baked turkey ziti

[update/belly photo and tidbits available...]

OK, it's been awhile since I've shared a "bethany essential" recipe -- and I happened to have my camera around when I was cooking dinner the other night. I've found that I'm much more likely to try cooking something if a)it looks good, and b)the instructions are easy... even better if the easy instructions include pictures. Since I always assume that everyone is like me when trying new recipes, we have the following:

Baked Turkey Ziti (mmmm)

12 oz. penne or ziti pasta
1 lb. ground turkey
garlic salt
pepper
italian seasoning

2 tsp. canola/olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded & chopped
minced garlic

1 24 oz. jar marinara sauce
2 small cans diced tomatoes (though, I just use 1 regular sized can...)
shredded mozzarella cheese

First, cook your pasta:

(that's what penne looks like, in case you were wondering)

Drain it, set it aside.
Next, put your ground turkey into a pan to brown over med. heat. You can wait to season it after it's browned, but I much prefer the smell of cooking-meat when it's seasoned ahead of time... Either way, you want it to end up with some garlic salt, pepper, and italian seasoning.

(blech.)

(not blech. browned!)

In a big pan, heat your oil over med. and toss in those veggies (onion, garlic, green peppers. We added some zucchini from the garden, because it was there and waiting to be used in something. Don't worry, I'm not usually so grow-my-own-veggies-and-use-them...ish) While these are cooking, add a little salt and pepper (and a bit more italian if you're in the mood).

(little known fact: one of my favorite smells is fresh veggies getting sauteed.)

When the onions are translucent, pull the veggies off the heat.

(translucent onions, in case you were wondering)

Add your cooked meat to your cooked veggies and mix them up.
Next, in a large bowl (and I mean large!!), combine your cooked pasta, your veggies/meat, your marinara sauce, and your diced tomatoes. (I've found that this creates a lot of trouble if you throw everything together and then try to mix. Usually, the bowl is almost full when everything is combined... and thus ends up all over the counter during the mixing process. It's so much easier -- and cleaner -- if you combine everything in layers and mix as you go!)

(this step is the most dangerous, because it smells SO GOOD. try to hold off until it's been baked.)

(evidence of the nearly-overfull large bowl, post mixing)

Dump everything into a large casserole dish (9x13 is fine, if that's what's available) and cover with shredded mozzarella (really, I say cover, but I usually smother. we're fond of cheese in our house.) Bake for 40 minutes at 375*.

(don't be alarmed if your dish is really full. it won't spill over in the oven!)

As usual, I didn't take a post-baking picture. I'm really bad about that!! It looks the same as the unbaked picture above, but the cheese creates a beautiful browned armor of sorts over all of the pasta, and it's pretty hard to resist. I should also note that this is one of those meals that tastes just as good, if not better, as leftovers. The smell alone will make all of your co-workers jealous (or so I've been told by the boy, since my co-worker at this point is a toddler).

Let me know if you give it a try ;-)

tuesday nights

[another, this one from 3/13/2003, just because she's beautiful and i miss her.]

"I can't believe you walked all the way over here holding two tortillas..." she said, laughing as I borrowed some cheese.
"Actually, my feet were going too slow and I was impatient. I ran."

"I could fall asleep right now. Is it even 8:00 yet? I think this place makes me tired..." she said as we waited for her tea to steep.
With a smile I pointed to the clock: "It's only 6:45."

"I'm glad I got to be alone on Sunday. I almost came and got you, but I needed to cry without comfort..." she said, grabbing my arm as we walked.
"I understand. We all need to let go sometimes...but I would have come."

"Do you think you'll go back? I don't know what we're even looking for anymore..." she said as we passed under the faded lights.
"I might. It felt a little like home."

"This makes me think of the Bay area -- the smell of water and moss on a freezing cold night..." she said as we entered the park.
"Let's stop for a second and soak it in."

"Can you imagine your son doing something like that? He was just one of those good boys..." she said, searching my face as we sat on a bench.
"I can't imagine a lot of what people's sons do these days."

"Wait -- listen -- do you hear the sounds of the night? I want to go away so badly..." she said as we leaned over the water.
"I miss people too much right now."

"I think I'll make that my mantra for the night: I'm going home, I'm going home, I'm going home..." she said as we walked back to campus.
"I wish I could. Stupid crew."

"I think I want to read 'Anne' when I get back to my room. Or go to bed. I'd really like to sit and read..." she said as we darted across the street.
I teased: "I'm supposed to be so impressed with how good you're going to be tonight!"

"Do you know that feeling you have when you're a senior in high school and you walk around campus and everything is so comfortable? I've felt like that lately at school..." she said, her voice echoing down the empty street.
"I don't know why I'm so anxious for time to pass. I can't believe how quickly it does."

