Nonna's Sauce

This is the recipe for my Nonna's sauce. But to be honest I don't follow it exactly and technically here is no recipe. Sometimes I don't use mushrooms. Sometimes I add more wine. Sometimes it needs more tomatoes. The key though is letting it simmer for those 4-5 hours. And then right before serving the sauce add a stick of butter to it and let it melt. Stir it up and it's perfect! 

Red sauce

2 chicken legs

2-3 chicken thighs

3/4 red wine

3 cloves garlic 

5 baby carrots

 

1/4 cups chopped parsley

1 tbsp chopped rosemary

1 8oz can tomato sauce

2 cans crushed or diced tomatoes 

1-2 tbsp sugar

Fresh mushrooms

1 can crushed tomatoes with Italian spices

1 can reduced sodium chicken broth

Salt/pepper

In a Dutch oven pot brown meat in about 2-3 tbsp olive oil. Remove from pot and set aside. 

In cuisinart chop parsley, garlic, mushrooms (or you can slice them) and carrots. Place another couple tablespoons olive oil in pan and add in chopped mixture. Cook over medium heat for about 7 minutes. Add wine and let wine reduce by half or so. Add meat back in pot. Back in the cuisinart add the tomatoes and chop them so that there are only minimal chunks. Add all tomatoes and sauce to the pot along with sugar and chicken broth. Now this simmers on low heat for about 4-5 hours. You can add in more chicken broth if it gets to thick. This is the perfect sauce for gnocchi and ravioli. You can replace the chicken with ground beef and or Italian sausage links. You can also eliminate the meat if you want a meatless sauce. 

Mangia! Mangia! 

What's Up Wednesday...

Hi All! Today I'm linking up with The Larson Lingo, Mix & Match Family and Pinterest Told Me To for What's Up Wednesday. This is my first What's Up linky and I'm super excited to join the party!

So to be honest I hate cooking in the summer. I hate hot food, I hate using the oven, the stove even the BBQ. My husband doesn't get home from work until 6:30-7 and so I do most of the BBQing. And when it's 100+ outside I just can't do it. So this week we are eating:

Monday - Rib Eye cobb salads and Shrimp Louie Salad. We had my parents over Sunday and had a couple steaks and some shrimp left over so that worked into our salad protein for Monday.
Tuesday - Pork chops, 3 bean salad and tomato basil mozzarella salad
Wednesday - Hamburgers, fries, macaroni salad
Thursday - Something with chicken
Friday - Panini's
Saturday - Pizza

I try really hard to meal plan and I usually do an ok job with the main but the sides don't come together until that day.

I'm reminiscing about this...

 

This was almost a year ago. They were so little!

 

 

I'll tell you what I'm not loving... hot sun that rises at 5:45am and doesn't set until 8:30pm. I am not a fan of summer.

 

 

This is what we've been up to...

Lots of playing outside and swimming! 

I'm working on and excited about our trip to Napa! We went last year and had the best time! So I've been scheduling wine tastings and tours and getting our lunch and dinner reservations figured out! I can't wait. Here we are last year.

 

So, I'm also super excited about our family vacay to Pismo Beach for a week! And that's happening mid July. My sister is coming with her little one and then of course us and my sister in law. Our husbands will mostly just be there on the weekend so that means it's going to be all girls during the week! We are going to have the best time!

I've read so many books this month I lost track. I'll list those another day. But I'm totally hooked on watching Odd Mom Out, Younger and The Real Housewives of Orange County.

When I'm not in my swim suit I'm wearing my favorite Old Navy pixie shorts and my v-necks from Target. 

This weekend is all about my 3 year old and her first dance recital! We can't wait! 

And for the 4th we always go to my parents for a BBQ, swimming and fireworks so that's on the agenda this year also! 

THANK YOU

Today we say thank you to all those who have died for our country. It is a day to remember the sacrifice they gave. For some reason I have always just thought of Memorial Day as another day to not have school and/or not work. But as I sit here today and listen to Pandora and the Patriotic station that I chose I can't believe that I have been thinking that way.

Honestly, I didn't have the guts to join the armed forces. I couldn't bare the though of leaving my family. None of my immediate family has served. But one of my grandfathers did as did some of my great-uncles as well as my husbands grandfathers and uncles.

Growing up in the 80's and 90's war was not something we grew up with. Until 9-11 and then so many people joined the Armed Forces to do their part. But I feel like I still don't know what it is truly like to sacrifice for your country. I can't imagine what it is like to fight and die for your country. But I am extremely grateful for all those who have. I am grateful for their families who supported them and then lost them. For the mothers and fathers who said good bye to their children; I send up extra prayers for all of you today. And I hope you know how thankful I am for those of you who have served and those of you who lost your life so that our lives could be better. So that my children and grand-children can be free. I cannot say THANK YOU enough.

Friday Favorites!

Thank goodness it is Friday. #fridayfunday

 This week has been tough. It's been emotional - my grandfather passed away Saturday night. He had been sick for a while so I know he's in a better place and that it was his time to go. But his wishes were to not have a funeral. Which I do understand but I need a way to say goodbye. So that's been the emotional part of the week. And I have a sick child who does not want to sleep at night. She's 3.5 going on 13. But since she's so dark cute I guess I'll get over it.

