Tofu Spinach Lasagna

The other night I made the most super delicious lasagna EVER! We are trying to eat healthier and are doing a few no meat nights a week. I found a couple of recipes that I liked, but not loved, so, like always, I combined a few and a little of my own, and came up with something totally yummy. I don't have an actual recipe to give, but I can tell you what I did.

First of all I cooked the pasta. I didn't have lasagna noodles, so I went with penne. It worked fine, but lasagna noodles would have been better. Next I chopped a bunch of mushrooms and cooked them in vegetable broth, white wine vinegar and chopped sage and thyme. I cooked it down until the broth mixture was a reduction sauce. Then I layered them and the sauce on top of the pasta.

Next I chopped a red onion (I just like the flavor better) and some garlic. The size of these is up to you. I like them kind of big, but my kids like them better small, so we compromised. I sauteed them in a tiny bit of E V Olive Oil until they were soft. Then I added some white wine (you could use broth, vinegar, and a bit of sugar if you opt out of the wine, but really, cooking wine is inexpensive and gives it an amazing taste, and all the alcohol cooks out, so why not) Cook until the wine reduces.While the onions are cooking put a layer of spinach. You can cook your spinach first if you want (I would recommend cooking it with the onions/garlic to give it a fabulous taste) but I like the texture of the spinach when it cooks as you bake it. Plus, it's faster:) When the onions are done layer them on top of the spinach, while still hot.

Next comes tofu. I love it, and so do my kids, if they don't know what it is. (when I call it cheese they will eat it with ranch dip or on salads like crazy:) In order for them to not know what it is, I slice it and toast it. I just used the pan that I took the onions out of and toasted it on one side then the other. Easy. When it's done I chop it into cubes and TADA!!! it's chicken!:) I layered another bunch of pasta over the onions but forgot to take a picture of that step, then I added the tofu on top of that.

Also, if you aren't tofu people you can still make this and love it. You can just leave this layer off, and it's fine, the mushrooms will give it plenty of "meat". Or you can use chicken or salmon. I know SALMON??? But trust me, if you like salmon you will love it on this. Just cook it in a bit of oil until it's done and chop it up into chunks and sprinkle it over the pasta layer.

Next I added oregano (I didn't have fresh, so I used dried) and fresh basil, torn and topped it with fresh sliced tomatoes.

And grated parmesan...

And cooked it at 350 for 45 minutes (I like it a little browned on the top, but if you don't you can cover it with foil, or take it out 5-10 minutes earlier)
And then enjoy. It was SO good. All of the flavors mixed together to make a giant pile of deliciousness. (And if you are thinking of leaving the tomatoes off... DON'T... they added that little kick of flavor that set the entire dish off. It is a little drier than normal lasagna, but that is due to not having any real sauce. However, the reduction from the mushrooms and the onions plus the juice that comes from the spinach make it more moist than you would expect. My kids loved it. They each asked for more, Ethan had thirds, and then begged me to save some for lunch the next day. (and this kid LOVES school lunch, so for him to want to take something from home means it was dynamite.) You can also add a layer of cottage cheese if you like it, or a layer of another kind of cheese in the middle. Both of these options would have added a bit more moisture, but I opted out, and didn't miss it a bit.

So, that's it. If you try it let me know what you think.

Welcome To Our White Trash Apartment.

After the White Trash Party post I had several requests to show the actual white trash apartment. So I have constructed a little tour. You may or may not want to come along. The original tour would have taken about 6 seconds because you can basically see the entire apartment as soon as you walk through the door. But you have to know that I couldn't leave it at that, so here is a peek at my favorite parts. So WELCOME... (but don't look at the mess, we actually live here now...:)

The front door.

What? Is that darling wreath made from pages from my awful, horrid , but super cute vintage looking statistics book? Why, yes, in fact it is! I told myself that if I passed the class I would make something fantastic out of the book, so I did. And there is another project in the works. I'm making one of those books with the secret compartment inside. You know, like where people hide their valuables, or booze? Only I think I'm going to put chocolate in it, which is almost like a combination of both, right?:)

So here's the living room...

And my favorite picture wall...

And this is the tiny kitchen. And the super classy table and chairs. The apartment is a handicapped unit. That's all they had available. So the down side is that the kitchen is a little smaller in order to make the bathroom larger, and there is a little less cupboard space. The up side is that all of the cupboards are really low, which is perfect for a shorty like me. I can reach every single shelf, and I love it!

I love this sign. I think it fits up perfectly.

I also have this sign hanging up in the kitchen. Thanks to my friend Cheri for the inspiration.

