New House!

For those of you who haven't heard, Eric and I have finally found a cute little house to call home! After our apartments decided to go up on rent AGAIN, we decided to take the plunge and spend a little more on a house. This little gem is what we found. It was built in 1938 and sits in the historic district of town really close to the hospital.

We won't be moving into our lovely new place for another month, but we went by tonight to take another look, plan out where we are going to put everything, and make sure all of our curtains, furniture, etc. will fit. And of course I had to take a few pictures while I was there (in addition to the ones I'd already been sent).

So, for all of you wonderful readers, here's a sneak peak at our new home!

(Note: A lot of these pics I took tonight, and the house is kind of messy since the current tenants are getting ready to move. There's also some that were taken by the owner a couple of years ago mixed in. It will, of course, look way cuter once we're moved in there!!)

The front door leads directly into the living room. Kind of hard to get a good picture of...

Yay for fireplaces! Supposedly it works, we just have to get a cover for it.

Better (older) pic of the living room from the dining room. The paint is a light gray color now instead of red.

Our cute little kitchen. There's some weird spaces and the fridge leans a little bit (the house IS 73 years old)... but I LOVE the windowsills and the pretty blue backsplash!

It also has several cute shelves above the windows and doors. How fun is that?

There's also a little door in the kitchen that leads down to the basement/laundry area... It's all concrete and bleh, so I'll skip that part!

Guest Bedroom/office #1... sorry, no good pics of guest room/office #2.

Downstairs bathroom (above and below).

Stairs up to master suite. :-) All the "doorways" have cool shapes like this.

Built-in office area for Eric.

This part is my favorite! A shoe area + 2 closets!

Master bath (there's a shower hiding back behind there somewhere...)

Back of the house...

And our beautiful yard! Though all the yard work seems a little intimidating!

So there you have it: our new home. We will, of course, be posting to show the changes we've made. Stay tuned for more updates on la casa de Yates!

Yummy Eats

Two new meals in one week. Be impressed.

[Both taken from Woman's Day magazine]

Spaghetti with Roasted Zucchini

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Toss the pasta with 1 Tbsp of the oil. 2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the bread and garlic until the bread forms coarse crumbs and the garlic is chopped. 3. In a large bowl, toss the zucchini, red pepper, remaining 2 Tbsp oil and ½ tsp salt. Add the Parmesan and bread crumb mixture and toss to combine. Spread the zucchini mixture on 2 rimmed baking sheets and roast until the zucchini is tender and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. 4. Toss the pasta with the zucchini mixture, chicken, parsley and lemon zest.

Beef Stroganoff

Admittedly this one didn't turn out quite as well, but we decided it was because we both hate sour cream, and because I used fetuccine instead of egg noodles. Oops. We'll be trying it again though!

1. Cook the egg noodles according to package directions. 2. Meanwhile, heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the steak with 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper, and cook in 2 batches until browned, 1 minute per side; transfer to a plate. 3. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion, bell pepper and 1 Tbsp of the remaining oil and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, the remaining Tbsp oil, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, tossing, until the vegetables are tender, 4 to 5 minutes more. 4. Add the wine, if using, and simmer for 1 minute. Add the broth; simmer until slightly reduced, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in the sour cream, mustard and Worcestershire. Spoon over the noodles; sprinkle with the parsley, if using

• 6 oz egg noodles (half a 12-oz bag)
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb sirloin steak, thinly sliced (we used stew meat)
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 lb button mushrooms, sliced (optional - we skipped em')
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup lowfat sour cream (our take - leave it out!)
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Chopped parsley, for serving

• 12 oz. spaghetti
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 ces fresh bread, torn into 1-in. pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 small zucchini (about 1 lb total), sliced 1/4 in. thick
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 oz)
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 Tbsp grated lemon zest

2 chicken breasts, grilled and chopped into small pieces (we added this and it was de-lish!)

Did you think we disappeared?

Basically, we have.

Eric's 3rd year of medical school is in full swing, which means crazy shifts as he cycles through all the different specialties starting with Emergency Medicine and now working in different areas of OB/GYN. He'll start surgery the 20th of June... that's definitely enough to keep him busy!

This equals out to lots of free time for me, which I have filled up with a variety of activities like running, tutoring, Bible study, volunteering, singing with the church praise band, and just hanging out with friends as much as possible. Unfortunately, this has left me little time for other activities I enjoy like reading, blogging, and cleaning the house... (haha, okay, I can't say I really ENJOY that).

