful thing.