This is the bathroom. Remember the handicapped issue? The upside is that the bathroom is bigger, the down side is that there is NO storage. Not one. single. bit. I bought a couple of storage units to put inside, and it works, but it isn't super efficient. Oh well, it isn't forever, just for a year or so...

I did the bathroom in a brown and green color scheme, and it's beautiful.

I absolutely love these pictures. I took them this spring, of the Brigham City Tabernacle, and did them in a brown tone. They set off the brown in the bathroom perfectly. I love it.

The "hallway" has some funky pictures I love.

The kids have to share a room, and I was trying to find a good theme that would fit for girl or boy. Finally we decided on a super hero theme. It's still a work in progress, but we got off to a great start with these super cute capes made by my darling Aunt Kathy, who I LOVE!. They are reversible and can be either Super Man/Girl or Bat Mat/Girl. (it depends on the mood and the wardrobe which one they pick:)
They also picked out their own personal super hero names, which I cut out in vinyl and put it over their beds. I have some other things up my sleeve, but that's all for now.

Finally there is my bedroom. It is done in Blue and Red, and I love it.

I love this fun crazy wall. It really adds some interest to the room.

And I love this quote

This is a fun lamp I made. Thanks for the inspiration from my friend Mandy.

And that's the end of our tour. Thank you for joining me. Any tips, I would love to hear them. If you're ver in my area stop by for a visit. :)

School 2011

Well, it's that time of year again. School shopping, registration, back to school blessings, trying to find just the right outfit for the very first day (Adia) the butterflies in the pit of the stomach, and a quiet house. It's back to school for my kids, and we are all pretty excited about it. The day started out pretty early. Like 3am! Thanks Ethan. A few hours later I made some breakfast. Heart shaped french toast. I don't want to brag, but I make the best french toast in the world. I hate doing it though, so this really was a treat. I also told the kids that they could choose whatever kind of syrup they wanted. I had regular maple, but I had also canned peach, plum and raspberry, so I thought they had a pretty good selection. Of course they chose chocolate. "You said ANY kind of syrup, Mom!" And of course I let them because it IS the first day of school after all...Then came the ritual picture taking. Ethan was his usual delightful self... Ha Ha. This was the one and only shot he would give me. The end!
But Adia, as usual was a little better. She LOVES the camera, and the camera loves her...


Then I convinced Ethan to do a group shot, but just one...
And it was off to school. We chose to walk to school because we live close enough now, and we are very conscious about Global Warming around our house. (thanks to our most recent Ivy and Bean book, this is a GREAT series if your kids are about my kid's ages and you are looking for a good chapter book. Think Junie B. Jones only using appropriate language. Adia can even read them herself, which I pretty much love.) I walked them both to class even though they didn't really want me to. At least Adia let me take her into the actual classroom. Ethan made me walk two steps behind him and I had to stop at the door. Then I SKIPPED all the way home. Not really, chubby people shouldn't skip, but I was pretty excited for a little freedom... for a few hours, and then I was BORED OUT OF MY MIND!!! I could hardly wait for the kids to get home. It think this will be better next week once my school starts and I actually have something to do. (my apartment is super tiny and only takes about 10 minutes to clean, I was all out of craft projects, and I finished my book by 9:30. Basically I wasn't as prepared as I should have been for that much free time.)
When the kids got home they had a surprise waiting for them. Giant Cookies! Covered with my famous super yummy creamy fudge buttercream frosting. (really, it changes lives:) I apologize for Ethan's face. I hope it doesn't give you nightmares. The kid just gets really excited by a cookie thats bigger than his head.
And that's the beginning of school year 2011/2012. The report was good. They were both excited, and well behaved (at least that's the report I got) Once again Adia is "Extremely Popular". And I think Ethan is too. As we walked down the hall after school. People kept saying hi to him or yelling "Ethan!" with a big wave. And I can't tell you how many times we "pounded it"(knuckles) by the time we got home. I don't know how EVERYONE could know him by the end of the first day, but evidently he had made the rounds. Even though I was a little nervous I think this is going to be a great school year for us all.

