A new challenge!

Life is an adventure. God is good.

This summer has been full of unexpected expenses. My car's AC compressor blew up. (literally. Blew up. Huge metal shard and all!) That Bearded Guy's truck got broken into at work, and his window got smashed. Our oven is on death's door, as it now is losing it's temperature sensor, and will heat up. And heat up. And heat up. And cookies that were placed in there at 350 for only 3 minutes are smoking as they get hastily taken out... Our fridge is making sounds that don't encourage the heart either, and seems to be going the way of the oven. ....and our garbage disposal felt lonely, and now won't work either.

My perspective on this? God is good. We have running AC in the house. We are healthy. We have money for our weekly groceries. TBG still has a job. I'm still working Pampered Chef (albiet, not very much, anybody need to order anything???) and I'm still sewing. We can afford the roof over our heads. We can afford a new fridge with some creative budgeting. Don't need the garbage disposal-I'll just change my tactics for kitchen sink use. And as for the oven?

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

I shall survive FINE without the oven! I will find a way! We have a working stove top! We have a toaster oven! We have a microwave! And, most importantly, WE HAVE CROCK POTS!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is my new challenge, and I will CONQUER IT!! *Bohahaha!*

How will I make cookies? Parchment paper lined on the bottom, high heat, watch to learn how long.

How will I make banana bread? Use my larger crock pot, fit the bread pan in it, bake on high for 3ish hours.

How will I make dinner? BAH! Same as always before! Toss it in and walk away!

How will I make breakfast? I will show you.

With some easy preparation, and my knowledge that I'll be getting up at 1:30 this morning to feed That Boy, breakfast was a cinch. This morning, when TBG got up for work, he had Apple-Berry Crunch for breakfast. Hot, delicious, easy. All he had to do was spoon it out of the crock pot. In a couple days, I plan we'll having banana bread. Wait for that bit of fun!

How did I make this? I prepared all my ingredients before bed, so when I woke up at 1:30, all I had to do was chop my apples, and put everything in! Easy!

Ingredients

• Filling:
• 2 apples, chopped
• 1 package mixed berries, frozen
• 1/4 C. firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 C. frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed)
• 2 Tbs. AP GF flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt

• Topping:
• 1 C. oats, uncooked
• 1/2 C. firmly packed brown sugar
• 5 Tbs. non-dairy butter, melted
• 2 Tbs. AP GF flour

Path to Yum

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. For filling, mix all together. (I mixed all but the apples and berries, and added those in the wee hours of the morning) Once mixed, add to crock pot. Mix topping, sprinkle over berry mixture. Turn crock pot on to low, walk away for at least 2 hours. Return to eat some yum.

Super easy. Delicious!

Still debating on what I'll make for dinner. It'll either be BBQ chicken, slow cooked and then shredded for sandwiches, or it'll be salsa chicken. If I do salsa chicken, I'll make it with of extra meat, and then I'll slow cook some chicken enchilada's tomorrow night. Oh decisions, decisions!

A brief update

It's been so long since I've been able to just sit and write! Oi!

Life has hit yet again with it's full schedule, and boy, are we feeling the effects of it! Nothing like a full calendar to keep one constantly running around, staying busy, and yet so busy that they rarely get fully filling meal and never get to the gym. Yay for snacks-healthy snacks, but snacks. Often enough to keep hunger away, and also often enough to make one wonder if the jeans fit better yesterday than today.. Current favorite snack? KIND bars. Nuts to help hold hunger at bay, enough honey and sweet to raise blood sugar so dizzy hunger goes away..tasty, and gluten free to boot. Yeah, many lunches have consisted of those!

Another simple lunch when by a microwave? Sweet potato. Just toss in the 'wave, hit the baked potato button, once it's tender inside, split open add some salt and any butter you have..so yummy! Simple and filling and soo good!

I've heard alot of people discussing allergies to eggs, and how when they keep eating eggs, they develop allergies to them. Soo TBG and I have been shaking up our breakfast routine. One morning we had butternut squash with nuts and maple syrup and a slice of beet bread. Another morning was oatmeal with blueberries and yogurt on the side. I experimented and we enjoyed brown rice with brown sugar, sausage and apple another morning. For being a girl who never liked oatmeal growing up, it's really funny how much I like it now! Oatmeal with crunchy peanut butter and cinnamon mixed in. Oatmeal with maple syrup, diced apples and pecans. We had rice, chicken and veggies another morning. (Japanese style breakfast) It's been rather fun to break out of our typical morning routine. This morning we had eggs with breakfast-a simple, yummy, breakfast pizza. That pizza crust I mentioned in another post? I had made several small, 'personal size' crusts, baked them and then froze them. This morning before church I pulled one out and thawed it, and then added my toppings! Scrambled eggs, sausage, bell pepper and goat cheese were amazing toppings on that pizza! Simple and yummy and filling. Mmm... Haven't yet decided what tomorrow's breakfast will be yet. We'll see what happens there..

I'm making myself hungry again. *facepalms* I think the gym is starting to call my name...

But I haven't yet mentioned the best thing I've found yet! Lasagna.

I have pictures of it while it was being made-but no pictures of it done! But that's ok, since I'll be making it again this Friday for Bible study. Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures then... >_>

TBG and I are in love with this lasagna. Creamy, rich, delicious. Filling-and yet light enough that we can go back for seconds if we want. Veggie heavy, so it's healthy, and yet half the time no one notices just HOW veggie heavy it is! On Friday I'll be making a vegetarian version to accompany our loaded lasagna. If you're allowed dairy, you can add more cheeses to it. For us, being cow dairy free, we used goat cheese and almond cheese to get amazing results! We'll be sticking with those for now.

It's a very simple recipe. And you can always make it in advance and pull out for later! (just remember to extend the cooking time as needed)

•1 package. gluten free rice lasagna noodles
•1 jar pasta sauce (I like tomato chunks and garlic)
•1 tub olive tapenade (Trader Joe's)
•1 bag spinach
•1 can artichoke hearts (cut lengthwise, to open them up easily)
•1.5 pounds hamburger
•2 cloves garlic
•2 bell peppers, diced
•1 onion, diced
•1 can olives
•1 chunk goat cheese, grated
•1 chunk almond cheese, grated
•extra cheese ^_^
•bunch of basil

How to make yummy:

1. Cook noodles as directed, but pull them out and cool them before fully cooked. They'll cook more once they're in the pan with everything else
2. Toss the onions in a pan with some butter, and cook until they smell heavenly and turn a lovely golden color. Put aside.
3. Cook the meat with the garlic. You can mince the garlic, or if you have a PC garlic press, cheat and use that. ^_^ It'll save you time and sanity in the long run, I promise!
4. Pull out your 9x12 pan and prepare to layer!
5. Start with the noodles. A single layer is beautiful. Spread the olive tapenade over the noodles. (if you want to add more veggies, dice up some olives and sprinkle over this too)
6. Rip apart some of the artichoke hearts, and spread around in a thickishly thin layer.
7. Layer spinach and basil. Sprinkle bell pepper and onion,  and add a layer of meat.
8. Spoon pasta sauce over this now. If you like cheesy, add some chese now.
9. Again with the noodles! Spread the last of the olive tapenade and olives, the last of the artichokes, the greens, the veggies, the meat. Drown it in sauce, and give it all the cheese you got!
10. Bake in an oven at 350 for about an hour, or until fully heated through.
11. Serve with some french bread and devour!

(French bread recipe can be found on this site)

A bit of the ingredients

Before going in the oven. I hope to get a picture of it OUT of the oven to post later!