Not Quite A Veggie Lasagna

Last week I had the urge to make a veggie lasagna.  I love me a good hearty meal, and this is oober healthy!  You might me saying to yourself, that doesn't look like a lasagna.  I stood in the pasta aisle at the food store looking at the lasagna noodles.  I had nasty flashbacks to the last time I tried to make lasagna...every single one ripped.  All I had left was a bunch of flat jigsawed pasta pieces, barely supporting layers of meat, cheese, and sauce.  I swore I would never make a traditional lasagna again!  So as I stared at those noodles, wondering if I should break my promise to myself...I chickened out and bought rotini.

Now you know me, I always seem to modify recipes...whether it's because I forgot an ingredient or I'm having some kind of wacky craving.  So, as I looked at veggie lasagna recipes (after buying the ingredients) I realized veggie lasagnas typically have white sauces.  Ho hum.  Red it would be. And I love my turkey meat, so this was not quite a veggie lasagna...it just had a lot of veggies in it.

As I boiled the pasta, I browned up some Italian seasoned turkey meat and in a separate pan, cooked all of my veggies... green and yellow zucchini, broccoli, garlic, mushrooms, and shredded carrots.

To the cooked veggies, I added a can of diced tomatoes and some chopped spinach that I thawed out in the microwave...best bargain in the foodstore!  To the meat I added just a little bit of my tomato sauce, just to give a little flavor.

In a separate bowl, I whisked two eggs and mixed in ricotta cheese and some Italian seasoning.  I typically wouldn't add egg, but I was recently told I needed to eat more eggs...at least one a day...so in they went!  I love disguising food in other food.  

Then, I started layering...

A lil' bit of sauce

Some noodles

Ricotta mixture

Veggies

Turkey

Sauce...gotta control my warm colors in this picture!

Mozzarella

Repeat!  Noodles...ricotta...veggies...turkey...sauce...cheese...

At this point I thought I was going to have too much for my baking pan.

But it all fit just right!

This was absolutely delicious!  I'm glad I didn't use the white sauce because I felt like it was just a little healthier.  There was a bit of cheese, but that's calcium, right??? And it made so much food that I was able to eat it for lunch, too!

A Royal Tea Party

It took me a while, but I finally fell for the royal wedding hype.  There was just something about the history and tradition behind it all.  I absolutely loved that wedding dress!  Isn't she beautiful?!?  I think I selfishly got into the wedding because it gave me an excuse to make tea sandwiches for my co-workers and use my new Sophie Conran footed cake plate.  I looove white Sophie Conran and can't wait to build my collection.  I made 4 different kinds of sandwiches, alternating between fresh white bread and pumpernickel.

One sandwich had a pimento cheese spread which I embellished with a square-cut radish and a small green olive.

I never imagined sot cream cheese, cucumber and mint would make such a lovely combination.  I might salt the cucumber next time.

My friend Mary said her favorite was garlic herb cheese, cucumber, and watercress...delicious!  When I peeled the English cucumber I ended up with these great green ribbons so I threaded them on a toothpick to dress things up.

This was my favorite!  Smoked salmon spread with chives.  And I couldn't let these great chive-tops go to waste!  Lovely.

These were so yummy and a perfect tough for our ladies-only wedding tea party. 

Spring Has Most Certainly Sprung

I keep falling into some serious blogging lulls.  I guess things have been busy around here.  As we move into Spring, I realize why I love it here so much.  In the winter, Quaint Oaks is nice, but it loses much of its beauty, as I'm sure most yards do.  It is so exciting to hear birds and see shades of green come out from hiding.  Here are some early shots of Quaint Oaks.  Ian has done a lot of work transplanting and cleaning out...I can't wait for everything to fill in!

 

 

Weekend Wrap-Up

This was no Spring Break, but a four-day weekend was just what I needed.  I didn't get as much school work done as I would have liked, but it was nice to just be home with Ian...and Booper and Betsy.  Here's what my weekend looked like...

Why didn't anyone tell me how totally awesome spaghetti squash was?!?!  Something about rock hard veggies has always intimidated me.  I bought a squash a few years ago, couldn't cut into it, and it ended up in the compost.  So recently, AKA a little over a month ago, I bought a spaghetti squash.  There it sat, on my counter...mocking me.  I was so nervous to make the darn thing!  I don't know why. 

So yesterday I decided to follow the directions on the little blue sticker.  I pricked the rind all over (this was scary as the rind was tough and my fork kept sliding all over the place...I definitely feared for my poor hand).  Then, I microwaved it for about 6 minutes until the rind was "soft."  Well, the sticker said it would be soft...I just found it to look greasy.  At this point I thought I had already ruined it.  I popped it in the oven at 375 degrees for 1 hour.  When it was done cooking, I cut it in half and just as all of those low-carb recipes promised, inside was all of that great stringy squash!  I removed the seeds and twirled out all of the "spaghetti." I was surprised by how much spaghetti was actually in there!  I wasn't sure what to do next so I tossed it with a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and some Parmesan cheese.  YUM!  Lunch for the week!

After I loong day of helping Ian around the yard (PS, I'm trying to like yard work, but I reeeally hate it), and some heavy duty whining, Ian knew he had to get me out of thouse!  So, he surprised me with a day trip to Jim Thorpe.  We were thrilled to realize that we are less than an hour away from this charming town!  Not quite as many antique shops as we remember, but it's a beautiful drive and there's still plenty of little shops to catch my attention.   Yesterday, in our favorite shop, we bought a great piece of art.  I'll be sure to share it, soon.  If you do make it to Jim Thorpe, you must eat at the Hotel Switzerland!  I think it's just called Molly Maguires, now.  We recommend the french onion soup, hands down!

