Friday, November 30, 2012

Broken Lasagna


I had another post scheduled for tonight, but after making this recipe on a whim a couple of days ago I had to post it!
As far as a clean eating, healthy dish goes... this one is well amazing.
Some how the sauce tricks your mind into thinking you are eating something with lots of cheese but in fact, there is barely any cheese in this whole dish.

So even if you are a bit skeptical, I highly encourage you to give it a whirl.
It's easy, fast, healthy and taste great as leftovers... right up my alley.




 I found the original recipe here, but of course I made my modifications which are below.


Ingredients


  • Salt
  • 2 large zucchini (about 1 3/4 pounds),  grated (I grated mine very fine to make it more "cheesy" like but the recipe calls for coarsely grated... so it's your call.
  • 12 ounces whole wheat lasagna noodles (not no-boil), broken into bite-size pieces
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes (1 cup whole, 1 cup halved)
  • 1 tsp of lemon juice.
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
  • 1 small bunch chives, diced

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Grate your zucchini and rinse in a colander.  Let it sit and then help it dry with some paper towels.  :)
Add the pasta to the boiling water and stir vigorously to prevent it from sticking. Cook until al dente, about 12 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta.
Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook until blistered and slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the zucchini and lemon zest and cook, lightly crushing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon, until the zucchini is crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer the zucchini-tomato mixture to a large bowl. Add the pasta and cheese and toss. Stir in half of the chives and about 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water, adding more to loosen, if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls and top with more cheese and the remaining chives.


Enjoy!!



Wednesday, November 28, 2012

My Favorite Love Story



Once upon a time there was this girl who had decided moving and adventures were fun.
She had been through a pretty rough relationship which had caused a lot of pain.
This girl decided that she would be single for awhile and enjoy life on her own with God and of course, her trusty sidekick, Shia, her husky pup.

One day she decided she would go hang out with her favorite cousin.
Off to the pool they went where they worked on their tans.
Next thing she knew a handsome guy and his friend walked into the pool.
This wasn't any guy, he worked with her cousin and had decided he wanted to meet Girl.

Cousin time turned into Girl, Cousin, Handsome Guy and Handsome Guy's friend time, and off they all went to dinner.  Handsome Guy even tried to convince Girl and Cousin to hang out with them the rest of the evening, but Girl put her foot down.  She told him she was in town to hang out with her cousin and they already had plans.
Even though she had said no, she made sure to ask her cousin about his friend, Handsome Guy.

A few weeks later, Girl's cousin called and asked her to come to a party that Handsome Guy would be in attendance.  Cousin had put a stamp of approval on Handsome Guy to Girl and even later gave permission to Handsome Guy to pursue a relationship with his cousin.

That night was one of the best night's of Girl's life.  She got a chance to talk to Handsome Guy for quite awhile and realized he was goofy just like her.  The next day, Girl called her family and friends and told them that she knew it sounded crazy but she finally met her future husband.

Handsome Guy called Girl and asked her out on a lunch date.  Their work schedules wouldn't allow for a dinner date for at least a week and they didn't want to wait that long so they decided their first date would have to be a lunch date.
That first date marked the first of MANY dates and little did they know it would be the last first date they would ever have.
It was perfect.
She was immediately comfortable with him and him with her.
As the weeks progressed she realized that He really was her perfect match.
They managed to make a long distance relationship work against all odds.
They lived an hour and half away from each other and both worked crazy work hours, but their relationship grew and flourished.

Many months later, Handsome Girl proposed to Girl and they were married November 29th, 2009
Off they went to Jamaica where they had the best time and enjoyed their first week of married life in a tropical paradise.
Girl couldn't have been happier.
She was so grateful that God had finally given her a man who would love her through everything.
He had given her a man who brings out the best in her and challenges her in every way.
These two lived happily ever.
They have made it through many many challenges in their relationship, but they are stronger than ever.



Happy Anniversary, to the love of my life!
Thank you for sweeping me off my feet all those years ago.
You have changed my world for the better in so many ways.
Every year just keeps getting better and better.
Can't wait for many more to come and our adventure to continue!



I love you!



Friday, November 23, 2012

Friday Foods- Bowtie Lasagna


I've decided that it is only fair to give back to the blogging community what I have taken.
The last few weeks I have been in, shall we say, a cooking slump.
You know that slump where you cook the same ol things and nothing sounds great anymore.
In order to cure my cooking woes, I scoured blogs and found some pretty tasty dinner options to spice up our monthly menus.
So I decided that is was only fair to share these recipes with you since I did take them off of blog world in the first place.
A lot of them I tweaked, because that's what I like to do.  It makes me feel like I'm living on the wild side.
Also a disclaimer.  I don't have a lot of time for fancy cooking.  I wish I did, but I don't.
Most of my meals have the following common characteristics.

1.  They only take at the most 30 min. to prepare
2.  I like to try to make easy recipes healthier
3.  They are pretty family friendly so everyone will enjoy them.

So without further ado, let's kick off this holiday season with Friday Foods.
Every Friday, I'll post a recipe and if you have one to share with me, PLEASE do!
So this one is for all the lasagna lovers out there... except it will only take 15 minutes from start to finish!

