So when I have classes to teach in the evening – Nia or Gentle Yoga, I like to have dinner planned. Sometimes I just have the idea of what I am going to do. Sometimes I have the ingredients and I might make something the day before that last a few days so we can just heat up leftovers. Love them left overs. And sometimes I prepare something that just needs to be baked. This time I decided to make a lasagna. I don’t think I have ever made red sauce lasagna. I make a Chicken Divan lasagna that is super yummy, but not being a fan of tomato sauce, I don’t think I have ever bothered making lasagna with a tomato sauce. Another reason is, I really think that lasagna sauce as with spaghetti sauce is best from scratch, but since I don’t make either, it seems daunting to me. So I have never made the effort with the lasagna because I don’t want to make the sauce. Well, sometimes, in order to get things done, I have to take short cuts. So I used a sauce in a jar. It is a really easy lasagna recipe, however, I made it a bit different.
1/4 of an onion
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 pound of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 pound lean ground beef*
1 32 ounce jar of the tomato/pasta sauce of your choice
12 uncooked lasagna noodles (as many as your dish requires)
1/4 of a 32 ounce container ricotta cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
You might want to use the entire jar of sauce and or add the 1/4 cup water to the dish before baking (as instructed in the original recipe)
Preparation:
Heat onion in oil. Cook the mushrooms until half way done. Add salt and garlic powder. Then add the beef. Cook beef in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink; drain, if necessary (our beef does not have anything to drain off). Stir in 3 cups of the pasta sauce.
Spread a thin layer of the remaining sauce into the 9 X 13 casserole dish; layer with enough noodles to cover the bottom of the dish. Then layer the ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese over the noodles. Then add 1/2 of the meat sauce. Then add a little mozzarella. Then a layer of noodles, a layer of ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese. Then a layer of the remainder of the meat sauce. Then add the rest of the mozzarella. (This is where you would pour 1/4 cup hot water around edge of dish.) Tightly cover baking dish with 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
Bake at 375° for 45 minutes; uncover and bake 10 more minutes. Note: Check the lasagna to see if it is done to your liking. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
I covered mine with plastic wrap and foil and froze it. The day I wanted to cook it I took it out to thaw for a few hours. It was still frozen when I put it in the oven. I removed the plastic wrap before I baked it at 375° for 90 minutes. I left it in the oven after the 90 minutes. I SHOULD have taken it out. It was just the tiniest bit over done. But otherwise it was great.
I had put it on time bake so I was not home to check it. I arrived home JUST as the oven was turning off. I had other things to do so I didn’t check the lasagna right away and I should have.
My husband loved it. Since I have given myself permission to use jarred sauce, I might be making this more often. Next time I want to add zucchini. And, yes, we had enough left over for a couple of meals. You know I love that!
Do you have a favorite lasagna recipe? Would you share it?
*I actually am not sure how much ground beef I used because ours is from a cow we bought a portion of. It is wrapped in butcher paper with no weight. I think it is about a pound.
I forgot to post to my blog last night. That is the second Thursday this month. I got home from teaching my Nia class rather early since all I did afterwards was run in to pick up some spinach. Then I got busy planning firming up the routine for my Gentle Yoga class, yet, I still didn’t work on the post. As I was getting ready to leave I started typing one up. When I got back from class I was interested in getting dinner on the table. The evening just flew by. I remembered I didn’t post at about 15 minutes AFTER midnight! Oh well.
Here is my #34 Good Jar check in. It is my hope that even though you are not commenting on the check-in you are still participating in recognizing and jotting down the Good Things. There are only two and half more months to go.
I can’t wait to read them all at the end of the year.