Oh yeah!  While we were there, we went into one book store with the most friendly woman working the register. She was excited to tell us that she hid Easter eggs all over the store filled with candy and discounts.  She told us to bring one up if we bought anything.  What a great idea!  I quickly found myself bored with book shopping and was looking for all of the eggs behind books, under shelves, cozied into nooks!  It got me thinking...I really miss Easter egg hunts!  I remember going to Seaside with my cousins...and hundreds of other kids...looking for colored eggs on the beach.  We really need a grown up Easter hunt.

Today we're spending Easter with family.  It has always been a Burley tradition to walk the fields on Easter before dinner.  The boys used to go out and search for prehistoric treasures...rumor has it, they always found something spectacular on Easter Sunday.  Now, their interest has turned more towards metal detecting.  I might sneak out with them, but I'll be looking for arrowheads!  I guess this is our grown-up Easter egg hunt.

Happy Easter everyone!

Buffalo Chicken Mac n' Cheese

 You've got to smell it to believe it!  No kidding...this dish is incredible!  It wasn't a pleasure to make.  I always freak out a little when making a rue and then turning that into a cheese sauce.  The timing is just too much pressure!  Despite my mini-panic attacks, this came out delicious!

First, I bought a family size rotisserie chicken and shredded it up.  I saved the legs for our lunches.  I also took this opportunity to cook up 1 pound of elbow macaroni.

Then, I melted 3 tbsp of butter and cooked 1 small chopped onion and about 3 stalks of celery. 
Once the onions and celery were softened, I added 3 cloves of mined garlic and the shredded chicken.  After it all heated through, I added 1/2 cup of Frank's wing sauce, stirred, and transferred to a bowl.

In the same pan, I melted 2 more tablespoons of butter.  Careful not to burn it!  At this point the pan is pretty hot and the hot sauce residue can burn.  I added 2 tbsp flour and 2 tsp of dry mustard and stirred it until it turned into a paste...cue panic attack!  I added 2 1/2 cups of half and half and whisked.  Then I added about 1/4 cup of more hot sauce and continued to whisk.  Once this thickened (continue panic attack), I added 1 pound...yes 1 pound...of shredded cheddar cheese and 8 oz. of shredded pepper jack cheese.  I whisked this until it got smooth.  I didn't looove the texture, but I added 2/3 cup of sour cream to loosen it up.

Into a 9x13 buttered baking pan, I added half of the macaroni, all of the chicken mixture, the rest of the macaroni, and topped with all of that thick and creamy cheese sauce.  In a separate bowl, I mixed together 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs, 2 tbsp of melted butter, 1/2 cup of blue cheese crumbles, and about 2 tbsp of chopped parsley.  Then I topped off my delicious mac n' cheese!

This went into the oven for about 40 minutes until the panko got brown and crispy and the cheese was nice and bubbly.  I even topped it off with some more buffalo sauce for color and Ian's passion for hot and spicy food. 

 Delicious!  A little spicy...but what good is a buffalo wing if it isn't spicy??? 

PS...these pictures are awful!  The picture does not accurately represent the how amazing this meal actually was.

Console Table Woes

Ian and I bought the most fantastic drop-leaf table.  The trouble is, I can't decide what to do with it!  Katie Bower offers some great ideas, like her Short-Tall Combo and Decorating With Clusters, but they can't help me decide on decorative pieces!  I want to decorate it with cottage-y accents without going too country.  I know the lamp needs to go, but I can't buy anything without a vision.  For now, we've got this icky silver lamp and a hodge-podge of other stuff we've accumulated.  Nothing seems to work!  

So here's some inspiration...

I think my favorite pieces are the lamp and the wooden bowl.  Scratch that...I love the whole things.  Those suit-case basket things are awesome!  And that mirror...incredible!  Rustic, but not overly country.

Interior Divine

Maybe the trick is to bring frames down to the table's level.  Ian and I have discussed planning out a black and white photo wall for this space...hmmm...  I also love all of the glassware! 

Interior Divine

I think I like this...although I might be getting eerily close to country.  Hard to say.  I always have to laugh at some of the things people use to decorate in these staged shots.  Maybe that's why I get a kick out of Catalog Living.  I don;t know if I can do such a big lantern, but I do have a piece of slate on my table now...only mine is holding a candle and not a bunch of pears.

S.B. Gambrel

 As I was looking for inspiration, I realized how unoriginal I am!  At Simply Natural, Catherine already did this post.  I love all of her examples.  Here are some of my favorites...

This picture makes me realize I absolutely need to go with a large, glass lamp!  I also love the tray of bottles and the baskets underneath.

I am have been on the hunt for a birdcage just like this!  I don't want to be impulsive so I am waiting to find the right one...but this could work!  I like the white vessels too...as long as they don't cross the line into country motif.

Andreas von Einsiedel

This design is from Pottery Barn so it's no wonder that it caught my eye.  Also, those are our house colors!  I love this pitcher, but again, it may be too country.  The wood pieces are great, but I'm not sure they will work with our table. 

 So I tinkered around with Olioboard for a bit and here's what I came up with.  Some nice baskets underneath, rustic candle holders, an old bottle collection, and a spin on the traditional photo wall.  I could definitely see a hanging clock off to the side, and I live the old lamp!  Stay tuned for updates!