No Plans Weekend

For those of you that know me, you know that I am a mega planner (haha). This past weekend I only had one thing on my schedule. So what to do with all this free time?? Well I LOVE food and I enjoy cooking (when I have enough time) so I decided to try some of the recipes I had found. One of my favorites is pasta. I mean who doesn't love pasta?? So that was my theme for the day. I decided to make pasta sauce from scratch, turkey and artichoke stuffed shells, and Mediterranean mac & cheese. The sauce and shell recipes came from the one and only Giada and the mac & cheese from Martha.

I had no idea what I was getting into cooking all these things at one time. I never met my paternal grandmother but I have a feeling my Sunday was kinda like most of hers. In the kitchen all day preparing amazing pasta meals for everyone to enjoy. So lets just say I spent most of my day chopping, mixing, stirring, and baking. But I think everything turned out great. Here are a few pictures from my cooking adventures.

First my sauce...I had to do a lot of chopping for this one. I still haven't figured out how to cut an onion and not cry.

and now the chopping for the shells

One of my favorite cooking gadgets is my cheese grader. Best present ever. Thanks Donna!

and the mixture....it smelled so good with the fresh basil

The recipe said only about 24 shells but I made 2 huge trays and still had mixture left over. I stuffed these babies full too.

And the waiting begins........

But it was worth the wait!

This is the mac and cheese and my lunch for the week

I have never been so excited for lunch time.

So there you have it. Hours in the kitchen but it was enjoyed by all. (if you would like the recipes let me know. I didn't post them because they are so long)

Oh and in case you didn't notice I also love pictures.