Spring Pasta with Prosciutto, Peas, Chicken & Mushrooms | Emma in Overalls : )

I call this Spring Pasta because anything that has prosciutto and peas is spring-y to me, and because Spring around here ranges from 50-80 degree days, and sometimes we need a good comforting dinner on one of the cold and dreary days like today.  The flavors are still fresh, and the sauce is lighter than most cream sauces so it just coats the pasta instead of being goopey.  I try to add a lot of mushrooms and chicken to add to the bulk of the meal without depending solely on pasta.   

I featured a similar recipe to this on my blog in 2009 (crazy!) and I thought it high time I revisited it here, as it is still one of our favorites.  If you'd like to see the original recipe and the original (terrible!) photo, visit here.

 

I finally have my "good" lens back in working order, so I got it warmed up to take with us on vacation by following Emma around in the yard for a little while one afternoon.  I've included more photos at the end of this post of her blowing bubbles and playing peekaboo in her "overhauls" as she calls them.

One of our friends on our street just had an adorable baby boy, so I made a reheatable version for them.  I made a double batch of the sauce and used bowtie pasta to it would be easier to reheat.  I added extra water to theirs to make sure there would be enough sauce after it reheats.  The sauce tends to absorb into the pasta the longer it sits, so the extra water helps to keep it loose for reheating.

Spring Pasta with Prosciutto, Peas, Chicken & Mushrooms

Get my Printable Recipes, here.

1 pound of chicken

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

1 pound of fettuccine 

1/4 pound of Prosciutto, sliced into 1/4 inch ribbons

1 med yellow onion, small dice

2 cups of mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup of cream

1/2 + cup of pasta water

1 cup of frozen peas

1/2 cup of grated parmesan

Roast the chicken by placing it on a baking sheet and roasting it at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes until cooked through.  Let sit and chop into thin slices.  

Meanwhile, boil salted water for pasta.

 

Cook prosciutto in a large saute pan until crispy, then remove from the pan and set aside. 

In that same pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, mushrooms and onion.  Cook for 5 minutes until tender.  Add pasta to boiling water and cook for 6-8 minutes until almost tender.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water to use in the sauce - set it aside.

Add 1 cup of heavy cream and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water. 

Simmer on medium heat until it thickens.  Add more pasta water if it thickens too much.  

Add the prosciutto back in along with sliced chicken, peas and parmesan cheese.

Emma's afternoon playdate with Emma, bubbles and a tree : )

Peekaboo!

I'll be back tomorrow with some Mother's Day special products. 

Happy Tuesday!

Emma's Easter in Photos

This is a little late, as it is already a week past Easter, but I wanted to share a couple of photos from our Easter weekend with you (and because I use this blog to serve as a chronicle for our family, too!).  You may have noticed that we were gone last week - sorry for the lack of notice.  We spent the week in Seaside with my sister's family.  We left bright and early Monday morning, so there was little time to upload photos before.  I'll be sharing photos from our trip later this week - lots, and lots to wade through, as I'm sure you can imagine.  

This is a compilation of all of our Easter celebrations and multiple egg hunts... I think Emma participated in 5 egg hunts this season.  She's a pro.   The good news is that we got a lot of wear out of her two Easter dresses - both Mini Boden, for those of you that will ask :) 

This was her first official hunt at our Church a couple weeks ago - before the weather decided to be Springy.  Notice the charm bracelet : )  She's a jewelry girl. 

This is Emma on Easter morning at my parents' church in Lexington.  Don't you love this little vintage bunny purse?  It was filled with lip glosses to keep her busy in church.

Another hunt.  She's counting her loot in photo above - lining all of her candy up in rows. 

Left, she's telling us - I'll be riiiiight back, as she headed over to get more eggs from the older kid's hunting area.

We went over to see Gramp Gramp's baby and mama cows.  Emma talks about them all of the time.

"Aunt" Claire

All dolled up for Easter morning : )

I've found it has become increasingly hard to take photos of Emma - as this is her preferred state.  Going!

Emma and Uncle Josh.

 A hunt at Mimi and Papi's house - Mr. Darcy is thrilled, can you tell?

He broke open several eggs... to Emma's frustration, but she seems ok in this photo with arms full of eggs.

Hope everyone had a happy Easter!  I'll be back tomorrow with more regular posts : )

Kitchen Source List & Budget Breakdown

First off—I want to thank you all so much for the overwhelmingly kind responses on our Kitchen Reveal last week. We put so much time and energy into this room and we're like proud parents, so it feels great to know that so many of you are following along and are enjoying watching this house unfold! I wish I could invite you all over for dinner & drinks to celebrate :)

Update: to those who requested wider angle shots for the before and afters, I just updated my last post with new photos—scroll to the bottom of the Reveal Post to check them out!

Update 2: I also posted a quick video tour yesterday, see it here on Instagram.

Now it's time to dive into all the juicy details.

I mentioned in the beginning that this wasn't going to be a budget makeover. We did that in our Florida house, but I didn't want to hold back this time. With that said, we still DIY'd as much of it as we could and shopped around for the best deals (of course), so we could have spent a lot more.

I kept a spreadsheet and tried to be as diligent as I could about recording every purchase, but over the course of five months, contractors working on different parts of the house and lumping labor charges together, and countless trips to Lowe's for miscellaneous items, this is definitely not an exact dollar amount. 

I also didn't include things like pillows, dishes, plants, and accessories that aren't kitchen specific and could be repurposed elsewhere. It becomes a gray area when you get into decorative items—where do you draw the line? 

Let's start with materials...

