Olive Garden's - 5 Cheese Ziti Al Forno

So I'm totally addicted to this recipe I found. I first ate it at the Olive Garden & once I found the recipe online, I've been making it ever since. I actually think this one tastes better then the one at Olive Garden... I don't know why, but to me it just does. And seriously... if I can make this... then anyone can. I totally feel like a gourmet chef when I make this! ha ha

Olive Garden's - 5 Cheese Ziti Al Forno

FOR THE ZITI SAUCE:

4 cups tomato sauce

2 cups Alfredo sauce

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

3 tablespoons fontina cheese, shredded

1 teaspoon garlic pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

FOR THE ZITI TOPPING:

3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons Romano cheese, grated

3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated

1 tablespoon fresh garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped

REMAINING INGREDIENTS:

1 pound dry ziti pasta

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

PREPARE THE ZITI SAUCE:

Combining all ingredients for the Ziti Sauce in a large bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

PREPARE THE ZITI TOPPING:

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the first four ingredients for the Ziti Topping. Add the garlic, oil, and parsley and mix until thoroughly blended. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

WHEN READY TO PREPARE THE WHOLE DISH:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or large casserole with non-stick spray. Prepare the pasta according to package directions. Pour 1/2 cup of prepared ziti sauce into the prepared dish, and spread it evenly over the bottom using a spoon. When pasta has finished cooking, drain the water and pour the hot pasta into the bowl of remaining sauce. Mix thoroughly; pour into the baking dish. Spread 1 cup of shredded mozzarella over the pasta and sauce mixture. Top the mozzarella with the prepared Ziti Topping, spreading evenly. Place pan on center oven rack and bake until top is golden brown and cheese is bubbling, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.

Servings: 6 to 8

From: Olive Garden Restaurant

Charleston's - Baked Potato Soup

Ok, this recipe has the key to my heart... I have to admit I'm in love with Charleston's Baked Potato Soup & I have been for a number of years now. Although I wouldn't dare tell my mom that I'm in love with someone else's potato soup, but well it can be our little secret. One day I do plan on making it for her, just to see what she thinks. Can everyone say YUMMY!

Charleston's - Baked Potato Soup

1 1/2 cans chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/8 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon parsley
5 tablespoons butter, melted
5 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups half and half
4 cups cubed potatoes with or without skins

GARNISHMENTS:
sliced green onions
crisp cooked bacon bits
cheddar cheese

In large pan, mix chicken broth, water, minced onions, oregano, and parsley. Bring to a boil; simmer 5 minutes.

Add melted butter, stir in flour slowly, and add salt and pepper. Stir in half and half; cook until bubbly.

Add potatoes. Cook until done over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally. If cooked too fast, the soup will burn before potatoes cook thoroughly.

Garnish each bowl with the chopped onion, crisp cooked bacon, and grated cheese.

leopard print wish list

While we were at Academy the other night, I saw two things I absolutely must have! It's not front page news that I'm a animal print freak, mostly anything leopard print but I love all animal print though.

So check out these awesome rubber boots... I mean seriously... leopard print rubber boots... can we all say PERFECT!

All I can say is that whom ever came up with the idea to create leopard print rubber boots, had to be thinking about me at the time. I can already picture myself walking out to the barn, jeans tucked inside my leopard print rubber boots... to feed & take care of baby bottle calves.

And guess how much they are? Only $20.00! That's even more perfect, they are awesome & affordable at the same time. Right up my alley.

I'm not one of those people who own a hundred different pairs of shoes either. I think I can count my entire shoe/boot collection on two hands & that's pushing it.

It gets better though... while walking up & down every aisle in Academy just killin' time... I ran across something else that I must have. A leopard print folding chair!

I couldn't resist, I pulled the chair down off the display to test it out & see how comfortable it was. And yes... very soft & comfy & perfect for me. During this process, Fred is looking at me like I've lost my mind, but come on, that's not front page news either. I never claimed to be a sain person, geez. To top it off, if I remember correctly, I think the chair only cost $25.00... so once again, awesome & affordable. I felt like I had hit the jackpot or something! ha ha

Picture this... Me sitting in my leopard print chair with my leopard print rubber boots on! PERFECT picture isn't it? Yep, I couldn't agree more.