If you have read any of my recipe posts you probably know I love leftovers. It just makes a lot of sense to me to cook once and have some of the meal left over for a quick meal later on. This is really a great help for people who are busy or who’s schedule does not allow for cooking every night. This week I am going to be busy three nights in a row. Two nights I am subbing Nia for Hot Hula and the third night I have Gentle Yoga. So Monday I did some cooking. Monday I actually prepared dinner that will be our dinner for a couple of nights, but I also prepared a lasagna. I froze it and I will put in the oven before I go to class one night this week, so it will be done around the time I get home. I will use time bake for that so we will see. But last night we had Crockpot Balsamic Pork.
I modified a chicken recipe I had seen on Facebook. First of all I used pork instead of chicken. I love chicken and I have been “missing” it. We haven’t had any for a while. Then the people-getting-sick-from-chicken thing came up and I was happy we hadn’t purchased any. Then I found some in our freezer hiding behind something and I was happy. It was purchased way before the latest issue and we had eaten the other chicken from the batch so I was so glad to have found it. So we had just had chicken and I didn’t feel comfortable buying any so I bought pork. I know that I like pork and balsamic so I thought it would work.
I rarely use my crockpot. Something about cooking meat for HOURS, just doesn’t sound good to me. This recipe called for FOUR hours on high. Well, I figured that pork would NOT need FOUR hours so I decided to try it for two and see how it looked.
The recipe also calls for dried basil, but for some reason I thought fresh would be better. Not sure why and not sure that it was.
________________________________________________________
Crock Pot Balsamic Pork
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 heaping tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 heaping tsps dried minced onion
1/2 cup of fresh chopped basil
5 garlic cloves, pressed with garlic press
2 tblsp olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
7 thick cut boneless pork chops
chopped parsley for the top
Combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl, then spread over one side of pork, saving half for the other side. Use half the basil piling a little on each piece. Let the pork stand a bit. Then flip the pork over and use the rest of the dry ingredients and basil to coat the pork.
Use the garlic and the oil to coat the pot of the crockpot. Then place the pork inside. Pour the vinegar over.
An hour and 45 minutes later I turned my pot down to low so that I could keep preparing my salad for dinner and my lasagna for later. I think I will cook it less next time. I think turning it off at an hour and 45 minutes would have been better. Although our pork was not overcooked, we just prefer it a little less cooked.
I know the thing that people think is so great about crockpots is you put it on and forget it. Even though this is not hours and hours of “forgetting” it is still at least an hour and 45 minutes. I would think it could be the four hours on low.
This was good. My husband and I love garlic and that was a primary flavor . . . so I think if I want the balsamic to stand out more I will use less garlic. If I had used dried basil – as the original recipe calls for – this would have been a super simple meal. Adding the basil (washing and chopping) dropped it down to a simple meal.
It was good. I can see me making this again. And one day I will even try it with chicken. Last night we had it with a spinach salad and my favorite Smashed Potatoes! I did not take pictures of the finished product. I was doing too many things at the time!
Do you use a slow cooker/crockpot? What is your favorite thing to cook in the crockpot? Does meat you cook in a crockpot come out well done?
I took dance lessons when I was young. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t know the Jazz Square. Of course there had to be a time because one is not born knowing what a Jazz Square is much less how to do one. But I don’t remember not knowing how to do it. So I actually must have learned it prior to my dance lessons, because I was young when I took my lessons but not THAT young. Whatever the case . . . . unfortunately it was all too long ago for me to truly know . . . I knew what a Jazz Square was when I entered my first Nia Class and when I took the Nia White Belt Intensive. While the Jazz Square is not included as one of Nia’s 52 Moves it is something we do a lot in our routines. It could be considered part of the Jazz Dance that is one of the Nine Movement forms that make up Nia. Well, not everyone has had dance lessons or knows how to do a Jazz Square. So we can use the clock to help them.
Nia has a core set of moves called Nia’s 52 Moves. Three of them actually have “clock” in their names. One is Rock Around the Clock, another is Slow Clock, and another is Fast Clock. So it makes sense that with those moves we would use a clock image to do the move and/or help explain and instruct the move. I have posted before about how we use the clock to help direct other moves. Well, the Jazz Square is one of them. While it is called a square it sometimes might be more of a rectangle, but the idea is to use the four corners.
