Monday, January 25, 2010

On hiatus

I won't be blogging for the next week.  I have to spend every moment I have studying for my boards.  I take them next Wednesday.  I have been taking pictures every day so as soon as my boards are done I will do my project life posts. 

Next time I post, I will hopefully be Eva RN!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Green and White Lasagna

This is the best vegetarian lasagna I have ever had....ever.  You can even use red sauce if you prefer that.  Trust me though, this is killer.  This recipe is from a vegetarian cookbook called 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles.

Green & White Lasagna

Ingredients:

Basil Cream Sauce
3Tbs butter or margarine
3Tbs all purpose flour
3C milk
1/2 C chopped fresh basil
1/2C grated parmesan cheese
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4Tsp salt

Filling:
1/3C pine nuts
Two 10oz pkgs frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
15oz ricotta cheese
2C shredded mozzerella
1 1/2C shredded fontina cheese
3/4C grated parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/4Tsp freshly ground pepper

12 Lasagna Noodles

Directions:

Make the basil cream sauce:  In 2Qt saucepan, melt butter or margarine over medium heat.  Stir in flour until absorbed.  Add the milk; cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and has thickened.  Remove from heat; stir in basil, 1/2C parmesan, garlic, and salt.  Place plastic wrap on surface of sauce and set aside.

Make the filling: Cook pine nuts over low heat in a dry, small skillet until all the nuts are at least partially browned.  Then chop.  Place chopped pine nuts in a large bowl.  Add the spinach, ricotta, 1/2C mozzerealla, fontina, 3/4C parmesan, beaten egg, and pepper.  Stir to combine and set aside.

Cook noodles according to package.

Preheat oven to 375

To assemble:
Thinly spread 1 cup of basil cream sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Place 4 of the cooked noodles over top of the sauce.  Spread half of the ricotta filling over the noodles.  Spread 1/2 of the remaining basil cream sauce over the filling.  Top with 4 more noodles, spread the rest of the ricotta filling.  Top with remaining noodles and spread the remaining basil cream sauce over the noodles.  Bake for 30 min.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzerella and bake 20 minutes longer.  Remove from the oven and let stand 15 minutes before cutting into squares.

On a side note:  I added sautee'd mushrooms and about a cup more of pine nuts.

If you make this, let me know what you think!




Thursday, January 21, 2010

Desperate for Muffins!

Monday night I made Orange Blueberry Muffins.  You can find that and many other wonderful recipes on the Baking Bites blog.  This is a food blog that I literally check out every day and have tried many of the recipes.

We won't talk about how I let Mackenzie lick the spoon or how we had the worst time getting her to go to sleep after we let her do it. 

What I will tell you is that the next morning this kid did not want to get out of bed.  I mentioned numerous things to get her out of bed Tuesday morning.  We had a play date scheduled.  I asked if she wanted to go to the Children's Museum, no response.  I asked if she wanted to play with her friend, no response.  I said it was time to wake up, no response.  However when I asked if she wanted a muffin......her eyes popped open.  She ate TWO muffins for breakfast.  It's hard just getting her to eat one thing, let alone two.  She proceeded to eat two more later in the day.

Do you think my kid likes muffins?  I would love to have more recipes for easy to make muffins!!

Please share a muffin recipe and post in in the comments section.  I highly recommend the orange blueberry muffins, they were quite tasty.  

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Friday, January 15, 2010

Friday Fun



I love this video. You would never guess that she was sick. And, that is the guitar that Santa brought her for Christmas.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Project Life Tuesday: Jan 12th-18th

**I just spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out why the date of this post said the 14th and not the 19th. I finally realized that the 14th is when I started this post but had not published it yet. Apparently blogger doesn't use the date that the post is published. Good to know for next time.


Time for another round of Project Life pictures! This time, none were taken with the cell phone!


Jan 12: Still have a sick little girl. She was so tired during the day from not sleeping well through the night. Poor sweetie.


Jan 13: Feeling a little better but not 100%. We decided to make a cake! See my "krazy kake" post to read about that adventure.



Jan 14: Learning to multitask! Go Kenzie go! She was rocking her baby and pretending to talk on the phone to Maemaw and Granddad.


Jan 15: Finally feeling good enough to go back to daycare. This particular day she had to have that 3rd non-matching barrette (we call them hair pretties) in her hair. I just hope her daddy remembered to take it out before taking her into daycare!




Jan 16: My day was spent studying for nursing boards! Coming up Feb 3rd!


Jan 17: Playing blocks with daddy is so much fun. She loves to build them up and then knock them down. What kid doesn't!



Jan 18: The weather was nice for a change. Almost 60 degrees which was warm compared to the 45 degree weather we were having. We spent the day out and about. Went to the bakery, walked around town, played outside, and the most fun of all was our walk through the neighborhood. Kenzie rode in her wagon for the first time. Nope, didn't get a picture of that one. Oops.


Can't wait to see what this next week brings us! I love this project and how it gets me to reflect on what we did over the last week.


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Krazy Kake!