But summer is here, so maybe I can try to do better?

Here are a few things that have been going on lately:

- We took a quick trip to Charleston, SC, right after Eric took Step 1 at the end of March. It was really quaint and super-fun! We relaxed a lot, went to the beach (where we stayed QUITE chilly), and ate soooo much good food!

- I celebrated another birthday - woohoo! We ate at Carrabba's and Eric got me these pretty flowers and another season of How I Met Your Mother (our current favorite show).

- I helped throw a cute baby shower for my sweet friend Madeline (and I've attended about 5 more!)

- Eric I went on a nice hike up Hanging Rock on Easter weekend. Of course we forgot to take pictures again!

- My mom came to visit for Mother's Day, and we ate at lots of yummy restaurants and explored Old Salem. Of course Eric had to work. :(

- We got to go "home" to Arkansas the last weekend in May! Yay! Our friends David and Haleigh finally tied the knot, and we were so excited to get to be a part of their wedding, as well as visit with all of our old friends and family! We don't get to take those trips nearly enough!

And now we have summer to enjoy! Of course, it's not nearly as exciting as last summer, what with the going to Europe and all. But we do have a few short trips planned around here, and I will be going on a mission trip to Hungary in July (so the summer isn't entirely Europe-less)! Eric won't be bored, because he's spending the summer doing surgery... fun for him, but not fun for our schedule!

I suppose that by now you think that I've forgotten all about my cooking. While I admittedly have fallen a tad behind, I have been trying things out slowly but surely. And there is more on the menu for this month - so stay tuned!

I made this yummy Vegetable-Parmesan Risotto with some Lemon Pepper Chicken back in April.

It was good enough that I'm making it again this weekend!

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T olive oil

1 c. arborio rice

1/2 c. thinly sliced carrot

24 oz. vegetable or chicken broth

1 c. fresh spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

1 c. frozen baby peas

4-6 oz. parmesan cheese

1/3 c. thinly sliced green onions

1/4 c. thin radish wedges

1. In a saucepan, cook garlic in hot oil for 30 seconds. Add rice and cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown.

2. Remove from heat and stir in carrot. In a separate saucepan, bring broth to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. Stir 1 c. into rice mix. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until broth is absorbed, then add remainder of broth.

3. Stir in spinach peas, cheese, onions and radishes. Heat through until mixture is tender and creamy.

I also made some Slow Roasted Tomato Pasta from a recipe I found in a Cooking Light magazine. It still needs some tweaking (some more tomatoes to make it more saucy, and maybe some sugar to balance the tartness?), but it was good enough to try again for sure! (sorry, no pics for this one).

2 lbs. plum tomatoes, cored and halved

1/4 c. EVOO

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

6 garlic cloves, sliced

1/4 tsp. red pepper

12 oz. fettuccine

3/4 c. parmesan cheese

3 T. fresh basil

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees

2. Place tomatoes on jelly-roll pan; sprinkle with 2 T oil and 3/4 tsp. salt and black pepper. Bake for 4 hours.

3. Heat 2 T. oil and garlic over low heat and cook for 10 minutes. Combine garlic, tomatoes, and red pepper in pan.

4. Cook pasta and drain, reserving 3/4 c. cooking liquid. Increase heat to medium high under tomato mixture and stir in liquid. Bring to a boil and cook for 3-5 minutes. Pour over pasta and top with basil and cheese.

These Savory Sausage and Spinach Turnovers were okay, but we decided they would be much better with beef. I plan on trying that later this month too. I'll let you know how they turn out!

2/3 c. peeled potatoes, diced

1/3 c. diced red bell pepper

1/3 c. diced onion

2 links hot Italian sausage, casings removed (once again, consider using beef instead!)

2 c. washed baby spinach

2 T. fresh basil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 refrigerated pie crust dough

2 T. water

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Heat a skillet over medium high heat, coat with cooking spray, and add potatoes, bell pepper, and onion. Saute 4 minut
es.

3. Add sausage (beef), cook until brown, and then add spinach. Cook 2 more minutes, stir in basil, salt, and red pepper. Remove from heat.

4. Cut dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each section into a 5 inch circle. Spoon about 1/2 c. of the potato mixture onto one side of the circle, and fold over until the edges meet. Crimp edges together.

5. Place turnovers on a baking sheet and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.