Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables

So last night I decided to use some of our leftovers from the 4th for a new dish. I went for the roasted vegetables that our good friend Ryan was so gracious to leave us with. Ryan is an amazing cook, so when he told me that the roasted vegetables would work great in a pasta dish, despite my reluctance I took his word for it. If you know me well then you know that I am a fairly picky eater (I am getting better though) and that I am not a big fan of mixing foods together. However, I took Ryan's culinary advice and scoured the internet for such a recipe. Much to my surprise as soon as I typed in pasta with roasted vegetables my all time fav. Giada De Laurentiis popped up with her Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables recipe. I love Giada so I knew this was going to be a great dish! It was so easy and full of flavor! Micah and I both loved the extra pizzazz the vegetables added to the otherwise plain (but awesome) Marinara sauce and Penne pasta. Plus...veggies are healthy for you! (duh! right?) So why not give it a try?

If you want to check out the recipe, click on the link above. These are just some quick shots of the process...I got to skip the first part of the recipe because Ryan did the prep work on the veggies. You can also add more vegetables if you would like--we actually had red potatoes and carrots in the mix (which was not in the recipe) and it still tasted amazing!

I also used Traditional Prego for the Marinara

Yum!

Happy 4th!

Just some quick images of the set up for our small cookout we had with some great friends yesterday. I hate I missed getting pictures of all the delicious food and fun times with friends we had! I guess we just had too much fun :) But at least you can get an idea of the decor. Hope everyone had a great 4th! So grateful for the country we live in!

Concept Board for Ariston's Nursery & a Lesson in Trust

So Micah and I spent practically all day looking for the basics for the nursery. We started the day off by going to the NC State Fairgrounds in hopes to snag a great deal on a dresser for our baby boy. Before heading over we grabbed some lunch at Jasmin's Mediterranean Bistro on Hillsborough St. It was quite delicious and we had a great time reminiscing our frequent trips there during library dates in our college days. Man do we miss college! Well maybe not the studying part... :)

Anyway...we made it to the fairgrounds finding some pretty things but nothing too enticing. On our way out we found a great deal on a dresser and were so excited to finally purchase a piece for Ariston's room so we rushed home to measure the space (oops guess we should have already done that!). Long story short...we called and the owners had already sold the piece! Bummer...

The next part of the day was filled with the same sort of dissapointment. We went on craigslist trips and were dissatisfied and sadly, my impatient self was getting frustrated. But we finally decided on the crib after much deliberation. We decided on the one pictured in my concept board. It's a Babyletto Modern Crib in Espresso. Finally something to build off of! However, I got so excited about it that while ordering it, I accidently ordered it twice!!! Major oops!

Lesson learned though is that I am in great need of patience. I found myself getting pretty anxious today about the whole thing today due to our limited time the rest of the summer to get his nursery together. Due to my stress and anxiety, I could literally feel the effects of what my stress was doing to our son. Christ reminds us to find our rest and peace in Him. Being anxious is sinful because I am not trusting in His promise to take care of me. Thankfully, Christ intercedes for me and reminds me that He is capable of taking care of me and I can rest in that. I am also thankful for a husband that loves me well by keeping me accountable of this area in my life. I can also be a better momma to our son when I am not stressing him out :)

Matthew 6:25-33

²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^{[g] 28}And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."