Pinterest Food: Low Fat Baked Pasta with Spinach

I found this recipe on Pinterest first and it linked me to skinnytaste.com there are lots of great good for you recipe's to choose from. We had this for dinner tonight and it was delish! Even gpa liked it, we didn't tell him it was healthy. ;) Here's the recipe, enjoy!

Low Fat Baked Pasta with Spinach
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 8 • Size: 1/8th portion • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 296 • Fat: 7 g • Protein: 16 g • Carb: 44 g • Fiber: 5.5 g • Sugar: 5 g
Sodium: 524 mg


Ingredients:

12 oz uncooked pasta such as ziti
28 oz crushed tomatoes 
1 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed
1 tsp oregano
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
salt and fresh pepper to taste
8 oz fat-free ricotta
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups (8 oz) shredded part skim mozzarella 
olive oil cooking spray 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with oil spray.

In a large pot of salted water, cook pasta according to instructions until al dente. Drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, add olive oil and sauté garlic. Add chopped spinach, salt pepper and chopped tomatoes. Season with basil, oregano, salt and pepper.

Add sauce to the pasta and combine the ziti. Add half of the mozzarella, Parmesan cheese and ricotta. Mix well then transfer to the baking pan.

Pour the pasta mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Top with the remaining mozzarella.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until mozzarella is melted and the edges are lightly browned. Let it cool 5 minutes, then cut it into 8 equal portions.

This can be made up to a day in advance and stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

Book Club: The Dry Grass of August

Tonight was book club night, this month we read The Dry Grass of August (my pick) If you know me at all, I procrastinate. Even though this was my pick and I've had a month to read it, I read it all last night.. that's how I roll.

I can't remember where I came across the review for this book, but it said if you like 'The Help' you would like this book. It's set in the south in the 50's during the violent times of segregation. Like the help, the story centers around a family struggling with their own demons and secrets as well as dealing with the maid/nanny is the growing violence of segregation. 

We had a small group tonight, just four of us. But to my surprise, I got a 5 out of The Page Turner, this is a big deal to me, not only had she not read this book already of knew about it but it got a 5 from her, a 4 from the rest of us and led to a great discussion. I was proud. We talked about work, we talked about other books and we even mentioned politics a bit. Next month we are reading 'Conversations and Cosmopolitans' by Robert Rave.

Pinterest Project: Mason Jar to Go

My very first non-food Pinterest Project! The mason jar to go glass. Super easy to make and only costs $1.85. My only complaint is the condensation, but other than that it's totally cute! We threw around the idea of a knitted sleeve (but I don't know how to do that) or some kind of fabric wrap, maybe some burlap and a cute gingham bow (I just now thought of that!) 

What you'll need: 
Supplies
- Mason Jar any size (mine pictured is a Quart jar)
- 2 #14 finishing washers (got them at Ace $0.14 each)
- reusable straws (I found mine at our Alco store, Starbucks sells them too) 

Tools
- hot glue gun
- something to punch or drill a hole in the top of your lid

Directions: 
1. Wash your jar and straw obviously.
2. Drill a hole in the top of the lid (I used the drill press, but you can use a hammer and nail or something fancier)
3. Take your finishing washers and fill the inside with hot glue. I found it best to fill in a layer of glue first, then let that cool. Then go ahead and fill in another layer of glue (since it's kind of deep) You'll do this for the top and bottom of the lid.
4. Let your glue dry and bam you're done! Enjoy!

I'm not 100% on how the hot glue will hold up after washings but I'll keep ya posted. 

Update:  I am having problems getting the hot glue to stick to the top of the jar lid. While the top piece is more for show, I appreciate it being there to help give a finished look. I tried scoring the top of the lid around where the glue would go to give it something to stick to but no luck. Man they just make it look so easy on Pinterest don't they...

Baby steps... Today I left the House

Well I managed to leave the house today, I even showered AND shaved my legs... I know, I'm so fancy. Upon leaving the house the biggest observation I made was man.. seriously, this heat! OVER IT! I am so ready to stop sweating and have crisp cool air that will let me keep my windows open at night. I miss that week were we were teased with cool evening temperatures. I'm also over the humidity, gross. Everything in the house just feels wet and damp... ick.

I have to go back to work tomorrow and I'm not happy about it. Sure you're thinking to yourself, the four day work week will make her feel better... it won't but I like where your heads at. Happy shortened work week everyone.

I'm Not Proud but...

I have done absolutely nothing this holiday weekend. It's kind of sad, and mostly lazy. I'm blaming Isaac and his 4" of rain, as if that makes me feel better. I have managed to be on track with my digital cleaning. I organized all my pictures on my hard drive by year and moved them off my computer to my external hard drive, which saves some space on my computers. I have slept more than I care to mention, pinned a million pins and managed to not get out of my pajamas for three days. I think I'm part bear, and I know fall is coming so I getting ready to hibernate for the winter.

I also took a look at my summer bucket list and didn't do so hot, I think I have a problem keeping personal goals, I've misplaced my motivation and can't find it, if you come across it let me know. I did sign up for a Holiday sewing class that starts in November, I'm looking forward to it. Maybe if your good you will get a special handmade gift from me for Christmas! 

Hope everyone else was slightly more motivated than I this long holiday weekend. I might even try and leave the house tomorrow.

One Year Ago today...

