Hi there everyone! It's Lindsey and I'm doing my first post for a new series. I have a goal this year of eating healthier, losing all the weight I've gained since PH and I started dating, and being better about meal planning and prepping.
I know these goals are similar to the goals many people set for themselves with the new year, so I thought, "hey, I should share a healthy recipe every week!" This is going to be great for all of us! It'll keep me on track with my goals since all of you wonderful readers and followers will be expecting a recipe each week, and you'll get to profit from it since I'll try new recipes and only share the ones I like! I decided to call it Renny's Recipes. Renny is a nickname I was given by some friends in college, and it makes for a nice title don't you think? This week I'll be sharing with you how to make some amazing and delicious Zucchini Lasagna!
Not only does this recipe up the vegetable factor, but it lowers calories and carbohydrates since you use zucchini in the place of lasagna noodles. It's also great for people with gluten issues. There is no pasta here, and it tastes great!
I originally found this recipe on a website called Skinny Taste, which you can find here. I've made a few tweaks to it which I will share with you here in Photo form. First and foremost I want to talk about my mandolin. Alicia got to be the cheater on our Friday favs and share two, so I didn't get to talk to you about my mandolin. I love my spiralizer for making long thin zoodles that are more like spaghetti noodles, but for this recipe, and many other recipes, the mandolin is where it's at. It'll slice your vegetables lengthwise and make them nice and even, which is especially handy when you're using them in a lasagna dish like this one. I actually have two mandolins, because PH had one before we got married, and I bought one before we got married too, specifically to make this recipe. You can find mandolins similar to mine here (this one has a bowl to catch the slices of veggies in), and here. I promise you, a mandolin slicer makes all the difference in the world! The first time I made this recipe, PH was very skeptical. I made it for a family with a mother undergoing chemotherapy treatments and a little girl that was getting tested for Celiac's disease. This was the first dish that came to mind, and of course, if I was making it for them, I was just going to make enough for the two of us as well! I can tell you, it was a huge hit, and when I told him I was making it this week, PH was pretty happy about it.
I adjusted the measurements in this recipe for what I used to feed PH and I. Don't worry, we still had PLENTY of leftovers. I've linked to the original. She makes hers in a 9x13 pan if you'd like a larger lasagna.
This lasagna is delicious and you'll love it! I served it with fruit since I'm trying so hard to have good balance in our meals. You could do a nice side salad, or some garlic bread! I really never understood a side of bread with pasta, but garlic bread is delicious so I never complained. Now you can have some and not feel guilty about it! Just heat some french bread in a 450 degree F oven with some butter and garlic spread over it. When it gets a little toasty it's done! Let me know what you serve as a side to your lasagna, and if you get a mandolin, give me a review on the difference it makes in your meals!
10 Comments
About a week ago, I made a little owl purse as a Valentine's Day gift for my granddaughters. Today I am going to show you what I came up with for my grandsons! I put together a picture tutorial for a Scrappy Snake using some sporty fabric and adding a pocket at the neck to be used to tuck in treats or for little fingers to fit in to make their snake slither!
This snake is really pretty simple to make. I have broken it down into sections to help you see how I did it. But, although it will seem like a lot because of all of the pictures, it really goes together pretty quickly.
Supplies:
Preparing the snake skin:
The largest piece of fabric you will need is a long strip to be the under belly of the snake. I had some long left over scraps from another project which were actually the inspiration for this snake project. These strips became the under belly of the snake.
Of course, one of the most fun things about this project is picking out the fabric to use. When you have picked them out, cut out sections that are about 3 x 6 inches and line them up in a pleasing way. Here is a gallery of what I did. Click on the pictures for directions.
From this size of a scrap panel, you should be able to make 2 snake bodies. You need to make the scrap panel as long as your under belly. Then, here is what you do next.
The Head of the Snake:
Now you need to give your snake a head. Read on to see how I did it.
Adding the Tongue:
Because this snake is a Valentine's Day gift, I decided to give him a heart tongue instead of a forked tongue. I simply used a piece of felt and folded it in half length-wise and cut a heart at the end. Then I opened it up and finished cutting the narrow tongue strip. I made sure it was long enough to stick out of the mouth. Check out the gallery for this:
Adding the Eyes:
There are many ways to add eyes. Depending on the age of the children receiving these snakes, you want to make sure the eyes are safe. Buttons can be a choking hazard. If you feel like your children are old enough to not eat the buttons, still attach them very securely. For my youngest grandson, I am going to stitch on felt eyes very securely because I think that will be safer for him. For my older grandchildren, I looked through my button box to find something interesting for the eyes. Here is how I attached them.
Adding the Head to the Body:
You are getting close to being finished! Attaching the head to the body is really quick and then you will be ready to stuff this guy!
