As Seen On Pinterest: Spinach Lasagna Rolls by Fer Fer

Greetings, readers! I'm so so so excited to have my first guest blogger today! This lady is a dear friend of mine. We go alllll the way back to 2009 when I walked up into her front yard and introduced myself.  And we've been bosom buddies ever since.

   Well, on top of being a great friend, she is also pretty handy in the kitchen. And while I give her a hard time about the sparseness of her other Pinterest boards, this girl's Recipe Board will put any cookbook to shame.  So it only made sense to ask her to write about one of her Pinterest-inspired dishes while I'm wrapping up a couple of projects of my own. Take it away, Fer Fer!

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Hello to all of you Carli's blog lovers out there!  My name is Jennifer, and Carli kindly asked if I would be willing to contribute a food recipe portion to her blog page. And since I have been a doting friend of hers for the past three years, I couldn't find a reason to say no.  Could her asking me have something  to do with the fact that I have hundreds of food pins and maybe five random other pins on pinterest?? Perhaps.  So bare with me, for this is the first organized thing I have done in, hummmm well.... a long time.  Enjoy!

I am making Spinach Lasagna Rolls. I have found several recipes for them on pinterest but this one looked the easiest, yummiest, and healthiest.   Here is the original recipe and you can find the OP here.

• 9 lasagna noodles
• 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
• 15 oz. fat free ricotta cheese
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
• 1 egg
• salt and fresh pepper
• 32 oz. tomato sauce
• 9 tbs. (about 3 oz.) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

First things first, boil the water and give it a good helping of salt. I also add a little extra virgin olive oil to mine so the noodles don't stick together. Once the water reaches a boil throw in your lasagna noodles. I added more than 9 noodles because I thought my dish would hold more than that and I was right. I got 10 rolls to fit in mine. Hey, the more the merrier! I think I actually put 11 or 12 noodles total into the boiling water though, because I was afraid I would have some tear when I took them out but luckily I didn't. Guess the EVOO helped.  And, as you can see not all of them fit in the water at first but as they cook they slowly slide down into the pot.  So don't panic, I already did it for you and it was okay. Whew!

Next dump the ricotta cheese, spinach, parmesan cheese, egg, and salt and pepper in a bowl and mix it all together.  If you wanted to, you could even add a little minced garlic or garlic salt here. Hummm, I think I'll do that next time actually.  That sounds pretty good. It will look like this:

Pre-Mix

 

Post-Mix

Once the noodles are cooked to your own liking, (you know, al dente or otherwise) drain the water and then place the noodles onto some wax paper. They will be very hot still so I used some tongs to help me out here.


Next spoon about 1/3 cup of the cheese and spinach mixture onto each noodle and spread evenly all the way down.

 Next I open one jar of spaghetti sauce and lightly cover the bottom of the baking dish.  Just enough so I can no longer see the bottom of the dish. This gives the rolls a cozy little bed of sauce to make nice with. Now carefully roll them up and place them seam side down in baking dish.   

Ooohh...lookin' good already!

Now I take the rest of the opened jar of spaghetti sauce and pour it over the rolls and then repeat this process with at least 1/2 of the other jar of spaghetti sauce. Add however much sauce you like. The whole jar even if you're really feeling "saucy"!

 We are almost there! Finally top each roll with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Again, add as much as you like. I went for it and added the whole block. I got the kind you shred yourself but the pre-shredded stuff that comes in the bag will do the trick too.

Finally, bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

When it's all done it will look like this: 

                                           Ta-daaa!!!

 I served mine with a summer vegetable mix and of course, lots and lots of garlic bread. So good!  It was so hearty that my husband, the ultimate carnivore, didn't even ask "where's the meat". Ahhh, success!!! Enjoy!

In a nutshell...

What I did differently:
1. I used 10 or 12 noodles just in case some of them tore
2. Couldn't find fat-free ricotta so I used part-skim
3. I used two jars of tomato sauce - one for the dish and one for dipping ;)
4. Ended up using the whole 8 oz. block of mozzarella. Oopsie.

Tips:
1. Add a little EVOO to your water when boiling noodles to alleviate stickiness
2. Don't be afraid to change the recipe to suit your family and tastes

Bottom Line: Sooo good and tasty with relatively little prep. I will be adding this into my meal plan rotation!

