Best Mac&Cheese Ever!! followed by a really long week

Last weekend I made my favorite meal for dinner - ham, macaroni and cheese, and green beans. Luckily, Carlyle loves it too! :-) The macaroni and cheese was completely different from what I normally make, but it was amazing! It was super easy - here's how I did it:

In a crockpot, add:
2 cups (dry measured) macaroni, boiled & drained
2 8-ounces cheddar cheese shredded
2 cups reduced to 1.5 cups milk
fresh ground black pepper

I cooked it all on low for about an hour and stirred it occasionally to help the cheese melt. It's ready when most of the liquid at the bottom is absorbed and the cheese is melted throughout.

It was a really busy week compounded by that fact that my car was in the shop. It had been out of commission for a few weeks now but I finally got it fixed. The starter had to be replaced, but now I finally have it back after taking the bus & walking to get it this morning.  I'm happy that we're living in an area that we could definitely get by with just one car, but there are some inconveniences of course.  I'm very happy to have my car back now so I don't have to have Carlyle pick me up from the park and ride at the end of the day!

Dinner & petit four beginnings...

First of all, today is September 11th, so that means 3 things:

it's the anniversary of 9/11 - our thoughts and prayers are with the victims families
it's Carlyle's mom's birthday - happy birthday!
and it's Jean Chesno's birthday - happy birthday to you, too!

Today we watched the Gamecocks play and kick Georgia's butt on TV. It was awesome and likely the most harmony we will experience this football season!
This afternoon while Carlyle watched all of the football games he could find, I made three different cakes - almond, chocolate, and madagascar bourbon vanilla butter cake. They've all cooled and chilled and I've cut them into the squares and I started the icing process. I definitely have much more than I need... I needed like 40 squares, and I easily have 80 lol. So, maybe people will take two!
 Here's what I have done so far...

This was after the first coat... it took like four! I think it needed to be drier and thicker icing to really stick to the sides and be more opaque.

For dinner we had penne pasta & spinach & shrimp with a deliciously healthy tomato & basil marinara sauce. The sauce had EVOO and omega-3 and DHA and carrot puree in it apparently, so --> really healthy. I cooked shrimp with some italian dressing and white wine and added it to the sauce. I've found that it's super easy to cook spinach in the water with the pasta for the last few minutes - then just drain it all in the colander and voila - it's all there and ready for the sauce. It was a great, easy Saturday night dinner.

Biking, running, and a fabulous dinner

This afternoon we went out exploring in our neighborhood. We have a multi-purpose bike trail that starts across the highway from our apartment neighborhood that we've been wanting to check out. Since I was still feeling some ankle pain, I took my bike and Carlyle jogged along with me. We went 2.5 miles and came back (so 5 total).  It was a great trail; almost all of it was in the shade and there were a few hills to coast down / struggle up and there was great scenery along the way. We'll definitely do it again and go further when we're both on bikes... we just need to put air in C's bike tires first.

For dinner I made Italian chicken with spinach penne alfredo and garlic bread on the side (as perfected by Jennifer Cain in our college apartment living!).

It was pretty easy to make, but it was my first time making it and I just kind of invented it on my own.

I preheated the oven to 325 degrees F and lined a baking sheet with foil & sprayed it with nonstick spray generously.
I dipped the chicken breasts in a beaten egg and coated them with Italian seasoned Panko-style bread crumbs. They were really crunchy though after baking in the oven, so I think next time I'll soften them a little in milk or something.
I baked them in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I boiled salted water and cooked the penne pasta (about two cups) and added the chopped baby spinach towards the end to wilt. I drained it in a colander and mixed it in with warmed alfredo sauce.

We loved it - Carlyle enjoyed it and says he'd like to have it again, so it's a winner!