A Productive Snow Day

It has been a decently productive day.  David and I sat around in our pajamas and enjoyed several cups of coffee for a few hours.  It was so relaxing!  When we worked up an appetite, I baked one of my wonderful crustless quiche for breakfast.  Today's quiche consisted of eggs, oven roasted deli turkey, fresh spinach (much better than frozen), and cheddar cheese.  It was absolutely delicious!  I ended up eating more quiche for lunch.


I created several PowerPoints for my classroom so we can learn new songs for Valentine's Day.  My "honor choir" or classes will be learning them to present in our weekly assemblies. It's going to be fun learning them together. 


I was able to see the doctor today. I'm pretty sure her measurements classify me as an Amazon Woman.  For real!  My weight was a couple pounds higher and she measured my height at 5' 9 1/2". That's HUGE!  It's funny how measurements vary so much from doctor to doctor.  Amazon Woman or not, my blood pressure was amazing, along with my pulse, and all that other stuff. This is a direct result of my health obsession.  My nutritional eating and exercise is paying off! ; )


My new PCP diagnosed me with a chronic sinus infection and bilateral conjunctivitis (pink eye/eye infection in BOTH eyes).  While I was there, she gave me a flu shot and my tetanus shot.  I left her clinic with lab requests (darn hyperparathyroidism history!), 3 prescriptions, instructions to purchase a few OTC items, and a dermatology referral (stinkin' parathyroid scar never healed).


I didn't get any sugar cookies baked today.  The event that I was baking them for ended up being rescheduled to a later date.  I'm not even sure if I'll be able to go now.  We'll see.  Maybe I'll bake a batch of sugar cookies this weekend and have some fun with new designs.  I should probably start experimenting with a few ideas. : )


We're having White Turkey Chili for dinner tonight.  It's been simmering on the stove for a while now.  This has become one of our favorite meals and we're getting excited that it's almost dinner time.  Mmm...  I think I'll be taking leftovers to work tomorrow.  


That sums up our day for now.  It's crazy to think how busy an unexpected day off from work can actually be.  I think I'll use the weekend to recover.  It's going to be a great weekend for sure!


Happy Thursday!  Stay warm and safe!

Turkey & Veggie NO-Pasta Lasagna

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds Ground turkey (depending on how meaty you want your lasagna)

1-2 cans tomato paste (1 for each pound of meat)

2 cups (16oz) 2% cottage cheese

2 large eggs

1-8oz bag shredded mozzarella cheese

Assorted cooked veggies

(I used a steamer bag of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots; asparagus, green/red peppers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, etc. would also be good)

Spinach leaves (I used 1/2 a bag of the washed and ready to eat stuff... got it on sale for $1)

1/2 cup water

Italian Seasoning

Directions:

In a sauce pan cook the turkey meat.

Add tomato paste to turkey, stir well

Add water and simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally

Add spices (Italian seasoning and I added a bit of salt to bring out the delicious flavors of the tomato paste)

In another bowl, .....

Add 2 eggs

Add cottage cheese to the eggs and mix until blended thoroughly

In a baking dish, add some of the meat mixture

Add some spinach leaves, cottage cheese mixture, and 1/2 the mozzarella

Add steamed veggies (I used broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)

Then you can add more meat mixture, spinach leaves, cottage cheese mixture, tomato slices, and mozzarella. Get creative... the layers don't have to be perfectly organized.

And it's into the oven...

30 minutes later = )

YUMMO!

I think this was super quick and easy to make.

It tasted great and was healthy for us too!

Enjoy!

Daily Eats

4/8/2010

B: Iced Coffee (2 shots espresso, 2 shots decaf espresso, 2 pumps sugar free coconut Torani syrup, 1/2 pump sugar free almond Torani syrup, 2 pumps sugar free chocolate Torani syrup)

L: 3oz. pork chop, boiled egg, and 2 (giant) cheese cubes

This egg was perfectly boiled. I just can't stand it when

they get those dark rings around the yolk. Yuck!

D: Turkey & vegetable no pasta lasagna (93/7 ground turkey, tomato paste, seasonings, cottage cheese, eggs, mozzarella cheese, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, and tomatoes) and Peaches 'n Cream Jello salad (sugar free peach jello with no sugar added peaches, 2% cottage cheese, and crushed pecans)

Snack: 2 celery sticks with peanut butter, 3 strawberries with a dab of cool whip, 4 cheese cubes, and a few nuts

The Luck of the IRISH!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

IRISH BLESSING

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields and,

Until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

I prepared a delicious Irish meal yesterday to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and my Irish heritage.  I thought I'd share the recipes with all of you.

TURKEY KIELBASA AND CABBAGE

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lg. onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 lb. kielbasa, in 1/2" pieces
1 lg. potato, peeled & diced
1/2 tsp. caraway seed (opt.)
1 1/2 (14 oz.) cans chicken broth

In crock pot, put shredded cabbage, toss with diced potatoes, salt and caraway seed. Add onion and kielbasa. Pour chicken broth over all, stir lightly. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high setting for 4 hours. Serves 4.

**I used a lot more cabbage and potatoes than what this recipe calls for. I only used 1lb of turkey sausage because it's all I had in the freezer (I buy the cheap and healthier version). I left out the onion and caraway seed because I didn't have any on hand. I also purchase my chicken broth (paste that I add to water) from Penzey's Spices because I like it better than the cubes and cans. If you're interested, you can visit their website at www.penzeys.com. All my spices come from there and they're absolutely amazing. I also added a couple tablespoons of butter to this recipe. We'll be getting 6-8 servings out of my adjusted version. = ) (I have a huge Crockpot)

I had a German Grandmother and an Irish Grandfather and we always had pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes for the holidays. This meal wasn't exactly the same, but it sure brings back some memories.
Oh, and my husband LOVED this meal. This recipe is a keeper for us. Enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread 

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour
Ready In: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
Servings: 20

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 pint sour cream
1 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease two 8x4 inch loaf pans.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, sour cream and raisins and mix until just combined. Distribute batter evenly between the two pans.
3. Bake loaves at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 1 hour.

**While I was searching for Irish recipes to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with, I stumbled across some Irish Soda Bread recipes. I've never heard of it before, but thought it was worth a try. Most of these recipes call for buttermilk, but I didn't have any on hand. This particular recipe called for sour cream instead, which I was lucky enough to actually have in my fridge at the moment. I also had just enough eggs and just enough flour. (I've been trying to stay away from the grocery store because I'm a bulk buyer and tend to purchase stuff whether we currently need it or not.)

I decided to just whip this up in a bowl and use my hand mixer instead of my big Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. The dough is extremely thick and I'm pretty sure I could smell the lil' engine of my hand mixer. It was a pretty tough dough for the lil' guy. So, I'd make this in my stand mixer next time.

My home smelled great while the bread was baking in the oven. When I pulled it out I cut a slice and put butter on it. It was absolutely delicious!!! It's not something I'd make all the time, but I'll definitely make it again. Enjoy!

TIP: cover with foil after baking to help lock in moisture and keep it from drying out