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I will be too! Thanks, Fer Fer, for the great pics and taking the time to write for this is me, now.  Tell us what you think! Leave a comment on your way out please. And thanks for stopping by!



**Note: For those wondering (ahem, Auntie Wobin) I have been busting my tail trying to finish my "cheap" wooden pallet project and have been studiously taking notes and pics of the whole process. I promise, promise, promise it will be worth the wait cuz that little gem was a doozy! 

Come again soon to see the results!

As Seen on Pinterest: 10 Habits of a Well-run Home

Hello there, friends! You are joining the blog from a "Well-Run" home already in progress. Ha!!  Okay, as I mentioned in my PP, I am testing this post titled "10 Habits for a Well-Run Home" from The Stressed Mom blog. 

Up to date, I wouldn't say I have any habits that constitute a "well-run home". Most days I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants, throwing things in a bag (if I can find them) for the kids on our way at the door, while yelling at them to hurry up and get in the car.  On the days that we are at home, I don't have any form of structure in place for what should be done on a daily basis. I just kinda take a look around the house and decide what I should work on. The down-side of this, and anyone with ADD can tell you, is if I look around and see that there are just toooo many things I need to do, I get overwhelmed, give up, and, well, go piddle on Pinterest instead.

Enter "10 Habits".  I've been jonesing to try this one for a while. But just like any diet, I tell myself I will start on Monday. Then Monday rolls around and....see where I'm going with this?

So the OP does say not to tackle all 10 of them at the same time, to start slowly and adopt a few at a time.  Listed below is the abbreviated list. You can see the full description of each item on the OP.

1. Wake up early
2. Go to bed early
3. Evening Preparations
4. Institute meal-planning
5. Do one complete load of laundry a day
6. Do all dishes before bed
7. Daily 5-minute cleaning of bathrooms
8. Tidy Up
9. Incorporate a bedtime routine
10. Don't agree immediately to new requests

Okay, at first glance all of these look do-able, except maybe the load of laundry a day part.  I thought, 'I got this! Gimme ten, baby!'  But I gotta tell you, I failed. I failed miserably.  These may look like insignificant tasks, but to an unmedicated ADD sufferer like myself, these are, well, significant! 

I'll just go down the list. Waking/go to be early I did three of the 6 days. One was on purpose, the other two was because I had to go to work and it actually does make for a less stressful morning to get up early.

Eek. Evening prep and meal planning was a straight up no-go. My evening prep entailed thinking about what I had to do the next day. And meal planning? Well, I made sure I got enough groceries for meals for two weeks but as far as saying, "Tuesday, we're having meatloaf,"....nope. It's something about the structure of it. I feel trapped by meal planning. I like to be surprised by dinner not know two weeks in advance what I'll be eating every single day. I'm just spontaneous like that. ;)

While I knew from day 1 that daily laundry wasn't going to happen, I did make an effort to have all the dishes done before bed. Yes, it's frustrating when I'm tired and just want to plop down with a book, but the payoff is big the next day.


For the last four items on the list, the only one that I really made an effort to change was #8 - Tidy Up. In fact, the OP uses the old adage, "A place for everything, and everything in its place." Well, firstly, none of my crap has its own place. Secondly, it's like a mom overheard at the zoo last week said, "Cleaning the house while the kids are home is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos."  Right?! Man, I wish I could give that woman credit, wherever she is, because that is the truest. statement. EVER! But it's hard to stay mad at these little darlings for long...

So while I worked on the daily habits, I also worked on some organization. I cleaned out my junk drawer (we all have one, admit it), created dedicated kids' stations in the hall storage cabinets such as an art cabinet, reading cabinet, and loose toy cabinet (no more eyesore toy bag in the living room!). I also bought a bin and hanging files for storing the kids' artwork from school. You can find the inspiration for that, as well as free printables, HERE.

 10 Habits of a Well-Run Home, yep, I bet if any woman were able to adopt all ten habits, then hell yeah it would be a "well-run home" but quite frankly, for this recovering ADD mom, I failed miserably. If I'm being really honest here, I hesitated to submit this entry because the fault of said failure lies with the author, not the OP. 

