Baked Bucatini Casserole

Heat oven to 350 degrees
Heat olive oil in a large skillet
Add garlic, sauté finely chopped onion, green bell pepper and red bell pepper

I’m kidding here – I just added a bag of onion/pepper mix from my freezer.
Add one package of sweet Italian sausage

Make homemade Italian meatballs by hand (kidding again, I threw in a handful of the frozen ones, also from my freezer stash)

After meat browns, add fresh tomatoes, basil, oregano, salt and pepper (or not – you can also use a large can of Hunt’s Garlic and Herb Pasta Sauce). Throw away can lid. 
Bring to a bubble, then simmer while pasta cooks.

Fill a large pot with water, add a little salt and bring to a boil. Go to cabinet to get box of Bucatini. Toss out almost empty box of Bucatini.

Baked FettuccineCasserole
Follow instructions above.

When water boils, add a package of Fettuccine (make that half a package since the Hubby just called to say he wasn’t coming home until late)

Turn off heat under tomato and meat mixture, grab container of cream cheese and a large spoon.

Run to check the Tykester email when your computer chimes, then spend two minutes seeing if anyone retweeted your last tweet.

Pick up container of cream cheese, dump into tomato and meat mixture. Stir.
Comment on how creamy the mixture is.

Re-check recipe. Discover you cannot remove ¾ cup of cream cheese from mixture.

CREAMY BAKED FETTUCCINE CASSEROLE

Follow directions above.
Drain cooked fettuccine, add to cheese, tomato and meat mixture. Stir well.

Pour into a casserole dish and decide that – what the hell, you’ve already blown the fat content, so cover the whole dang dish with mozzarella cheese and throw it in the oven. 

Get out salad ingredients. Check Facebook on computer (conveniently left on kitchen counter)

After 20 minutes, decide to forgo the salad (since this dinner has no chance of being healthy anyway).

Take casserole out of oven, let sit for ten minutes while you double check that husband is not coming home for dinner and recheck your Twitter feed.

Best eaten right out of the dish, using the serving spoon, accompanied by a large glass of wine.

Makes one serving. 

LESSONS I LEARNED FROM WATCHING FROZEN

During a visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studio this past summer, we took part in one of the Disney Animation Studio classes. I had no idea who the character was that we drew – it was just some snowman named Olaf. 

Last night, there was absolutely nothing on TV we wanted to watch. So I flipped through the channels and we ended up watching the special on the making of Disney’s Frozen.

We were so intrigued by that special, we then went right over to one of the premium channels and watched the movie.

I love knowing the backstory on movies – it makes it more compelling to watch when you know who wrote the story, and why. If you haven’t seen the special, I’ll clue you in – Frozen was supposed to be Disney’s The Snow Queen, but the studio didn’t want it to be just another “Princess battles the wicked queen and is saved by the Prince” story. The final storyline in Frozen evolved due to several factors, but most importantly by the music that was written, and the actors who voiced the part.

And that brings me to Lessons I Learned From Watching Frozen

1)  You can’t write how your own story ends.
People you love, events you live through and even the music you choose will change the plans you have for your life, no matter how hard you try to stick to one path. They will change you.

2)  There will be doors you can’t open. 
This movie made me cry, but probably not where you’d expect. I found myself welling up at the image of a little girl, sitting outside her sister’s door, whispering “Do you want to build a snowman”? That one got me where it hurts. It made me remember all the times I wanted so badly to be close to my sister, but we just don’t have that kind of relationship. I mourn never getting to whisper and giggle with her as kids, or swap secrets over a glass of wine as adults. How we missed that connection, I don’t really know. Sometimes, I have to question which side of the door I was on – was I whispering through the door, or standing on the other side, listening?

3)  Sometimes, you just need to be your own hero.
I’m glad Anna didn’t need a prince’s kiss to heal her frozen heart. She healed it herself. I’m still learning how to do that. It may take more time.

And, you knew it was coming…

4)  Let It Go.
Those gloves on Elsa’s hands - masking her power - spoke volumes to me. How many of us are holding back our talents because they don’t fit into a traditional mold? Do you downplay your own strengths? Why are you holding back? Let ‘er rip.