Pinterest has recharged my batteries!

I know it may seem crazy to some of you but I really believe that Pinterest has recharged me. It is like it has given me back my life. Crafting and cooking always makes me feel better no matter whats going on. With Pinterest I have all of these new ideas that I cannot wait to try. I have gotten out of my cooking slump and learned out to crochet and have lots of fabulous quotes :)

I few months ago we found out that my cousin Lauren is going to have a baby! She is due the end of July. We are all super excited because it is their first baby! I took the excuse of them having a baby to try and make my first baby blanket! Hopefully I can finish it before the baby comes! Here is the blanket so far!








With Easter being the past weekend I went through my holiday board on Pinterest and was searching for something fun to make for Easter. I am sure like many of you that you dye Easter eggs. Well we did too... but they didn't turn out so well. I wanted really bright solid colors so I let them sit in the dye for a really long time. Maybe even to long... or the dye was old because it was bought on clearance who knows how many years ago. Well I was a little bummed because I wanted a cute Easter egg picture for my blog. Well I decided that with the eggs I would rather make deviled eggs rather than egg salad like we usually do.

Well thats when I remembered seeing deviled eggs that had egg whites of different colors. I jumped at the chance to try this and it was sooo simple. My family that I was little nuts but they thought they turned out cool too. You simply boil and peel your hard boiled eggs and cut them in half length wise. Take out the yoke and put in a bowl to make your deviled egg mix. (I would give the recipe but my Mom and sister Erin were just winging it.) Then you take your egg whites and you put them in a cup of water with food coloring and let them sit until you get the color you wanted. For the darker colors like purple, blue and green they did not have to sit for very long... or we just put in a lot of food coloring haha :) Either way they turned out good and tasted even better. And my Mom got to use her Pampered Chef Cool and Serve tray for deviled eggs!

I know this is already kind of a long post but I have to share this recipe too! I made Spicy Chicken Rigatoni one day for lunch for my Mom and I. We both agreed it was delicious!

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Chopped garlic
- 6 oz chicken, sliced
- 3/4 cup Marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup Alfredo sauce
- 2 teaspoons butter
- 1/4 cup peas
- 1 lb Rigatoni pasta cooked





Directions:
1. In a sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add crushed red pepper, salt, black pepper and garlic. Sauté just long enough for the garlic to caramelize and red pepper to release flavor into the oil. Add sliced chicken and sauté briefly to coat in spices and garlic.
2. Add Marinara Sauce first and then Alfredo Sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce thickens slightly and chicken as reached an internal temperature of 165. Turn off heat and add putter and peas and incorporate into sauce.
3. Drop cooked pasta in boiling water for 3 seconds. Let drain for 15 seconds. Toss with sauce. Place pasta and sauce in a pasta bowl, reserving the majority of the chicken to be placed on top of the pasta. Using rubber spatula, scrape any remaining sauce from the pan to the pasta. Garnish with crushed red pepper and serve.

* The website I found this from suggested using a jar of Parm. Rosa Sauce instead of mixing the two sauces, which is what I did and it was still yummy. I think you could add more chicken because I did not think it was enough for the amount of pasta.