Bottom Line:  I think any 10 habits that you find makes your home run better, if done routinely as suggested, is worth the time. Just find what works for you and your family and stick with them. ;)

How to Decorate Your Mantel - As Seen on Pinterest

Hello, friends.  How do you like my new digs? I've spent the last several days trying to spruce up the place.  After much Googling, I found a few sites that helped me with the remodel.  You can find the designs I used here and here. Gotta take care of those credits, folks. There'll be NO plagiarism up in here!

So in keeping with the remodeling theme, I decided to highlight one of my most recent Pinterest-inspired decor ideas. While I've seen a million of them there, this one was fairly simple and cheap - it cost me literally nothing! Even better!

First, I want to introduce you to a term my dear friend Jennifer introduced to me: Refluff. It's where you take stuff you currently have in your house and find new places for it to make it work and give different spaces mini-makeovers. Apparently there are people you can pay to do this for you and after some more Googling (I <3 Googling, can you tell?), alas I did not find any of these services to link up here for you.  But this is the theory behind the Pin I will mention today.

Project 1:  How to Decorate Your Mantel

We've all seen 'em.  You walk into someone's house and think, wow, that mantel looks nice! You can't quite put your finger on what sets it apart from the average joe mantel and makes it look professional. Well, this Pin explains it and provides a lovely diagram! 


Looks simple right?  The OP's website goes into detail about the visual elements and techniques involved and why they work.  But I won't go into all that here.

Here are the results. And yes, the little monkey girl in the corner is my pretty girl, Mia. She just loves a good photo op!

Again, I didn't go buy anything for this project, I just used what was already on the mantel and few other things that were stuffed under my bed. See? Glad I kept them! ;)  My problem with mantels, and really a lot of other similar spaces, is that I always tend to make the space symmetrical and end up with a "bookend" effect.  And I certainly woudn't have thought of layering items. The only thing I'm not 100% satisfied with is the "visual height" piece on the right. I would like something a little taller, but that would've involved a trip to Hobby Lobby. Here's a close-up photo:

  It might not look exactly professional, but I think it's a vast improvement.  Although when I asked hubby what he thought of the changes, not telling him exactly what the changes were, he said, "Everything looks the same to me." 

Eh, oh well.  Can't win 'em all.

~Craft on!

Editor's note:  Next week I will start a week-long series on an OP called "10 Habits for a Well-Run Home".  I will check in throughout the week with progress and give a full run-down at the end of the week. Stay tuned!

Pardon Me....

....while I put my face on. That's what my Meenie would say when she went to put on her make-up. In other words, I'm trying to dress this place up but I don't know what I'm doing so it's gonna be ugly 'round here for a while.

Thanks for stopping in!

New Direction

Hey folks. It's me. Your long-lost ADD, mom-in-angst, crazy, impulsive, grieving, (let's see what other titles have I inadvertantly given myself?), scatter-brained, overweight girl next door.  I've spent the last several months telling my stories and describing the person I've become.  And while some days I don't think I could have survived the day without jotting down my thoughts, I'm pretty sure I've exhausted the "self-discovery" portion of this blog. So....on to bigger and better things! 


     Well, over the past few months I've been Pinning my little heart out and slowly but surely I have actually done a few of them!  Some of them have gone smoothly and turned out more or less like the professionally staged/photographed example. And then others that started off with, "Hey, that looks easy. I could do that," have gone horribly awry. So I'm going to document my progress here.
     Okay, the only setback to this is that I have decided this retrospectively.  Translation: I already did 'em and didn't take pictures. So I will have to just recall the process for these and post pics of the finished products. From now on, though, I SWEAR (puts hand over heart) that I will include pictures of the process as well as finished products. Good.

      With summer free time, I've managed to complete a few from my wish list. This being one of them:

It's hard to tell from this sub-par photo, but this is book paper decoupaged onto a canvas. Here is the inspiration for this project. But, aside from the wording variation, I also used a few different techniques.

Here are the steps:

1. First I decoupaged old book pages onto a bargain canvas (seriously, if you ever find an ugly old painting some high schooler has done and now is being shamelessly sold in a garage sale by his mom for dirt cheap, swipe it. You neeever know when it will come in handy.)  Here's the first variance from the original pin. She suggested hot glueing the pages "for texture" but I wanted a more finished product. And plus, I'm somewhat of a modpodge wiz.

