Scrumptious Sundays

A twist on Rocco Disporito's Lightened Fettuccine Alfredo.

CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM FETTUCCINE ALFREDO

8 oz. whole wheat fettuccine (regular if you can't find whole wheat is fine)

1 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp cornstarch

Pinch ground nutmeg

1 package sliced mushrooms

2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced

3/4 cup low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

3/4 cup 0% Greek yogurt

Salt and freshly ground black pepper 

1)  Bring large pot of salted water to boil.  Add fettuccine and cook according to package directions, usually 9 to 11 minutes gives it the perfect doneness; drain.

2)  While pasta is cooking, put olive oil in large sate pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, combine cornstarch and nutmeg in a small bowl.  Whisk in chicken broth until smooth.

 4)  Pour mixture into sauté pan, raise heat, and bring sauce to simmer, whisking occasionally.

 5) While sauce is simmering sauté mushrooms, drain excess water.

 6)  Whisk in 1/2 cheese until melted. REMOVE FROM HEAT.

 7) Whisk in yogurt until sauce is smooth.  Mmmm, looks sinful doesn't it!

 8)  Add cooked chicken and mushrooms (or other ingredients like broccoli) and toss with pasta noodles.

9) Top pasta with remaining 1/4 cheese and serve.  Makes 4 (small) servings.

Bon appetite!  This dish is so so so good this is the 2nd time we've posted it on the blog.  We actually made this recently and did it 2 weekends in a row, not to mention at a family members' house while out of town.  It is, if not as good, better than any high fat, high sodium dish you would get at a top Italian restaurant.  CHALLENGE - try it!  You'll like it.

Another tip - we double the recipe, it seems easier with the amount of ingredients and we love the leftovers.  A box of pasta is 16 oz, a small container of Fage greek yogurt is 1 1/2 cups, etc.  Seriously even the leftovers taste like you just made it fresh.  As a matter of fact, I think this just might make the menu again this week - I'm hungry :)

Enjoy!!

Gavin's 2nd Birthday

It was small, but fun.  It's a good thing we planned small because any more friends and he would have been overwhelmed.  As it was he has a short breakdown when Marcus started playing with his Legos.  Hmmm, guess we're going to have to work on that sharing thing when baby #2 comes around.  We had the Keane Family, Grandma & Grandpa Hendricks, Joy's son Matt & his family, Grandma Patti, and of course mom & dad all here for the party.

Started the morning by helping mommy test the cake batter.

Are you all singing to me?  Please don't stop! 

Yummy cake for Gavin and his friends

A few presents before everyone leaves.

Nap time, not the best time to pose for pictures - but at least we got one.

Grandma & Grandpa Hendricks came down from Prescott 

A quick kiss for the baby (so sweet), then back to opening presents.

Post nap presents; opening presents drug on for hours! 

Mr Gavin Scott - The Birthday Boy

Pregnancy Progress

Every woman loves getting photographed...especially when it's progress of how much fatter she's getting. Seriously though, this is the only time getting bigger is better.  And it's fun to document the progress.  At 27 weeks the baby was estimated to be 2.7 lbs (an average 27 week old is 2 lbs).  Doesn't seem like much of a difference, but at this rate we're putting our money on another big baby!  Grow belly grow - healthy is all we care about!

25 weeks 

15 weeks

Pooh & Gavin

We've been taking pictures of Gavin with Pooh Bear since he was born.  The plan is to take one every year on his birthday to see how he's changed.  You can see how big he is getting already at only 2 years old.

Gavin & Pooh - 2 years

Gavin & Pooh - 1 year

Gavin & Pooh - Birth

Baby #2, second ultrasound

Doctor wanted us to go in for another ultrasound to check out baby's heart.  The first ultrasound baby was moving too much to get some good photos and confirm blood flow.  It was fun for us because of course the technician snuck in a few face shots too.

You decide....is it going to be a Liam Patrick or Ellie Jane?? (names subject to change of course)

Covering his/her face with his/her hand 

Great picture of the face, thank you baby for moving your arm. 

