A full house

My idea of a gift: people to cook for and with.

I received my gift last week when my friends Beth and Becca came for a visit to Resort a la Keilen (a.k.a. our new apartment with the fantastic pool). We were so delighted to have them, so we made this:

Spinach and Red Pepper Farfalle with Cream Sauce



It was very easy. We just kind of made it up.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. chicken breast, sliced in half horizontally
1 pkg. Farfalle pasta
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag fresh spinach
1 large red pepper, seeded and sliced
Italian marinade (we made one from a recipe found online...olive oil, water, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and several herbs)
Beth's cream sauce (I think it was butter, flour, white wine, milk, cream, salt, pepper, and basil)
Shredded parmesan cheese
Pine nuts

Directions:

1. Prepare marinade and marinate chicken for about 2 hours.
2. Drain at least half the marinade and bake chicken at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until done.
3. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
3. Using cast iron skillet, heat olive oil; then saute onion and garlic until browned. Stir frequently. Add red pepper; cook until tender. Add spinach; cook covered until wilted.
4. Call Beth to remember how to make cream sauce:) Or, I think: melt butter in small sauce pan, stir in flour. Add a little white wine. Warm the milk, and stir into the mixture over low heat. Add a dash of cream and seasonings to taste. Stir frequently.
5. Use the pine nuts and paremsan cheese for garnish.



Beth and Becca enjoy our family style meal. I am reminded that I love this, and prepared meals for Matt and I this way for a week:)



He really does like it. "Green stuff" just makes him nervous.

The next day we made dirt cake!



Charlie stared at us intently, waiting for anything to drop. He eventually got his wish, too, because it's hard to pour oreo crumbs without spilling any.



For future reference, it's also hard to make oreo crumbs in the first place unless you own a food processor or something (which I don't).



Three Bs knowing dirt cake will be at least as much fun to eat as it was to make.



The only picture of just Beth and I,and it's basically a picture of my forehead.



I couldn't find gummy worms so we used "Sluggles". You have to put something in dirt cake, we supposed, but the "gummy flavor" really permeated the chocolatey flavor. Maybe next time we'll just have dirt and mud, sans Sluggles.



Taste test approved.



Maybe next time we won't make such massive quantities of dirt cake either? We ate our fill, and then had to give some to the neighbor (who prepared a delicious meal of London Broil the night before Beth and Becca flew back home)! I still need to get that bowl back...