Chicken & Broccoli Pasta Casserole

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen broccoli
3 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 bag whole wheat pasta or egg noodles
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cheese, divided
1 can broccoli cheese soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 packet Ritz crackers
Salt & pepper
Garlic powder
Cayenne (red pepper)

 

Boil chicken breast for 15-20 minutes and then cut into small cubes. Season with garlic powder & sprinkle with cayenne pepper.

- Cook broccoli in microwave according to instructions on the packet. boil half bag of pasta 7 minutes or according to directions on the packet & drain well.

- Spray 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray or grease with butter.

- Mix all ingredients in large bowl and our into baking dish.

* I used 1 can broccoli cheese soup but I would recommends using 2 cans for a creamier casserole.

- Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.
- Crush Ritz crackers and sprinkle over cheese.

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake on middle shelf for 20 minutes. 

Enjoy!

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1. Follow Kate and myself via GFC and Bloglovin.

2. Link up your favorite recipes or food-related posts.

3. Grab our Recipe Swap button and link back to our blogs.

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and spread the love! ;-)

Weekend Relaxation, Girl Time & Home Decorating

Hope everyone had a fun weekend! I enjoyed the "me" weekend I had planned while K was off with his friends in New Orleans for a bachelor party.

On Friday night I watched the Wolf of Wall Street at home and relaxed with a glass of wine. The movie was really, really good despite it being 3 hours long!

On Saturday, I had a massage appointment and got a bunch of errands done before meeting up with some girl friends for dinner and drinks.

 

After dinner, the girls and I headed to a hole in the wall Karaoke bar. The age group was anywhere from 20's to 70's singing karaoke so that was quite entertaining. Somehow I totally forgot to get any good photos from Saturday night.

On Sunday, I went to the gym, cleaned up the house and started redecorating our master bedroom. I'm in love with my new throw pillows and bed set! The rest of the room is still a work in progress.

On Sunday evening I tried my hand at a new casserole dish for dinner.  I try to experiment with new recipes on the weekend to share for our Recipe Swap Linkup every Tuesday. Dinner was ready by the time K walked in the door exhausted from his crazy weekend with the boys in NOLA.

K probably drank enough to intoxicate a small village on his trip so I enjoyed my favorite beer - Sea Dog Blueberry - by myself ;-)

Joining Bella & Lisa for Weekend Recap and Molly & Carly for Funday Monday.

Ways to Enjoy Some "Me" Time

Happy Friday!

K left for a bachelor party in New Orleans yesterday so I'm holding down the fort/house until Sunday. While I've been dying for some alone time, I also don't want to be completely bored so I've come up with some fun things to do over the weekend. 

#1: Treat Yourself
Book a massage, mani/pedi, or a hair appointment. This is a great way to spend a few hours relaxing and getting spoiled. I haven't had a massage in forever and found a great deal on Groupon so that's my plan for part of Saturday.

#2: Own The Remote
 Catch up on all the chick flicks and shows you love that he usually refuses to watch. This girl loves the Little Couple. Yup!

#3: Girl Time
Meet up with your girl friends for happy hour or a brunch/dinner date.

#4: Shopping/Online Browsing
Whether you prefer to go to the mall or shop from the comfort of your couch, this is always a fun way to keep yourself occupied. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars, just go window shopping or browse online with a set budget in mind. 

#5: Relax in the Tub
Enjoy a nice, looong bath with some bubbles, wine and candles.

If all else fails or you have a tight budget, you can always depend on the good, old faithful - Blogging.

What's your favorite way of getting some "me" time?

Joining Lauren for H54F and April for Five on Friday.

Have a great weekend!

City Traveler: What's in my Travel Bag?

I got an email the other day asking what essentials would I pack in my travel bag. I guess the answer to that question depends where I'm traveling to. My ideal vacation typically involves sand, sun and sea but recently I've been enjoying city site-seeing and I've crossed some fun cities off my bucket list (NYC, Vegas and San Francisco).

So, what's in my City Travel Bag?

Angelina Cocktail Dresses · Yohji Yamamoto Jackets · Just Cavalli Halters

Daytime Outfits: 

 ~ Flats, boots & sandals (comfortable walking shoes)

~ Shorts, leggings & jeans

~ Casual tops & sweaters

~ Casual dresses

~ Big purse/bag if you plan to buy souvenirs or go shopping

Nighttime Outfits:

~ Comfortable shoes & heels

~ Dressy tops

~ Warm jacket

~ Skinny jeans and dressy pants
~ Sparkly party dresses

~ Dressy earrings & accessories

~ Crossover purses & clutches to match my outfits

Other Essentials:
PJ's, underwear, cosmetics (deodorant, lotion, shampoo, conditioner etc.), makeup, flat-iron, reading material, phone charger, ibuprofen, granola bars/snacks.

