What's for Dinner? #1: Garlic Green Beans

Part 1:
http://mymanyramblings.blogspot.com/2013/08/whats-for-dinner-1.html

Part 2:
http://mymanyramblings.blogspot.com/2013/08/whats-for-dinner-1-weekday-lasagna.html

The side dish last night was Garlic Green Beans!  Now the fact that I fixed these...and actually tasted them is a feat!  I HATE green beans and have ever since I was fed too many as a baby.  Apparently I loved them then.  I thought I'd give it a shot and see what happened.  As it turns out, I loaded them with SO much garlic, that I couldn't even taste the green beans.  So they weren't quite as bad as I expected.  However, because of the amount of garlic, my hubby & son didn't like them.  You win some and you lose some I guess!  So, onto the instructions:

Step 1:  Gather the ingredients.

I used the following:

• 1 bag of frozen green beans
• 1 tsp of minced garlic (I suggest using only 1/2 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/8 tsp of white pepper
• 2 tsp of olive oil

Step 2:  Steam the green beans, or gently boil them in enough water to cover them for 8 to 10 minutes or until crispy.

Step 3:  When the above is completed, you want to combine them with the garlic, salt and pepper.  Then drizzle the oil across the top, serve & enjoy!!

Final recipe in this series follows in the next post!

What's for Dinner? #1: Weekday Lasagna

Pt. 1 here:
http://mymanyramblings.blogspot.com/2013/08/whats-for-dinner-1.html

Main course for dinner last night was the Weekday Lasagna as explained in part one of this 4 part series.  You can find that post link at the top of this one.

Step 1:  Gather the ingredients

For this recipe I used:

• 1 pound of ground beef
• 2 Tbsp of Onion Onion (TM) from Tastefully Simple
• Can be ordered here:  http://www.tastefullysimple.com/web/michelleoviatt
• 1 - 28 oz. of crushed tomatoes
• 1 & 3/4 cups of water
• 1 - 6 oz. can of tomato paste
• 1 packet of Italian spaghetti sauce mix
• 1 egg
• 2 cups of cottage cheese
• 2 Tbsp of shredded Parmesan cheese
• 6 oven ready lasagna noodles (no pre-cooking required!)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Now, there are healthier options for some of these, but I just got what was available.  So now its time to start combining ingredients!

Step 2:  Combine ground beef & onion in a pan and cook until done.

I have always hated cooking meat...and have had to learn the best way to do it.  I panic its not done.  But, especially after it gets going good, if I stand over the pan and keep stirring it around and turning it over, and breaking it up into very small bits, that seems to work best.

Step 3:  Add the crushed tomatoes, water, tomato paste & spaghetti sauce.  Bring to a boil, cover & simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, while stirring occasionally.

Step 4:  While the above is simmering, combine your egg, the cottage cheese and the Parmesan cheese in a bowl.

Step 5:  When the sauce & meat combination is done, spread 2 cups of the meat sauce on the bottom of a greased 13x9 cooking dish.  Then layer with 3 of the lasagna noodles, half of the cottage cheese mix & half of the rest of the meat sauce.  Continue creating these same layers until all ingredients are used up.

I had to split my ingredients between two smaller dishes, as I didn't have a 13 x 9 that wasn't being used.

Step 6:  Cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 F for about 50 minutes.  Next, uncover and spread with shredded mozzarella cheese.  Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until cheese is melted & bubbly.

Step 7:  Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before cutting.  Then serve and enjoy!!!

The other two recipes are coming up in the next posts!

What's for Dinner? #1

Taste of Home...chances are if you love down home cooking you've heard of or even subscribed to the magazine or purchased a few of their cookbooks.  A while back I bought their first (and since a few others), Taste of Home Comfort Diet Cookbook.  I love easy to follow recipes and menus that are already prepared for me.  And this book has them!  Plus of course they include tips on how to make it healthy as possible, and nutrition info per serving.  For a long time now I've wanted to try out the menu, but didn't have the money to go out and stock up on all the supplies at the same time.  And since fresh foods go bad before we can eat them all around here, I wanted to wait till I could get some and use them in time.  I finally had the chance, and also shortened my over-zealous goal of buying all 6 weeks of groceries at the same time, to only one week.  Besides it looked like we'd probably be eating leftovers as well.  I also stopped my thinking that I had to fix everything exactly as described on the menu and in the same order, for 7 days straight...again not very feasible!