So we tried this recipe called Krazy Kake that I found on the Amazing Moms website. It is supposed to be easy for kids to help make. Kenzie loved making it! There are no eggs in this cake. Here is the recipe. I will tell you that I was stupid and did not grease the pan. I ALWAYS grease the pan. I don't know if I didn't because it was stated in the directions or if I just had a brain fart. Needless to say, when the cake was "done" (you'll see why I used quotations momentarily) and I did the whole plate ontop of pan and flip thing, the WHOLE thing came apart and the inside was a gooey mess. Nice. Not only did I check the cake, (and the toothpick came out clean) it also cooked for 10 minutes longer than the directions. It still tastes good though!! Kenzie loved helping me. I measured and she poured. Please don't mind the mess in the background. We both have been a little under the weather. That said, we aren't sharing the cake!



The following "finished" picture is before I attempted to flip it on to the plate.



I don't think I will ever forget to grease a pan! If you have a toddler and they like to help you, try making this with them. It's easy and it tastes great! It doesn't need anything to top it. Though, I will be having my piece with a scoop of java chip frappaccino ice cream. :)





Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Project Life Tuesday

At the last minute I have decided to jump on the train for the 2010 Project Life. I just tried to order the kit but it is unavailable due to the fact that " we are in the process of transferring our inventory to Amazon to continue sales & fulfillment there."

This is an awesome way to document your entire year! You take a picture every day and put it in the album that the kit comes with. It comes with EVERYTHING you need. No need to try and come up with a page layout for every day like you would if you were just doing a regular scrapbook. Though I do love to do that. this kit is perfect for those that don't scrapbook or think it's too time consuming or expensive. The total kit is $40. Like I said it comes with EVERYTHING! The album, paper, journal cards, storage components, a date stamper, and other things that I am sure I have left out. Check out the site here: www.beckyhiggins.com

I am participating in Jessica Turner's Project Life Tuesday postings. Click here to view her blog and the other blogs that are participating!

Here is what I have to start the project. The quality of these pictures is not the best as they were taken with my cell phone. Rest assured that the rest of my posts will include non-cell phone pictures!

Let's ring in the new year with some bubbly! Happy New Year! We made a toast to friends and family. Let's make 2010 a kickin year filled with new beginnings!


Playing dress up with the princess gowns she received for Christmas. The crown is from her first birthday. It's just now starting to fit!




Princesses dig in their toes too Mackenzie, it's ok.


I'm gonna get you mommy! She loves running around playing chase. This time she wanted to put on gloves and act like she was a monster.


Mackenzie is not feeling very good. A cough and a fever. Just wants to lay low and watch her favorite movies. These include Cars, The Wiggles, Tinkerbell, and Shrek.



Mommy can always make Kenzie feel a little better with some good snuggles and kisses.



2010 is starting out to be a great learning year for Kenzie. Look at her mad coloring skills. Not just lines anymore. She's getting down and dirty with her coloring.


I hope you will consider participating in Project Life. What a great way to document your year!

Friday, January 8, 2010

So excited about a new hobby!

I love to scrapbook. Love it. Shhh don't tell anyone but I am far behind on my scrapbooks. Mackenzie will be 3 in April and I have yet to finish her first year! Nursing school will do that to you! As soon as I am done with my state boards (now scheduled for February 3rd, 2010) I will pick that back up.

I came across a new hobby that involves canvas, paper, and modge podge. I have never used modge podge before so I was a bit intimidated. Here is why I am excited for this hobby, my walls in my house are BARE and WHITE, well except for the kitchen which is red. It was like that when we moved in and I love red. Apparently you can cover canvas with paper! I had no clue! I have been wanting to get canvas photo prints but they are too expensive. I tried to get a free one from The Canvas People that Jessica Turner mentioned on her blog. For some reason, their site would not accept my payment. Plenty of $$ in the account but it wouldn't go through. I tell you I tried a gazillion times. Double checked the card number and exp date every time. I just figured it was not meant to be.

I have done 3 canvases thus far. Two 6x6 and one 10x10. The first one turned out, eh. The second one I LOVE. The third is for Mackenzie's room and I love it too. Wish I would have embellished the purple with some sparkles though. Next one.

So basically what I learned was you wrap the canvas like a present pretty much. On the first one I put modge podge over the whole thing. With that comes lots of wrinkles which are hard to smooth out as the middle of the canvas is not a firm surface.

Here is the first one which I still need to coat with modge podge to seal it. That stuff is awesome. It does everything!


The second one, I put the modge podge just on the edges as I was going along and, no wrinkles! I love this one. I sealed this one with modge podge.


The third one, I attemped to do a larger one so I did modge podge the front of the canvas before applying the paper. Only because I knew other layers were going on it and would hide those. I found these Tinkerbell chipboard pieces at Ben Franklin and since we are doing a Tinkerbell theme for her room I thought they would be perfect. Yep, we are finally going to decorate her room. We never have but we did move so there was no point in doing it before. I plan to hang it with ribbon.


