Lemon Artichoke Pasta

We like to have a vegetarian meals a couple times a week. It cuts costs and in theory can be healthy. Found a yummy recipe on the Pioneer Woman Blog and who doesn't just love her recipes? They've become our family staples -- especially her restaurant style salsa. Anyhow...I made this lemon pasta awhile back and it was yummy -- but, I always have to fiddle and so adjusted some things and came up with the following:

Lemon Artichoke Pasta

16-17 oz of whole wheat spaghetti – olive oil

6 tbs butter

1-2 tbs minced garlic

3 lemons, zest and juice and ¼ cup of extra lemon juice

5 cups Fage Greek yogurt plain

2 cups shredded Parmesan and another cup for topping

2 cans of quartered artichoke hearts drained

Italian parsley chopped

Boil pasta in salted water to al dente, drain and toss with olive oil

In skillet melt butter and sauté garlic. Add lemon rind, Greek yogurt, artichoke hearts,  Parmesan (2cups), and lemon juice, stir until warmed through and blended. Toss with pasta.

Place pasta mixture into 9x13 baker

Top with 1 cup of Parmesan and parsley

Cook covered for 15 minutes, then another five minutes uncovered.

Serves 8-10 people

And it’s freakin’ yummy

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Spinach Pie

I made a spinach salad the other day but stupidly bought my spinach at Costco -- I don't know what the heck I was thinking --  who NEEDS that much spinach. I hadn't made spinach pie in a long time so figured I'd make it with that spinach before it went bad (I'm trying to be better at stuff like that - not letting produce going bad). Any how, it's a super easy and yummy and thought I'd share.

Ingredients (2 pies - one to eat, one to freeze or give away):
2 packages of Pepperidge Farms Pastry Sheets
1 red pepper, chopped
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 Tbs crushed/minced garlic
2 bags of fresh spinach
oregano and basil to taste
2 cups of crumbled feta
3/4 bag of Monterey Jack cheese
6 eggs, half a cup of milk
1 beaten egg to brush pastry

 Saute peppers, onions, & garlic in olive oil, stil browned and soft

 Sweat Spinach

  Put in mixing bowl and add cheeses and spices, mix together.

So lost a couple of pictures...weird, anyhow, place a pastry sheet in bottom of baking dish, and repeat with second baking dish. Place spinach/cheese mixture in bottom of each dish. Beat together milk and eggs and pour half of mixture into each dish.

 Place remaining pastry sheets on top and cut away edges. Brush with egg. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes until golden brown and flaky.

 And serve and enjoy!

Healthy Version of Shepherd's Pie

Jason's been in the mood for some comfort food and he specifically asked for Shepherd's pie. But Shepherd's pie isn't really on the super healthy side of things and so I tried to come up with a healthier yet yummy version....and I did. And now I'm going to share it with you.

 Potato topping was a combo of cauliflower and potatoes, instead of whipping cream, butter, cheese, whatever, I used fat free greek yogurt

 Lots of sauteed vegetables

 Combination of lean beef and turkey

 and I used vegetable broth to deglaze the pan and tomato sauce and worcestershire sauce for flavoring (and some pepper and parsley)

 One for us, one to give a way and one for the freezer

  And dinner was a hit for everyone...even hubby, who didn't look very convinced when I was putting it all together.

The Recipe:

3 pounds 93%/ lean ground beef
1 pound 93% lean ground turkey
1 cup of chopped up carrots
1 cup of chopped up celery
2 cups chopped up mushrooms (Isaac didn't even know they were in there)
1-2 tablespoons of garlic
1 package of frozen peas
1/4 cup of worcestershire sauce
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
2 cups of vegetable broth
3 pounds of potatoes
1 head of cauliflower
1 cup of fat free Fage greek yogurt
pepper and parsley to taste (I didn't add salt because of the worcestershire sauce and vegetable broth)

boil potatoes w/ skin and steam cauliflower, whip with yogurt and set aside.
while boiling and steaming, saute vegetables
set aside
brown mean
mix with vegetables
deglaze pan with vegetable broth and pour into meat mixture
add peas, tomato sauce, pepper & worcestershire sauce

Divide evenly between 3 8x8 pans and top with potato mixture
sprinkle pepper and parsley on top

freeze two and bake one at 350, covered for 45 minutes and uncovered for 5 minutes.

ENJOY

each 8x8 serves 10
calories 162, fat 4.5, carbohydrates 15, protein 15, sodium 247, fiber 2g

Update on no spend February

well bought a new fancy lock for the front door -- the premise was to save energy on using the garage door to get in and out and to hopefully save the garage door opener which has been acting up lately for another month.  It's a key pad lock because the kids always lose their keys.

also totally spaced the no spend thing and ended up on the toll road...but we remembered and took the more scenic less expensive way home.

did remember no spend February started today and did NOT partake in my post watched my kid play basket ball Latte at Starbucks (and by the way my kid scored more than half the points -- they still lost, but Jake did great :D)

Bunco Girl's Night Made Easy

Bunco night is such a fun way to get together, hang out with some fun, talkative, gossipy (in a good way) women. It's girl time. It's get the husband and the boys out of the house time. It's getting to entertain time (this is actually fun for me, I get that not all people think entertaining as fun). I belonged to this Bunco group a few years ago but had to quit when I started nursing school. I since got asked to come back and I got January as my month. Even though I really like entertaining, I don't have a lot of time. So I thought I'd share some of my time saving tips.

