One Pot Tomato Basil Pasta

Hi Lovelies!

I have seen this recipe floating around Pinterest a lot lately, and decided that I needed to give it a try! I have to say I was a little worried that it would turn into a Pinterest Fail…but it was SO good and SO easy! I would say it is definitely a Pinterest win!

One Pot Tomato Basil Pasta:

Ingredients:

1 box fettuccine pasta
1 package cherry tomatoes
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
32oz vegetable broth
8oz frozen spinach
2 tbsp olive oil
Basil and Oregano to taste

Step by step:

Cut cherry tomatoes in half, dice onions, and thinly slice garlic
Break pasta in half and place in large pan
Place all cut vegetables in same pan
Pour your spinach into pan (no need to thaw)
Pour in vegetable broth and olive oil
Season with basil and oregano
Turn up the heat so that the concoction is boiling
Stir every few minutes, but never let it stop boiling
Once the mixture has boiled down completely, it is ready!

This is fabulously simple! You literally let it boil for 10-15 minutes and the starches from the pasta, as well as the tomatoes, etc. form this amazing sauce! I will definitely being doing this again soon!

Now, for the bread in the last picture! I went to HEB and bought a ciabatta loaf and spread butter on it. (I was going to use garlic butter, but HEB didn’t have any. I would have gone elsewhere, but it was a lazy Sunday…and it was Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family…I wasn’t going anywhere else.) I thinly sliced a little garlic and put it on top of the butter. I then put some sliced tomatoes and real mozzarella slices on top and baked it in the oven until it was a little crispy and the cheese was melted. This was ALSO fantastic!

Not to toot my own horn or anything…but I am a damn good cook when Pinterest gives me the recipe:) Haha! I hope you all enjoy and FOR SURE give it a try!

Oh, and a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Groopdealz! If you haven’t checked them out, YOU SHOULD! They are having a HUGE giveaway for their birthday so you should CLICK HERE to go enter!

Until tomorrow…

xox Megan

Balsamic-Mango Marinated Chicken

Hi Lovelies!

My parents bought Wes and I a grill as a belated wedding gift and brought it to us last weekend. We are SO excited about it! Needless to say, we have grilled our dinner every single night since we got it. Well, while I was browsing Pinterest the other day, I stumbled across this little gem! Balsamic-mango marinated chicken! Oh my goodness do mangoes and chicken go well together! It was so good that I just had to share it with you guys. Well here you go:

Balsamic-Mango Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup 100% mango juice or mango nectar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 mango

Directions:

Measure and pour mango juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper into a Ziploc baggie. Add chicken to baggie and zip closed, then move the chicken around within the baggie to make sure the marinade gets mixed well and that the chicken gets coated with the marinade. Place baggie in refrigerator for at least an hour, the longer the better.
Heat up your grill and begin getting all of your side dishes together. We used mushrooms and asparagus with our chicken. Both were cooked in tinfoil on the grill with a little balsamic/olive oil and some seasonings.
Once your grill is heated, remove the chicken from the marinade and place on the grill. How long you cook it will depend on how high your heat is and what type of grill you have. Make sure that your chicken is cooked thoroughly, as undercooked chicken can lead to some nasty diseases you don’t want!
While the chicken is cooking I cut up the mango to serve on top. I will be honest, I have NO idea how to cut a mango. I have tried about 50 ways and none of them worked well. If you have any suggestions for cutting mangoes, please leave them in the comments below!
Once your chicken is done being cooked, remove from the grill, place chopped mango on top and enjoy!

Hope y’all are getting a little bit of last minute grill time in as well before the summer is officially over!

Until next time…

xox Megan

Linking up with:
Friday’s Five
Friday’s Favorites
Simply Easy Style (I will be featured on today’s post here!)
Inspire Me, Please

The Big, Gooey, Messy Burger…

Also known as a sloppy Joe. All you 90’s kids, name that movie reference!

So, I wanted to introduce you all to a little trick of mine…it’s called trying to sneak veggies into my meals without my hubby noticing:) Now, I will let you know that my husband likes veggies…but he prefers cheezits, chips and salsa, and just plain old meat over veggies any day. Not only that, but veggies are impossible to fit into a meal like sloppy Joes. I mean, really, sloppy joes with a slice of green pepper and some sliced mushrooms on there? Weird, and not going to happen. So, I found a way to put them in there without the person eating even noticing.