Lips and nose look very similar to baby's sibling :)

(Gavin Scott, 1 week old)

Final Pig Roast 2011

The Thew Family had their final pig roast this year.  It was a success as usual.  Many people asked why is this the last year...all good things must come to an end.  It will be missed, but we'll have other reasons for family and friends to get tighter - and I'm sure some of them will be at the river.  Gavin had a great time on his sort of 'camping' trip.  The highlight was the river and swimming of course.

 This is a camping cupcake, he didn't know the difference.

 "Mmm, I yuv cupcake!" in his own words

Those that were there will remember the morning of the pig and Russell.  We won't bore you with the details, other than to say it's a really good thing there were a lot of people who have been to the pig roast before and knew what needed to be done to get that piggy in the ground.

Jason cooking breakfast, he always gets stuck with bacon, but does such a great job. 

Neighbor John has a windmill that Gavin had to go say hi to every morning. 

Hawaiian shirts for everyone, even Gavin :) 

And there's the pig, mmmm! 

Handsome Andy (minus the cigarette) 

Gavin thought Kera's Bumbo seat was a potty.  If only he was that excited to sit on the real potty. 

Jumping & swimming in the ice cold river! 

Gavin actually said "you go first mommy," he's one smart kid!

Baby #2 Ultrasound

We are well into the pregnancy now, 6 months down only 4 to go.  These ultrasound pictures were taking at exactly 1/2 way through (20 weeks).  The results were great!  The baby weighed just under 1 pound in these photos, crazy how tiny it is.  Although the baby was tiny, the doctor still said the baby is "biggish".  Oh boy!  The Hendricks blood line sure knows how to have BIG babies!  If you can't make out the photos, don't feel bad - until I became a mom I could never figure these things out either.

 Eye, nose, and lips - with it's hand touching it's nose.

 We like this one because it's a great picture of the face.  We think the nose and lips look very similar to Gavin (which takes after mom)

 Baby would not hold still for the ultrasound technician - but it did wave as she took a picture.

 Cutest little foot we've ever seen!!

All cuddled up in a little ball - but a great profile picture of the entire healthy little munchkin!

Girl or Boy you ask?  We don't know, we don't want to!  The lab was even great about sending the results to our doctor and left off those details - so no chance of our doctor slipping up either.  We won't know if we're doing natural or C-Section until  November.  Stay tuned, we'll keep you all posted.

Scrumptious Sundays

The Hendricks house has pizza almost every week.  Sometimes we order it, but our favorite thing to do it make it at home.  Pizza can be healthy believe it or not.  Here are a few tips we've found to keep our pizza healthy AND delicious!

Anytime you can use fresh ingredients, it's always that much better for flavor.  This is our CRAZY basil plant that has taken over our herb garden.  It was so delicious on the pizza (we've been making a lot of homemade pesto too).

Pizza crust dough from Sprouts.  If you don't have a Sprouts, try Whole Foods, or Trader Joe's.  These places often have whole wheat dough, and if you use dough rather than a pre made crust you can roll it out thin to give yourself 'thin crust'.

The pan can make or break your homemade pizza experience.  This tip was given to me a couple years ago, and it's the greatest pizza pan alive.  We've recommended it to several friends and they too would agree.  It's $21.00 from Williams Sonoma and worth every penny!

The more veggies the healthier your pizza.  But don't forget the flavor!

We started with a light layer of Garlic Olive Oil (no sauce), mmm so much flavor.  Where do you get Garlic Olive Oil you ask?  Why the Queen Creek Olive Mill of course, and yes you can buy on-line!  Then come the ingredients, this week we did:  prosciutto, mushrooms, basil, and black olives.

Another great 'keep it healthy' tip is the cheese.  Less is more.  This is the most fattening part of the pizza, but also the most delicious.  If you buy a stronger flavored cheese it won't require you to put as much on.  We used Asiago Cheese and placed small slices all over so each piece would have some cheese.  It was delicious!  Last tip, cut the pizza in squares rather than triangles like a pie.  The pieces end up being smaller, and just as filling, you can have 3-4 pieces and feel like you had a lot of pizza.