House Warming

So, as you probably know we decided to move to Monticello. We aren't looking to stay forever, and we already own a house in Brigham City, so we weren't looking to buy, and all of the houses that are for rent were either falling apart, or in the $800-$900 range, which doesn't fit well into my new "single Mom" budget. So that left the only apartment building in town. It is actually just renovated, and so we are the first person to live on the carpet, which makes me more happy than you can imagine. It also has new managers, so there are new rules which are pretty strict, and that makes me happy too. And Monticello isn't really the kind of town the has a "ghetto" or anything, so although it isn't the best situation, it isn't bad at all either. But then, as you probably also know, in the divorce Troy went through the house and took everything he wanted, and then I was left with everything else, so the quality of my possessions is not the highest. I have mismatched dishes, glasses, and silverware, one pan, two bowls, etc. I feel like a college students with grandma's hand-me-downs all over again, except now I'm 29 and a mom, so it's less acceptable:) It actually isn't that bad, and we have everything we need, our apartment is pretty cute (even though the entire thing can fit inside of my kitchen/dining room in my other house:) and we are doing fine. But, I wanted to have a housewarming party, and I needed a theme, so given our circumstances, I chose "WHITE TRASH"! It was SO funny. I actually picked a pretty bad weekend to do it, so we didn't have a huge turn-out, but it was fun just the same.

Right across the street from our new place is the city park. It has a nice pavillion and a pretty good skate park, and a playground, and everything else a good white trash party might need, so we decided to hold the first part of the party there and let the kids play while the adults visited. It seemed like a good idea until our friend Cade, not being told ahead of time that it was being held "in public" refused to get out of the car for 10 minutes for fear someone "normal" might see him.:)

We started out getting tattoos (some fun stick on ones I printed off of my computer onto this super fun tattoo paper I found online) I made sure to make them super trashy, hearts that said mom, barbed wire cuffs, etc.

Then we took family pictures. I'll show them to you, but you have to act surprised when you get your Christmas Card this year:) The only problem was that I took the pictures in Auto on my camera (I HATE AUTO!) for most of the night before realizing what I was doing, and they were in low light, so the pictures are really grainy.

My kids were pretty unsure about what was going on. They didn't understand why I wanted them to dress immodestly and why I was wearing my pajamas in public (an absolute no-no in our family) But they were pretty good sports anyway, until Ethan's shirt got ripped later in the evening and I said, "Oh, no! Now what are you going to wear to church tomorrow!" At that point they were worried that I was taking an unfortunate turn in fashion preferences and both of them tried to set me straight on the matter.

Cassie is barefoot and pregnant. (though she is pretty much to classy for this kind of party) and Levi is... just pregnant??? :)

After we were done eating the boys had to play on the playground. (they said they were entertaining the kids, but the kids were at the skate park, so really they were just trying to show off for each other.

We had super good White Trash cuisine. Pickled eggs, little smokies with a variety of dipping sauce, potato salad, chips and bean dip, squeeze cheese, a pyramid of no name soda, and for dessert, twinkies, ho-ho's and ding-dongs!



Finally the boys realized that the kids were having more fun than they were so they went over to the skate park and tried to one-up the kids by running around the bowl, stealing their scooters, and basically acting like children.



All in all it was a pretty good time. When it was over we went back to my place to exchange white (trash) elephant gifts where I got a much needed can of WD 40! I am really grateful to my friends for their willingness to humor me and really get into the theme of the party.

Jumping

These pictures are from a recent trip to Arches. It has nothing to do with the post, but I have promised Parker (our friend from picture # 3) that I would post these for a while now, and never did. We were at sand dune arch, which, if you are ever in Arches and don't have much time, I suggest going there. It's a short hike but it's my favorite. There is so much to do in one little place, and it's super fun for the kids.

No on to the updates from me. First of all, School's out for me, Yay! This is the first break I've had for an entire year. I loved the first couple of days, and now I'm ready to get going again. I kind of feel like I'm stuck in limbo here. I love it here. I have a wonderful family and the greatest friends, but I know this isn't where we are meant to be forever, and at this point in my life I have been feeling like I just don't belong anywhere. I know it's just the circumstances, and it won't last forever, but I kind of just want to finish school so life can get started again, so it's frustrating to have all this time off and not be actively working toward the end. Not a good attitude, I know, but there you go...

The kids have had an incredible summer. Even though my classes have been a BEAST this summer, we have still been able to take some time to have some super fun adventures. We have really good friends who invite us on exciting camping trips, days out, and trips to the pool. We also live close enough to some amazing places that we have been able to camp, fish, and hike quite a bit.