I was on a plane bound for my first foreign adventure in Germany. I had so much fun and new experiences on that trip. The travel bug definitely bit me and hasn't let go, though paired with a finite number of vacation days and a limited budget, it leaves for a rather non-existent travel schedule. But here's a short trip down memory lane with a few of my favorite pictures from Germany

Beer Fest

My very first beer fest experience was a great success! I was completely overwhelmed by the ridiculous amount of choices to choose from. There were so many different kinds to choose from, my short list of beers tried, in case you were wondering...

** Steigl Lemon Radler = AMAZING! I first discovered Radlers about this time last year in Germany. It's basically Bud Light and sprite mixed together... go ahead try it. It's good.
** North Coast Brewing Co. Scrimshaw Pilsner Beer
** Angry Orchard Traditional Dry (my favorite of the two Angry Orchards)
** Angry Orchard Apple Ginger
** Leinenkugel Lemon Berry Shandy.. it was eh.
** Seadog Rasberry
** New Belgium Fat Tire
** Crispin Fox Barrel Blackberry
** Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale
** Shipyard Pumpkinhead--Best bottle label award
** Magic Hat #9
** Lindemans Peche.... delish!
** Crispen Fox Barrel Blackberry



While I wouldn't have minded if the weather had been a little cooler it was an absolute blast and an amazing night to sit outside and listen to the Young Dubliners play. Bruegala raised over $40k dollars for local charities and whoever thought of this as a fund raiser should get two gold stars. If you didn't make it out this year, I highly recommend marking your calendars for next year!

The glass is now empty. The end.

I am on a Quest

It's a fashion quest and I blame Pinterest. I want chocolate tall boots that don't cost $400 and I want cute boot socks to wear with them. Damn you Pinterest!! Seriously no reason boots should cost that much. Fashion quest #2 is the holy grail of quests... finding a pair of jeans that fit. Old navy came close yesterday, I purchased but we aren't quite there. Bring on sweater weather!

Seriously Where in the H does 24 hours go?!

As I sit here trying to get through my normal internet searching schedule, I happened to glance at the time... already 10:19 serious?! This is getting a bit old, this will be night 3 or 4 where I don't feel like I have gotten my daily amount of slacking done. Now that may sound counter productive but lets think about this.... an average person should get about 8 hours (give or take) of sleep, a normal work day is 7 hours 45 mins, lets call it 8. That is already minus 16 hours out of 24. Take into account the rounded 2 hours in travel time daily and bam that leaves a measly 6 hours of slack time. I feel like this isn't enough time, I have blogs to check, gossip sites to catch up on and squeeze in some good pinning in there too, oh and dinner, and I'm trying to get my walks in which is minus another 50 mins or so... yowza.

Tonight I bought a wireless printer, did I need one? No not really. But it's super awesome! No more messy cords and I can print emails etc from my iPhone too, fantastic! If you're in the market for a new printer, Target has the one I got on sale for $50 (down from 80) and you get a $10 Target gift card to boot! Side rant: Target really is the land of let me enter the doors and see what I don't really need but will buy anyway. Tonight's victim was my mom, she saw a package of six colors of socks on clearance and couldn't pass it up, did she need them, nope, Target strikes again! Also I didn't realize that tricking you with a gift card had become Targets new "thing" whoever came up with that idea needs to get a big fat raise. In your mind you minus the $10 against competitors, but really you are just encouraged to come back and spend more than the $10 they gave you... well played Target, well played.

One of my summer goals was to take a class, well the community college didn't have a whole lot to offer in the summer but the fall schedule is out and now I'm overwhelmed with options. I'm thinking about the sewing classes, I know how to sew but I'm not terribly good at patterns. Or there is the knitting and crocheting class. I know I sound like an old woman and please feminists don't hate me, but stuff like that for my generation is kind of a lost art. I might add that I have glamorous dreams of becoming a wonderful artsy fartsy crafty person and will make millions with my Etsy shop. Maybe the Page Turner will let me have a corner of her hippy/All natural store. PT is whipping up batches of all natural body scrubs and shaving cream and all kind of stuff. She's kind of becoming a voo-doo hippy/witch doctor. It's the farm, it makes everyone go crazy lol jk PT, jk.

The time is now 11:10 and I feel I have so many other wasteful internet browsing to do (the intermittent surfing/blogging/surfing/surfing wasn't enough), but alas, I shall call it a night. I'm finally getting most of my things put back after the ambitious effort of rearranging my office/TV room. I have big plans for a digital organization fest in the coming months, deleting old files on my computers and maybe a winter project can be printing off my pictures and making my year scrap books a dream come true. Who knows, don't forget the world is ending in December so maybe it's best to not be quite so ambitious.. ya know, just in case.

Can you feel it?

The crisp cool air, teasing us with the touches of fall. If you know me at all you know fall is my favorite time of year, I love everything about it. I've loved being able to have the windows open at night, the best kind of sleeping weather.  The cool weather has also inspired me to get out and start walking. I walked a total of 8 miles last week, not much but I'm stepping up my game, I've got to get ready for the screaming pumpkin 10k coming up. I even had the energy to completely rearrange my tv room, man is that work.

I keep noticing that there is not enough time in the day. I want to read, watch tv, surf the net and get a walk in... too many options. AND new shows will be starting soon too, what's a girl to do?! But I have been making time to watch the drama fest they call Bachelor Pad, and wow... how these girls think they will find love on a show like this is beyond me.

Oh and not to forget but I am also taking care of a wild kitten who occupys a good portion of my time...

... although it's hard to tell it from these pictures.