Because Ria requested it (and I askeered of what might happen if I don't).
From Taste of Home's Simple and Delicious
Claims to be $1.06 per serving! Gotta love that!
1 lb ground beef
1 26-oz jar roasted garlic Parmesan spaghetti sauce
1 egg
1 8-oz 4% cottage cheese
1 8-oz carton French onion dip
1 25.6-oz jar Italian sausage and garlic spaghetti sauce
12 no-cook lasagne noodles
3 cups (12 oz) shredded (part-skim) mozzarella cheese
1. Cook beef over medium hear until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the roasted garlic Parmesan spaghetti sauce. Combine the egg, cottage cheese, and onion dip.
2. Spread 1 cup Italian sausage and garlic spaghetti into a greased 13 x 9 baking dish. Top with four noodles. Layer with half of the cottage cheese mixture, half of the beef mixture and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles, sauce and mozzarella cheese.
3. Cover and bake at 375º for 50 minutes. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.
Variations: I used beef spaghetti sauce instead of Italian sausage sauce, because I don't eat pork. And because I somehow made it home without the mozzarella cheese (although it's checked off on my market order??), I used different cheese, but it still tasted VERY good.
I also might use SLIGHTLY less sauce next time, or just a different 13X9 dish since I had a bit of sauce spill out onto the bottom of my oven.
10 February 2010
08 February 2010
Snow Shovelling Scorecard
As I mentioned in my last post, much of yesterday's entertainment came in the form of watching people attempt to clean off their car and shovel out of their parking space. I would relay the play-by-play to Ria, who would then assess (or take away) points based on technique, creativity, use (or not) of equipment, etc.
Mind, it wasn't our intention to set out to play this all day, but it all kicked off when I watched The Most Epic Fail EVER in digging out and reported the efforts to Ria. She then scored said efforts, and the game was born.
Here, I present to you, the final results for your entertainment. Alternately, so you, like my mom can roll your eyes and wonder just how bored Ria and I were yesterday (or, as Mom said, "Ria must have been REALLY bored since she didn't actually get to SEE any of this.").
The Asshat:
WINNERS: Nice Neighbours
LOSER: Asshat
Mind, it wasn't our intention to set out to play this all day, but it all kicked off when I watched The Most Epic Fail EVER in digging out and reported the efforts to Ria. She then scored said efforts, and the game was born.
Here, I present to you, the final results for your entertainment. Alternately, so you, like my mom can roll your eyes and wonder just how bored Ria and I were yesterday (or, as Mom said, "Ria must have been REALLY bored since she didn't actually get to SEE any of this.").
The Asshat:
- -5: no shovel
- -10: use of tire iron in lieu of shovel
- -5: use of too little kitty litter (one handful in front of each tire)
- -5: not backing car up even though there was ample room
- -10: not clearing snow from top of car
- Total Score: -35
- +5: Shovelling snow (unlike Asshat)
- -3: Tech (not clearing snow from top of car or hood)
- +2: Creativity (use of something that looked suspiciously like cafeteria tray to shovel snow)
- +2: Tech (going back to clear snow from top of car and hood)
- Total Score: +6
- -3: Loaning shovel to Caf Boy (thus taking away entertainment value from Ria and me)
- +15: Taking Asshat's parking spot (they didn't leave, just cleaning car pre-emptively)
- -5: Clearing other parking spot out of goodness of their heart (again, robbing us of entertainment)
- Total score: +7
- +5: Amusing irony (for taking spot Nice Neighbour's cleared away and not being Asshat)
- Total Score: +5
- -10: Lack of chivalry (the guy swept snow from car while woman shovelled)
- -5: Letting guy make her do all the shovelling
- +5: Thoroughly cleaning car off
- -3: Shovelling technique (piled all snow on plow pile then shoved snow onto street)
- Total Score: -13
- +5: Starting car as soon as he started cleaning
- -3: Turning car off too early
- -5: Improper use of equipment (using hands to clear snow from windshield/hood)
- -5: Improper use of equipment (using ice scraper to clear snow from hood, even though he had a broom)
- +5: Completely clearing snow from all surfaces of car
- +3: Sound shovelling technique
- Total Score: 0
- +5: Clearing parking spot out
- -2: Waiting so late (11:30 p.m.)
