Going to try a new recipe.....

I think the next time I make Lasagna I am going to try this recipe out and see how it is. Has anyone ever made Lasagna in the crock pot before???

Slow Cooker Lasagna
Great lasagna doesn’t have to mean lots of time and perfectly layered squares. This recipe is easier to prepare and still has all the rich flavors of lasagna to enjoy. Put it together and forget about it while you go about your other to-dos. Slow Cooker Lasagna is also a great dinner idea for trick-or-treat night!

Serves:6
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 3-4 hours
Approximate cost: $2.50 per serving

INGREDIENTS
1 pound lean ground beef, cooked and drained
32 ounce jar of your favorite red pasta sauce
16 ounces cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
1/2 box (4.5 ounces) no boil lasagna noodles, gently broken in half if needed.
2 cloves garlic, minced*
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano*
1/4 teaspoon dried basil*
1/2 cup onion, finely minced
2 cups (8 ounces) Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese, to taste
Olive oil or cooking spray, as needed

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Grease the inside of your slow cooker with olive oil or cooking spray.
   
2. Combine beef, sauce, spices, garlic and onion in a medium-sized bowl and mix well.
   
3. Combine cheese, except for Parmesan, in a separate medium-sized bowl.
   
4. In the slow cooker, start with the beef mixture (about a fifth depending on the size of your cooker). Top with a layer of no boil noodles, then crumble on a thin layer of the cheese mixture (about a fifth). Repeat layers, ending with the beef layer on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
   
5. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Serve with salad and garlic bread.

*If your pasta sauce has already been flavored with herbs and garlic you may omit these ingredients if desired.

Fun in the Rain......

It's not raining to hard today, but it's a light drizzle. Anna decided she wanted to go out to play even though it's raining out. She seems to be having a good time playing while her brothers are napping.

She was getting water from the down spout and pulling her wagon around. It so nice to see your little one playing so nicely.

Here she has her favorite twirly dress with her winter boots, and a light jacket.

Having fun with the pup.....

The kids were having a good time outside the other night. They were taking turns riding in the wagon and holding little Charlie. Next summer little Noah will be able to join in on the fun, but for now he will have to watch from the patio door.

What is this thing......
Earlier this summer I got a good size box of plastic containers at a garage sale and at the bottom of the box was this round thing. I had no idea what it was, but it had Tupperware stamped on the bottom, so I jumped on eBay to see if I could find out what it was. It wasn't to long after I found out that it was a hamburger press. I know you all probably knew what it was, but I have to say I never been to a Tupperware party, so I had no clue. So the last couple of months I have been using it and love it because I don't have to get my hands all yucky and in the end I have all the same size hamburger patties...except for the for special little patty for my daughter, which you can see in the picture. So how many of you have one and use it or don't use it???

The other Tupperware item that I also got in the big box was the pickle holder, which also has worked great in keeping the fingers clean. The kids also like to use it to get there pickles out. So how many of you have one of these???

Extra Money & This & That......

As many of you know I love to sell stuff on EBay to make a little extra money. Well in the last month I have done very well. I can hardly believe it, but Praise the Lord. Just to give you a couple examples. I had bought these Dansko womens shoes at a thrift store for $5. They were in brand new condition. I looked them up on line to see how much they retail for and found out well over $100, so I set them at a buy it price of $60 and sold them. I also sold a pair of Ugg brand boots for $40 and had bought them for $3. Lastly the other great deal was I bought 4 pairs of Silver brand jeans for a total of $15 and sold them for $115. If only I had more things like that to sell:(

The weather has really taken a turn in the last couple of days. I had had to dig out all of the warm clothes. The kids also want to take there walk everyday, which makes it a bit more challenging and less enjoyable, but we will still continue to get out as long as possible. I know I am going to really miss sending the kids out to let them make there loud noised outside. Hopefully they will be able to enjoy playing out in the snow when it comes.

Also another encouraging thing for me is I have been finding that a lots of my pants and skirts are getting to big for me. The clothes that I thought I would never get into again are fitting now, which is so awesome. Now if I can just keep it up I may even be able to get close to my weight before kids. Wow wouldn't that be awesome.

Well that are just a few things happening around here. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoy the fall weather:)

Renee's Kitchen

There is one thing I miss from working at Victor Allen's Coffee & Tea besides the free latte's and that is the scones. I love scones and have made two different batches in the last week so far. The first attempt was a flop, but the second try went much better. I am hoping to be able to find a really good recipe, so that I can make up a dozen or two and store them in the freezer so when I want something to go with my coffee in the morning I can just get one out or Brandon can take one along for a quick breakfast. I just came a cross a recipe for Oatmeal-Apple Scones, which sound wonderful. I haven't tried them yet, but will probably make a batch very soon. Let me know if you try the recipe or if you have a scone recipe that's good. This to me looks like the perfect fall scone to enjoy with that cup of coffee in the morning:)

Noah 8 months old.......

