Monday Randoms. {Coconut oil. The Vow. Moscato.}

I made Strawberry Moscato Punch on Friday night – y’all – I think this is going to need to be a staple in my fridge from now on. At least for the summer. It was so easy.

1 large bottle of Moscato

1 can of strawberry/orange juice concentrate {or any juice concentrate of your liking}

8 oz. of Sprite {ish}

Mix it all in the pitcher and drink to your little alcoholic happy heart’s content. I think it’d be really good with fruit slices in it too – but I wasn’t trying to be fancy this weekend.

I also made a pasta bake – but obviously made the drink first. Priorities, people.

Friday night, Missy and I decided to have a little DIY spa/girlie movie night. We put gobs of organic coconut oil in our hair and let it soak while we watched The Vow. {I’ll get to that in a minute} First of all – it smelled amazing, I love the smell of coconut. And once I washed it out my hair was so soft and manageable. I think I’m going to try to do this every couple of days. Being blonde kind of strips my hair of moisture and I can already feel such a difference just after one use. We also mashed up an avocado and slathered it on our faces and let it dry. My skin felt AMAZING once I washed it off. I had some very happy hair and skin this weekend.

The Vow – ohmigoodness… *sigh* that movie definitely pulled on my heartstrings. I can’t believe I waited so long to watch it! What was I thinking?! They cast that movie so, so well. I’m always for a sappy chic flick and this one completely fulfilled that. If you haven’t seen it – do it.

Last week I thought I wanted to try to persuade my 29 year old self into all of the sudden becoming a morning person. I set my alarm for 7am and hoped to get up and workout, get ready for my day, enjoy a nice breakfast and not be so rushed. Do you think that happened? Hell no. I can’t – apparently you can’t teach this old dog new tricks. I need to accept that and move on. It was a nice thought though… maybe one day. {Although, I’m not holding my breath }

Now, my loves – I’m off to do some reading. I discovered the book Sisterhood Everlasting this weekend while at Barnes and Noble. I’ve been a huge fan of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants saga since it came out. {Years ago!} This last one has fast forwarded {is that a word? No? Oh well.} to when they’re turning 30 and how life has changed them and their friendship. You have no clue how crazy excited I was when I found this – AND then realized I still had $$ on my BN gift card… one. happy. girl.

And one last thought for your Monday…

Always remember… take a moment… and just enjoy life.

Happy Monday, lover butts. I hope it’s not rainy where you are {unless of course you are like me and enjoy the rain…}.

 

She cooks. {Lasagna Soup}

I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest this week… and I thought that it sounded delicious, easy, and had the opportunity to be relatively healthy. To me, those things are all I need to convince me to try something. I love to cook, it’s relaxing… however, the dishes and mess it makes are another story…

When I cook I tend to not use recipes… I get the basic idea and just kind of run with it. That’s the fun part – being creative. {Yes, I try to use creativity in everything I do.} In my recipe I used no salt beef broth to bring out the flavor of the ground beef {and to lower the sodium} I also added tomato paste as a thickening agent. And instead of breaking up lasagna noodles I used  campanelle pasta… they’re like mini lasagna noodles – with the curly edge. {Real technical terms here}. And instead of just topping with parmasan cheese I made a cheese mixture and used that to top it… It was like lasagna in a bowl… so, I think I accomplished what I set out to. I had two taste testers and they both were quite pleased. A+ for Jac!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef {mine was fresh from Shull farms}

1/2 white onion {diced}

1 tbsp fresh garlic

1 can {14.5 oz} diced tomatoes w/juice

1 can {14.5 oz} tomato sauce

1 small can {30 ml} tomato paste

2 cups no salt/low sodium beef broth

8 oz Campanella pasta {or whatever pasta floats your boat}

1 tbsp sugar {this is completely up to your taste – I like a hint of sweetness in any tomato sauce I make – so it’s give or take}

Seasoning {I used more garlic, sea salt, different italian seasonings – just season to your taste preference}

Cheese Mixture:

1 small container lowfat ricotta cheese

1 container gorgonzola cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

{again, cheese is up to you – pick and choose as you wish}

Okay guys… this is where it gets real tough… pay close attention…

In a large saucepan saute the onion and garlic in a little EVOO {what? You don’t watch Rachel Ray??? Extra Virgin Olive Oil} until fragrant. Throw in the beef, brown it. Because mine wasn’t very fatty I didn’t need to drain it. Turn the heat to medium, pour in the beef broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and season to taste. Let cook for about ten minutes {or an hour, if you have the time - I didn’t – so I went with 10 minutes}. Crank up the heat a bit to get a boil… once boiling, throw in your pasta. Let cook until al dente. {the pasta will continue to soak up the broth – and no one likes mushy noodles} Serve into bowls, spoon some cheese mixture on top and it’s ready to be gobbled up!

Oh yes, the cheese mixture… mix the cheeses together {I always season it with garlic and italian spices as well} and you’re done!

This meal was easy peezy lemon squeezy… and hardly even made a mess. I think the best part of this meal is that it makes plenty to have leftovers for the week… hello, lunch tomorrow!

And like a good little girl I calculated the calorie content {with the exact ingredients so it’s pretty accurate} and it came in at 353 w/cheese 208 w/out cheese. I’ll take that for a nice, hearty bowl of comfort food anyday.

{Also, I recommend a glass of your favorite wine to go with this bowl of yumminess. You deserve it.}

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

Happy Hump Day, my little pumpkins!

p.s. I’m not a recipe writer or follower so I apologize if it doesn’t make sense.

p.p.s. I wasn’t planning on blogging this which is why I only had one, awful cell phone picture of it.

Did you know… {ramblings}

Did you know…

I was sick all weekend? Nope? Well, now you do. {please feel sorry for me. }

That you can have wine delivered right to your door? I kid you not, in Clintonville there’s this fabulous drive thru that will BRING you wine. I didn’t believe it either. But guys, this legit happened. I called and said… “I would like red Moscato.” Nice delivery man says “I’ll be there in 15.” 15 minutes later, nice delivery man knocks on my door with THREE different wines to choose from. Y’all… this might be my favorite part of city living. Now if only he could deliver some whiskey….

My birthday is in less than a month. Don’t fret, you still have plenty of time to buy me a present.

That I’m reading the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy… holy racy, kids. This is not for children. It’s dark, deep, and very very dirty.

I should be running right now. My running partner in crime hasn’t texted me and asked if I wanted to go yet… so lazy me has won… {doing a victory dance}

My dinner tonight consisted of cereal and coffee. And about 3 sips of wine… oddly. Don’t ask.

My mom calls me every.single.night. At the same time. And when she doesn’t… it throws my entire evening off. #bestmommaever

I’ve never seen Aristocats – but I claim to love Marie. Here’s why… she’s adorable. Do I need more reason? Ok, I love cats… and her name is Marie {um… jacMARIE}

I have some of the best, best, best friends in the entire world? Ok, I may or may not have mentioned that close to a hundred times throughout the course of this blog, but that’s just a testament to how much I adore these people. I’m blessed to have them.

Because I’m not running… I should be doing Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30… but alas, I’m not. I’m sitting here, on my bum, cuddled under a blanket and blogging.

Missy, Amy, and I are going to see Tyler Hilton in a couple weeks. So ok – it isn’t official yet but there was talks of it today. We are kinda One Tree Hill musician junkies. You may call it obsessed… we call it dedicated.

I absolutely love rainy days. Especially when it’s storming.

That I appreciate you reading my ramblings… most are pointless, some are serious, few are actually funny {I find them all funny – I’m weird.}. But nonetheless, I appreciate YOU.

Happy Monday evening, lovelies.