- -5: Pointlessness (moved car down the block and across the street)
- Total Score: -2
WINNERS: Nice Neighbours
LOSER: Asshat
07 February 2010
Ten Things I've Learned Recently
- If you're in a car singing along to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and doing the requisite dance moves and the people in the car next to you see you, they may point and laugh.
- They may also then join in.
- Because Michael Jackson is universal.
- If you are a dedicated race fan and you think hard enough, you will figure out that crawling out of your second story window and stretching out onto your roof to clear the snow and ice from your satellite dish will restore the signal so you can see the ARCA race.
- You should NOT tell your mother that you did this.
- A fun way to pass a snowy morning is to score neighbours on their ability (or inability) to clean their snow-covered car and shovel their car out. Ideally, have Ria as a judge to help score; she's very fair at this.
- When needing to girl talk, it's good to have four people with slightly different perspectives and styles to give advice.
- It's also good to have friends who understand that disagreeing with them doesn't mean you haven't listened to them.
- Maple syrup can be substituted for vanilla extract.
- Grass will blow your hood up.
05 February 2010
Thyroid Update
I saw my endocrinologist today for the first time in two years. Since my last appointment, I'd mostly been euthyroid, meaning that my thyroid decided to start acting like a normal thyroid and do it's job properly. Then suddenly last year, it decided that, no, it was tired of that shtick and would be a slacker again, thank you very much. So we'd been keeping in contact via phone calls and faxes.
Since I worked at a hospital and had easy access to a doctor, I got the doctor in my department to order the lab tests I needed and got the blood draws I needed while I was at work. Then I just faxed the results to my endocrinologist. She'd called me, let me know her thoughts, adjust my meds, etc. Lather, rinse, repeat.
It wasn't SUPPOSED to be two years lag time between appointments, but her office is out in the 'burbs, not easily accessible via public transit, and she's kind of a pain in the ass to get to. But, you know, not having a job kind of made that easier. Yay, I guess. Heh.
My thyroid levels are great, and my thyroid itself (she always does an ultrasound) is small (which pleases me in a ridiculous kind of way) and abnormal, but in a normal kind of way, given the kind of thyroid disease that I have.
However, she's worried about my sugar levels. I had a random mid-day glucose level several months ago that was 144 (normal is under 100). So she had me do a fasting blood test last week. This one came back as 98. But my HA1C (this gives you a six-month history of your blood sugars) was 5.7 in July. The range for at-risk for diabetes (what the CDC used to call "pre-diabetes) is 5.5-6.4.
So since I'm JUST under the norm for glucose AND I'm in the range for "at-risk for diabetes" AND I'm in one of the high risk ethnicities for diabetes (hello, one of the downfalls of being Asian) AND we don't know my family medical history, we're choosing to be very conservative about this.
As soon as she said this, I said, "Yes, I need to weigh less, watch what I eat, and exercise more." She smiled and said, "Clearly, you've heard this before." I said, "I have, but Doctor, here's the thing. It's very frustrating. I worked REALLY hard and lost 14 pounds before I even met you. Then I got the thyroid problem and gained it all back plus two pounds. And I won't tell you that word I used when that happened, because it wasn't polite. And that's how I got diagnosed thyroid. Then you stabilised me. I joined Weight Watchers, and I lost 10.4 pounds. Then I suddenly gained it all back. That's when I realised my thyroid problem was back again. I'm not trying to avoid responsibility for my health or my weight. In fact, I've tried REALLY hard and worked REALLY hard to BE responsible, but I feel like my thyroid sabotages me EVERY time, and that's really freaking frustrating."
So she told me that for awhile, since my thyroid is erratic, we're going to test my thyroid levels every three months to keep a closer eye on it. So instead of being REactive, we can be PROactive. So instead of gaining 10-12 pounds and then knowing that my thyroid is acting up because I'm gaining weight, we can know that my thyroid levels are off and that I MIGHT gain a couple a pounds if I'm not careful in the coming weeks. And she talked to me about taking control of my thyroid and not letting it control me.
In the end, I felt like she really listened to me and that we made a plan together that made sense.
WIN!
Since I worked at a hospital and had easy access to a doctor, I got the doctor in my department to order the lab tests I needed and got the blood draws I needed while I was at work. Then I just faxed the results to my endocrinologist. She'd called me, let me know her thoughts, adjust my meds, etc. Lather, rinse, repeat.