It doesn't take allot to make me happy sometimes. If I do get to buy my boots & chair... hit me up in 20 years & I can guarantee I'll still have them both. That's just me for ya. I tend to hold onto & take care of things for a very long time. When you don't have allot of money or any to spend to begin with... it makes you really learn to appreciate the few new things you do get along the way.

Take Care Of Yer Friends

Friend is a word that I don't throw around
Though it's used and abused, I still like the sound
I save it for people who've done right by me

Some of my friends drive big limousines
Own ranches and banks and visit with queens
And some of my friends are up to their neck
In overdue notes and can't write a check

They're singers or ropers or writers of prose
And others, God bless 'em, can't blow their own nose
I guess bein' friends don't have nothin' to do
With talent or money or knowin' who's who

It's a comfortable feelin' when you don't have to care
'Bout choosin' your words or bein' quite fair
'Cause friends'll just listen and let go on by
Those words you don't mean and not bat an eye

It makes a friend happy to see your success
They're proud of yer good side and forgive all the rest
And that ain't so easy, all of the time
Sometimes I get crazy and seem to go blind

Yer friend just might have to take you on home
Or remind you sometime that you're not alone
Or ever so gently pull you back to the ground
When you think you can fly with no one around

A hug or a shake, whichever seems right
Is the high point of givin', I'll tell ya tonight
All wordly riches and tributes of men
Can't hold a candle to the worth of a friend

- Baxter Black

feels like Monday

To me, today felt like another Monday. It's just been one of those days that I've wrote down the wrong date on everything, I know everyone else has had days like this too.

Lets see... what shall we write about tonight?

I almost slept through my alarm this morning, but this is not front page news nor is this out of the ordinary either. It's sad to say but it's the truth.

After making my usual morning pit-stop by the post office, I headed to work. For some reason the drive to work felt like it took forever. That's never a good start for the day when the drive to work seems like it took twice the time it usually does.

All in all, work went well today. Well... besides the fact I wrote the wrong date down all day long & it felt like Monday. The work day is just never long enough. Especially when you have one million things on your to-do-list & somedays it doesn't feel like you've accomplished anything on it. That's how most of my work days go though.

5pm just couldn't come quick enough. After arriving home from work, I loaded up a basket full of laundry & headed to Kev's to throw a load in to start washing. Fred got home around 6:30pm just in time to help me carry the next load of laundry over to Kev's, great timing!

We ran & grabbed Sonic for our dinner & watched "18 kids & counting", which is one of my favorite shows right now. Currently working on the 3rd load of laundry as I sit here & write.

Wow... not a very exciting day huh, but man does it fly by quickly. Before I turn around, it will be midnight & I will find myself complaining about how I don't go to bed early enough & wanting to scream at myself for not passing out at 10pm. Sadly, more often than not I'm up until midnight. Typically working on rodeo stuff, or something.

Now that I've started this new "public" blog, well I'm still in the process of deleting & going thru my old "private" blog & deciding whether to merge some of my crazy stories or just hit the delete button instead. So far I've been hitting the delete button, but there are a few I might re-vamp & re-post on here.

Is it bad or good when you go back & read some of the stuff you write & you fall out of your seat laughing at some of the stuff you wrote? Wait... don't answer that.

I haven't had much time on my hands since I started this new blog to put everything on here I want to, so be sure & check back often... cause I will be adding things as I capture some time to.

the weekend

Well yet another weekend came & gone. The weekends are just never long enough in my opinion, but I'm sure others share my opinion too.