Bowtie Lasagna 
(adapted from a Pioneer Woman Recipe)


 Start by cooking your noodles in water.  You only want these cooked al dente.
Drain and set aside.

 Brown your ground beef in a large skillet.
Turkey would also be a great option.. maybe even Italian sausage.  Just depends if you want to go healthier or more not so healthy but tasty side.  This one is pretty middle of the road.  :)

 Once the meat is cooked through add your noodles to the skillet.
(I like to drain the ground beef, but if you like the extra fat, then keep it in there.. no judgement here.)

 Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil on top of the noodles.

 Next add your marinara sauce.  
I used homemade marinara sauce, but pretty much any kind will do.
Add garlic powder, season salt and pepper... Stir it up and let it simmer.

Then throw in sour cream.  I only used about 1/4 a cup, but you can use as much as you want.
Keep in mind the less you use, the healthier it is, so just kind of test it out.

 I grated up about 1/2 cup of fresh mozzarella and threw it on top of the sour cream.

 Stir it all up until it gets nice and creamy.

Top with parmesan cheese and dig in!  
Easy 15 min meal you can throw together and everyone will LOVE it.
Plus the leftovers are amazing!  (if you have any of course)

Well there you go, folks!
And since I like to REALLY give back to my blogging friends.
Here is a recipe card with a simple breakdown for you!  :)
ENJOY!


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving





Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving tomorrow!
Enjoy your families, friends and loved ones.
What a great day to remember how many good things are in our lives! 

Can't wait to hear what everyone did for their Turkey Day.
I already know that mine will be filled with lots of firsts.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Just a Few Changes




This picture was taken oh about 8 years ago and it pretty much sums me up.
I'd just take off without a plan.
Find a random place that looked cool to hike and off I'd go.
No plan, no concept of time, no idea if I'd live, and yet somehow I survived this part of my life.

Then this happened....

My whole world changed.
I changed.
Gone are my "fly by the seat of my pants" days.
Funny.... I don't miss them.
I wouldn't trade where I am now for the world.

But it's times like this where I realize how much I have changed.
Here is the story....

Today was my last day working full time at Lifetime.
I am starting a new job at a local rec center as the Aquatics Coordinator.
I am so excited yet so nervous at the same time.
So I'm trying to come up with a plan to make the transition easy on the family.
Hubby had his dreaded bid day on Wednesday.
Let's just say it didn't go so hot and his days off and shift completely changed.
So now I'm trying to plan for that change in January.
And to top it all off, the holidays are around the corner and I'm trying to plan for those.

Notice a common theme here... PLAN.
WHERE THE HECK DID THIS COME FROM?
My life feels like it has been turned upside down and I'm a hot mess trying to restore some sort of order to my life.

8 years ago I would have rolled with the punches, not cared at all, and even thought of it as some grand adventure.
Right now, unplanned adventures aren't quite as fun as they used to be.
I have a husband who needs me and a 2 year old who relies on me to plan out her day for her!
Yep, life is slightly different.

So prayers would be greatly appreciated as we transition here.
And pray for my crazy full time working, cop wife, mother of a toddler self.
I really could use all the help I could get right now!
My daily chants of "God is in control" went from being silent reminders in my head to daily chants (loudly chanting, I might add) to keep me from losing my mind.



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Dreaded Day


Every year, us police families go through a major upheaval.
Ok maybe it's not like that in every department but here at Aurora PD we experience a yearly life change.
And well, today is that day.
The ever dreaded day........

BID DAY

Our guys go in (or wives) and have to bid for their shift.  Guys/Gals pick their shift in order of seniority. The old guys kick off the day with their posh pick of M-Thurs day shift, and by the end of the day all that is left is graves shift with Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday off.  To organize this process a beautiful white board with every shift listed by days off, time, district and Sgt. is listed so the guys know what is left when it is their turn to bid.

So here I am anxiously awaiting the hubby's courtesy call to find out which shift he's going to take it.
Side note:  any good police husband calls to check with his wife before officially taking a shift.
And wives learn to wait for that call to make sure they bid what the family needs.

He'll pick his shift and then begins the switching around of my work, appointments and child care.  Which is one of many reasons why Police Wives rock.


Wish us luck!!!  Let's hope it's a minimal upheaval this year.



Sunday, November 11, 2012

Thank you!






To all of those who have served,
To all of those who are currently served,
To all of those families who kiss their loved ones goodbye not knowing if they will come home,
To all of those people who fight for us no matter what anyone says,

Thank you!
Thank you for going into the unknown to fight for people you don't know.
Thank you to your families for being brave enough to let you go.

Because of you we are strong as a county.
Because of you we live these wonderful lives.

Thank you.

Happy Veterans Day!


Wednesday, November 7, 2012

When Mama Goes Down


Today I'm out! Like knocked down, dragged out kind of down.
This doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it's well, MISERABLE.


About a year ago I wrote about Male Sickness, so today I decided to write about Mama Sickness.