Now I could not find anything online on better ways to do this. Our local Ben Franklin has so many on display that look amazing. You can also cover them with wrapping paper! What a cool way to decorate your home! Canvases come in all different sizes which is awesome.

What I did find online is that you can cover them with fabric too! It looks so much easier and more elegant. I will be trying that next as I want 4 square canvases 10x10 each above my bed in coordating patterns. All you need for that is the canvas, fabric, and a staple gun! There is a lot online about covering in fabric but not paper.

I will let you know how the fabric ones turn out!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Shall we catch up?

Where do I begin? So many things have happened since the last time I posted. And, in that post I talked about my upcoming (now past) graduation from nursing school.

I can finally say......

I DID IT!

Yep, I graduated from the longest and most hated 2 years of my life. I'm not going to lie, it was hard to get through nursing school. I wanted to quit so many times. Boy am I glad I didn't. I am so thankful to so many people for helping me succeed. You know who you are. I have the best friends anyone could ask for and I made new ones along the way. One of the most important things a nursing student needs is support from family and friends. We need a shoulder to cry on when we don't pass an exam or just don't get cardiac rhythms. So, if you are friends with a nursing student I want you to give them a BIG hug the next time you see them. No doubt they are worrying about some part of school.

The graduation ceremony was nice. It's not your typical cap and gown graduation ceremony. It's called a candle lighting ceremony. I took my nursing oath and held a lantern with a flickering battery powered tealight. We do this in honor of Florence Nightengale "the lady with the lamp" who tended to the wounded during the Crimean War. We also receive our nursing pin. Matt and Mackenzie came up on stage to do that honor. Mackenzie brought up a bouquet of flowers and while doing so said "mommy look what I brought for you." That girl is just too sweet (with some help from Mimi and Papa!). Here are some of the pictures from the ceremony.

Taking my oath

Loving on my beautiful daughter after Matt pinned me.

Movie star kiss (we are both so happy I'm done!)



Even though I have graduated from that hellish program, I am not yet an RN. I am currently awaiting a test date to take my state boards. Once I have that license I will be set to work! Can I get a "woot woot!" I'm still looking for jobs to apply for and am hoping that I can get on at a surgery center. If not, I will most likely be at one of the local hospitals doing medical-surgical nursing (basically floor nursing).

What else has happened? My parents were here for my graduation as well so that was a VERY big highlight to the year. They live on the East Coast so as you can guess, we don't get to see them very much. Mackenzie loved having them here. We went to Leavenworth for the town lighting. Here are some of those pictures. Mostly we played wii though.


One of the prettiest set of Christmas lights in Leavenworth


My parents and I in Leavenworth



Christmas! I love the holiday season. It's the most wonderful time of the year! I was hoping for snow but that wish didn't get fulfilled. It was still wonderful without it. Mackenzie refused to go see Santa. Well she wanted to up until she heard Santa being very loud in Leavenworth and he scared her. We couldn't even see him we were so far away but that mic was way loud. She was crying crocodile tears she was so scared. See...

Then she saw a picture of her friend Ella snuggling with Santa and she said "I wanna go see Santa and tell him I want a present." But that day she refused to leave the house. Ironic? I had been asking her all month what she wanted for Christmas and all she would say is "present." 2 days before Christmas she tells me she wants a guitar. SERIOUSLY KID? I told her she would have to go see Santa and tell him, she refused. So I "called" Santa and told him for her. All she says now is that he scares her because he's loud. Maybe next year. Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Checking out what Santa brought. Looks like he took my advice and brought her a guitar. It was the first thing she grabbed!



I took Mackenzie to church for the first time last Sunday. Church attendance is one of my resolutions for 2010. I can count on one hand how many times I have gone over the last 10 years. Seriously. But I'm back at it and going to a church I love with some great friends. Mackenzie really loved going. To be honest, I was kind of dreading it. I thought for sure she would not want to go into the 2 year old nursery, eventhough she told me every time I talked to her about it that she wanted to go. To my surprise, she went right in with no hesitation. They give you a number when you drop your child off. I just knew my number would pop up on the screen during the service. A few times I got lost in the moment and then worried that they needed me and I missed my number. I happened to look at my phone and noticed I had a picture message from my friend Sarah. It said "look who I found" and it was a picture of Mackenzie and her daughter Olivia playing in the nursery.

Do you know how relieved I was? This is how God works. I needed to hear the message that day, God knew that, He took care of me and Mackenzie. Thank you again Sarah for helping my worries!

And in closing, I found a new hobby. I will post about that tomorrow! The other BIG thing that happened since my last post.....I OFFICIALLY LEFT MY 20'S. Yep, I'm 30. But I have never loved life more.

Matt brought home a cookies and cream ice cream cake. Can you tell I was surprised....I knew he was bringing one I just didn't know he and our guests were going to go all out with candles and singing. It was awesome.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Matt surprised me with a trip to Vegas as a birthday/graduation present. I had never been before. That will be a different post!

Thank you for reading this REALLY long update. I promise to be better about updating this thing. Show me some love and leave a comment!