And Voila! You have a super cute snake! Just think, if you can make two snakes (or more if you make the panel wider) you can save a bunch of time on your next one. Also, I was a little worried when I first put my panel together that it was going to look terrible. But, once it was finished, I was really pleased with the look. Each snake has different eyes that I found in my button box.
The funny thing is, I am terribly afraid of real snakes, but I really like these guys!
Now, I am off to the Dollar Tree to get some things to tuck in the mouths and pockets to really turn them into Valentines! I'll show you some pictures of that later. Come back tomorrow for the first edition of Renny's Recipes! You will love it!
The reasons for this post are three fold, so read on!
Depending on the number of people you will be serving, I make that many potatoes for my salad. We were serving 7 adults, (because not everyone could come) so I cooked 7 potatoes. Scrub them, then either boil them or cook them in the microwave until nice and tender. There is nothing worse than a hard potato in a potato salad!
We don't always peel our potatoes for potato salad, it is up to you. I baked them in the microwave this time and then peeled the skins off easily. It makes for a prettier pictures. Also, while you are cooking your potatoes, you should be boiling about 6 eggs.
Now you will add the first secret ingredient! Italian salad dressing.
Now you chop up a couple stalks of celery, some onion and pickles. I used dill pickles this time, but sometimes I use sweet and they are both equally good. The amount that you use is according to your taste. I used 2 celery stalks, 1/2 of a small onion and about 1 c. of small pickles. Mix these ingredients in with the potatoes, plus about 1/4 c. of pickle juice.
Now, back to those eggs! Click on the pictures to see my tips.
The egg slicer really is a nice little gadget. I have had mine for a long time. But, here is a Kitchen Aid one that would match my mixer! Here is one that cuts all different kinds of slices and wedges!
Now it is time for the final ingredients, including one more unexpected one.
Now, the amount of mustard you use is up to you As a matter of fact, this time I felt that the amount shown here was a little bit too much. But some people like a mustard potato salad, so it is up to you. Also, at this point I add a little salt and pepper, about a tsp. of garlic powder and 1/2 tsp. of turmeric. Mix it all together really well.
I like to put lots of slices because everyone love to get one on their salad. I asked my husband to remind me to take a picture of a serving of the salad on a plate before we ate it all, but he failed me in that request! Wow! You give a guy one job....(jk).
I am going to give you a written recipe, but I want you to remember that many of the ingredients are a matter of taste, so you will want to add more or less according to what you like. I am giving you this 7 potato recipe. You will need to change amounts accordingly if you make a larger or smaller salad.
Now I am off to finish that tutorial for Valentine's for your little boys! (or girls, too) So come back tomorrow and see how they turned out! I am loving them!
Hey y'all, it's Madalynn and today I am going to teach you how to make Dryer Balls. If you've never heard of dryer balls before, they are a cost effective and eco-friendly replacement for dryer sheets. They are made out of wool and last for years. Many people also prefer dryer balls because they are more natural than conventional dryer sheets and are softer on your clothing, but provide the same outcome. Dryer balls keep your clothes soft and static free. They're also super easy to make. So if you want to save some money on laundry this year while also producing less trash, keep on reading! For supplies, all you will need are:
Right, so let' s get started. You will begin by wrapping the yarn around two or three fingers about ten times. Then you will slide that off your fingers and wrap the yarn around the middle of the loops, so it looks like a bow. Then you pretty much just keep wrapping the yarn all around until it forms a ball. Be sure to keep spinning the ball as you go so that it will come out as an even ball. You can make these as big as you want. I made mine to fit right in the palm of my hand, a little bit smaller than a tennis ball. Any size from about there to around the size of a softball will work. When you feel happy with how big it is, just snip off the end of yarn and tuck it under a few other layers of the wool. Out of one skein of yarn, I made three balls, with a little bit of yarn left over. Three to four is about all you need for one load of laundry, so that was perfect! At this point, you can add essential oils to your wool balls if you wish for them to be scented. Next you will grab those tights and cut off the legs. Drop the dryer balls in there one at a time, knotting the tights in between each one. You can also tie them off in between each one with some thread, but don't use any of your wool yarn to do this as it will felt that way. At the end of the line I double knotted the tights to make sure that none fell out during the felting process. Putting them in the tights is important because a) it keeps them all in one place and b) it keeps them from unraveling. Now that you have them all knotted up in there, throw them in the wash. I would recommend doing them in a load with towels. The way that works best for this is to run them through with a cold water cycle, then a hot water cycle. Then when you throw them into the dryer, run it on the highest heat setting. You may need to repeat this process two or three times to get them to felt, so this will be a great project for laundry day! You can tell when they are felted because the individual strands of yarn wont come apart from the rest when you run your fingers over them. So I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and found it helpful. Try these out and let us know how you like them! I have a feeling that you'll never go back to dryer sheets after using these. Happy Monday and I'll be back on Friday with my Friday Fave!
|
Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
March 2024
|