First thing to know is that the Jazz Square is just four steps. So often I will just have my students march or step four counts. Sometimes we will get the dance going with that and then move to the square. Some people stay with the marching and that is fine. Another VERY important thing to know AND DO is to weight each step. As in, put all your weight onto each step you take. When you are learning the jazz square this is of the utmost importance. This will ensure that you are taking a left, right, left, right (or right, left, right, left) approach and not trying to use the same foot – as in left, left, right, left – and just getting tangled up.
Let’s do a Jazz Square left-over-right. So we will be starting with our left foot and having it cross over the right foot to the right side. The left foot comes over to the right and lands on 2 o’clock, the right foot comes back to the back right corner and lands on 4 o’clock. Then the left foot steps back to the back left corner – 8 o’clock, then the right foot steps over to the upper left corner – 10 o’clock. That is one jazz square. To keep going the left foot swings around the right foot to the upper right corner – 2 o’clock and you continue on.
So right-over-left is: right foot to upper left corner (10 o’clock), left foot to back left corner (8 o’clock), right foot to back right corner (4 o’clock), left foot to upper right corner (2 o’clock). To keep going the right foot must swing around the left foot back up to the upper left corner (10 o’clock).
Sometimes when we are doing a fast jazz square my square turns into a diamond with step one being more at 1 and the corners a little askew. But I have corners!
As with many things sometimes it is easier for a person to do it one way than the other. So it might be easy to do left foot over right foot, but when you switch it is not as easy. Sometimes that is when a student will march. Or they will do the jazz square but not the hand or body movement that we pair with it. Continuing to move is the key so whatever they do is great. Eventually with practice, the can do it!
Perhaps this will help.
Key things to remember:
FOUR steps
Put your weight on every step
Step to 2, 4, 8, 10 – left, right, left, right or
Step to 10, 8, 4, 2 – right, left, right, left
Marching is an option
Have fun
Do you do the Jazz Square? Does this help? Can you do the Jazz Square and a shimmy? Both ways?
Hey! Yay! Two Fridays so far in October, two Goodie Jar – Check Ins! Yay! I do put things in my jar at least once a week, but there have been a couple of times when I forgot to post the check-in. At this time I am writing the check in on Thursday because I have a Nia call I want to participate in on Friday. I think I might get so involved in the call and its topic I will forget to post my check in.
So, how is it going? On last week’s check in a friend of mine commented that her jar would be over flowing because her daughter just had a daughter. First grand baby cute. Not everyone has such a huge GOOD THING. But that is kinda the point. The HUGE good things get document and noted in other ways . . . so sometimes it is the jar that reminds us of the little things.
Of course, we can still write down the big things and put them in the jar. Anything you want. Anything that will make you smile when you read it and say, “Yeah, that is/was a good thing!”
May your Good Thing Jar overflow!
I have already posted this, but I when I opened Facebook a minute ago I saw I was tagged in a status. I just had to add it to this post because to me it is a GOOD THING! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Thanks, Danielle!
Jimmy Fallon has Ylvis on Late Night doing a “live” version of The Fox!
And, if you want you can hear for yourself that Ylvis is Correct . . . . he has “what the fox say” down pat!