"I sat still for a long time today; I listened to everything and closed my eyes..." she said.

"I prayed for understanding and direction in the future that I can't wait for..." she said.

"I thought of his song and burst into tears. I don't know why, but it hurt me so badly..." she said.

"For a minute I understood the slightest bit why God would even want to send himself down to earth..." she said.

"I wish I could melt here right now..." she said.


Or maybe that was me.

progress

I've been putting off an updated post because a)it's too much effort to upload pictures from my camera these days, and b)I'm hoping to get more accomplished. Sadly, that's not happening in the next 2 days... so here's what I should have posted back on Monday :-)

(Before I forget, there's an update on Benjamin and an update on Rutabaga.)

I had a bunch of tasks on my to-do list for the weekend, and while I was secretly hoping to accomplish them all, I'm happy to say that ANY of them were crossed off. On Friday I had a sewing day with the lovely Anna-Lisa, and I watched in wonder as she managed to create (from her very own head!) an adorable quilt for little Rutabaga. She pulled out material and a sketch of what she wanted, then she began cutting, pinning, and sewing away as though it were no big thing. Meanwhile, I was meticulously measuring, tracing, remeasuring, aligning, and cutting pieces of fabric to make some burp cloths... By the end of the day, she had completed her quilt (with the exception of some small ties in the front) and I had completed 4 burp cloths. Woohoo! I say that with mild sarcasm, because really the burp cloths were beyond easy, but I did spend about an hour of my time trying to figure out the behemoth that is my sewing machine. (Seriously, the thing is a beast!) It was my mom's -- I've been carting it around to various places for years, and I finally decided to pull it out and give it a whirl. I had about 80% success in getting things set up, but the tension was all wrong and my thread kept snapping. I gave up after an hour and just used Annie's machine -- and now we're debating whether or not to get rid of mine.

(burp cloths -- so easy!)

On Saturday we were Benjamin-free thanks to my friend Farnosh, so naturally I planned to shop, prepare several frozen meals for October, paint, organize, read for my class, and take a nap. In the end, I lazed around with Corey for awhile, went around the corner to the $3 theater and saw Kung Fu Panda, did a quick grocery shopping, and managed to read 3 pages of my book. Not quite what I had envisioned, but we had a really great time! As we were leaving Farnosh's house I started to feel some strong braxton hicks (contractions that aren't really doing much to get the baby out) and I was even joking with Corey about how hard my stomach was getting. I've been getting braxton hicks (BH) for months now, but never very many and never very strong. I had about 3 sets before we got home, felt some more (about 10-15 minutes apart) while feeding and bathing Benjamin, and then continued to feel them after putting him to bed. I realized that they were beginning to spread around to my back and actually become uncomfortable right around the time that I realized that they were getting closer together (two of the big signs of labor), so I lay down and drank some water and prayed they would go away (the joke here being that I'm tired of feeling pregnant and I'm ready for Rutabaga to come NOW, but I had a paper to finish before class on Monday...) Anyway, the BHs slowed by 10:30 and stopped entirely sometime during the night, and while they've been making their usual rounds since, I've yet to feel them as consistently again. (Now that my paper has been turned in and I have 2 weeks until another is due, I'm pleading with my body to just go into labor already. Go figure.)

This is already waaaay longer than I was planning and waaaay more involved in the details of my weekend than anyone could have been looking for, so I'll stop here. Suffice to say, there's no baby yet but I'm getting more prepared (and apparently my uterus is as well)... and I still have a heckofa lot to do before October 9th!

(I took pictures of what WAS accomplished this weekend... mostly because it was a good way to avoid writing Monday's paper):

I *did* find time to make some caramel apples as a thank-you to Farnosh...
(and after eating 3 myself just sent my boy to the store to get more supplies!!)

the book I was supposed to be reading...
Yeah, I've got strange motivators.

Benjamin, wondering why Mommy is typing and not playing with the ball

EDIT! Aha!! I knew that putting off posting would reap benefits ;-) My to-do list is now a little slimmer, thanks to my boy and his hammer --

(not actually sure what to put in them... any ideas??)

(obviously, I haven't been painting... but it's on the wall taunting me either way!)


(evidence of the car seat cover in the wash)

(and of little guy's fascination with all of the baby things reappearing.
He's spent the better part of today trying to figure out the car seat latch, but we're trying not to show him how to use it in case he tries to "let Baby out" as we're driving down the freeway...)

