That's a crock!

You are probably wondering "What the heck is this girl thinking?" as you see this post limited to a lasagna recipe. Well, to be perfectly honest, this is the easiest way for me to share this recipe with friends and with my avid Fluffy followers that like to eat and need an easy dinner. This is my traditional oven-baked recipe that has been adjusted to fit the Crock-Pot since who really has time to let dinner cook 60-90 minutes on top of the prep after working all day. I fixed it for a potluck retirement lunch at work this week, and it ended up being a hit. So...here goes...

 

Crock-Pot Lasagna

 

1-2 pounds (1 package) of ground Italian Sausage

1-2 pounds of ground beef

½ medium onion (chopped finely)

2 large cans of Crushed Tomatoes

2 small cans of Tomato Paste

2 tbsp Italian Seasoning

1 tbsp crushed Basil

1 tbsp crushed oregano

Garlic Salt/pepper taste

1 -24 ounce container of cottage cheese (small curd)

1 -16 ounce container of cottage cheese (small curd)

1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

6 cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese

3 large eggs (lightly beaten)

1 box of No-Bake (Oven Ready) lasagna noodles, uncooked

Brown Italian Sausage, ground beef, and onion in skillet. Drain. Add in tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasonings. Simmer for 20 minutes. Mix cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, and ½ cup of mozzarella cheese together with eggs. Layer Crock-Pot with meat mixture (approx. 1 cup) followed by uncooked pasta (broken in pieces to fit in crock to cover), cheese (approx. ¾ cup) mixture, and a small handful of mozzarella. Repeat until all ingredients are used. Be sure to reserve enough of the Mozzarella to make the top layer. Cover Crock-pot and cook on HIGH for 3 1/2-4 hours (or LOW for 7-8 hours). Hint: I put this recipe together the night before and store in fridge until the next morning. It will cook while you work the next day. J

Watcha been doing?

Today's post is geared toward a little bit of this and that. Probably not the best statement to lead with in a new blog post but needed to warn you in case you needed to turn back now...hehehe. 

In all the busy of life in the last few weeks, I have failed to share a couple of races that I have participated in.

The first was on September 28th with a few of my girlfriends from work. We knocked out 3.1 miles in the Women's Running Series in Nashville as others took the long road ahead for the half marathon. 

The most recent was the Booby Bolt 5K in my home town. My hot, bald man and I completed it on October 12th in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness. I actually hit a PR on that race with just under 33 minutes. My Garmin measured the distance at not quite 3 miles so I have my doubts on whether I really improved my run by 3+ minutes in just a couple of weeks so I have been really working on getting faster since this race. Notice that he wore a pink tutu in this race instead of a purple one as before. Even better...he made it himself. :) That's my guy!

Next on the race calendar is the Mayor's Challenge 5K in Nashville on November 17th. This will be my 2nd time competing in this one. The best part...my man is competing with me this go round. In fact, he has committed to me that he will do each and every one of them with me moving forward. True LOVE people :)

Over the course of the last few weeks, I have tried several new recipes and wanted to share a few of them with you all. The first being this pasta dish that I ran across on the web that I have tweeked into a little more of a healthier version. I used whole wheat pasta and substituted pork sausage with chicken sausage as well as Half and Half instead of Heavy Cream. It was pretty scrumptious, I must add. Not to mention easy, peasy for that quick after-work one dish meal.

Spicy Sausage Pasta Dish

1 tbsp coconut oil (or olive oil, if you prefer)
4-5 links of Chicken Sausage (Got mine from Costco, Brand- Casual Gourmet: Roasted Red Pepper)
1 medium onion (chopped)
3 rounded tsp. crushed garlic (or 2 cloves, minced)
2 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (original)- do not drain
1/2 cup Half and Half Cream
8 ounces uncooked Rotini pasta, whole wheat

Saute onion and chicken sausage in coconut oil over med high heat until lightly browned. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add broth, Ro-Tel, Half and Half and pasta. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce to medium low heat. Simmer until pasta is tender (about 15 minutes).
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Another creation that I have managed to fall in love with is the Broccoli Slaw Pre-Mix mixed with dried cranberries, pumpkins seeds, and poppy seed dressing.