The kids have also been working really hard this summer. Thanks to inspiration from a few of my friends and the need to have a more structured summer than last summer I implimented a chore chart. DUN, DUN, DUNNNNNN! The kids earn three checkmarks a day. One for doing three chores randomly chosen from the chore jar. They must do the chores without complaining, without asking for help (too much) and without being reminded to get it done. The next checkmark is for not fighting, yelling, throwing tantrums, etc. and the third checkmark is for overall behavior: following directions, good attitude, helping out, etc. They start the day with getting dressed, making their bed, making breakfast, and feeding the chickens. Next they choose three chores and do them before lunch. When they finish their chores they do 30 minutes of piano practice and 30 minutes of math. After lunch they read for 30 minutes and rest for 30 minutes. When that is over the rest of the day it theirs. At the end of the day we review how things went and give them checkmarks according to what they have earned. They earn prizes with their checkmarks: prize out of the prizebox, friend over to play, trip to the pool, party with several friends, movie nights, dates with mom, etc. Each prize is worth a different amount of checkmarks, and they can save up or cash their checkmarks in as soon as they earn them. I have one of both, and it's not who you would think:) Each Wednesday is "organizing day" and on top of all the rest I choose one thing that we work on organizing: closets, dressers, toys, etc. Friday is adventure day, and on top of everything else we usually go hiking or on a crazy adventure with our friends to explore the area we live in. The whole program has been amazing, and has made live much easier. It gives me time to study and get things done while they are doing their chores, so that when they are done, I can have time to spend with them. (I keep thinking that if I can just fake my way through being a good mom until I'm out of school things will calm down and I can actually BE a good mom. It may or may not work that way in the end, but this program helps me feel like I'm doing alright:) It also gives them structure and direction so I don't have to hear "I'm bored" all the time. (that's actually a naughty phrase at our house:) And it keeps them out of trouble.

The kids have also been working hard on the ranch for my mom, and as a reward she ordered them each a brand new 3DS. They have been wanting a DS for a long time, pretty much we are the ONLY ONES who don't have one. So they worked out a deal with my parents to earn one since they have a mean, stingy, cheap mom who doesn't think game systems are as important as, oh, say, food or paying bills:) I think it's slightly overboard, but everyone else seems satisfied, and they really did work hard, so I guess it's alright.

We have also started another adventure... Moving! La Sal is such a small town that the school here only goes to third grade. After that the kids are bussed an hour into Monticello. Because all ages of kids are crammed on the same bus and given so much time with nothing to do, the bus has a reputation of being kind of a naughty place. Seriously, I rode it, and everything naughty I have ever learned came from there. That's almost true. So I think that this spells disaster for Ethan. Even if he had an aid to ride the bus with him I still think he would be so over-stymulated by the time he got to school that he wouldn't be able to focus and the whole day would be a disaster. So even though I don't really want to, we decided to move to Monticello. It's still close enough that my mom can help me watch the kids when I'm in class, but it solves our school problem too. (well, THAT problem anyway, we'll see how things go before I say all of our school problems are solved.:) But here's where the trouble starts. There is only one apartment complex in Monticello. I'll let you assume what that means as far as quality, neighborhood, etc. It's not like Monticello has a ghetto or anything, but it just isn't what we are used to. Also, it's in my ex in-laws ward... I'll let you assume what that means too. But for the most part things are alright there. It's tiny. Troy got most of the "stuff" in the divorce, so we don't have much to put in it anyway. The apartment was recently remodeled, so we are the first ones to live on the carpet, which makes me feel better about being barefoot. There is a super fun park across the street. They even have a skate area, which my kids love. They bring home friends all the time, and with the exception of the kid who can't stop spilling red things on my new carpet, I mostly like them all. My kids are notorious for bringing home friends with bad home lives. Kind of like stray puppies or something, everywhere we live we end up collecting friends who need some extra care. That's alright though, I like that my kids can recognize people who need extra love and that they can freely and genuinely provide that love.

So life is working out alright. Even though it isn't at all what we had planned, it's not so bad anyway. I'm learning to let it go, and embrace what comes at us. We are all learning to just jump and let things land where they may.

Leaving the past behind...

So I have a million things to catch up on remember (like the whole month of May)? But there are so many fun things happening now, and I don't blog about them because I haven't blogged about the first things, and instead of blogging about those things, I just don't blog. And I hate that. And I feel like no one ever comments, so it makes me think that no one is reading - probably because I never blog... So I'm leaving the past behind. Maybe when things slow down a little I will post about those things, but for now I'm starting with the recent activities and moving on from there. So here's a start: The chicken fiasco.

If I had been better about blogging you would know that in May we bought some chickens. Six grown hens that lay brown eggs. Then because some people in my family are prejudice we had to get two that lay white eggs. Then, because Adia was there and always gets her way, and because they are adorable, we got four chicks. My mom wanted to teach the kids responsibility, and thought this was a good way. Well... that isn't quite the lesson they learned.

First, we learned that we don't really like eggs much. Sure we use them in cooking now and then, and at first we had quite a few scrambled eggs and deviled eggs and the like, but really, we don't love them.