What the heck do you do when you are to sick to do anything?
Now if you are like me, most of the time you get sick and you just keep on keepin on.  But there are those rare times where it's just to dang hard to keep at it.
So here is my advice on how to handle Mama Sickness.

  Ask for Help and ACCEPT that help!
Today my husband took off work to help me me crawl from bed to couch out with Blake (and be the most attractive nurse I've ever seen).  This is awesome until Little Miss starts to cry for "Mama" and I instantly want to jump out of bed and go to her.  See, I can't quite seem to flip off the mom mode.  Instead I have to remind myself that Daddy is just as good as Mommy and I try to tune out the cries and sleep.  After all, hubs didn't stay home to yell at me for not resting.  
So yes, jump off your high horse for just a little bit and ask for help and then accept that help!

Rest when you can
Go back to the newborn mantra of when they sleep, you sleep!  Let the laundry pile up, the house get dusty and just rest!  All that stuff will be there waiting for you when you feel better.  But sleep!!!  It's better to take one-two days of solid rest than weeks of crabby, blah feeling mom mode because your body can't heal.

Play doctor with the kiddo
Lay on the couch, let them take care of you.  You might get a plastic fork put in your ear or a plastic hamburger rubbed on your belly, but hey, you're resting and kiddo is entertained.  Who cares!!

And when all else fails.....
MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE
I'm not a huge advocate of letting the TV babysit your child, but when you are at your wits end, then Mickey Mouse will become your best friend!  I don't know what it is about this show, but any and every kid loves to boogie to the "Hot Dog Dance"- this will buy you at least an hour before your help arrives!

Well there you go, that took all of my energy, so I'm going back to sleep now.  Wish me luck!


Friday, November 2, 2012

Grieving for What Could Have Been


A couple of weeks ago, we found out that we would become a family of four.
I was shocked, and yet so excited.
I took another test to be sure, because that's what you do.  Double check.
I got yet another positive test!
The celebrating began!

We were so thrilled.
Well, Little Miss, was pretty confused but I choose to think she was excited.

We told our close family and friends and they celebrated this life with us.

A few days after that second positive test, the pain began.
I didn't feel good.  Every part of me hurt!
I knew what was going to happen but I tried to think positively.
After a long painful day, that night, all positivity had left me.
I cried to the hubs, and he tried to stay positive for me.

Early that next morning our baby went to be with God.
I cried and cried.
I hadn't been pregnant very long (5 weeks along to be exact) but I already missed this baby.
I thought my tests had been wrong.  I thought I had done something wrong.  I tried to reason with myself that many other women lose their babies when they are further along. I should feel lucky that this happened very early on.  But nothing helped.

I think it was the emotional swing that really hurt me.  The short amount of time between finding out I was pregnant and then not long after finding out I wasn't anymore.


I didn't want to talk to anyone. 
I didn't want to write.
I didn't want to do anything.
 I'm lucky to have a husband and family that knows this about me and they lovingly force me to talk.


The other night I was talking to my mom about this and she said, "It happens to a lot of women, we just don't hear about it because we don't talk about it."
That statement caused me to wonder why don't we talk about it.
Why don't we celebrate the life God made for a short amount of time?
Is it because we feel it is our fault?
Is it because we don't want people to see our true feelings?
Those questions I can't answer.
I think it is different for everyone, but now I want to share.
God is good.  God is taking care of our little baby.  One day, we will see him/her again.

I want to be grateful for this child.
I want to share our loss in hopes that someone somewhere will feel comfortable enough to share.
This I know for sure, we were not created to live life alone.  We were not created to suffer in silence.
We were created to love and be there for each other.

If this has happened to you recently, please know you are not alone!  Email me, call a friend, tell someone!  And know someday you will see your baby again!!  God is raising them for you.  And I don't know about you, but I sure think God is a much MUCH better parent than I could ever hope to be.  And that is what gives me comfort.




Thursday, November 1, 2012

Halloween Fun

I haven't written much lately.  An explanation for this will be tomorrow's post.
But for now I thought I had to get caught up on the Halloween festivities around here.
And reveal my costume project that turned out pretty cute, if I don't say so myself.
It started off as a disaster but after some minor adjustments, it was a pretty big hit!

So please allow me to introduce to you......

BOO MONSTER!!!
Yes, she is the little girl from Monsters Inc.


               

Editors Note: I even found myself making a DIY tutorial on how to make this costume, but my phone decided to take a swim in the pool and well there went all the pictures.  I guess it wasn't mean to be.

Little Miss had quite the day.
Started off with a Halloween Party and Parade at school

  

Then we finished that night at the Harvest Party at church.
Where we even met Mike Wazowski.
The only time she'd put her hood up all night is when she took a picture with her church friend, Mike.

             

             


We finished the night off right with some Caramel Apples and some bounce house action.

Unfortunately, hubby had to work all night so he missed out on most of the festivities but Little Miss made sure to take EXTRA candy home for Daddy.

I love seeing everyone else's Halloween costumes. It's already inspiring me for next year.

Hope everyone had a great night and the kids have slowly detoxed off of all of the sugar!



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