Whole Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta, and Lemon

For Christmas this year I was so excited to get not one but two cookbooks by Giada de Laurentiis.  I couldn't wait to try one of the drool-worthy recipes, and I decided to start on the easy side with her Whole Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta, and Lemon (recipe found here) from Giada's Kitchen.  I'm not always a huge fan of cream sauces since they can be a bit too rich and heavy, but this sauce was perfectly cheesy and the lemon zest made it feel almost like summer.  An added bonus: since I was cooking for 1, I stretched this dish out for four meals, and the leftovers were just as good as the first night.  Enjoy!

The ingredients

Green Beans with Garlic and Olive Oil

Mixing it all together

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Vancouver, eh?

The view from our hotel

To ring in 2011, Maddie, Kimber, and I decided to venture north to the land of Celine Dion, maple syrup, and the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Canada (specifically, Vancouver) ended up being the perfect solution to our post-holiday blues.  The sun was shining the whole time and the view from our hotel looked out onto Robson Street and the Fairmont Hotel, and gave a glimpse of the water and mountains beyond.  We spent a leisurely day at the spa, ate our weight in local cuisine, and rang in the new year at an Irish Pub watching boy bands on the big screen.  All in all, there was no where else I would've rather been. 

A New Years Eve Toast

Rabbit dinner at Cin Cin

Granville Street after midnight

Gastown

Happy New Year!

xoxo,

stephanie marie

A New Year

Welcome!  With a new year comes new beginnings, the first of which for me is starting my blog.  Since my New Years Resolution is to spend the year doing things that make me happy, I thought I would chronicle the year with those exact things, including cooking/trying new recipes, taking photos, yoga, reading, travel, writing, and much more.  So stay tuned for yummy recipes, experiments with my cameras, and adventures abroad (and a little closer to home).  Enjoy! :)

xoxo,
stephanie marie