Second, we learned about where eggs come from. Adia started calling them "poop eggs" you know, because "that's how they get out-a there." So when we would give them to people (because we had to, because that is a lot of chickens, which equal a LOT of eggs, and we aren't really egg eaters, so they pile up pretty fast) she would say "how would you like some poop eggs?" Or " Here's some eggs, freshly pooped!" You can imagine how happy people were to get that little gift... But, if nothing else, it did remind EVERYONE in the family to wash their hands after dealing with the chickens.

Third, we learned about life and death. Now, if you are an animal lover, or have a problem with animal cruelty, or have a weak stomach, this is where you should stop reading. Post over.

For those of you still reading, this is where it gets interesting. We live in the country, so there are a lot of things just running wild that like to eat chickens. We have a hen house for them, so they are pretty safe at night, but during the day they just run free around the yard. On several occasions we saw two cats chasing the chickens. We would shoo them away, but they started coming more and more often. Finally one night I forgot to put the chickens in the hen house until after dark. They go in on their own when the sun goes down, so I didn't even look, I just shut the door and went inside. The next morning the white leggers were gone. They must have not gone in and I shut them out. The white feathers all over the yard made us pretty sure they had been eaten, and the cats were top on our list of suspects. A few days later we saw the cats, so we got the gun and shot them. We got them, but when we went inside they were still doing the death flip-flop. That night my poor mom had nightmares that they weren't really shot enough to kill them and they drug themselves onto the front porch and died there. The stench coming from the field where we shot them for a few days after was reasurance that they were in fact, dead where they lay.

Next, it was time to put the chicks out. When you first buy chicks they have to be kept inside under a heat lamp all the time. When they grow up a little they can be let out, but need to be kept away from the grown hens for a while so they don't get pecked to death. So we left them in the run and kept the hens out. At night we put a plywood cover on the run and figured they were fine. But a few days later one chick was gone, and one was injured. A few days later two more chicks were gone. We had killed the cats, so we weren't sure what was getting them., but a few nights later we found out. Around two in the morning my dad woke up to some squawking. Knowing that it was something getting at the chickens he rushed outside with his gun and a flashlight. He pointed the light and saw a HUGE RACCOON! He shot it. I can just picture the poor guy outside chasing around in his underpants in the middle of the night trying to aim his gun and point his flashlight at the same time... Lucky we don't have close neighbors.

The next night we thought we had the problem fixed but the next morning the last chick was gone. My dad refused to be the underpants raider again, since this whole chicken thing was my mom and my idea in the first place. So my super nice brother-in-law brought us a live trap and we made some popcorn balls for bait, and set it and waited. And what do you know, the next morning, this is what we find...

Two little raccoons. They are small, but not babies, and they were MAD. We called my dad and asked him what to do, and he said to let them out and shoot them. We tried, but they kept hissing and growling at us, so neither of us wanted to get close enough to let them out. Finally we decided to just shoot them, and let them out once they were dead. Not nice, but better than getting our leg torn off by a rabid raccoon. I killed the first one right away with a shot to the head, but the second one hid under the first, making it hard to get a good shot. I hit it, but it took a while to die. My mom wanted to get them taken care of before the kids came outside for the morning so she suggested that we carry the cage out into the field and dispose of our catch. We both picked up the cage and were carrying it away when suddenly the not so dead one put up one final fight. It jumped up and growled at my mom, and she dropped her side of the cage and took off! There was no way she was getting that close again, so after a while we rigged up a system using a tree branch and carried them to the trash pit in the field. (Man, I don't know what I'm going to do when I move and my mom isn't there to be my partner in crime anymore. Who is going to do these crazy things with me then?) And what do you think my kids wanted to do as soon as they found out what happened? Yup, go poke the dead raccoons! Yuck. My mom often teases me that my kids and I are too city. She thinks we got ruined when we lived in the city for so long because we like the convenience of street lights, paved roads, gas stations that stay open all night, and stores that have the things you need without having to special order them. After that was all over I mentioned that the country girl in me was still alive, and I was turning my kids into rednecks too. She told my aunt that, but my aunt brought up the point that if we were true rednecks we would be eating the raccoons for dinner. I guess she's got a point there.

That night we set another trap and caught another, slightly bigger raccoon, but this time wasn't so traumatic. Then the next day our friend Hank the Cowdog came by for a visit. He killed one chicken and shook another one up pretty good. She didn't die, but she has a limp, and all of her bum feathers are gone:( She is healing nicely though, so I guess we can't complain. All together we have five of our twelve original chickens. My mom is sad because she just wanted to teach my kids responsibility and instead she taught them death and carnage. But, that's life too, so I think it's been a good experience anyway.