Just this week I was cooking dinner and my husband walked in the house and asked what smelled so good. I had cooked some pasta for dinner a few days or so earlier. Having been in a rush I didn’t measure or think, I just dumped the remainder of the pasta into the pot and cooked it. I ended up with a lot of pasta! We have been eating it for days! For a couple of the meals I added meat and vegetables. But one day I hadn’t defrosted any meat so I needed something. You know how I like to have something quick to cook after teaching a class whether it is Nia or Gentle Yoga. I often pair up beans and rice — as you know my favorite recipe is Red Beans and Rice. But I had never put beans with pasta, but I thought, “Why not?” So I added a bell pepper and some garbanzo beans to the pasta. When cooking my primary spices are onions and garlic, I decided since we had been eating pasta for days I needed to change up the flavor a bit. I normally save thyme for marinades and the aforementioned recipe. By “save” I don’t really mean I keep it just for those things, I really mean I don’t even think about it except when making those things. I use it when a recipe calls for it, but I don’t think to just put it in what I am cooking. So, I think what my husband was smelling was the thyme. It was a different type of yummy aroma. Of course, I wanted to learn more about thyme.
According to Wiki the Greeks thought it was a source of courage. And the Egyptians used it for embalming. Also, Wiki states it is thought that the Romans were responsible for the spread of thyme throughout Europe by using it “to purify their rooms and to ‘give an aromatic flavor to cheese and liqueurs’.”
I think of it as being “twiggy” or leaves so recently when I received some ground I was surprised. I know the leaves, especially fresh, are more flavorful, but I sometimes do not like to have the leaves in my food. So I was happy to have the ground thyme to include in my pasta dish. I just put the past in a pan to warm it up, added the garbanzo beans, cheese, and some green bell pepper. As it was warming I sprinkled on some thyme and salt. I was actually surprised at the flavor. It was really good. Whenever I learn something or get surprised I think to post about it. I mean, I didn’t know. I never thought to just put thyme in my pasta. I also never thought to put garbanzo beans with my pasta. I know many people use thyme frequently and with confidence, but I hadn’t until now!
If you consume thyme by the tablespoon you’ll receive a good dose of vitamin K and iron. Per tablespoon 30% of the Daily Value and about 9.5% of the DV respectively.
Turns out that thyme oil or at least a component of it is an antiseptic and it is used in mouthwashes. It also has antibiotic properties and helps fight fungal infections.
The leaves can be made into a tea to help with coughs and bronchitis.
The World’s Healthiest Foods’ website says there are “about sixty different varieties including French (common) thyme, lemon thyme, orange thyme and silver thyme”. Seems like I need to get to using thyme more so that I work my way through all the varieties.
How about you? Do you cook with thyme often? Did you know there were so many varieties?
I have been making avocado eggs for my husband almost every weekend. Sometimes BOTH days of the weekend. Once I think I made them for him for dinner. They are easy and he loves them. So I really don’t mind. I have not tried eating them, myself. I am not a fan of avocados nor baked eggs. But preparing them is easy, cooking them is easy, and clean up is easy. What more could you ask for, right? Since cooking them for my hubby, I have learned a few things that I thought I would share. I shared what I have learned about Smashed Banana Eggs, I thought I would share about these too. Hopefully these things will make it even easier for you to enjoy Avocado Eggs.
—Wash the avocado
First thing I do is I wash the avocado. Normally I wouldn’t wash the outside of a fruit I am just going to peel off and throw away, but this one SITS in the egg, so I figure it would be nice if it were clean. So I wash it.
—Oil the foil
At first I didn’t put anything on the foil and the egg whites stuck to it. So now I oil it so the egg whites slide right off.
—Be sure to pick the correct way to cut the avocado
Find the two sides of the avocado that allow it to rest level. Then slice it accordingly. This helps with it staying level. Doesn’t always ENSURE that it will be level once you slice it. It also doesn’t ensure it will STAY level in the oven.
—Remove enough avocado from the skin
If you like egg whites/fried eggs, then the part of the egg that spills on the foil will be ok especially if you wash the avocado and don’t over cook the egg whites. But you still want a good portion of the egg IN the avocado, so make sure you take enough out. And “enough” is how much YOU decide. But it is good to decide BEFORE you crack the egg into it. 🙂
—Remove eggs whites from oven when done cooking
I take the egg whites off the pan before the egg in the avocado is done cooking. The egg whites that spill onto the foil get done cooking a lot faster than the eggs in the avocado so I just pick up the avocado with some tongs and scoop up the egg whites. With the oil on the foil the egg whites just slide right off. Taking them out of the oven before the rest is done ensure they don’t get over cooked and turn into rubber.