I give you, sloppy Joes with secret veggie goodness:)

Ingredients:
-2lbs Ground beef or turkey
-1 green pepper
-5-7 mushrooms
-2 cans Manwich
-Onion buns or another type of hamburger bun
-Sides: I chose corn on the cub and french fries

Now, here’s how it goes:

1.Chop your green pepper and mushrooms into the smallest pieces you can possibly chop!
2. Saute your green peppers (or red, or yellow, or any kind really) in a frying pan until tender.
3. Add mushrooms to pan and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Add ground beef or turkey to veggies and cook until brown.
5. Add sloppy Joe mix. I personally like Manwich Bold, but if you have one with less sodium go for it:)
6. Let simmer for a few minutes and Voila! You’re done!

Tip for the corn on the cob:

When cooking the corn, put some sugar and milk in the water. Best corn on the cob I have EVER had. No really, try it!

Well, there you have it, sloppy Joes with veggies, and they are so good. Oh, and just ignore those french fries on there. I totally didn’t work out and then eat french fries….I lied I did.

Until next time!
xox Megan

I Don’t Know What Day It Is…..

I almost named this post “My Weekend In Instagram”. Then I realized that it isn’t Monday, it is Friday. Not that I’m complaining…I would much rather it FEEL like Monday than actually BE Monday. Holidays screw me up. Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! Wes and I had a great (hot) time hiking in the greenbelt and exercising our all American right to eat out for every meal! haha! Here is a little sneak peak of what we did yesterday:

My red, white, & blue 4th of July brunch outfit!

Green Chile Tomatillo Eggs Benedict from Austin Java….soooo good!

Wes and I went for a 4th of July hike in the green belt.

1. Yes, I understand it is not normal to change your outfit 3 times a day….But, I am not normal.

2. These tacos were SO good!

3. The baby deer in our neighborhood with her Momma.

4. My American flag scarf from Target that I LOVE.

It was a really fun day, but now back to reality……for one day!

I hope everyone else had as wonderful a day as we did. There will be more outfits next week, I promise! Thanks for stopping by!

xox Megan

I Am A Bargain Hunter

I am a bargain hunter. It’s true. No, I’m not cheap and no, I’m not that annoying person who tries to get a deal on a loose thread in every store, but I am DEFINITELY a bargain hunter. In college some may have even called me the bargain queen. I would come home from the mall with shirts that cost me $4, panties that were $1 each, and a pair of $3 sandals. My friends would be in awe. “How do you find such cute things on sale? I never do.” Well, first of all my friends, let me say that it is pure luck. Luck that they have my size, luck that it isn’t torn, and luck that it is something I would actually wear. There is no real trick to it, except that you have to shop often:) Now, for me, this is not a problem…I LOVE to shop, but for some shopping is torture. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are most likely not going to find a whole outfit for $20 unless you shop often.

That being said, today I’m showing off my new bargain from Forever 21. Yes, I realize that most everything in Forever 21 is a bargain, but this is a REAL bargain! I had a Visa giftcard that I won at work and it has been burning a hole in my pocket since the beginning of June when I got it. Obviously, I wanted to get the most bang for my buck, so I headed on over to Forever 21 after work. After looking for about 10 minutes I found it, this skirt (see below). This skirt was only $9.99! I was able to get 2 skirts and a dress with my $50 giftcard and I left feeling happy as can be:) So, without further ado, today’s outfit:

Tank top: Target ($9 in store, and more colors)
Skirt: Forever 21
Necklace: Charming Charlie
Earrings: Francesca’s
Watch & Bracelet: Charming Charlie
Sandals: Target (Similar here)
Nail Polish: Essie

Oh, and by the way those sandals…$4 at Target! But moving on…for all of you saying that’s great Megan, but I can’t wear a tank top to work, cardigans are your best friend. I have a cardigan in about 5 different colors and they are a super easy way to turn a look like this into something appropriate for work (depending on your dress code). My favorite places for cardigans are definitely Nordstrom (on sale for $19.90) and Target (on sale for $15).

Chelsea came over in the middle of our shoot, ready to bake some cupcakes! Woohoo! I had to get a picture with her as well, because her dress and braid were just TOO cute!

Chelsea:
Dress: Urban Outfitters
Sandals: Hollister
Infinity Necklace: Charming Charlie
Sunglasses: Ray Bans

Don’t we look classy in our aprons?

Apron on left: Made by my grandmother, Apron on right: Sur La Table

And these are the finished products. We definitely aren’t going to make it into any sort of Pinterest hall of fame(haha), but we had fun and they were SOOO good!

Hope you enjoyed my Wednesday night as much as we did:)

xox Megan