Skillet Pizza Pasta

It all started when I found a wayward bag of mini pepperonis in the back of my fridge.  

I'd seen this one pan pizza pasta dish floating around Pinterest for a while but when I looked a few of the recipes, they had a ton of ingredients and seemed to take a lot of time! This recipe I've come up with is genuinely easy and will take you less than an hour to get on the table.  I hope you like it!  I'm planning to take some to my parents house soon to share it with them. 

Skillet Pizza Pasta

• 2 cups (dry) of any kind of pasta; I used egg noodles
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 package of onion soup mix ( I like the Lipton brand)
• 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
• 1 bag of mini pepperonis (but we won't use the entire bag, or even half)
• 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

Before we start, if you have a pasta sauce or pizza sauce that you love, replace the tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and onion soup mix with that instead. Hello, even easier recipe!

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Begin cooking your pasta. As your pasta is cooking, put the canned tomatoes, onion soup mix, and Italian seasoning into the skillet. This is our pizza sauce.  Let the sauce cook down until most of the liquid is gone and the color of the sauce is a deep red. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and dump it into the sauce. Mix together roughly. Top with the cheese evenly. Place pepperonis on the top of the cheese in a "pizza-like" fashion.  After the top is cute and faux-pizza looking, put the skillet into the oven and cook for 20 minutes. That's it!  Enjoy your dinner and impress your family with your creativity and domestic prowess. 

Chocolate and Dr Pepper and Cherries all in One Cake!

 This cake is so easy. I try to take things for my work family to eat every so often because, guys, being a night shift nurse is hard. The cafeteria closes at 11 and our busiest times always seem to be the beginning of the shift and the end of the shift. If you don't bring food or have time to run over to the cafeteria before 11, you're sunk! 

Cooking for me has always been stress-relieving and I love sharing what I make with others. Cookies are usually my standard, but this week I brought a cake! The easiest, richest, best cake ever. 

Chocolate Dr. Pepper and Cherry Dump Cake

-1 box Devils food cake with pudding included 

-One can of Dr Pepper 

-One can of cherry pie filling 

-One tub of chocolate fudge icing 

Preheat your oven according to the box cake mix directions. Mix the cake mix with the can of Dr. Pepper. I found that it is best if the soda is a little on the flat side. Mix in the cherries. Cook according to box directions as far as time and pan size. Let cool, and ice with chocolate icing. Done! You're a brilliant baker! People will rave about your domestic goddess status! 

* this cake is soft and less "slice-able" than regular cake. Call it a cobbler if you want! It's a cake-obbler! 

My Brother Got Married!

How crazy! My older brother David married Mandy this past weekend in Maryland. I was so excited because Matthew got to go with me! He was so patient with my flight anxiety... 

The wedding was beautiful and I was honored to be a bridesmaid. I was also feeling extra amazing because I got a fake tan. Seriously, guys, versaspa makes everyone feel more confident. Without further ado, here are a few pictures! 

Backyard Updates

I looked at the last time I updated this blog and I thought it was a mistake.

Well, guys, lets get the ball rolling again!  Now that winter is over (hello, seasonal affective disorder!), I definitely feel sunnier about life, pun intended. I have a ton of stuff to share and I can't wait to get started!

Warmer weather is creeping in and the last real part of my home that I wanted to tackle is my backyard.  Now, calling it a backyard is quite generous, but it means a lot to me and significantly increases the value of my apartment in my eyes.  It's mostly concrete, with two thing swaths of grass along the house and also along the opposite side.

I feel so good about my yard now that I even had a cookout last night! It was a fun time, truly.

My yard!  I have added the table recently ($30 at target) and my chiminea makes a huge difference. 

The beginnings of my summer garden.  Just imagine it in a few months with green EVERYWHERE!

So, that's my humble but kick-booty yard!  Here's to summer and more blogging!

5 Affordable Lighting Options

I'm in the process of light shopping and, let me tell you, it's a jungle out there.  You can spend literally thousands of dollars on lights.  But don't do it!  There are way more affordable choices out there.  These options are all under $100!

Super cute mini chandelier from overstock 

$68

Quirky lotus pendant light

$70

Simple pendant glass light.  I think the Edison bulb really is the key in making this light fixture look extra amazing. 

$60

This orb light is what my dreams are made of

$89

This is a classic light that would look great in my guest room/office. 

$81

Lighting is a great way to change up the mood of a room.  I live in a town home that I rent, but it doesn't mean that I can't switch out my lighting!  A quick call to the maintenance man is all it takes to switch out those ugly upside down boob lights that most rentals come with.  Just make sure you save them so you can swap them out again when you're ready to move!  Take those pretty, new lights with you!

Christmas Re-cap

Wow!  It's been forever since I've blogged.  I thought I would catch yall all up on what I did for the holidays.

For Christmas, I had to work Christmas Eve, and since I work nights, that means that I got off at around 7am on Christmas morning. Matthew came in to visit me and after I got home, we spent Christmas together, and later with my parents.

most awkward picture ever

All in all, I had a really nice holiday!  I actually had about six days off with the way my schedule worked and I was able to enjoy a great time with Matthew, my parents, my brother and his fiance, and even some friends in Oklahoma.  I hope yall had a great time too!

DIY BBQ Rub

The last time Matthew was here we tried out this AMAZING barbeque rub recipe from Alton Brown.  We did tweak it a bit to our tastes, but it was fantastic! We put it on chicken and grilled it.  No complaints from either of us, and can I just say...Matthew is a bit of a picky eater.  So without further ado...here's the recipe!  This makes about two cups of rub.

BBQ Rub

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup paprika

1 T black pepper

1 T salt

1 T chili powder

1 T onion powder

2 T garlic powder

pinch cinnmon

Do we love my measuring spoons?!