Ahhhh Thanksgiving, the typical stuff your face with everything you can possibly eat holiday. But not for me, not this year! I had a wonderful low key day mostly snuggled up, cozy watching a Dexter marathon (I’m addicted). And since I’m not really a fan of most Turkey day foods I decided to go for a little Italian instead. My recipe of choice was a Tuscan Pasta with Tomato-Basil Cream along with some fresh cheesy, garlic, French bread. It was really easy and tasted delightful.

I started out by pre-heating the oven and preparing the French bread (not made from scratch just one of those packages). I took it out of the package and cut 5 slits equally distanced along the top.



Then I chopped the tomatoes and basil, I mixed them with the wine and vodka sauce (substitute as I couldn’t find the sun-dried tomato alfredo sauce which the recipe called for). I let them sit until I was about 7 minutes away from everything else being prepared.






I cooked the 4 cheese ravioli per the instructions on the package.

While waiting for the pasta to cook I grated some fresh parmesan cheese. Sliced some swiss cheese and melted some butter mixed with garlic.

About 7-10 minutes before the bread and pasta were done cooking. I turned the burner on to heat up the sauce. I also removed the bread from the oven and stuffed the slits I had cut previously with the swiss cheese and poured the garlic butter on top. Put it back in the over to finish cooking.

I added the cooked pasta to the warm sauce, garnished it with some parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Wahla!!! I had a yummy in my tummy meal, with plenty of left overs to give my roomies over the weekend since they were so sick of Thanksgiving leftovers!






Here’s the full recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 (20-oz.) package refrigerated four-cheese ravioli
1 (16-oz.) jar sun-dried tomato Alfredo sauce
2 tablespoons white wine
2 medium-size fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Garnish: fresh basil strips

Preparation
1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, pour Alfredo sauce into a medium saucepan. Pour wine into sauce jar; cover tightly, and shake well. Stir wine mixture into saucepan. Stir in chopped tomatoes and 1/2 cup chopped basil, and cook over medium-low heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Toss with pasta, and top evenly with 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Garnish, if desired.
*1 (13-oz.) package three-cheese tortellini may be substituted.
**1 (14.5-oz.) can petite diced tomatoes, fully drained, may be substituted.
***Note: For testing purposes only, we used Buitoni Four Cheese Ravioli and Classico Sun-dried Tomato Alfredo Pasta Sauce.

Well friends who actually read this and to on looking strangers…. It turns out I yet again that I suck at keeping up with my blog! I completely missed October… Oopies! Let me fill you in on my recent life.

University of Utah football is back, which of course brings entirely too much happiness into my life. This is by far my favorite tradition my family has. My parents and their friends have been tailgating together for about 35 years and I was lucky enough to get to tag along from the beginning of my days. Let me breakdown a typical game day. We show up at the tailgate around 6:00 am to set up our tents and get the Ute mobile ready for the day. Rain, shine or snow you can find us out and about all day even if it’s a late game. If it’s cold we have our sweet fire pit out and get cozy around the fire. We spend our day eating, playing games, catching up, laughing, making new friends, and running into old friends. We know all of the people who tailgate around us as we’ve all kept the same spots for years. It’s a very bonding tradition that I hope to continue for the rest of my life. This year we sold our Ute Mobile – So R.I.P. Old friend!! Here’s a look at our football life.


















I’m happy to say I FINALLY went to Moab! It was a super quick trip there and back but I was with my amazing friends and it was perfectly relaxing. Trevor, Oly and I got there about 11am where we met up with some of our other friends Brandon, Kourtney, Dawn, Kevin and of course Murphy the dog. We had some lunch and explored the town for a little bit before we went to find our little nook. Unfortunately it was a super busy weekend there so but after checking out several camping locations we finally found a spot. It wasn’t ideal but it was good for us. The girls went on a nature walk that was pretty fun. That night we hung around the fire shared some laughs , and watched the stars before calling it a night. I woke up before everyone else the next morning so I went on another nature walk and enjoyed the scenery and peace. We went to town for lunch then headed back home. It was short but perfect. AND I can finally say I’ve been to Moab! I think I might just go on a rafting trip there next spring and definitely go to arches and see more sites!







Being that I’m a HUGE football fan I decided to tag along with my parents and their friends to San Francisco to see the Utah vs. Cal game. We lost… In fact we got our butts kicked but it was a great trip. We arrived on Thursday and went shopping, followed by a visit and dinner in Chinatown before we went to a hilarious comedy “hair-show. “ which was kind of like watching a drag show only the characters in the play weren’t dressed in drag just crazy costumes and insane wigs.











Friday we visited Alcatraz which was very interesting. It was kind of creepy but I thought it was extremely cool. Then we checked out Fishermans Wharf where we had an amazing seafood dinner at Scoma’s and of course enjoyed all the shops, people watching and street performers.











Saturday morning we went on a driving city tour that took us to the Golden Gate Bridge and all over San Francisco. Then we headed to the Utes game at AT&T Ballpark (home of the SF Giants), which was right on the bay so even though the game sucked the views were awesome. Plus I got to touch the outfield and grass of the (at the time) current world baseball champions… Yes I know I’m a geek with my love of sports!













Sunday I hoped on the train and went to Oakland by myself so I could see my very first NFL game. GO RAIDERS!! I have to say that even though my team lost it was an amazing experience to be there. I had a 3rd row seat right next to the Black Hole – which is where all the crazy fans sit. All of my favorite players were warming up for the game right in front of me. I was in football heaven! I love the coach Hue Jackson and there was a moment when he was about 20 feet in front of me! Al Davis the owner of the Raiders had just passed away and Jon Madden was at the game to light an eternal flame in honor of old Al… JON MADDEN was right behind me! I’m not kidding when I say I was in football heaven! It was a blast seeing all of the crazy fans!










And of course my favorite holiday is Halloween this year I decided to be Bjork… I made the dress by myself and I messed up as far as what side the swan head was on but besides that I think I did a pretty good job, considering my lack of domestic skills!