2. Next, on a regular piece of printer paper, I did a rough draft of how I wanted to letters to look. I went for the irregular pattern associated with subway art. The original pin had both right and left aligned text, which were also pretty cool. 

3. Then I roughly measured the height of my letters, accounted for spacing, and used a ruler to draw lines across with pencil (make sure it's with pencil so you can erase any lines that show up where your letters are) to make sure my letters were nice and level. Nothing makes a project look amateur like wonky lettering.

4. Then I just started plugging away, placing letters to form the text. I used the same vinyl letters recommended in the tutorial and was really happy with them since you can reposition them to get them just right. You may find you don't enough letters to do the entire project. At which point you have two options: go buy more letters or paint over the letters in parts (which is what I did b/c I'm cheap and lazy like that).

5. Now for the paint. The tutorial called for spray painting. Hmmm....while this is a good option if you have no notion how to use a paint brush or just don't want to mess with it, but again, I wanted a more finished looking product and I already had the paint I needed. I used cheap acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby. Before you paint, recheck that all edges of your letters are firmly pressed down so you will have clean lines. Then just start painting. It will probably take two coats. On my second coat I added a little tan colored paint and faded in here and there so it was so stinkin' purple and to give it texture. Repeat process until entire canvas is covered.

Tip: If you are doing your lettering in parts, as mentioned earlier, make sure you don't paint over the areas where you will place subsequent letters. Trust me, I did it. I was erked. To fix it, I just decoupaged a piece of paper back over the spot.

6. Remove letters. Easy.

7. Lastly, I added a few doo-dads. I wanted a few fillers to give detail. So I used the same tan acrylic paint I used earlier. To do this, just look at your piece and decide if any area just feels like it's missing something. If not, leave 'er alone.

I should mention, you can use just about any flat piece of wood or metal for this project, as pictured below.  As long as it can hang on a wall, use it. Hate that metal sign you got for your wedding shower?  Repurpose that sucker. If it doesn't have hangers, use this tutorial.

Using the same technique as the other sign, I made this ironic little sign to fill the space between the commode and my cabinet. I giggle every time I "go".

Stick a fork in it, you're done!  Really it was pretty simple. I didn't stray too far from the original but mine is a good example of how two people can have totally different outcomes using the same tutorial.  Mine is now hanging nicely in the hall bathroom and I enjoy seeing things I've made around the house. I take so much more pride in them than something I've bought in a store. Hope this inspires you to create your own variation!  Craft on!

Week 2: Homemade Laundry Soap

To continue with my new series that I like to call "Crap I've Tried From Pinterest", one of my other most recent Pinterest Projects (PP's) included making my own laundry soap.  First and foremost, to give credit where credit is due, here is the link to the original pin (OP).  Okay, now that that's out of the way, here is my disclaimer: This involves a 24-hour process!  Not a constant, gotta-stop-everything-for-a-whole-stinkin'-day kind of project, but still, you gotta be available (and have the follow-through, which I often lack) to finish this process the following day.

Like the OP, I was skeptical of homemade soap. One, is it worth the trouble? And, two, will something I cook up in my kitchen gonna clean as good as or better than the lab-tested, chemically-enhanced, big-corporation variety?  You'll learn the answer to the former soon enough. As for the latter, the answer is quite simple: YES!

Here's what you'll need:
5 Gallon Bucket
1 bar Fels Naptha soap
1 box Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda, NOT baking soda, BIG diff.
1 box Borax
Clean milk jugs, juice containers, or other large plastic bottles - enough for 10 gallons
"essential oil" or the new fragrance enhancers that you can add to your washing machine

* I found the soap and two boxes at Wal-Mart in the detergent dept next to the dye. If you aren't fortunate enough to have a Wally World nearby, the OP has links to places you can buy these online.

Now, in my previous entry, I deviated quite a bit from the OP.  This time around, however, I followed the instructions step by step, so I won't create double work by retelling them all here. Just simply follow the link in the first paragraph for the step-by-step instructions. :) K, thanks!


The ONLY thing I did differently was that I opted out  of the "optional" essential oil.  Something about adding oil, however small the amount, kind of scared me a little.  Coincidentally, I had just bought Gain's new 'In-wash scent booster' in the 'fireworks' scent, which you just sprinkle desired amount into the machine at the start of the wash. But really, the soap is, well, very clean and soapy smelling and if you use a decent dryer sheet, you shouldn't need additional fragrance.