I had to get a couple of pictures of Noah this morning before church. He is such a cutie in this little outfit, but unfortunately he will be out growing it to soon. So sad:(

SNUGGLES......
I don't know what it is ,but she likes to snuggle up around your neck. She is a great little snuggler, but I have also created a nice little bed for her to lay in. It only took a couple times of putting her in her bed and now she just crawls in when she is tired. I am going to try my hardest to train her well. She has also been doing a good job of going potty outside, but it will be a while before she is trained. She is still very small and has to go to the bathroom a lot. It's been nice having a dog around the house again. She is a wonderful addition to our family.

Verses for the Week:

Here are a couple verses that I read last week that I just loved and tells house powerful the Word of God is.

Jeremiah 23: 28 & 29


28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.

29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

NO STOPPING HIM NOW....
The last day or so Noah has been pulling himself up on everything. He is still pretty wobbly, but it is so cute to see.

Renee's Kitchen:

Brandon came home the other day talking about needing to have a nutritious, quick to eat, balanced snack food that he could take with him to help get him through the school day. His sister, Jennelea, who is a Physician's Assistant and registered dietitian, suggested that he look for a recipe for "Breakfast Cookies" on Food Network. So, last night I found the recipe there and made up a batch. They were fast, easy and go great with coffee. The idea is basically a small, balanced meal in a cookie. You can put a lot of different things in them, but you need simple sugars, complex carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Some examples of things to put in them are: dried cranberries, white raisins, walnuts or pecans, ground up flex seed, wheat germ or chocolate chips. The next batch I make I'm going to add a 1/4 cup of peanut butter. I am also keeping them in the freezer to keep them fresh. The link to the recipe is above. Let me know if you try them out or have other suggestions:)

A Few more sweet pictures of our new baby.....

Random Pictures.....
From last week. We decided to go and visit Grandma & Grandpa Marting in Iowa last week. The kids had a wonderful time. Unfortunately Brandon had to stay home because of school. We had a nice time and I even got to bring back about 20 packages of frozen corn, which was a huge blessing. Corn is one of those vegetables that always tastes better when frozen yourself.

Gabriel ate plenty of corn and a whole pint of yellow raspberries. These are two things that Anna will not even touch. It's crazy to see the differences in the kinds of food my two older children will eat. I can almost always expect Gabe to like something and for Anna to not even want to touch it and vice versa. Anna loves meat and Gabriel will not even touch it. He will sometimes eat salami or bacon, but that is it.

Grandma Marting also had a wonderful time with smiley Noah, who was such a good little guy on our trip. Also I think Noah is going to be my good little eater. He is already eating foods that the other two did not like at his age. I have asked the Lord that I need to have one child who will eat anything and everything. So far Noah is doing very well:)

Gabe fixing the doll house.....

He got this little drill last year for Christmas and has been having so much fun with it. I think more toy power tools will be on the list for Christmas this year.

New Puppy.....

Here is our new little beagle puppy. She is 4 1/2 weeks old and Brandon came up with the name Charlie, which we all love. The kids love her especially Anna who is old enough to help out with feeding, watering, and taking Charlie out to go potty. We are all looking forward to getting to know this little puppy and training her to be a good little girl. I think the pup will help keep the kids busy and they will have a nice new friend to play with in the back yard as she grows up.

Busy Week.....

Sorry for the lack of post this week. We decided last minute on Tuesday to go and visit Grandma & Grandpa in Iowa. We got back yesterday late afternoon. It was a very nice visit with family & friends. We also brought back a new addition to the family. I'll post some pictures very soon. Hope you all had a wonderful week:)

Renee's Kitchen
Since Fall is just around the corner I wanted to post this awesome pumkin pie recipe. I actually just made this recipe just the other day and Brandon loved it. If you like pumkin pie you will like this new little twist. Enjoy and let me know if you try it out:)

Streusel Pumpkin Pie

1 can (15 ounces) solid pack pumpkin
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Blend all together and pour into one big pie dish or it will make two small pumpkin pies. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake pies for 15 mins. In the meantime mix up the crumb topping.

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tb flour
1 Tb melted butter

Mix up well and sprinkle on the of the pumpkin pies after 15 mins. Then reduce oven to 350 degrees and continue baking 40 to 50 minutes or until filling is set and knife inserted near center comes out clean.

Eat & Enjoy:)

New Clothes Line.....
I decided to put up a clothes line to help cut down on how much I use my drier. Our drier runs on gas and so I am hoping to cut our gas bill in half. I should of thought about doing this earlier in the summer. So what I did was put up some shelving brackets and then Brandon bought some PVC pipe for me to use as my rod. It has been working very well.

Noah Ray......
He is getting to be such a big boy. He is sitting up well and crawling all over the place. He is also eating rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce and carrots. He also has been trying to pull himself up on things and before we know it he will be walking. He is such a fast learner and so sweet.

Rocks & Water.......
Anna & Gabe were having a good time making smoothies out of rocks and water. It was fun to watch, but it sure did turn into a big mess. I can't complain to much since it kept them busy for well over an hour, which was wonderful.

Brandon's First Day of Clinical......
Here are the scrubs he will be wearing for the next couple of years during clinicals. This will take a bit to get use to, but I am excited for him.