Friday, November 6, 2015

OUR TABLE || EASY LASAGNA

Let's just say. to.die.for.
I don't know a soul who doesn't love themselves some lasagna.
Can we say comfort food?!! And this is just the time of year when 'comfort food' is calling our names!
I've thought about sharing this recipe before now and then I've resisted it.
This isn't just any recipe but one that is a family recipe where I've made some of my own {healthier} modifications.
But it's a family recipe(!) so it's not the easiest to share because it feels like there's a little piece of me + mom + grandma in it. But it is just TOO darn good and I hope know sooo many will love it! It is absolutely one of the regulars around here and quite possibly our number one favorite meal.
This is the best, easiest lasagna you will ever make. I can nearly 100% guarantee it! You do NOT have to cook the lasagna noodles prior to assembling! Now I told you it was easy :)

Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey breast*
1 medium onion diced
3/4 cup water
1 - 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 - 24 oz can spaghetti sauce
100% whole wheat lasagna noodles (uncooked)
2 cups cottage cheese
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dried parsley
1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese

--Preheat oven to 375.
--Brown meat in large skillet. Once meat is about halfway done cooking, add diced onion. Continue cooking until meat is fully cooked and no longer pink.
--Add water, tomatoes, spaghetti sauce. Bring to a boil. Let simmer about 5 minutes. Sauce should still be runny.
--In a bowl, mix together cottage cheese, shredded parmesan, and parsley.
--Begin layering. In 9x13 baking pan, place one layer of noodles evenly over bottom of pan, half of cottage cheese mixture, half of mozzarella cheese, and half of meat sauce.
--Repeat layers. (ending with meat sauce).
--Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
--Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

That's it!
I paired our lasagna with this Cranberry Pear Kale Salad and it was a great combination!
And leftovers. Talk about leftovers! With a large pan like this we have lots of leftovers for our family (even if we have dinner guests over). And it almost tastes even better (if you can imagine it!) the next day after the flavors have mingled over night :)

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as my family does!

*A little dietitian note: Now the ground turkey breast. The breast part makes a huge difference. In the grocery store you will find ground turkey and then also ground turkey breast. Without that word 'breast' all parts of the turkey meat can be in your ground meat. That includes the fatty parts. Which makes ground turkey not that much different than ground beef. Don't believe me.. check the fat in the nutrition facts! So look for 'ground turkey breast' and get that one. You can often find it on sale. Buy a couple extras and thrown them in the freezer to use later.

Xoxo
-Brittney

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Monday, November 2, 2015

HALLOWEEN 2015

HALLOWEEN.
Hasn't been my favorite of holidays over the past few years.. I mean, adults dressing up is (kinda) fun, BUT now Halloween with a one year old makes the holiday SO FUN!!
Last year was fun dressing up our little 3 month old as a mouse, but we didn't go trick-or-treating and she of course didn't have a clue as to what was even going on :) BUT this year! She still may not have known what was really going on, but all that mattered was that it was F U N!! And she knew it! Although her facial expression here doesn't quite show her excitement ;)
I think this will start to be a favorite holiday for me. Seeing the joy and excitement it brought to my sweet Harper - I could let her wear costumes + eat candy every day! I won't. But I could ;)
Pre-Halloween I was a little nervous as to how she would handle wearing her costume. I was feeling pretty certain that she wouldn't want the hood anywhere near her head. But boy am I glad I was wrong. So wrong! This girl absolutely LOVED wearing her costume!
Friday night the Y held a 'Harvest Fest' that we took Harper to. Numerous different booths with activities for the kids (Harper was still a bit too young to participate) but it was fun walking her around. She enjoyed some good ol' 'people watching' since there were characters of all sorts wandering the gym :)
On Halloween day we went with some friends of ours to take our girls out for some trick-or-treating to some of the local businesses downtown. Not too long before we went out it was complete down poor raining. It was still raining when we first started, but about half way though it let up and Harper was able to get down and walk the street. She got a hang of things quickly! She would walk herself over to where the other kids were so that she too could have some of what they were getting :)
Ladybug Harper + Monkey Aubrey
Once we were done gathering our treats we headed back to Jacob & Kaylani's for some food + relaxation + and of course story time!
Doesn't Brandon look good with two on his lap ;)
I made this Halloween candy bark and it was TOO good + TOO easy to eat! Like we really needed any more sweets...
The recipe is here.
...and like I said, she loves her costume. s t i l l wanting to wear it the day AFTER Halloween.
But with how cute she looks in it, I just can't resist it either :)
We had a great Halloween + now looking forward to the holidays ahead of us!

xoxo
-Brittney

Friday, October 30, 2015

OUR TABLE || HALLOWEEN SNACK MIX

Hip hip hooray! It's here! Halloween marks the first holiday into the 'holiday season'!
Two of my favorite things about the holiday season are food and fun festivities. And I love even more when the two are combined!
So here we have it. With today being Halloween Eve, what better time to share this festive Halloween snack mix concoction that of course too can be nibbled upon all Fall. Mmm... Mmm... Good!!
Ingredients:
Muddy Buddies - recipe here
Pretzels
Cinnamon Life
Whole Grain Goldfish
Craisins
Peanut M&Ms
Reese's Pieces
Candy Corn (of course!)

The sweet and salty combination is calling your name!
I mean it sure did call mine because this mix is now g o n e. Yep. Time to make a second batch :)

I'm so excited for this weekend and all of the fun that is to come! Costumes, candy, and good friends. 
Happy Friday + Happy Halloween {Eve}!!

xoxo
-Brittney