I also kept my last bottle of store-bought detergent to use as a handy dispenser. You can use a measuring cup to dispense from milk or juice containers if you no longer have one or already recycled it.

Here's the final product! As you can see, it has separated significantly, but a couple of shakes and it's of normal consistency, as shown below.

I tried to capture the pretty little swirls that were created when I poured it into the cap.  Hopefully I will be getting a shiny new camera soon that is much more advanced than my poor little point-and-shoot.  ;)  But as you can see, it doesn't stay in that blobby state, once shaken.

Additional Notes:

1. After some extensive Googling, I decided that this mixture is safe for HE washers if you use LESS of it, but please feel free to make your own judgement there. I don't want to be responsible for ruining your machine.

2. My parents live out in the sticks and use water from a well. Peg recalled having tried this recipe and thought it didn't work very well, but blamed it on the poor water quality. Again, you can make your own decisions there.

Final Thoughts:

My husband is one of the biggest laundry snobs around, if there is such a thing, and was extremely skeptical, but after using a beach towel washed with this soap, letting it air-dry, and using it again, it still had that clean laundry smell! Thus, he's a believer! 

All in all, it wasn't that difficult to make and I'm pretty sure I will have laundry soap readily available for the next year!  I have already given a couple away as thank you's. 

I can even see how this could be a school or youth group project as a lesson on serving others and the community!  Have the kids get involved by bringing containers and preparing the soap, then delivering to friends, neighbors, families in need or churches with outreach programs.  It's not something you might think of as a need, but the money families save on detergent could be spent on much-needed food or diapers. Every little bit helps!

Bottom line:  Works great and WORTH THE TROUBLE!!!

~Craft On!!

Significance of Vanity

After an eight-year quest, I finally found a makeup vanity table at a garage sale that would fit well in my closet. It's perfect! It has a lovely bench, a small drawer in the center, the correct height, and perfect for completely overhauling with gaudy paint and decoupage as I like to do. I've always wanted a vanity of my own, and not just for the fact that I will have somewhere to sit when I put on makeup.
    I don't have many memories of my mom, sadly. I was young when she passed and the things I do remember are trivial and small. I've always mourned the lack of memories as well the lack of her. But one thing I do remember is that she sat in our bathroom's vanity table with a lighted mirror to put on her makeup. She had an old wooden chair with a paisley blue cushion on it, with a drawer in the center full of makeup. I used to watch her put on makeup and fix her hair the way all girls watch their moms. Turns out my daughter is no different.
     After getting my makeup in place at my new vanity table, I perched on my new/old pretty bench and assumed the position for prime makeup-putting-on-ing.  Mid-powdering, I hear tiny footsteps behind me. It took all of three seconds for Mia to make herself at home on my already-crowded stool. But she was so darn cute sitting there with my eyeshadow brush, pretending to put on makeup, and looking up at me as daughters do, just happy to be like Mommy. And it donned on me that this is it. She's making the memories with me that I made with my mom. This is her childhood as she will remember it. But, God-willing, she will be able to make so many more memories in the years to come.
     This got me thinking about all the memories that I never had with my mom. So many. Too few. It's not fair. I know I tell my son that saying "it's not fair" is not allowed, but seriously. It's. Not. Fair. I never got to tell my mom about my first boyfriend or go shopping for prom dresses. I never had "the talk" or the other talk about periods and womanhood. She wasn't there for my graduation. I will never have the memory of her holding my kids as a proud grandma. It's. Not. Fair.
     But, I did have the uncomparable experience of having a second mom, Peg. She was there for all the things that my mom couldn't. And my memories are of Peg orchestrating the talks, trials, and triumphs of typical teenager drama. She was there for both of my babies. She was there for my return from Iraq. She was there.
     What will I be there for with Mia? I can't wait to have all the mother/daughter memories. Baking cookies, playing dress-up with her dollies, crying over a broken heart, shopping, long talks, traditions, dances, proms, birthdays, college dorms, buying a wedding dress. I'm sad because I don't have the priveledge of remembering these events with my mom. But I'm so thrilled that I get to do them with Mia. And they all started with a garage sale vanity table.