And though there's no picture, I DID get my lasagna assembled and into the freezer last night. Whew! Isn't baby prep fun??

with Emily

We've had a busy week -- a visitor, a board meeting, a class, some organizing, some cleaning, a baby shower -- and I've got more happening in the next few days. AH! You can find bits and pieces of stuff (and a belly photo) here, and more pictures/stories here... but mostly, my thoughts are probably going to stay a little out of whack for the next little bit.

I wanted to post about our weekend, because my friend Emily came up for a visit and I had so much fun showing her around. I met Emily in 4th grade when we first moved to Whittier and we became "besties" pretty quickly, so she was pretty much my other half for the entirety of middle school/high school. I was trying to find a picture of us from way-back-when, but not many of them are digital at this point... So this is the best that I can do:

Emily, me, and Lydia (with depends)
(I think this is 11th grade? Yes, we're wearing nightgowns and prom dresses.
Just a little flash of insight into my youth.)

Anyway, Emily is a good friend and has always been an interesting source of inspiration to me (be it good or bad ;-) ), so it was nice to be able to spend some time just hanging out. Also, she is the first of my "home" friends to make it up to my neck of the woods (heh) and thus she shall be blessed beyond measure in all endeavors. Or maybe I'll just name my unborn after her.

You might recall that my boy was going away for the weekend, which I thought might slow us down a little (having Benjamin and all), but we were able to do quite a bit! On Saturday we headed out to the coast and visited the Tillamook cheese factory (mmmm) where we discovered the joy of free samples (and rootbeer float flavored ice cream), then we drove along the ocean for awhile and stopped at Cannon Beach to snack on some cheese and crackers. I don't have many pictures from Saturday because I wasn't feeling too inspired, but here are two that totally didn't work out:

Benjamin passed out
(or starting to wake up)

was supposed to be compared to the passed out couple parked in front of us:

...but they both woke up.
(I'm not really that creepy person taking pictures of other people in their car, I just zoomed in on a "casual, landscapey picture") It was really entertaining when they were head-back, mouth-open, passed out. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Sunday we headed downtown and had the best coffee ever, followed by the strangest donuts ever. (I tried the "dirty old bastard" -- cake donut with chocolate frosting, crushed oreo, and gooey peanut butter. I just about sent Rutabaga into sugar-shock.) We walked around by the waterfront for awhile, headed over to Powells for awhile, and ate lunch at a Deschutes brewpub (one of the only ones Corey and I haven't been to yet!) We had a pretty relaxing evening since I had to get the boy from the airport late that night, but we probably needed it! (No pictures from Sunday, sadly, since my lack of inspiration the day before meant that I didn't even take the camera with us.)

Monday we headed east and discovered Edgefield, which is pretty hard to describe. It has a few different pubs and restaurants, a distillery, a winery, some gardens, some random shops (like glass blowing and ceramics), a hotel, a movie theater, and a 9-hole golf course. We had lunch and spent a few hours walking around their grounds, stopping to enjoy the veggie garden and the wine tasting. Some random rambling pictures:

(they're growing hops on the water tower)

(Corey's trying to discreetly back out of being in the picture, but I'm quicker!)

Since we were already headed that direction, we continued east a little and made a quick stop along the Columbia River gorge. There's a really nice view point before you hit all of the waterfalls, so we thought it'd be best to just "take in" the landscape and leave the waterfall hiking for another time (like, when Benjamin wasn't passed out in the back seat).

"ooooh."

(obviously overwhelmed)

(it's windy up there, which is why we're both leaning to the left...or something!)

another sad attempt to capture people-watching joys.
we were awed by the various patterns that appeared on this woman's body (plaid, camo, bright toucans, polka-dot socks)... but the background is nice too :-)

I had class Monday night (and it looks like I might have underestimated it a little. Dang!), but after I got back we spent a few hours hanging out and trying to find a name for the unborn (among other things). Tuesday was a half-day and we spent a little time walking around a different area of downtown before leaving for the airport, but there's nothing picture-worthy about window shopping either! (Actually, that's a lie. I was wishing I had my camera when we wandered into Blue Moon... but their website doesn't do them justice. They had animal-shaped truffles. Animals!)

Overall we had a pretty busy visit, but I was so grateful to be able to hang out with my friend. Thanks again for coming, Em! (Again, for privacy reasons, there are more pictures and a link to an album on Benjamin's blog.)

