What's for Dinner? 4/18/11

Sorry there was no style file this week... My Grandparents came to visit me, and I spent most of friday at Colonial Williamsburg with them, so I didn't get a chance to do a shoot. Oh well, I'll make it up  next week! :) '

Lasagna is what's for dinner. I promise it's very yummy! Here is a "healthier" version that I make.

What you'll need:

Whole Wheat lasagna noodles
Extra lean ground beef, or ground turkey
1 egg
Italian type spices that strike your fancy
Fat Free Ricotta Cheese
Reduced fat Mozzarella Cheese
Spaghetti Sauce

First the prep work:
Boil the lasagna noodles according to package instructions. I think I cooked ten noodles. Also, brown the beef (or turkey). While you have all that going, crack the egg in a small bowl and add the ricotta. Mix it all together.

 In the ricotta mixture, add your spices. I used thyme, onion powder, garlic, parsley, and black pepper. The key is to keep adding and mixing until you can smell it.

 This is the sauce I used. I wasn't sure if I was going to need one or two jars, so I got two, just in case. I only ended up using one. In the bottom of a casserole dish (mine is 9 by 9) pour some sauce in. Use just enough to cover the bottom.

 On top of that, lay three of the noodles in the bottom of them.

 Spread some of the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles.

 Put half of the meat on the ricotta and top with some sauce.

 Top the sauce with cheese. Reapeat these layers as you see fit. (I think on top of the cheese I did noodles, ricotta, meat, sauce, noodles, ricotta, sauce, top with cheese)

Mine was a total of three complete layers, I believe. I topped it with mozzarella cheese and covered it with foil and baked it the next day for dinner. To bake it, I keep it covered and bake it for about two hours on 375.

Enjoy!

Scrappy Wednesday 4/13/11

Underwater World is an aquarium on the Gold Coast in Mooloolooba. Yes, that's really the name of the city. We also went to some beaches on this mini-trip, but those pictures are for next week.

I thought since they were aquarium pictures, that I would use a background that was reminiscent of Bubbles. Then I decided to stick with the circle theme and make my pictures float around in little bubbles. Maybe that's cheesy, but that was my line of thinking. The lettering was done on the Cricut. The little circles the lettering is in were done with a circle punch. The big circles were done with the creative memories cutting system. Journaling, again, is summarized from blog posts (which you can still go check out!)

What's for Dinner? 4/11/11

 Tortellini with Fresh Veggies are what's for dinner. I adapted the recipe from Eat Better America. What you'll need:
Tortellini (This time I used Trader Joe's spinach tortellini, but you could use cheese tortellini too)
1 Tomato
1 Zucchini
Bell pepper (about a half cup)
1 tbsp olive oil
Spices of the Italian Variety (I used garlic, onion powder, thyme, basil, and oregano. And a bit of Kosher salt too)

First, you need to cook the tortellini according to package directions.

While the Tortellini are cooking, chop up the tomato and the Zucchini.

 When the tortellini are done, drain the pasta. In the pan you cooked the tortellini in, put 1 tbsp of olive oil. I put the peppers in first because mine were frozen. I let them cook a bit until they were thawed for a bit. \

 Then add the zucchini and tomatoes. If your peppers are fresh, just throw it all in together at the same time.

 Spice up your veggies to your taste. Then mix it all up.

 Cover veggies and cook until the veggies are tender.

 As they cook it'll get a bit soupy. That's ok.

 Rinse the tortellini to get them to separate and put them in a slightly bigger pan. Pour the veggies (complete with the liquid) over the tortellini and mix them all together.

Top with some cheese and serve with poor man's garlic toast (which is literally some bread that is toasted spread with butter that has some garlic and a slight bit of salt added in too). I put some mozzarella cheese on the top of mine. Enjoy!!

Style File 4/9/11

This week was my first week at work. It was a pretty good week. I just learned how to use some of the programs I will be using. There is a lot to learn with this job and I have a feeling I'm going to have more than a few panic moments trying to get this all figured out. I'll get there though!

Fridays are my days off, so yesterday I went shopping for most of the day. I bought groceries and went to Target. I also hit up the mall for some work clothes. I'll have some pictures for you in future style files. For today's Style File, I thought I would show you what I might wear out to the grocery store. It's pretty casual, comfortable, and not too elaborate.

I've had this jacket for a long time. Probably at least three years? It's comfy and I like it. :) So there you go, my out shopping outfit! What would *you* wear out to shop?


Jacket- Kohls
T-shirt- JC Penney
Skinny jeans- Old Navy (they're really old too)
Shoes- Gap
Sunglasses- Target last summer (after my other ones got swept away in the ocean)

Scrappy Wednesday 4/6/11

As the title says, these pictures are from the Australia Zoo (aka: Steve Irwin's Zoo). Here's where I had so many good pictures that I wanted to include, but I didn't want to devote ten pages of the scrapbook to the Australia Zoo. SO, what I did was carefully trim out the parts of the photo I didn't really care about, and then I creatively arranged them on the page. Maybe it's a little boring and lacking in creativity, but it gets the job done, eh?

On the first page, the title is done with some stickers I was given and the "zoo" portion of it was done with my cricut. :)

New Job!

Hello!!


There will be no What's for Dinner? Today. I am going to be feeling out what my schedule is going to be like with this new job and everything, so this week might be a little wonky. I think I'm going to keep What's for Dinner? on Monday mornings, Scrappy Wednesday, but I think Style Files will be moving to Saturdays.

Have a great Monday! :)

Style File 4/1/11

 So I have an announcement! (No, I'm not pregnant).

Remember about a month ago I posted an interview outfit? I interviewed for two jobs at Regent University. I was not offered the admissions job, but I was offered the Student Services Manager position! I start on Monday. Naturally, after the initial question of what time I should be there and that... my mind wandered to what I would wear. I'm about 90% certain that this is the outfit I am going to be wearing to my first day of work. I love it.  (It's been raining for two weeks straight, so I apologize for the kind of weird lighting. Not much I could do about that).

 I did a little shopping on Wednesday during a big sale that JC Penney was having. That's where I got the sweater and shirt.

Just so you could see my earrings. :)  This skirt is one of my favorite pencil skirts of all time. I love the color and...

The buttons on the front! It reminds me of a sailor type of skirt or something. But I do adore it.

 From the back!

  and so you can see the buttons up close and see the pattern of the shirt. I love polka dots. I don't know what it is about them, but if given the choice between the polka dots and any other pattern, I will always (without thinking) pick the polka dots. Maybe I have a problem?

So what do you think? Good first day on the job look?


Polka Dot Button Down and Sweater: Worthington, JC Penney
Skirt: New York and Company (thrifted. it even had the original tags attached!)
Shoes: I've had them forever, but they came from Penney's
Earrings: ?? Who knows? Claire's maybe?
Bracelet: Gift from my lovely husband (Christmas a couple years ago)