Basil Alfredo Pasta, Almond Angel Food Cake, and my new favorite earrings

After tonight, my blog will be featuring recipes from www.cookinglight.com, because that's what I need to be doing: cooking light. I find that I'm usually attracted to recipes that call for butter, heavy cream, etc. That is not going to help me get off this baby weight. But tonight, as a last hoo-rah, we had one of Bobby's favorites: Basil Alfredo Pasta with Goat Cheese. We add a few chicken breasts, sliced and sauteed in olive oil.

2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon salt
18 oz fresh spinach fettucine (or just dry regular fettucine if that's all you can find)
8 oz chevre (goat cheese), crumbled
½ diced seeded fresh plum tomatoes
½ cup slivered fresh basil leaves
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 chicken breasts, sliced and sautéed in olive oil

1. Bring cream to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until thick, 20 to 30 minutes. Then add the chopped basil and cook an additional 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the salt and fettuccini, and cook at a rolling boil until just tender.
3. While the pasta is cooking, add half the chevre to the basil sauce. Return the pan to low heat, stir, and heat through. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl.
4. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce and chicken, and toss lightly. Top with the remaining goat cheese, tomato, slivered basil, and black pepper. Serve immediately.

I started checking out the Cooking Light website today and found what looks like some pretty good recipes. I brought dinner to a friend who just had a baby and the dessert was Almond Angel Food Cake with Creme Anglaise and Macerated Strawberries. I confess I love recipes with fancy, descriptive titles of 10 words or more.

And these are my new 80's earrings I bought from forever21.com. I love them! It's a store that my little sisters shop at in California. If you like cheap clothes, and you're desperately trying to hold on to your last shred of fashion sense like me, you should check it out. I can't believe I bought these, because I never, ever thought I would go back to any semblance of 80's fashion. But when I saw these $2.00 plastic earrings, I had to have them! My nose looks huge in this picture.