Crock-Pot Lasagna

First things first- PACKERS WON SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Everyone cheer, go ahead, it's ok!)

I thought I'd add a picture of some crazy friends we sat near at the Falcons game to celebrate 

This evening, I set out to make Crock-Pot Lasagna. I got the recipe from Jamie Ivey, who I blog-stalk religiously.  The link to her recipe is here.  I can't follow directions, so here's what I did-  (in a 7Qt Crock-pot)

*If you don't want to make your own sauce, you can probably get 2-3 things of Spaghetti 

Sauce and use them... actually- that would make this an "easy crock pot recipe," as it really

 wasn't that easy once I spent half the afternoon making the darn sauce!* If you do this, skip the next 11-12 lines :)

Her recipe basically walks you through making your own tomato sauce, so I used what she had and went with it a little...
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1-2 handfuls of mushrooms chopped up teeeeny tiny (however much you want- I don't like them, but D loves them, so I put them in and bare it)
- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1/4 cup bell pepper (red blends right in!) chopped pretty small
- 1/4 cup frozen corn (come on, you've seen the Garden Style Spaghetti sauce!)
- 12-16 oz ground meat(like) product - I use Yves Meatless Ground
- 2 Large cans organic crushed tomatoes
- Salt, pepper to taste; I also add Basil, Oregano, Parsley, Garlic Salt, a little Rosemary, and fresh German Thyme- all by what you like stuff to taste like... I just add and taste and add and taste and add stuff until I think it's juuuuuust right! - Oh and a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper just because I'm crazy.

Other Stuff:
- 1 box of lasagna noodles (I use Tinkayada Rice noodles because they're gluten free!)
- 24 Oz Cottage Cheese
- 8-12 Oz Skim Ricotta Cheese
- 4C Mozzarella Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese sprinkles as needed


Sauté the onions for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic and mushrooms and other veggies (besides frozen stuff), then add the meatless ground, cook everything a couple of minutes, and then add the crushed tomatoes, spices, corn, and turn back down to a simmer while you get the other stuff ready!
**if you are using real meat, of course brown the meat before adding the onions and stuff***

Other things:
- I mix the Cottage cheese and ricotta cheese together to give it a little bit of flavor, then you want to layer the stuff in the pot in the following order:

- CROCK POT LINER is a MUST HAVE!!-
- Thin Layer of Meat Sauce
- Layer of noodles- broken up to make a single messy layer
- Cottage/Ricotta Cheese mixture
- Sprinkling of Mozzarella cheese
- Repeat- using more generous layer of meat sauce

Out of my massive amount of sauce and stuff that I made, and my one box of noodles, I got a good 5 layers- maybe 6.

Put in crock pot and cook on Low for 5-6 hours, or on High for 3!
Just make sure you test the noodles with a fork before you cut into it so you know they're ready!
Enjoy!


PS- if you have any good Crock Pot Recipes, please let me know about them! This is my first thing I've ever made in a crock pot!! I am EXCITED!

Lazy Sunday

Today is a lazy day. We haven't had one of these in a while.

I think I'll try to do a quick little update on the past week or two!

SO Last weekend we were in Atlanta. The Packers played the Falcons at the Georgia Dome and we went down there Friday - Monday. It was some of the bestest fun I've had with my hubby and our kiddos in a while!

We drank a lot of this:

The girls went with us, and lounged around our room...

It must be SO HARD to have their life. :)

On Friday we got there and walked to the closest pub for dinner- it was ridiculous!! The food was a really strange combo of stuff that went perfectly together! Meehan's Pub had a "Holiday Hangover" menu that was only non-holiday food, so it was a pleasant surprise!

Saturday we decided to take 3 hours to find IKEA (I was not impressed. There were 79023281 people in there and you couldn't even take a deep breath without hitting someone. Maybe next time it won't be

so crowded and I'll see what all the fuss is about?) and then ate lunch at The Vortex. Good burger, great atmosphere. We then came back to our hotel to find that our room hadn't been cleaned yet, so we went for about a 13982 hour walk. Only to come back to see that they STILL hadn't gotten to us! Seriously? It was almost 5. DidI mention that we didn't take coats/jackets? Because it was supposed to be kind of warm all weekend. It was not that warm. In fact, it was down right FREEZING at times!

Saturday night, we met some of the people we had met on Friday night (the city was overrun with Packers

fans... it was like we were in Wisconsin!!) And hung out at the pub, then followed them to a 24-hour karaoke bar where they proceeded in drinking until 3 the night before the game... Don't worry, they're PROS. After we left the bar, we heard that one of the guys tackled the Karaoke machine and they were asked to leave. Not to mention they were yelling "FREE BEER! FREE BEER FOR ALL PACKERS FANS!" into the karaoke machine which plays on the street. hahaha They were so much fun, it was like we were with family or something!

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!

We got up (sloooowly), had breakfast in our

hotel and saw all the other Pack fans, and started our 1 mile trek to the stadium. Everyone had already beat us to tailgating (granted, we had nothing with which to tailgate), so we walked around and watched the crazies.

We then made our way into the game and it was SO MUCH FUN! This was our first Packers game... and it was a good one to attend. I just wish it would have ended with our team having the higher score.

This is the view from our seats. Not too bad, but not the best. Next time I'll pay the extra and we'll be MUCH CLOSER.

