Finale!

 I know that I am kinda late to the party since the last episode aired this past May; but I recently finished the finale of the TV show "The Office". It is funny how the most unlikely of places can bring a person such inspiration.  I hadn't been following the series like I had in the beginning, but its crazy how you can pick something back up and instantly be sucked right back into the emotion of it all! What really hit me was the seriousness of this episode; normally they are silly and light-hearted leaving you with a smile and a chuckle, but this one left me with a heavy heart and a real sense of belonging. And it wasn't just a feeling I had about the characters or the last 9 years of just watching; but I felt this about the World in general. The Office drove home the point that wherever you are and whoever you spend most of your time with; you are in fact creating a home and building a family.

 It reminded me of the reason I wanted to start a blog in the first place. In life we spend so much time with co-workers, with church members and with friends and all of them have different personalities, quirkiness and some of them are just plain crazy! But the people that you spend the most time with you have the ability to create bonds and have an extended family that cares for you and who wouldn't want that? This blog is named Champion of Love for that very reason.

Friendship and comradery shouldn't be something that you avoid or that you should be hiding. One of the definitions for champion is a warrior, a fighter, an advocate and defender. We need to be people who fight and defend each other; one who champions the cause for our neighbors as well as for our brothers and sisters even if they are a dysfunctional bunch! A conqueror dares to be courageous enough to be a part of something bigger than himself. He is someone who isn't perfect but has a strong, faithful and passionate heart. We have to be brave enough to put ourselves out there and be willing to get hurt in order to find and to give love in everything we do. Because at the end of the day what you come home to is people and none of us have got it all together;  but we all need and deserve this little thing called LOVE.

 "But no matter how you get there or where you end up, human beings have this miraculous gift to make that place home"  -- Creed Bratton as Creed Bratton

 "Be strong, trust yourself, love yourself and go after what you want.. act fast because life just isnt that long."  -- Jenna Fischer as Pam Halpert

 "I wish there was a way to know you were in the 'good old days' before you actually left them."  -- Ed Helms as Andy Bernard

Champion of Love

Trey

3 Cheese Tortellini!

This recipe is totally easy, and can be customized to your taste buds! I used mild italian sausage but you can use spicy sauage as well. 

Ingredients: 

• 2 lb. Italian Sausage (You can use mild or hot)
• 20 oz. Frozen Three-Cheese Tortellini (The Buitoni kind is in the specialty refrigerated case in the deli area of the grocery store)
• 32 oz. Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1 25oz jar of Emeril Lagasse Tomato Basil pasta sauce (the picture shows diced tomatoes...you can use them but you have to heavily season it to taste good)
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• Fresh Baby Leaf Spinach Washed
• Grated Parmesan Cheese for topping!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Brown the sausage; drain excess fat and add the cream cheese in small chunks until mixed. 
  
  
  
  
  
  Add the Pasta sauce until warm. Mix in the tortellini in and add chicken broth. 
  
  
  
  Cook covered until the tortellini is tender and then add the spinach and simmer with the lid off unitl thickened. 
  
  
  
  Serve with garlic bread and a salad! YUMMY! Enjoy.
  
  
  
  

Bread-tastic!

 Italian cheesy mushroom & tomato crispy bread things. I will be honest with you.. 99.9% of the time I have no idea what I am doing in the kitchen.. I may look like I know whats going on, but usually I'm winging it so hard that i am a second away from ordering pizza. Unusually enough, it always turns out somewhat edible. Except for the time I made sushi... oh and Pho.. and that awful Chicago-style chili spaghetti.. BUT OTHER THAN THAT it tends to go pretty smoothly. Cooking is something I really enjoy so I decided to share some of my adventures with you!

 Now I am no instructor when it comes to cooking, but I will post a few photos below if you want to try your hand at it. Trust me it is more entertaining and fun to let yourself be creative rather than following a straight forward recipe. This can also cause disasters!

 I love putting my ideas with food into action with my family, most of the items I end up using is out of trial and error.  For this recipe I had 4-5 test runs and not all of them went so well.  For example, we tasted the cheesy bread things with just a cheese mix, mushrooms and garlic balsamic dipping oil.. after testing it and deciding it wasn't all that great we wanted to see what adding butter would do.. we didn't even get to try it out before it dropped to the counter creating a flying concoction of mushrooms and oil all over the place!

 It was just a sad looking piece of gross! But finally after some fun times and weird accidents it all came together and we were left with a really good Italian cheesy mushroom & tomato crispy bread thing.

What you need:

  Parmesan Cheese

  Mozerella Cheese

  Provolone Cheese

  Salt & Pepper

  Roma Tomatos

  Mushrooms (raw)

  Italian seasoning

  Garlic balsamic dipping oil

  Red Pepper flakes

  French bread

  Parsley flakes (just for the green color on top!)

Layer the ingredients starting with the balsamic and add the rest however you like!

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then cook them until the bread is starting to get crunchy; approximately 3-5 minutes tops.

Tastes great hot right out of the oven and even cold! Enjoy!