It wasn't SUPPOSED to be two years lag time between appointments, but her office is out in the 'burbs, not easily accessible via public transit, and she's kind of a pain in the ass to get to. But, you know, not having a job kind of made that easier. Yay, I guess. Heh.
My thyroid levels are great, and my thyroid itself (she always does an ultrasound) is small (which pleases me in a ridiculous kind of way) and abnormal, but in a normal kind of way, given the kind of thyroid disease that I have.
However, she's worried about my sugar levels. I had a random mid-day glucose level several months ago that was 144 (normal is under 100). So she had me do a fasting blood test last week. This one came back as 98. But my HA1C (this gives you a six-month history of your blood sugars) was 5.7 in July. The range for at-risk for diabetes (what the CDC used to call "pre-diabetes) is 5.5-6.4.
So since I'm JUST under the norm for glucose AND I'm in the range for "at-risk for diabetes" AND I'm in one of the high risk ethnicities for diabetes (hello, one of the downfalls of being Asian) AND we don't know my family medical history, we're choosing to be very conservative about this.
As soon as she said this, I said, "Yes, I need to weigh less, watch what I eat, and exercise more." She smiled and said, "Clearly, you've heard this before." I said, "I have, but Doctor, here's the thing. It's very frustrating. I worked REALLY hard and lost 14 pounds before I even met you. Then I got the thyroid problem and gained it all back plus two pounds. And I won't tell you that word I used when that happened, because it wasn't polite. And that's how I got diagnosed thyroid. Then you stabilised me. I joined Weight Watchers, and I lost 10.4 pounds. Then I suddenly gained it all back. That's when I realised my thyroid problem was back again. I'm not trying to avoid responsibility for my health or my weight. In fact, I've tried REALLY hard and worked REALLY hard to BE responsible, but I feel like my thyroid sabotages me EVERY time, and that's really freaking frustrating."
So she told me that for awhile, since my thyroid is erratic, we're going to test my thyroid levels every three months to keep a closer eye on it. So instead of being REactive, we can be PROactive. So instead of gaining 10-12 pounds and then knowing that my thyroid is acting up because I'm gaining weight, we can know that my thyroid levels are off and that I MIGHT gain a couple a pounds if I'm not careful in the coming weeks. And she talked to me about taking control of my thyroid and not letting it control me.
In the end, I felt like she really listened to me and that we made a plan together that made sense.
WIN!
04 February 2010
Beef and Tater Bake
Yet another recipe brought to you by Taste of Home's Simple and Delicious. This purported to be a frugal $0.90 per serving, but, again, I had some of the stuff on hand already, so I can't add it up to tell you if that was true in my case. Seems reasonable, though
4 c. frozen Tater Tots
1 lb. ground beef
1 16-oz package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of broccoli soup, undiluted
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can (2.8 oz) french-fried onions, divided
4 oz. shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1/3 cup 2% milk
1/4 t garlic powder
1/8 t pepper
1. Place Tater Tots in an ungreased 13X9 baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400º for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the broccoli, soup, tomato, 3/4 cup french-fried onions, 1/2 cup cheese, milk, garlic powder and pepper; heat through. Pour over Tater Tots.
3. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining onions and cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
Yield: 12 servings.
Variations: I didn't use the tomato because I didn't feel like paying January prices for a tomato. I thought about buying a canned chopped tomato, but, frankly, I forgot to put it on the list. I forgot to put in the milk - oops. I put in more broccoli than it called for. I was going to put in fresh mushrooms, but my mushrooms didn't smell quite right; sad. The recipe also suggests using a bag of Italian-blend veggies or frozen stir-fry veggie blend instead of broccoli.
My mom said when I was kid she used to make something like this but used cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of broccoli soup.
4 c. frozen Tater Tots
1 lb. ground beef
1 16-oz package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of broccoli soup, undiluted
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can (2.8 oz) french-fried onions, divided
4 oz. shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1/3 cup 2% milk
1/4 t garlic powder
1/8 t pepper
1. Place Tater Tots in an ungreased 13X9 baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400º for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the broccoli, soup, tomato, 3/4 cup french-fried onions, 1/2 cup cheese, milk, garlic powder and pepper; heat through. Pour over Tater Tots.
3. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining onions and cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
Yield: 12 servings.
Variations: I didn't use the tomato because I didn't feel like paying January prices for a tomato. I thought about buying a canned chopped tomato, but, frankly, I forgot to put it on the list. I forgot to put in the milk - oops. I put in more broccoli than it called for. I was going to put in fresh mushrooms, but my mushrooms didn't smell quite right; sad. The recipe also suggests using a bag of Italian-blend veggies or frozen stir-fry veggie blend instead of broccoli.
My mom said when I was kid she used to make something like this but used cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of broccoli soup.
27 January 2010
Pronto Paella
One of the Christmas gifts I got from my Grandma was a subscription to Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious. Last night, I tried my first recipe from there, and I'm SO pleased with it, I thought I'd share it. The magazine tells me that this recipe is a frugal $3.63 per serving, but as I already has several of the ingredients on hand, I'm not sure what I spent on the ingredients, so I can't tell you how accurate that was for me.
1 pkg (6.09 oz) rice pilaf
1 1/2 cups ready-to-use grilled chicken breast strips
1 medium sweet onion, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 t. Cajun seasoning
3 T. butter
1 can (11 oz.) Mexicorn, drained
1 pkg (9 oz) frozen baby peas, thawed
1/2 lb. cooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Microwave rice pilaf, according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute the chicken, onion, garlic, and Cajun seasoning in butter until onion is tender.
Stir in the corn, peas, shrimp, and prepared pilaf; heat through.
Yield: 4 servings.
Substitutions I made: I forgot to get the Mexicorn at the store yesterday, which made me sad. I didn't have Cajun seasoning (which is weird), so I threw in some cayenne pepper, some black pepper, and some red pepper flakes. Finally, I didn't have garlic cloves, so I put in a crapload of ground garlic.
Oh, one other minor substitution - instead of the chicken breast strips, I used canned chicken from Trader Joe's because I had a can leftover from something else I was going to make one time. Actually, I'd probably do this every time I make this since I prefer cubed chicken to chicken strips, anyway.
I'm still sad about the missing corn, though. :(
1 pkg (6.09 oz) rice pilaf
1 1/2 cups ready-to-use grilled chicken breast strips
1 medium sweet onion, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 t. Cajun seasoning
3 T. butter
1 can (11 oz.) Mexicorn, drained
1 pkg (9 oz) frozen baby peas, thawed
1/2 lb. cooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Microwave rice pilaf, according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute the chicken, onion, garlic, and Cajun seasoning in butter until onion is tender.
Stir in the corn, peas, shrimp, and prepared pilaf; heat through.
Yield: 4 servings.
Substitutions I made: I forgot to get the Mexicorn at the store yesterday, which made me sad. I didn't have Cajun seasoning (which is weird), so I threw in some cayenne pepper, some black pepper, and some red pepper flakes. Finally, I didn't have garlic cloves, so I put in a crapload of ground garlic.
Oh, one other minor substitution - instead of the chicken breast strips, I used canned chicken from Trader Joe's because I had a can leftover from something else I was going to make one time. Actually, I'd probably do this every time I make this since I prefer cubed chicken to chicken strips, anyway.
I'm still sad about the missing corn, though. :(
25 January 2010
Happy 101 meme
Ria over at Short Attention Span Theatre as awarded me the Happy 101 Blog Award. And it seemed easier to comply than to try to come up with a blog post about something other than I've sat in the same spot on the couch and cried for the last three days (oops). Besides, no ones really wants to hear that. So, on to the fun!
This award comes with the following rules (what's with the rules? This was supposed to be FUN!):
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her/his blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!
10 Things That Make Me Happy
(in no particular order)
1. Oscar
2. Felix
3. My mom
4. Friends
5. Reading
6. Knitting (well, when I'm not experiencing Epic Fail)
7. Music
8. Laughing
9. Sports
10. Food
11. Volunteering
12. Quality television shows
(Yep, more than ten. Sue me. I dare you.)
Tag! You're it:
aminuteafter3
anatomicalheart
dragonintherain
frenchnewwave
aminuteafter3
anatomicalheart
dragonintherain
frenchnewwave
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