Here's the Bunco layout, you need three tables for four. I had to borrow a card table and one table got a hodge podge of chairs.  I have a collection of vintage table cloths and it was fun to add some color and pattern by using them. I'll drop them off at the cleaners and they can deal with cleaning and ironing them (time savings here is worth the expense of the cleaners -- and we're talking 10$ for the three)

Table "1" in the family room

Table "3" in the dining room

Table "2" in the kitchen

So the food and drinks -- a lot of time this is what takes a lot of time. I decided to go really simple and only make a couple of things and buy everything else pre-made.  A total cheat and really if I had a lot of time I would have put more effort in this area because I really do enjoy cooking.

Drink choices -- bottled water, wine (including chocolate wine-yummo), and a variety of coffees and teas (I love my Keurig) I included some creamer and sugar etc for the coffee.

Okay, so I did take some extra time to fun up the water bottles.

  I admit, this is way over the top, but what a fun detail. I found the free pattern here (man I love Pinterest) and Jason (amazing husband) changed the pink to red and the kids were brow-beaten, bribed and guilted into helping me attach them (cut them out and scotch tape them to the bottles).

The starters -- another way I took the easy time saving way out. I bought some frozen Spanikopita and some pre-made some cheese and salami/prosciutto roll ups for the appetizers and filled it out with a relish tray.

The main meal -- nothing's easier than a crock pot and the cooler temperatures of January just scream soup -- so made a simple Italian sausage soup, salad with a store bought citrus vinaigrette, and cut up some yummy bread with a nice crunchy crust.

You won't believe how easy this recipe is. My friend, Shannon, who always makes cooking, baking, decorating seem so easy, gave me this recipe (to which I added peppers the peppers) and it's become a family favorite. I doubled the recipe for Bunco and still had a lot left over:

Italian Soup:
1.5-2 lbs of your favorite Italian sausage
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 tbs of minced garlic (I use the jar stuff)
1/2 carton beef broth
2 cans, with juice, of diced tomatoes (it's really good with the Hunt's fire roasted tomatoes)
1/2 bottle good red wine (if you won't drink it don't cook with it)
2 tbs of Italian blend spices
1 - 2 cups of pasta

saute peppers and onions together
brown sausage
place in crock pot with all other ingredients (except pasta)
cook on low for 8 or so hours
add pasta last 1/2 hour-45 minutes

serve with parmesan cheese

see -- really really easy.

The salad:

romain lettuce

cucumbers

red onion

red pepper

yellow cherry tomatoes

pepperonis

grated mozzarella cheese

citrus vinaigrette 

Tres Leche Cake  - I made it in a 9x13 baker and added a ton of fruit on top. You can find the recipe here (I posted the recipe awhile ago -- again, pretty easy recipe and a family favorite)

Now for some of the fun details:

It's obvious I'm not a teacher, I can't seem to write on a chalk board in straight lines -- but I thought I'd fancy up the menu. I so wish I had that ability to do the whole chalk art stuff -- but I don't. Even sans talent anyone (if I can, anyone can) can make it a little fun (everyone can draw hearts and squares - right)

Didn't make these, found them on ebay after a google search on Bunco decorations (wasn't even looking for them)

My living room -- nothing to do with Bunco, but it was actually clean, so thought I'd post pictures. Jason did such a great job with my book shelves -- they're an Ikea hack that I should blog about some time.

Another time saving tip -- didn't clean the upstairs because who cares! Just concentrated on the first floor.

Most importantly it's not about the house, about the food, the cute decorations, or really even about the game -- it's about an opportunity to spend time with people, to open your home and be gracious, and to carve out some time to do something you love.

Enjoy!

Quinoa Breakfast

So my friend turned me on to this breakfast -- way yummy and not bad in calories (I changed it up a bit -- because I really am horrible at following direction and need to go my own way).

1/2 cup of cooked quinoa

1/2 tbsp coconut oil

1 packet of pure via

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup of mixed berries

Mix all together and serve. 194 cals, 4.4 g protein, 25.8 g carbs, & 8.9 g fat. 5g of fiber. To up the protein content add half a scoop of plain protein powder

The hubsters and the older child liked it, the younger one, not so much but then his favorite meal is mac and cheese so his culinary opinion is not that respected around here.

I made a bunch of these to take to work...or for the kids (well at least the kid that likes it) and the husband...good grab and go breakfast and I'm thinking of doing this during school so the family has some quick healthy choices.