Floors: Armstrong Shell White Walnut Engineered Wood / ~$800 (I purchased the wood for the entire house at once, so I divided it by the square feet of the kitchen to get the total)

Ceiling & wall tongue & groove planks: Lumber Liquidators / ~$500 (^same thing here)

Wood for DIY Beams: Lowe's / $220

Wood for trimming the windows: Lowe's / $80

Paint & primer: Kelly Moore's Swiss Coffee (white/trim), Valspar's Montpelier Madison White (walls), Valspar's Dark Kettle Black (door) / $280 

Wood/supplies for pantry: Lowe's / $120

Wood, stain & poly for bar and bench seat frames: Lowe's / $150

Plywood, trim & paint for bench seats: Lowe's / $85

Upholstery foam for bench seats: Ebay / $146

Batting for bench seats: JoAnn's / $35

Fabric for bench seats: Fabric.com / $116

Tile installation supplies: Lowe's / $130

Wood & stain for floating shelves: Lowe's / $40

Quarter round / trim pieces: Lowe's $45

Lumber, stain & screws for dining table: Lowe's & JS West / $130

Now for the expensive stuff... the appliances. We purchased most of the bigger items at Lowe's during their Black Friday sale.

Whirlpool Fridge: Lowe's BF / $1563

Whirlpool Dishwasher: Lowe's BF / $388

Corstone Sink: Lowe's / $390

Faucet: Lowe's / $150

Garbage Disposal: Lowe's / $97

Whirpool Oven: Lowe's BF / $971

Whirlpool Cooktop: Lowe's BF / $388

Microwave: Amazon / $162

Wine Fridge: Living Direct / $237

Now for the fun stuff... decor!

Cabinets: Kraftmaid Durham Maple Square (in Grayloft and Dove White): Lowe's / $8,235 after sales, promos and rebates

Counters: Silestone Quartz (in Marengo and Blanco White): Lowe's / $3,254
Pantry cabinets: Ikea Pax Wadrobes / $630
Bench seat cabinets: Ikea Akurum / $560

Bar cabinets: Ikea Akurum / $200
Quartz stacked stone: Lowe's / $240

Bar floating shelves: DIY Ikea desk hack
Bar Accessories: Vases, tray & lantern: thrifted / Moose print: jennasuedesign.com / Cabernet sign: DIY / Frame: Ikea Ribba

Cabinet hardware & doorknobs: Ebay / $77

Pendant lights: lightingdirect.com / $84
Pendant light bulbs, medallions & dimmer switch: Lowe's / $70
Recessed ceiling lights & bulbs: Lowe's / $250
Ceiling speakers: Amazon / $108
Upgraded light switches & outlets: Lowe's / $30
LED under cabinet lighting: Ebay / $130
Table runner & flower box: DIY
Parsons chairs: Overstock.com (with old slipcovers) / $207

Woven wood shades: justblinds.com (Singapore Oak color) / $207
Subway tile: Lowe's / $250
Runner: Dash & Albert - rugstudio.com / $90
Sink pendant light: Feiss Urban Renewal Mini Pendant

Rug: 8x10 Maui Chunky Loop - Rugs USA / $140
Chalkboard: The Summery Umbrella
Pillows & blanket: Ikea, Target, Etsy & TJ Maxx

Floating shelves: DIY
Dishware: Ikea, TJ Maxx, thrifted
Quote print: jennasuedesign.com

Pet portrait prints: jennasuedesign.com
Frames: Ikea Ribba (+ DIY fabric bows)
Pet bowl: DIY
Stool: Gifted
ORB Door knob: Ebay

Last but not least, labor costs. We hired out certain things that we didn't feel comfortable tackling in our own. Here's our rough estimate:

Reinforce kitchen ceiling, finish demo, build pantry wall: $1,100
Electrical (relocating wiring to the island, wiring appliances, etc) $1,750
Cabinet installation: $1,574
Countertop installation: $1,123
New drywall & fridge plumbing: ~$500
Sink & Dishwasher plumbing: $432

And I believe that covers everything.

Final tally drumroll please.....

GRAND TOTAL: $28,481

Again, this number is really just an estimate, but even if you add in every little thing we could have possibly forgot about, it's still definitely under 30k. And I'm pretty confident we added more than that in value to the house considering we got a great deal for the neighborhood. It really pays off to buy a house that needs some TLC!

Once again, here are the project links which go into detail about each phase if you'd like to learn more about how it all came together:

Kitchen Chronicles: Planning Stages
Kitchen Chronicles: Demolition
Kitchen Chronicles: A blank slate (+ more house updates)
Kitchen Chronicles: Trimming out the Windows
Kitchen Chronicles: Finished plank ceiling & wall
Kitchen Chronicles: The cabinets & floors are in!
Kitchen Chronicles: DIY Wood Beams
Kitchen Chronicles: New Hardware & Paint
Kitchen Chronicles: The counters are in! (+ pendant light & faucet preview)
Kitchen Chronicles: An Ikea Pax Pantry, Part 1
Kitchen Chronicles: Ikea Pax Pantry Reveal!
Kitchen Chronicles: Building a Bar
Kitchen Chronicles: Building a Window Bench Seat
Kitchen Chronicles: A DIY Subway Tile Backsplash, Part 1
Kitchen Chronicles: A DIY Subway Tile Backsplash, Part 2
Kitchen Chronicles: Stacked stone bar wall & DIY floating shelves
Kitchen Chronicles: DIY floating rustic shelves
Kitchen Chronicles: Upholstered Bench Seating
Kitchen Chronicles: Building a Fancy X Farmhouse Table  

If I missed anything or you still have questions, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments!

So what do you think? Was the total more or less than you expected, or right on the mark? Imagine if we had hired out everything instead... yikes! I can easily see how the average kitchen remodel is over $50k. Glad we got the most expensive room in the house out of the way. Now we can focus on the other 2100 square feet... one project at a time!

I've got a fun giveaway coming up in the next post—you won't want to miss it!