Since Tuesday I've been trying to get on top of my schoolwork (like today, when I'm so OBVIOUSLY doing my reading instead of blogging) and keep the nesting train going. This weekend I'm planning on having a sew-day with Annie, painting a picture (that's not a joke!), cooking some freeze-able meals, and directing Corey where to hang shelves. I should probably do some more homework too... but it's so hard to focus when my brain is about 2 feet south of where it's supposed to be! I'll try to update again when there's progress :-)

checking in

I've been keeping pretty busy lately (in fact, you might even call me frantic most days) but I wanted to pop in and say that there are pictures up on Benjamin's blog (mostly of his new bedroom decor) and I'll probably have some more soon of the new nursery. Or maybe I'll wait until we actually get the crib up ;-)

I'm feeling OK -- a little less OK than I have been lately, but I've been treating my very-pregnant body as though it were only barely-pregnant, or maybe mildly-pregnant. My discomfort this time around is less "get this baby out! I feel like I'm going to pop!" and more "get this baby out! It's messing with my ability to be frantic (cleaning/organizing/sleeping/focusing/whatever). Less than four weeks! (Of course saying so only makes me more stressed. Meh.)

My boy is headed down to CA for the weekend to be at a board meeting and though I begged him to take little guy with him, I can't blame him for laughing at me. I have a friend coming up to visit (yay!!) so hopefully that will distract me from being bitter :-) I don't know how some moms are able to handle being single, pregnant, and having another one running around!

This has officially become random thoughts. I'm done.

thinking

It's hard to describe how I've been feeling lately, and I don't even know that I want to try. There's a lot happening in my life right now and a lot happening in head, but I've still found myself sitting quietly and wondering how or why. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense; let me just say that so much seems frivolous and petty, and I'm having trouble getting through it. As my professor said last night (in reference to a book by Volf, for those who are interested), "How is it that people are able to eat their young? What brings them to that point?" Obviously we're not talking about cannibalism here... and sadly we're not talking about a select few. Sometimes it just feels like things should be better, and people should be better, and I should be better at handling it.

Another piece of my past --

some quiet time [3/14/2003]

As I sit on the stairs outside the chapel I am surrounded by windows. I can hear the stairs protest as people walk the floors above me. Faintly I can hear the voice of Bethanee, raised up in song. I remember my irritation the first few times our chapel times collided.
My place. My time. My God.

But I got over it and learned to leave when she came in. It's almost a routine now -- she comes after class, sees my jacket, sighs heavily, and I put away my things noisily so she knows she'll be alone in a minute. We never make eye contact, we never smile or "how are you?", and we certainly never share without a grumble.

Welcome to contemporary Christianity. I'm sorry, did you want to know God? Well let me tell you about MY personal God...then you can find your own.

Outside the wind is violent and carries a drizzle. Trees taller than the four-story building I'm in wave to me in my warmth. The rain that fell all night is picked off the ground and thrown against the windows, startling me nearly every time. I feel like I'm in a car wash: trapped inside a machine and assaulted with the elements. Maybe I just feel trapped.

Yeah, it could be that.

awake

I have too much on my mind and Rutabaga has too much energy, so it looks like today is a necessary-nap day.

My deep thoughts for the morning are more along the lines of "why in the heck can't I fall back asleep???" and less, you know, deep... so really I just wanted to say that there's a weekend update here and a new belly photo here. I'm going to go attempt some school reading, which will probably fail to put me to sleep for the first time all week... but I can hope :-)

pausing

Even though we just got back from CA, our hearts are down there with Benjamin's godparents right now. My thoughts have been especially with their daughter, a sister of mine -- wishing that college didn't always seem so far away. I'm grateful for the Lord's protection and healing hands for our beloved "Uncle," and ask that you join me in praying for swift recovery. In the meantime, I thought I'd share something else from the archives -- this one written for Katie.

[saturday nights at huntington, 3/31/2003]

it's dark and there are many beauties
sky and smell and wind and hands
and the tiny flame that fought to exist
is dancing its joy at being alive

the blankets we share smell faintly of flowers
grasses from picnics still cling underneath
the breeze and the chill slowly spread around us
combining little bumps with a salty perfume

the guitar we carry still shines like new
and random plucks pierce the silence of the dark
it's easier to talk when the silence isn't listening
so i play with chords and awkward strums

slowly our voices express themselves
with quiet whispers and pauses and sighs
your eyes are dry but deep and expressive
unwinding the week and hopes of our hearts

my hands find a rhythm and four chords repeat
we smile at the tune that always emerges
i open my mouth and offer my voice
quickly you join me, "Lord, you're so wonderful"


it's darker now and the air is crisp
full of our laughter and quirky sounds
everything around us lends to possibility
parachutes and Pats and races in the sand


the water is numbing but somehow seems nice
my toes understand when i need to not feel
the ocean is playful and begs for our company
and somehow, again, we find ourselves dripping

we trace our desires into the fickle sand
watching in silence as they're sucked from below
i grab your hand and together we pray
"make us" and "thank you" and "please"

miles away i am sure there are people
farther still are families and school
isolated here i know they can't reach us
as we flicker and dance at being alive