Friday Food : Slow Cooker Lasagna

Today's recipe isn't pretty. Let's just put that out there right now. If you're looking for something where it's all about presentation, keep on looking. If you're looking for something that is super easy to make, super easy to adapt and cheap  inexpensive, then hold your horses and keep on reading.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

What you will need:

• Lasagna noodles
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 package (10oz) frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
• 2 cups Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3 cans (15oz ea) Italian seasoned tomato sauce
• 1 cup Morning Star Meatless Crumbles

Directions: 

1. In a blender or food processor, mix 1 can of sauce, the ricotta, the spinach, 1 cup Mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and the meatless crumbles. 
2. Pour about half of one of the cans of sauce into the bottom of the slow cooker. Save the second half.
3. Place noodles along the bottom of the cooker, breaking them as needed to fit. It's OK if the whole layer isn't covered.
4. Add some of the mixture from the blender as the next layer. Make it as thick as desired.
5. Place more noodles to create the next layer, add sauce from the 3rd can, add more of the blender mixture.  
6. Continue to layer until all ingredients are used.
7. For the final layer, place the noodles, add the remaining sauce from the 2nd can and top with remaining cheese.
8. Cover and cook high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

Makes appx 6 servings

Photos & Comments

I used the meatless crumbles 1) to make it healthier and 2) out of respect for those observing Lent who can't have meat on Fridays.

Once blended I personally forgot the "fake meat" was included. Feel free to use real meat. Also feel free to not blend everything to high heaven and actually make more traditional layers.

For the cheese I did not use strictly Mozzarella. In my fridge I had Moz and I had an "Italian" blend. I used half and half.

BE CAREFUL not to overcook it! I put mine in at 10pm I woke up at 7am and some of the edges were way more than cooked. Not ruined, but certainly keep an eye on things.

I bought everything except the Mozzarella cheese and my bill was just under 20 bucks at Giant Eagle which isn't an expensive store, but it's on the more costly side. The meatless crumbles alone were nearly 5 bucks, so skip that and you will save a chunk of change.

Do the math (if you serve smaller potions with another side (salad anyone) you will easily get 6 servings if not MORE.  You're serving an item which is about 3 dollars per person. Nice huh?

In future version I'll probably add different spices, maybe layer in some mushrooms and other goodies. But hey for something that took only moments to make and had me waking up to wonderful smells and provided me something not too terrible health-wise for lunch. I'll take it. Even if it isn't pretty.

Things I'm Loving Bath & Body VLOG

I will admit the video is a tad longer than I expected, but I had so much fun telling you about the things I am loving right now!



For those looking for links for spelling or shopping purposes here are my 5 items.

1) Aquaphor Lip Repair

 

2) Eucerin Calming Body Wash (it has a new look!)

3) Eucerin Smoothing Essentials Lotion

4) The Body Shop Ginger Scalp Care 

5) Cottonelle Respect the Roll Roll cover

Semi Wordless Wednesday

Is it the weekend yet? 

Emergen-C Winners Announced

Hi all! Happy President's Day

Did anyone else have today off? Can I express how much I LOVE random government type job days off? Although I did not get to sleep in since Mom had her car in the shop and needed me to pick her up to save her from boredom. She's saving me from post-surgery so I suppose it was only fair. ( ; Plus she totally took me out to breakfast where I had hash-browns and eggs and toast and Oreo pancakes. I kid you not. Then we took Emme for a walk in a park and although it was freezing and my legs were dying at the end (from the cold) I was so happy to be out. My work out log says 1.7 miles! Soooo happy. 100 calories more than I have been doing, right? Then it was nap time (don't judge) and off to have my teeth cleaned. I love having my teeth cleaned. They feel so niiiiiice after.

I ALSO had fun the other days of this weekend (gasp shock amazement, I'm feeling better!). I went out Saturday night with Jess (I've talked about her before,  my cycling friend) and her friends & family to celebrate her birthday. We were bowling and I wasn't doing too horribly. I broke 100 two times. ( ; I haven't actually bowled in years. I've gone out with people and sat there, but have not actually picked up a ball and thrown it down a lane. I do enjoy it, but it tends to make my tendonitis flare up. Prior to that event I was over at my grandparents' house visiting various family members for my pappa's bday celebration. Lot's of being born lately.

Sunday Mom and I went to various stores up near the mall. Pet store, computers, crafting, baking, and of course out to eat. Yum yum! Although Olive Garden needs to check their pricing on some stuff and update their staff on how not to suck. We had a good time. I almost hit a seagull though! It flew RIGHT in front of my car. HOW RUDE. Sunday night I hung out with Mr B and we played some computer video games and watched old episodes of The Office, back when it was funny. And guess who did not realize that is Ed Helms? WOW I'm clueless at times.

OK moving on....I had 11 people enter my giveaway for Emergen-C (thanks everyone for your feedback) and I headed over to Random.org to find out the lucky winners. The first number to pop up was #9 which was a comment left by Suz and Allan.

The next number was #1, and that was a comment left by MizFit

Ladies please drop me a line at Julie@ROJRunning with your shipping information and I will get your boxes of Emergen-C to you ASAP.