—Check the eggs while baking
Be sure to check the eggs while baking. While the time is a great guide every egg and avocado is different. I usually set the time for 7 minutes and check them then. Often that is enough time for the egg whites on the foil to cook.
So that is what I have learned with the avocado eggs. What can you add to help us out?
I wrote this post to post on Thursday, but I got distracted and forgot to post it. I wrote it before I went to Gentle Yoga, my intent was to come home and review, edit it, then post it. But when I got home I was distracted and I completely forgot about it. I didn’t remember it until Friday when I was making my smashed banana eggs. I really don’t like to call them pancakes because I don’t want people to think they are “pancakey”. I have read people post that they didn’t like them because they are NOTHING like pancakes, so I am hoping by not calling them pancakes people will not have that “cake” idea in their mind. Since I have been making them I have learned a few things. I thought I would share what I have learned. Perhaps some of the things I have learned can help you make the perfect Smashed Banana Eggs.
Some of the things are obvious if you were to think about them. I didn’t until I experienced it.
—Use a small pan and cook one at a time. Or use a pan you can get really hot.
I am certain cooking these depends on your stove and the pan you are using. For me, I finally found the right pan to use. The last three batches I made were perfect. I use a small pan and just cook one at a time. Originally I was using a large pan so I could cook more than one at a time. That was not working very well.
—Be patient and let them cook until they bubble and are not runny, then flip them.
I still have not been able to cook them to a point where I would eat them in the 20 to 30 seconds that the original recipe that I saw said to cook them. Ewwww. I think maybe I like my eggs a little more done. I cook them until they are the way I like them. I have learned I have to be patient and I can’t flip them too soon. When I wait, they don’t break apart. I am certain you can find the right timing for YOURS. Cook them the way YOU like them!
—The more ripe the banana, the sweeter the “pancake” will be.
My husband does not like to eat bananas if they are ripe. If a banana has one tiny little brown spot on it, he doesn’t like to eat it. He will eat it sometimes, but he doesn’t like it. So if I have any bananas around that are greenish they go in his lunch. They don’t stay greenish that long so it is normally just a day or two where he gets a banana in his lunch. The rest I have to use. When I use ripe ones in Banana Softserve he will eat them. When I make banana bread he loves it. It is just eating a banana with a spot he does not like. I just recently bought slightly green bananas and used them, the end product was less sweet than normal (normally I use ripe bananas), of course. Bananas get sweeter as they ripen. I just had never had unripe bananas to use with the eggs before.
—DO NOT FORGET THE SALT!
I did it a couple of times and they just are not good without salt. Eggs require salt.
—Be generous with the cinnamon.
Cinnamon really makes them yummy.
—Try THREE eggs to one banana.
I have not it yet, but I have a friend who said that she uses THREE eggs to one banana and mixes it up in the blender. I usually make John avocado eggs for breakfast and so I am the one that eats the smashed banana eggs and I don’t want to eat three eggs. I have only made them with two eggs and one banana.
I hope these lessons I learned help you make a perfect protein filled breakfast you will enjoy! Let me know what you have learned. How do you make YOUR PERFECT smashed banana eggs?
First check in of October. Goodie Jar – Check In #32. Happy Friday!
Yesterday my plan for the day got a little shifted because my cat wanted to go outside. You may know from my previous posts that she is ill. When she wants to go outside it is usually because she wants to eat grass because her tummy is bothering her. I have learned that it is easier to take her outside and let her eat the grass and expel it on the concrete then it is to deal with it inside. So I took her outside. We were outside for a couple of hours.
I did have time to draft a post for my blog, but once home from teaching I forgot to post it. It was chilly last night and so my husband and I had some tea. Between the hot tea and my nice hot shower, I got very sleepy. At one point all I was thinking was – BED! I totally forgot about posting.