Friday night the plan originally was to make it out to the World Show to walk thru the buildings & hang out... but we ended up not making it off the couch. I did however successfully engineer something to fix the feeder down spout on the feed truck. Here let me clarify... After watching Fred attempt to figure out some way to fill the gaps on the sides of the spout so the feed wouldn't pour out the sides instead of down like it needs to... I asked if I could have a shot at coming up with a solution. First plan of action didn't work out, but in the process of that plan I had a brilliant idea spark in my brain. It's called DUCT TAPE! Everyone has to love that stuff & everyone needs to have at least 3 rolls just hanging around the house. To top it off they even make it in tons of different colors now, so depending on what you need to use it for... you have color options! Anyways, needless to say after some serious engineering (not really to serious), it ended up working out perfectly & I ended up feeling like I was a genius. Ok, maybe not really a genius but ya know what I mean, I was proud that my plan of action worked out.

Saturday we got up & around, stopped by my parents house for a few minutes to say hi. My brother, great-niece & great-nephew were there helping with some stuff around the house & yard, so since I rarely get to see the kids these days, we decided to stop for a few minutes. After that we headed to the city to check out houses or aka manufactured homes.

Let me just say WOW... some of these houses are truly amazing to say the least. It's hard to decide on anything. Some of them look like mansions on the inside, it's just crazy what they can do these days. I remember like a million years ago when all manufactured homes pretty much came standard & looked the exact same for the most part. There weren't many options back then, but nowdays... everything is an option & it's almost unbelievable.

We spent most of the afternoon looking at homes, then we headed towards Edmond, so we could stop by & feed my 4-legged child Katey Belle, since David was out of town. Oh how I miss my Katey Belle. I love it when I get to see her & spend time with her. I hate that I haven't been able to move her out to where I'm living yet. Leaving her breaks my heart everytime. She's just the sweetest baby ever I swear!

Last time I visited her, my batteries on my camera weren't charged & I didn't get any pictures of her, but this time I made sure the batteries were charged.

After taking care of Katey Belle we headed home to take care of Abigail aka my other 4-legged child & then after we got cleaned up, we decided to head out to a place called Friends to do some dancing. We actually didn't end up dancing, my cousin met us there for a few drinks then we left & went to Hudsons.

Sunday we were a little lazy & slept in, then we hung around the house til around 4pm then went to Outback Steakhouse for some dinner, then on to the World Show to watch a friend of ours show. We had a good time but by the time we got to the World Show we didn't have much time to walk around & see everything we wanted to before they started shutting down. So we are hoping to get to be able to make it back there before it's over.

All in all we had a good weekend, of course it just wasn't long enough as I said before.

here goes nothing

Here I am once again... starting yet another blog. The difference here is this one is going public. Yep, you read that right, public! Sounds scary, I know. I'm sure anyone that knows me well has fallen out of their chair right now & thinking OH NO. Don't worry, I'm not scared that anyone & everyone might think I've lost my mind some days or maybe I'm just simply crazy. Those thoughts have crossed my mind a few times, but I've came to the conclusion that I'm ok with it & don't really care if people think I'm a little crazy. Because well... it's hard to hide the truth right, ha ha.

So here's the low down on my blogging expertise...
First, I'm far from being any type of expert about anything. Second, I'm just a normal everyday type of person. I like to consider myself a fairly low-maintenance person. I don't ask for allot but I like to give allot. I'm one of those giving, loving type of people who have a hard time receiving.

The reason I named my blog "When Two Trails Become One Road", is very simple actually. From the moment I saw the statue, I fell in love with it. The first thought that crossed my mind from that very moment was that would be my ultimate perfect wedding gift when or if that day ever comes in my life. A girl can dream can't she? There's never any harm in that, at least I don't think so. The other reason is that I would love to be able to write a story about myself & my one true love. Ya know... how we met, the road that brought us together & hopefully making the steps for a future together, etc. Ok, that sounds kinda mushy & cheesy I guess, oh well.

My day to day life is always interesting, I wear many different hats. I sit behind a desk 40 hours a week, volunteer secretary & web designer for the Edmond Round Up Club, proud mommy of several bottle calves & 2 precious dogs (Abigail Elizabeth, Jack Russell & Katey Belle, English Setter) and standing beside me through every crazy day of my life is my supportive love, Fred. Most days my life moves at warp speed & it's hard for me to keep up with myself sometimes.

Well that's the short story version of what's up!