If you enjoy salads, it's worth you throwing this together. I get my Pre-mix at the local grocery along with the cranberries but the pumpkin seeds are a Whole Foods find.
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Finally, I want to give you all a little snapshot into what is occupying my occasional down time. I completed Jon Acuff's Best Selling book, START. Now...on to another of his great works, Quitter. If you want (or need, like me) a little motivation toward finding your awesome and not being a quitter when life gets tough, these are must reads for even the not-so-avid reader like myself. I started reading Quitter as I left town on a short business trip last Friday and struggled to put it down. I still have about 35 pages to read and won't delay wrapping it up. If you want to find out more about Jon, you can track him down on his blog or on his Facebook page.

Later gators...

10,000 Before Daylight

Isn't it funny how we can go days to weeks without taking the time to sit down and create a blog post but we can't go even a day without thinking "I need to share this with the world" when something pretty awesome happens in our lives?
Well, I have had one of those moments within the last 24 hours so I am committing to sharing it with the few readers that are willing to read my bit of craziness.

Picture this....
I am working to clean out the garage yesterday which was much overdue. Honestly, the garage has been a catch-all for all of the junk that we didn't want to find a place for inside the house for several months now. The hubby and I had cleaned out the travel trailer/camper a couple of months ago and unloaded the goods into a corner of the garage for sorting through later. Well, to be perfectly honest...that stack grew and continued to take over a huge chunk of space that finally limited our walking area to a tight path to and from the refrigerator and exit door. We seem to get around to getting that space organized and tidy about twice a year. Needless to say, we were long overdue. It pretty much resembled a disaster area that needed to be just torched and written off as lesson learned but I woke with a bit of Sunday morning ambition and decided to tackle it and convinced my sweetheart to help me as well. Before we started, I had to take a before picture and share on Facebook. Yes, true to form for me, I love to share the good, the bad, and the ugly with a group of friends that can appreciate my procrastination...hehehe

Thanks to my FB post, the Bragg's felt pity on us and saved us from having to haul another man's treasure to the Goodwill on top of cleaning the garage.As we finished sorting, Bill backed up his trailer and took the load to the Lions Club since they will be having a sale to raise money for the Masons' good deeds.

Now...back to the really cool part. As I stood sorting through some books that were going to the to-be-donated pile, a smiling face crossed the street at the end of our driveway. I locked eyes with her and hollered out, "Hi, how are you doing?"
Before I knew it, she was walking up the driveway making conversation with "Do you do AdvoCare?"
How did she know?
Was it my glowing skin? (Insert giggle.)
Was it the fact that I was dressed in yoga pants and a T-Shirt? (appearing like I was thinking about health this morning)
Was it the aroma of Spark in the air?
Well, of course not. It happened to be the stickers on the back of our vehicles that she had noticed on her walks. How cool is that? Someone besides me and the tailgaters that follow too closely on the road noticed the great window decal that another Advo-friend had hooked us up with a few months ago.

Before we knew it, we were instant friends chatting about AdvoCare and the 24 Day Challenge that she and her sweetheart had started about 5-6 days ago. She has already had great success in her journey that began back in May but the 24 Day Challenge has taken it to that next level for her as she is motivated to meet her personal goals with weight loss and healthy living. She started walking in the neighborhood a couple of months ago as part of her plan. Owning your goals and letting go of the "not nows" are a couple of the first steps to wellness, and she is well on her way. Forty-five minutes later, we were making plans to meet at 4:30am this morning to walk together. Bam! Just like that...an accountability connection is made.

All total so far this AM, I have managed to knock out 10,000 steps before 6am today. Not only have I started this day off with the blood pumping a bit, I have managed to find another buddy to hold me accountable as I work to reach my next health goals. Teamwork ROCKS my world!