I received a “good thing” in the Gentle Yoga class to put in my Goodie Jar. A student had excitedly shared with me a progressive step she had taken. Always so fulfilling to hear about an individual’s successes! Yay.
Here is to YOU! I am hoping that you had a lot of good things to put into your good jar this week.
I am playing a game on my iPad that is a hidden object kind of game. I like games where I don’t have to concentrate a lot, ya know, think too much – a little is good, but I like it to be fun. I have other things I have to think about so my games I want to be brainless and easy. This is kind of like that. Just look at pictures and pick out the objects. To me it is cool because it is not the same as the hidden objects games of my youth where the object is drawn into the scene. This game is tricky because the object are not necessarily hidden. Yeah, I know, they are right there in plain sight sometimes and it is still a challenge to see them. I find that really funny. I actually employ a theory of my husband’s about a phenomenon to play this game. It makes me laugh whenever I think of it. Especially when it works. My husband’s theory is: You can’t see what is not there.
That sounds obvious right? And it is, in reality you cannot see what is not there, but what he means when he says that is “I can’t see what I THINK is not there.” But the belief is so strong — it (the object you seek) is not there. So we don’t even bother with the “think” we just say, “I can’t see it because it is not there.” Because no matter what, once you believe it is not there it might as well not be.
My husband will often look for something then say, “Honey, can you look for the XXX (whatever) because I have been looking and it is not there.” Then I walk over without even looking and pick it up and give it to him. He says, “See? Sorry.” I say, “That’s ok. I get it.” Once you think it is not there — IT IS NOT THERE!
When I told him I was going to post about this he said it wasn’t originally his theory. He can’t remember whose it is. He kinda thinks it might have come from Sonny. Yeah, Sonny as in Sonny and Cher. But he can’t remember.
When you are looking for something that might truly not be there then this theory is difficult to get around. But in my game I can easily get around it. I know that the object on the list is there. So I have found myself thinking, “I will never find it.” Then I remember I can’t see things that aren’t there and I can’t see things if I think I can’t see them. So I take a breath and remind myself it is there and I can find it, and usually I find the object. I know it might sound silly to post about applying a theory to a game, but ya know, most of the time thinking is just a practice so if I practice it in a game situation, I can learn to practice it in real life. I just think it is funny because I believe the theory to be true so I work to counteract it in the game.
Also with the game I am not sure what the object will look like. So it is a good practice for opening my ideals of what things look like. Again, just a practice. As an example the object list might say bell. What did you picture? Bells can look a lot of different ways. As I typed this I thought of one of those bells that one used to ding for service. But it could be a bell like the liberty bell, or a school bell. You don’t always know. So in addition to letting go of not being able to see it because I THINK it is not there or I can never find it, I have to be open to recognizing what it might actually look like.
Ha. Just had a thought . . . just right now as I am typing . . . these ideas can be tied to Nia. Nia is not familiar to a lot of people so some think they will not get a good workout in a Nia class. Well, if that is what you think . . . then that is what you will get. If you walk in knowing it is a good workout then you will be able to participate fully. Also, when the participate releases the idea of what a workout “SHOULD” look like, they will be surprised that our skipping, moving, bending, dancing, etc. is great exercise.
So yeah, the theory can be applied to a lot of things so in some cases, when you don’t have a spouse to “see” it for you, you can be aware of the phenomenon and work to counteract it for yourself.
So are you aware of this phenomenon? Do you feel like this happens to you?
I covered mine with plastic wrap and foil and froze it. The day I wanted to cook it I took it out to thaw for a few hours. It was still frozen when I put it in the oven. I removed the plastic wrap before I baked it at 375° for 90 minutes. I left it in the oven after the 90 minutes. I SHOULD have taken it out. It was just the tiniest bit over done. But otherwise it was great.
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