Thursday, February 15, 2018

Creamy Penne Pesto Chicken and Personal Genetic Service

As I have another birthday waiting for me around the corner, I am realizing in my ripe old age that there is only one thing that you really need...family.  

You can have everything that money can buy...but what happens when those things are no longer there, or you have lost them, then what do you really have?  Nothing.   Family is the only thing that you cannot purchase, but it will always be there for you.


Quite a few years ago, our nieces were working on a family tree project for school.  As my husband is the youngest of 9 children, with now 19 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren...if I am remembering correctly...and within all of those family members, there are three sets of twins So you can imagine, we're not talking a family tree the size of a bonsai...more like the size of a cypress tree.

At any rate, the nieces hit a road block when it came to their Nana (my mother-in-law) and her family.  It wasn't long after Nana passed away that we all learned she had been adopted...and she never knew it.

It breaks my heart that she went her entire life and never knew who her real family was.  My sense is that's why she was blessed her whole life with such a large family, because she really didn't know her true family growing up.  

We can only speculate, but here is my theory...  She was born around the time of the Great Depression.  My feeling is that she was born a twin (as there is no other family history of twins anywhere in the family or extended family...yet we have three sets of twins).  Given the difficult economical times back then, I think that the twins were separated and given up for adoption.  I guess now, only she and God know the truth.  In an case, whatever the truth is...I think my version would make for a wonderful Hallmark Channel movie, don't you?


For my husband's monumental birthday, this past December I really struggled what to get him....as this was before I purchased Alexa.  We kept seeing ads for the 23 and me DNA service.  Every time he saw the ad, he would say "I really want to do that".  So, it's not a sexy gift, but definitely an interesting one.  Given what he learned about his adopted mom, he is really curious about his family ancestry.  Stay tuned.....


Like my husband's gift, this dish is not sexy, but really, really good and comforting.  During one of our family dinner nights, we made homemade wood fired naan pizzas and had a good amount of leftover ingredients...so, I re-purposed and made a round 2 dinner with everything.

Creamy Penne Pesto Chicken

cooked, penne pasta
sauteed mushrooms
cooked chicken breast
1/2 container, Barilla pesto sauce
1/2 container, Barilla alfredo sauce
fresh mozzarella ball, cut in slices

In a saucepan, combine the pesto and alfredo sauces until warm and well blended. Toss with the cooked penne pasta.

Plate the pasta and add the chicken breast, a slice of mozzarella cheese and sauteed mushrooms.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago: Champagne Margaritas
Two Years Ago: The Birthday Flirtini
Three Years Ago: Raspberry-Lemon Dump Cake
Four Years Ago: Chocolate Layered Pudding

Our beautiful wood fired pizzas before they got re-purposed.



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