That's about all I got. Pretty boring post, I know, as I have nothing really witty to say today... but there's all the pictures from my phone that I took on our trip! :)

Another reason...

Another reason that I should be a stay at home dog-mom...

Yes, this one also revolves around food.

That's Rice Penne with chicken, asparagus, and (extra)tomatoes in vodka sauce.

And the dinner table:

And that's what our dining room/area looks like for those who wonder. :-)

(OH! And PS I had that horrible craptastic day the other day and STILL came home and made an AWESOME dinner- Ask D!)

I'm doing better about the whole blogging more than once a month thing! Hooray!

The past two days at work have been crazy- I've been WORKING.

ALL.

DAY.

While at work.

I KNOW!

It's insane.

Yesterday 9-7 (I took about a 10 minute lunch break to go get my food)

and today 8:40-4:30 (no lunch break bc I forgot)

Tomorrow we have a record review bc we have an audit coming up, so I went through all my charts that will need to be reviewed (almost half) and, naturally, had to go through them and pre-review them so that when they're reviewed I don't get pissed and bombarded by the mistakes other people may potentially find in these things that I might have overlooked.

And, since one person was let go, the other three of use have had to absorb her caseload, so I've been trying to integrate the 8 I took from her into my caseload and my swing of how I do my visits/charts... and it just so happens they fit right in! I'm so glad she did her job, and did her job well... I would have probably just sat in the floor, played candyland and cried if it were any other way.

Time to go sit in front of the TV and zone out to whatever is DVR'd for the day... Ahhhh Satan, your devices are so entertaining. Thank you for the invention of the DVR.

(PS, as I type this, my wonderful husband is cleaning

up from the delicious dinner I just made... and I didn't even ask. Isn't he super?)

Why I should be a stay at home dog-mom

As I continue my trend of posting monthly, I would like to share with you why I should be a stay at home dog-mom.

Not just plain stay at home mom, mind you, because then I would have to have HUMAN children, which I do not. I just have dog children.

So-

Exhibit A

That would be Wasabi Seared (Left side) and Sesame Seared Tuna, with special sauce, steamed rice, and hand tossed salad.

I did it all by myself.

And it cost a grand total of about $12 for both of our dinners...

Exhibit B-

Tomorrow night's dinner menu:

(Rice)Penne Rigata with Cubed chicken in a Vodka Sauce, with Steamed (or maybe grilled?) Asparagus and salad

OR

Mexican dinner in a pan! Rice, Tomatoes, Fake Ground Beef, Jalepenos, and stuff all mixed up - kinda like a casserole, but on the stove top!

Exhibit C-

Donnie's Lunch today:

Ready for him when he walked in the door!

(I hadn't gone grocery shopping in about 6 weeks, so this is pretty much all that was left in the house)

-Grilled Turkey and Cheese Sandwich

-the breakdown:

Bread

Super thin swipe of EVOO Mayo

Cheese

Egg w/Fake bacon bits

Cheese

Turkey

Cheese

Super thin slice of EVOO Mayo

Bread

HAHA I know, it sounds terribly unhealthy, but our Mayo is really low cal, and I put is on so think you hardly know it's there, the bread is 100% whole grain, 35cal/slice, the turkey is all natural organic stuff (only 1 1/2 slices), the butter it's cooked in is all natural healthy stuff, and the bacon is fake. The only unhealthy thing really is the cheese- but according to the Kraft people, it's good for you! :)

Other reasons:

-Got all the grocery shopping done today

-The children and I went outside to play 5 TIMES!!

-Finished the laundry

-Finished the dishes

-I got to sleep in (that's more my reason...)

-Got the dog's grocery shopping done today, and everything I bought was on sale

Here's pictures of the prep of dinner, enjoy!

Ground Wasabi Peas, Special Sauce, and Sesame Seeds

ASSEMBLY LINE------->

OK so Recipe for the Tuna- (It's RIDICULOUSLY easy!)

- 2 1/2 lb Ahi Tuna Steaks, cut into strips- about 1- 1 1/2 inch wide 2- 2 1/2 inches long

(This should give you about 12-16 pieces)

- Juice to put them in before rolling them in topping

-I used Soy Sauce + Sriracha Sauce + Wasabi and stirred with whisk until it was evenly mixed

- Topping-

-For the wasabi stuff, I put about 1/2 cup wasabi peas in food processor and made them powder, otherwise, white sesame seeds are really good on the tuna!

Here's how it works:

- Pan on stove @Medium, Sesame oil in pan (just enough to coat the bottom)

you have to have these things all ready to go before starting, because they do not wait on you!

The assembly- for all 16 pieces while pan is heating, before putting oil in pan and starting to cook tuna-

Tuna->Soy mixture, coat it well-> then roll in sesame seeds or wasabi peas, coat all over->move to side (Of that plate or new plate) repeat until tuna is all covered

THEN, when you've done all pieces, start with tongs, 4-6 pieces at a time cooking.

Place tuna in pan, then get next piece, etc. until you get all 6 in there, then immediately roll to next side. The tuna should be seared- meaning still pink/cold in middle, so basically it's cook, 1, 2, turn, 1, 2, turn, 1, 2, etc. So, I have to do the 6 pieces at a time, and basically just turn, turn, turn, turn until they're all turned 4 times, and flipped on end, then put them in a paper plate lined with paper towels.

Repeat!

(This should be the last thing you do, because the tuna should basically go from skillet to paper towels to plate-table with minimal time in between.)