And my Dad had back surgery last week but he's home and doing well. So there's just been a lot going on. 

Today I'm linking up with Andrea over at Momfessionals, Erika and Narci for Friday favorites! 

A couple months ago I started using essential oils. I didn't know a whole lot but I ordered their starter kit and starting trying out different mixtures. I was mostly interested in what they could do for my kids allergies. I use Young Living. And let me tell you... I FREAKIN LOVE THEM! I use them for everything. I put lemon and thieves in my water for flavor. I use tea tree and coconut oil for the chicken skin on the back of my arms and the makes makes the bumps GO AWAY! I diffuse them at night, I made an allergy trio and rub it on my girls spine and chest twice a day. Seriously the possibilities are endless. #younglivinglover 

If you are interested in these just shoot me an email and I'll tell you more about them! 

Next favorite... Garden tomatoes.

I know what you're thinking. She has tomatoes in her garden already?! Nope. I don't. I mean I do but they aren't ready yet. But I did get some orange greenhouse tomatoes yesterday and I made this refreshing salad with an avocado, cucumber, basil and oil and balsamic and it was like summer in a bowl! Oh, and I don't really care for tomatoes but I'll totally eat them this way. Yep, I'm weird. Oh and I have I mentioned I don't like strawberries...? #truestory The seeds get stuck in my teeth and I can't. Handle. It. 

Oh and lastly for today. Hair dye. #greyhairdontcare Except that I totally care that my hair is turning grey. And I want to cry and pull out all my hair. I get my hair cut and colored every few months but lately that grey had just been going nuts. Cue the hair dye. 

This keeps my hair covered for about a month. It's my in between that I use when I don't need a cut and don't want to spend $100 on just a color. And it works fine. 

Have a fabulous weekend! Cheers! 

Show and Tell Tuesday - What's in a name?

I love names! I started picking out names for my kids when I was like 10. And then had to pick new ones because my husband vetoed them all. Anyways, being a teacher made it difficult to name my girls. I was super picky and wanted gender specific names. My husband likes more the gender neutral names. Well, I won. We find out the gender with out first but didn't name her until she was born. Our first is named Adelyn Maria. Maria is my middle name, my moms middle name and was my grandmothers middle name. I'm not sure where I heard the name Adelyn but I fell in love with it and never forgot it. For #2, we didn't find out. And it was a girl. We named her Giulia Margaret. Giulia is just Julia but spelled the Italian way. Giulia is a family name from my family but that's not why we named it that. I think it was because that's the only girl name we agreed on. Margaret is both my husbands great grandmothers name. I love both my girls names so much! Now, we will have #3 someday. Our boy name has always been Luke but lately I'm loving Benjamin. For a girl I'd choose Delaney. And middle names, well who knows! 

Show and Tell Tuesday - My favorite room!

I'm linking up with Andrea over at Momfessionals!

Hands down my favorite room in our house in my girls room. The room is huge and will easily fit 2 full size beds and accessories. This past fall my husband and I added the chair rail, painted and put up wall paper. Our girls are 15 months apart so them sharing a room is perfect.

This is the room I always wanted as a little girl and I'm so glad I have two little girls who get to have it!

Get your Stitch Fix!

I love shopping. Like, love, love, love it. And since I've had kids, I really love shopping for them. Me, not so much anymore.

My style is pretty casual and laid back. I don't need professional clothes for work anymore so I'm good with a few pairs of jeans and some cute tops. I'm always barefoot or in sandals, like all year long. #californiagirlproblems

I tend to get most of my clothes from Target, Old Navy and Banana Outlet. I love all three of these stores but I just felt like I needed more variety in my closet. Enter Stitch Fix. My goodness I wish I was the brains behind this amazing business because it is amazing. It's like Christmas every time I get my fix in the mail. Stitch fix is simple. You sign up and fill out a style profile and schedule your fix. There is a $20 styling fee but that goes towards your purchase. You can choose to have your fix every few weeks, once a month or whenever you want. I just got one a few weeks ago and scheduled my next one for January. You get to write to your stylist about the type of clothing you are looking for, any prints that you love and things you don't love. My first was just so-so. But my last one was awesome! I wanted to keep everything and I would have but I didn't love it all. Oh, and if you keep everything you get a 25% discount. The pieces range from $40 to $75. In my last fix I had a dress, a pair of jeans and a few tops. No accessories but you can fill out in your style profile if you want them to send you accessories. Oh and you can link to your Pinterest boards!

Here's what I got:

I starred everything I received. I ended up keeping the jeans and the burgundy top which I wore both pieces for our family pictures. These jeans are awesome. They are the Just Black Dean ankle zip skinny jean and they fit me like a glove.

 

I'm looking forward to my next fix in January!

 

Give it a try! If you are a busy Mama like me you will definitely love it! Here's myreferral link:

https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3835626

 

Cheers!