By the way, get 15% off plus shipping with code SHOPSENSE15 at yoox.com.

What essentials do you pack for city trips?

Touring San Francisco

I have to say San Fran is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited and I was lucky enough to be there during a sunny (and non foggy) week. The first day I arrived, I took a taxi over to the Fisherman's Wharf and explored Pier 39, which also has a beautiful view of Alcatraz Island.

I then hopped on a double-decker bus tour and went site-seeing through the city ending at Union Square, which is where my hotel was.

Day 2: After a full day at my work conference, I hopped back on the same city bus tour to finish the rest of the tour.

We saw the Japanese Tea Garden, all the beautiful parks and historical buildings, Chinatown, and the most magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. 

I loved everything about this city and was so happy to get the opportunity to visit even though I was working most of the time.

Have you ever been to San Francisco?

Spinach Crescent Bites

I made this finger food recipe for a St Patrick's day party a couple weeks ago and I love how they turned out. It's pretty much like wrapping spinach dip into a crescent roll. I found the recipe here and changed it up a bit.

Serving size: 16 mini crescent bites

I multiplied the recipe by 2 to make 32 bites for the party. 

Ingredients:
1 can crescent dinner rolls
1 box or 1/2 bag of frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 block of cream cheese (softened in microwave)
1 egg, yolk only

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat egg yolk and mix all ingredients together.
Grease baking sheet.
Separate the 8 crescent triangles and cut each triangle in half to make 16 small triangles.
Spoon about 1 tbsp of spinach mixture into the crescent triangle.
Bring all corners of the dough to cover spinach mixture and pinch together the ends.

Bake for approx 15 minutes or until they become lightly golden brown.

Enjoy!

Rules:

1. Follow Kate and myself via GFC and Bloglovin.

2. Link up your favorite recipes or food-related posts.

3. Grab our Recipe Swap button and link back to our blogs.

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and spread the love! ;-)

West Coast to East Coast Readjusting

Hello lovelies!

I spent most of last week in San Francisco for a work conference and woke up at the ungodly hour of 3:30 am on Friday to catch my flight back to Florida. Thankfully, I returned home just in time for the weekend so I had a few days to readjust to the time difference and catch up on some sleep.

A shot glass was my only souvenir from the trip. (I buy shot glasses in every country and city that I visit so I now have about 20+ shot glasses.) I had a short layover in Phoenix and loved the pretty views of the dessert from the plane.

On Friday night, I barely had enough energy to do anything so we rented American Hustle from Redbox and had a relaxing night at home. 

On Saturday, K and I went to the gym and had a lunch date at Chili's. Later in the evening we rented Dallas Buyers Club and had some wine at home. Excellent movie btw!

On Sunday, K and I went for brunch at one of my favorite restaurants. Bonefish sent me a $10 off coupon via email so I wanted to use it before it expired. They also have some delicious cocktails :-)

I had a much-needed relaxing weekend after a hectic trip and hardly any sleep last week. I'm also heading to New Orleans in two weeks so I'm happy to have some relaxing weekends in between traveling. 

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Joining Bella & Lisa for Weekend Recap and Molly for Funday Monday.

Work Week in San Fran

Happy Friday!

Phew.... what a whirlwind, busy week. I flew in to San Francisco on Tuesday for a conference on Wed & Thurs. I've never visited California before so I wanted to squeeze in as much site-seeing as I could on my free time.

After I checked into the hotel on Tues, I had a few hours to kill so I took a taxi to Pier 39 to walk around the marina, see Alcatraz island and enjoy the sunny 70 degree weather outside.

Later in the evening I met up with friends/coworkers that live in the city. They invited me to a networking event that had free drinks and food.

After working all day on Wednesday, I hopped on a double-decker city bus tour to see all the main tourist attractions including the most beautiful Golden Gate bridge.

The tour guide said the bridge is typically foggy and only about 75 days of the year is as clear as it was for us to view and take pictures of the bridge. It was beautiful!

The bus tour ended back at Pier 39 so I hopped off the tour and had a nice seafood dinner before heading back to the hotel.

This morning I had to wake up at 3:30 am to catch my flight so I'll probably be sleeping all the way home on the plane.

Happy Friday!

Joining Lauren for H54F and April for Five on Friday.