6 days and counting

It's amazing to me how something which is so terribly important has been pushed to the back burner for discussion for 5 days now. Last Monday 2/13/12 I went to the heart specialist to learn "what is wrong with me". Going into the appointment I was a complete mess. For days before the appointment I was a complete mess. Examples? Sunday the family and I went to eat at Beef O'Brady's (local casual eating place). I ordered a steak quesadilla, and in classic ordering out form it was one of those once piece was folded over so it had 6 triangles versions. I ate 1 or 2 triangles at the restaurant before feeling like I might throw up and having to rest for a moment. It took me the WHOLE day to finish that thing and it's the only thing I ate that day too. I constantly couldn't concentrate on what was being said, I kept having those attacks like the one that sent me to the ER. I knew it wasn't serious though and the worst thing would be fainting so I stayed in my world of clouds and fear. At my Mom's place I was either crying or napping. Basically, I was SO MUCH FUN to be around.

The morning of the appointment I limped into the registration area. Why was I limping? Because my left leg had formed a horrible painful calf cramp and I had convinced myself it was a blood clot and if I moved it too much it would break loose and kill me. Yes, I am that dramatic at times. As I sat there doing the standard "Why are you here" "Do you have insurance" I heard, "Do you have a living will?" And all hell broke loose. I couldn't process this was a routine intake question. Nope I just knew it meant I was dying and I started crying like it was my job and I was going for employee of the year. I couldn't calm down. Eventually they had to take my picture as a first time patient anyway (great) and I was lead back to my room. Inside I collapsed on the bed-type thing and between tears answered more questions for the nurses. After they left I gathered myself just a tad before the doctor came in to see me. He started asking me again about my symptoms and about any pains and bleh bleh bleh. Finally at the end the exchange went like this:

Doctor: What other medical conditions do you have

Me: ....listing all me stuff I could recall....

Doctor: And you know you have Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, right?

Me: No! What the hell is that?....Oh sorry I shouldn't swear at you.

Although I am proud to say I held back the tears long enough to hear him say it wasn't some fatal disease where I have 6 months to live.

What is it? Well for those who like sources you can read about it at

U.S. National Library of Medicine
Mayo Clinic
or good old Wikipedia, which oddly has the most info and best pictures

For those who don't wanna read, it basically means I was born with some extra tissue in my heart. Because of this extra tissue the electrical waves have the potential to get confused and go into a short circuit. Instead of entering and leaving my heart in a normal pattern, they will loop around and not leave. This leads to rapid heart beat and all the fun stuff that can come from a rapid heart beat. Usually within a few minutes it will correct itself. I have never had this happen to the point of worry, so I can't tell you what it's like. Mostly I've been asymptomatic except for a few palpitations over the years, but nothing noteworthy. Remember this was all caught using a routine EKG back in November?

Soooo what can I do? CALL GHOST BUSTERS? OK not the real answer. Nope, I am set to return Friday 2/24/12 for an outpatient procedure. They will enter through my groin to explore my heart. They will attempt to get my heart to go into the short circuit issue. If they can't, when I wake up they will tell me the connection is too weak to cause me any problems and I'm good to go live life. If they can, they will perform the ablation to remove the extra tissue and removing the possibility of a short circuit in the future. When I wake they will tell me the extra tissue is gone and I'm good to go live life. Either way I should be going home the same say and after 3 days of recovery (no heavy lifting, no driving, nothing too crazy) I am cleared to work out again. Which puts me at around 2/27, essentially I'll start training in March.

Oh the other part of the doctor conversation I liked? The end when I asked..

Me: When can I run again?

Doctor: Three says after the procedure.

Me: OK I only have to wait 2 more weeks.

Doctor: Did someone tell you not work work out?

Me: Yes, my PCP said not to do anything that can affect my heart rate.

Doctor: Well, that's just silly, it's just as likely to happen no matter what you're doing.

Thank Doc reallllllly going to help my anxiety with THAT tid bit. He also told me to move to Florida if I'm cold all the time, because this won't fix my low blood pressure. In fact he says it's a blessing, given my age and fitness level I'm lucky to have low blood pressure. Gee wonderful, Rx blankets STAT.

My reactions to this news? Partial relief. As strange as it may sound to some, I'm glad there is SOMETHING behind what is going on. I really didn't want it to be a "fluke" because flukes can't be studied or fixed or explained and that drives me insane! I'm glad it isn't life threatening or dangerous. During the week my anxiety has decreased drastically. I am sleeping through the night again, I am able to eat (for the most part) and I can walk around and talk to people without a cloud being around me. However, anxiety is still there and is manifesting itself as acid reflux. FUN. Hence the not eating totally normally. It hurts. In an odd way though, it's nice to have my stomach hurt instead of my chest. It's probably tied into the not taking my asthma meds situation, but that's another story.

My deeper reaction? I'm scared. I know it all sounds so routine and everyone is all "You'll be fine"...but it's my HEART. They are working on my HEART and I just can't get past how important of an organ it is. Luckily I'll be under twilight so I won't be able to get too freaked out. I'm just one of those people who think "What if it goes wrong and I die?" And no amount of comments or hugs is going to make that fear go away. Only waking up and being told "It's all over" and taking those first few steps out the door in my swooshy pants and running shoes.