So last night I fixed week 1 day 5's dinner & dessert suggestions.  Lasagna sounded good to the family, and I was excited to try my first meal from the menu.  It turned out quite well and I figured I'd share the recipes as I chose to make them.  If you want to try the originals for yourself, and see all the other delicious menu ideas you can find the book for yourself here:
http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Home-Comfort-Food-Cookbook/dp/B003JTHRE6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376009984&sr=8-1&keywords=taste+of+home+comfort+diet+cookbook

Here is my menu for dinner:

• Weekday Lasagna
• Garlic Green Beans
• Chunky Pecan Bar

Now I should point out that the suggested menu also included the following:

• 1 big green salad
• 2 sesame breadsticks
• 1 can diet soft drink

I totally forgot the salad...was going to make garlic bread, forgot that too...and we don't drink brain-tumor causing soda, so just had milk!  Its probably a good thing that I forgot the other stuff, because we were so miserably stuffed after dinner.  However, maybe a little less of what I DID fix and a little more of the rest would have added more variety.  Anyhow...enough rambling.  Lets get to the instructions & recipes!

Never mind...just kidding...going to post them as separate posts with links from this one, so I don't overload this post and make it impossibly long to read!  Be back soon!
P.S.  Links have been added to the menu items above so you can click directly on them to view each recipe.

Spring has sprung!!!

I love how living where I do, it seems I just wake up one day and suddenly spring has arrived. Granted we have winter 3 seasons out of the year, but I love living in the mountains!

 #SpringtimeSoiree Twitter Party Announcement!

Hey guys! It's Alex from Mommys Craft Obsession and I am thrilled to invite you to my Springtime Soiree Twitter Party! I'd like to start off my invitation by giving a huge thank you to my lovely co-hosts; Thrifty Nifty Mommy, My Four Littles, and Viva Veltoro. Together we have put together ten amazing prize packs for ten of our readers to have the opportunity to win! Baby Carriers, Baby Food Makers, Breast Pumps, Teething Tablets, Toys, Nursing Covers, Video Baby Monitors and SO. MUCH. MORE!

I haven't posted in over a year! Things have been so insane, but I am so excited to get posting again. Have a few things I'm planning and what a better way to start than this awesome Twitter Party! 10 lucky people win win great prizes. Come join us! Only lasts a few hours!

Hosted by:

 Mommys Craft Obsession

@loveMCO

Co-Hosted by: 

Thrifty Nifty Mommy

@ThriftyNiftyMom

My Four Littles/Four Littles Media

@MyFourLittles

Viva Veltoro

@VivaVeltoro

Sponsored By: Hyland's Baby, Infantino, Nuby USA, Peek Away, DropCam, SoftBums, Woolzies, Rockin' Green, & Naturopathica

March 20th

8PM EST

Will you be attending? Use this link to RSVP and bookmark the TweetGrid!

Monday Recipe Share #1

So in continuing with my semi-daily posting ideas, I've decided to start posting a recipe or meal plan on Mondays.  I promised to share the recipe for my Strawberry Whipped Cream Pie that I posted pictures of on "Wordless Wednesday" a few weeks ago HERE, so that's what I'm sharing today!  It's soooo delicious, even in winter, but I'm sure in Summer it will taste even better.  Hope you enjoy!  If you decide to make it, let me know what you think of it!





Strawberry Whipped Cream Pie


Ingredients:
1 refrigerated or prepared pie crust
(for filling)
1 cup sour cream
1 container (12 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 package (3 oz.) vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 pound strawberries, hulled & cut into quarters
(for topping)
1/2 pound strawberries, hulled & cut into quarters
1/4 cup almond slices or slivers

Instructions:
1.  Prepare & cook pie crust according to package or recipe instructions.  Allow to cool.
2.  For the filling, combine the sour cream, whipped topping & pudding mix until well blended.  Pour half of the filling into the cooled crust.  Layer with strawberries.  Spread the remaining filling over the strawberries.
3.  For the topping, arrange the strawberries on top of the filling.  Sprinkle with the almonds.
4.  Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Weekend Bind Offs #1

Knitting is an all time favorite hobby of mine. I wanted to learn for years and finally did a couple of years ago, and its been no stopping since. Lately especially I've been super busy with all sorts of projects. Knitting for family & friends, blog giveaways, swap-bot and just my self. This weekend I knitted up a couple of quick afghan samplers, very similar to granny squares. And wanted to share the finished product. Soon I'm hoping to start some tutorials on how to knit and maybe even do some knit-a-longs. I'd love to hear thoughts on that! Here is the photo of the finished product from this weekend: