recipe: crockpot lasagna soup

it's been hard for me lately to share recipes..

i've tried to have everything we eat follow along the lines of clean eating

as well as being gluten free.

neither of which is a particularly easy task.

planning our meals takes up much more time than it used to..

and coming up with clean & gluten free alternatives is somewhat exhausting..

especially for someone like me who doesn't particularly care for the food planning bit as it is.

but i've managed to keep us pretty close on the clean eating..

learning what to avoid & how to replace..

some meals you just have to know what to substitute..

and then sometimes..

i just gotta say..

this is as good as i can get..

take this lasagna soup.

SOO good,  by the way.

here's a link to the original..from 'a farmgirl's dabbles' 

and then below i've shown the changes i made.

Lasagna Soup:

adapted from a farmgirl's dabbles

(*my adjustments)

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
*1 lb of turkey sausage

*1 onion, cut into slivers

4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 T. tomato paste
*1 28-oz. can organic crushed tomatoes

2 bay leaves
*4c. organic low-sodium chicken stock

*2c. water
*2c. tinkyada brown rice fusilli pasta (gluten free)

*4T. dried basil
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
*8 oz. skim-milk ricotta
*1/4 tsp. garlic salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes.

2. Add garlic, oregano. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

3. While the above is cooking, add crushed tomato, bay leaves, chicken stock, basil & water to crockpot. Stir to combine. Simmer in crockpot for 2-4 hours.

4. Right before serving, boil pasta according to package directions & add to crockpot.

5. For the cheesy yum, combine ingredients & serve dollop on top of soup, sprinkle with small amount of mozzarella.

like i said this soup was mmm, GOOD!

good enough to eat two nights in a row.

and the gluten free pasta, in case you are curious..

is GOOD.

you can't even tell the difference.

honest.

and truth be told.. it probably held up better the second night than regular pasta would have.

xo-k

project life: more free printables

i am BEYOND excited....

i FINALLY have my project life design A page protectors in hand!!!!

i was a mad woman last friday when they hit amazon..

i was out running errands

 & every time i got back in the car i check amazon via my smart phone to see if they were back in stock..

they hit the shelves & i hurried to make my purchase at about 1:30 while sitting in the parking lot of sam's!

i'm pretty leery of using my phone to make purchases, credit card protection & all that jazz..

but you know.. sometimes you gotta have priorities..

and mine was getting those suckers in my hands!! :)

so they came this friday..

along with a binder & some journaling cards..

i've put together the first two weeks prior..

and now they are snuggled safely in their little pockets..

i'm hoping to get all caught up now that i'm inspired

& have a place to stick the finished product! :)

i've massed quite a collection of free journaling cards,

and thought it was time for another mass link up.

hope you enjoy!

(please follow the links to the respective owners to download!)

so greatful for these techie ladies helping out those of us less talented!! :)



facebook journaling card via wild blueberry ink

the week of 4x6 journaling card via ps. please send chocolate

Oh what a week via creativity prompt

just write via creativity prompt

journal between the stitches via creativity prompt

story journaling cards via creativity prompt

days of the week via creativity prompt

journaling cards with label via kayla aimee

who? what? where? journaling cards via creativity prompt

quote cards via smiling colors

journaling cards via splendidly imperfect miss m

hope to update the blog soon with all my project life goodness! :)

are you doing project life?

if you are i'd love to see your pages.. do you post them on your blog?

link up in the comments so i can come visit you!!! :)

xo-k

books: death benefits. at the sign of the sugarplum. uneasy spirits.

i have a love/hate relationship with book series.
part of me loves that the stories get to go on & on...
and part of me gets irked because i get through the books & then have to WAIT on the next book.
boo.
right now i'm waiting on four series to come out with their next book...

sookie stackhouse #12
black dagger brotherhood #10
southern fraud thriller #3
victorian san francisco mystery #3

and i'm in the middle of another four series...

lords of the underworld series
sister to sister series
brights pond series
sign of the sugarplum series

i promise that my blog will one day be more than books & boring.
until then.. i'm going to keep chugging along, in the hopes that maybe someone is interested :)

these are the last three books i've read..

death benefits: southern fraud series

If you, like me, grew up loving 'Murder She Wrote'.. or are currently one of thousands obsessed with the onslaught of CSI type shows, this is for you!

This is a great series. The second book picks up shortly where the first left off, but it can certainly stand alone. Julia Jackson is an agent for the Georgia Department of Insurance. She investigates insurance claims before payment can be made to beneficiaries... sounds boring right? It is SO not boring. In this installment Julia & her partner Mark Vincent set out to investigate a mysterious car fire, where the occupant has been burned to a crisp.. and before the body can be identified, his widow has a call in to collect on his death benefits..... And that's just the beginning. Death Benefits is a good ol' who-dun-it that will have you turning pages, while you try and sort out the cues for yourself.

Like I said.. if you are addicted to Law & Order, CSI, NCIS & the like.. this ones for you! 

at the sign of the sugarplum

Hannah is a young girl from the country, ready to live it up in the big city. The city is London & the year is 1665. Hannah doesn't know it yet, but her time in the big city is going to be filled with misery, because the plague has just begun claiming victims.

I can't say I know too much about the plague, and I'm sure that the authors descriptions although sometimes graphic, were no where near as horrible as the sights people of that era actually witness. I found the book one part education & one part entertainment.

I think this is a young readers book, but I found I enjoyed it just the same. Would recommend to anyone willing to give historical fiction a chance... just don't expect anything other than a tale of a young girl & her sister trapped in a city crumbling around them. There isn't much of a plot beyond getting out of the city alive.

uneasy spirits

I cannot begin to express how much I love this series!!

I have no particular inclination to the Victorian era.. but this series is just amazing. The language isn't so detailed that you get lost in the descriptions of the surroundings... there is just enough to make you feel like you are right there in the 1870s, walking the gas-light lit streets of San Fran.

Annie Fuller is a twenty-something year old widow. She's lived a hard life in her short years, losing her mother, then her father, and then her husband. She's made a life for herself though.. she owns a quaint little boarding house, and she gives business advice under the guise of Madam Sibyl, a fictitious clairvoyant... & it's the very thing that lands her in the middle of her next ordeal.

Annie's newest boarder enlists her help in proving the new medium in town is a fraud. Uneasy about her own charade as Madam Sibyl, she agrees & finds herself in the middle of seances where tables shake & little girls act mysteriously... but is it a hoax?

Another well written mystery series that I've thoroughly enjoy & would recommend to anyone who likes mysteries!!

let me know if you check them out...

and again.. add me on goodreads! :)

xo-k

currents: 2.22.12

eating: lunch. dannon pure yogurt. cocoa roasted almonds. sweet potato chips. apple.
drinking: water. lots & lots of water.
making: mr&mrs tags for a cousin's upcoming wedding.
thinking: life is far too short to worry about what your tattoo's will look like when you are 80.
wanting: a pedicure.
needing: dressy sandals & funky jewelry for the wedding.
loving: sweet potatoes. chips. baked. fries. can't get enough!
wondering: how long it will take for my crafty mojo to return.
anticipating: the delivery of my project life goods. should be here by the end of this week! yea!!
watching: discovery channel. i have a weird obsession with this channel + natgeo right now.
reading: finished 'at the sign of the sugarplum', 'uneasy spirits' & 'the darkest whisper' in the last few days. still reading 'farm girl' here & there.. it doesn't read like a book, it's more like snippets of life, so i put the kindle app on my phone & have been reading it when i get a few moments here & there while out.

i have a lot on my mental plate right now. worries mostly. things that make me so unproductive & retreat into books when i can't get my mind off of them. i feel soo indecisive about everything & it's making me nuts. my heart is just so heavy, i am doing my best to get through the everyday tasks.. i can't seem to get even those things done well. thankfully the kids haven't starved, and everyone has clean clothes.

kidding. sort of.

thanks for sticking through the dry spells.
xo-k

books: lords of the underworld

i've decided that there are some serious upsides to the kindle.
while i miss the heft of a book, and turning the pages...
there is totally an upside in the cover not giving me away.

... ya. the dude totally calls me out on the vampire books.
whichever ones they may be...
he knows the twilight covers..
and the sookie covers are pretty much a dead giveaway (har har. dead)
and i had to hide away the covers while reading the black dagger brotherhood.
mostly from the dude, but also from the hubs.. because he totally makes fun of me.

and ya.. i think i've sunk to an all time low.
i got the first book in this series & was like huh, okay.. it's free i'll give it a try..
it wasn't until i went back to get the second book that i noticed the (HQN) next to the titles.
HQN? i asked myself.. what the heck does that...
O M G. HARLEQUIN?! as in ROMANCE?!
yep. harlequin. as in romance.
as in those books ladies hide in the grocery aisles with, covered in pictures of steamy couples intertwined.
his long hair blowing in the wind, big poofy shirt hung open.. her draped all over him like a bad accident.
harlequin romance.
i sorta hung my head in shame when i realized it.
then i purchased the next book & said, oh well! no looking back now.

i figured diving into a harlequin romance series was only appropriate given it's february.
ya know, the month of L O V E...
so, another confession.
i am reading harlequin romance.
(why is that so embarassing?)

in truth.. i'm actually fascinated by the story line.
i know i'll likely not convince you.. but it's the truth.
i wasn't lying when i said i was kinda over vampires, and witches & the like..
but the 'lords of the underworld' while paranormal, is something totally different.
it revolves around greek mythology, something that's always fascinated me.
(i took every religion class offered at the local community college, so that says a lot right?)
anyways, with out giving too much away..

(how would i explain these covers to the dude?! i wouldn't EVER want to!!!)

there was a group of warriors who were the guardians of the greek gods a loong time ago.
a female warrior, pandora, was chosen to guard a box that contained several of the most evil demons.
yep, pandora's box, a box made from the bones of the goddess of oppression.
the male warriors (and one female) were ticked off that a female was chosen for such a task.
so in revenge, they set the demons free, to prove how unworthy she was.
they had plans to collect the demons & again imprison them..
only the box went missing during the scuffle, and as punishment, each of the warriors was forced to imprison a demon within their own body...... for all time.

like i said. pretty interesting.
if you like greek mythology.
or....ahem.. harlequin romance novels...... ya.
still so lame sounding.
oh well ;)

xo-k

ps. are you on goodreads? if so- add me! :)
pss. if it's at all redeeming, i just finished up another one in the 'southern fraud series' & am moving onto a book called 'farm girl' that's supposedly for people who liked little house on the prairie... no? oh well i tried! :)

quoting: andy warhol

via pinterest

i am my own worst enemy when it comes to creating.

i judge myself so harshly, then get discouraged & quit.

it's incredibly frustrating.

i'm a perpetual perfectionist when it comes to some things.

some things i just can't let go of.

i think there is a quote somewhere about comparison being the thief of joy.

i think it's also responsible for my dearly departed inspiration.

pinterest is good. but it is evil, as well.

when you constantly compare yourself to others..

or when your ideas get tangled up with something you saw somewhere else.

it's tragic.

so, i've tried taking a step back from the internet.

pinterest specifically.

i'm still using it for cues on clean eating..

but i've tried to withdraw from the crafting part.

the daily walks have done wonders for clearing my head of the jumble

& bringing ideas to the surface.

no music. no outside influences.

just me, the babe & nature.

i'm not trying to force anything specific.

i'm just reveling in the everyday.

how everyday something little changes about the babe

 (like how he's learned to open the doors on his own)

or how much the dude's face has matured in a few short months.

or how it's possible, with a few stolen moments, to find that tug & pull of a new relationship..

with one that's almost 12 years old.

i'm letting all those little things that we tend to push past on a daily basis..

slip into my heart & warm it.

and it's amazing how those little moments will work their magic on everything about your life.

i'm thinking project life has a whole lot to do with it all.

and i'm so grateful!

xo-k

inspiration: time lapse stitchery

is stitchery even a word?
if not, i'm claiming it is.
i've got nothing this weeks folks..
and no it's not because my nose is stuck in a book (or two, or four)

saw this today on the urban threads blog & had to share.
i love stuff like this.
makes me feel like ignoring the dishes & making something.
too bad i'm in the absorb mode & not in the output mode of creating.
ebb & flow my friends.



video from love&asandwich.

hope you have a great weekend..
i'm looking forward to a date night with the hubs.
dinner & a movie. no kids.
it's been a looong while
well, not counting the super lame-o christmas party for work he drags me to every year, and i'm NOT counting it.
i'm still debating wether i want to torture him with a chick flick (one for the money) or indulge in some vampire (underworld: awakening)
time will tell! :)

xo-k