recipes i love: turkey spinach lasagna

I have said before that I am not a chef, that's why I am trying to learn to cook through recipes I find online. When I find ones I love, I want to share them with you so here is one of my favorites right now. Turkey, mushroom, and spinach lasagna from Healthy. Delicious. It is the best lasagna I have had in a long time and by using ground turkey and low and non-fat cheeses it makes it a healthier option to traditional lasagna. She is right when she says it wont stick around long if you have leftovers, it is amazing.

(Missing from this picture are the ground turkey, onion, garlic, fennel seed, salt, pepper, and basil.)  

The recipe on the site gives you the perfect timing and temperatures and it is fairly easy to make this recipe work for you if you need to change a few things. I have tried this recipe several times and while I stuck to the ingredients and recipe the first time, since then I have played around with it a little. I normally make this without mushrooms because most of the people I cook for do not like mushrooms but either way, this is legit lasagna and I want to eat it every day. I also tend to not add fresh basil unless I am growing it in my garden and I have made this before without the spinach - every variation has worked and has been absolutely delicious with the perfect consistency and balance of meat, cheese, and noodle. I'm also a garlic addict so I use crushed garlic instead of garlic powder most of the time but I have made it both ways and either way is awesome! I suggest, unless you have a dietary restriction, trying the original recipe first and then if you need to make changes you can - most of my changes were based on who I was cooking for or simple because I forgot something from the store (like the time I forgot spinach....for a turkey and spinach lasagna.) 

It's a great alternative to traditional lasagna and if you open the link and see a daunting list of ingredients; don't worry. I love the way the spinach works with this meal, you barely notice it is there but it adds this refreshing element to the meal and you get your greens! I love this recipe and highly recommend it! 

xoxo,
kat

Hello, March. Goodbye, February

This month was focused on fitness, while I did not share all of my favorite things about fitness, I did talk about yoga, spin, and fitness being about a feeling, not a number or a shape. I also wrote a lot about Young Adult books, my favorite being Shadow and Bone. And I started reviewing recipes from pinterest as part of my goal of becoming a better cook at home. 

It's been great blogging again. I started really blogging in 2008 when I created an Etsy shop to sell my handmade hats and accessories but after I went back to graduate school it became clear that my blog was just becoming a couple pictures and sentences per post. This isn't a bad format at all, a lot of people are successful writing blogs that way and create gorgeous and poignant content. But I am not a photographer, I am not a fashion or beauty blogger, and I am not craft blogger anymore. 

So, I took a break from blogging and focused on school and work. When I decided I wanted to blog again, I didn't want to worry about it looking "the right way." I wanted to make sure I was focused on content that meant something to me and not spending hours posing pictures that weren't natural to who I am, or pretending to be someone who I am not. 

It's been two months and I am constantly coming up with new things I want to write about, things I want to share, elements I want to add to weekly posts, and that has me excited. And with that, I want to start adding more of me to this blog than just my writing. So March is going to be the month of more. More posts, more pictures, and some other very exciting changes that I cannot wait to share with you. 

Some things I am looking forward to: 

Being Crafty - I recently organized my crafts at home and cannot wait to start sharing my work with you again. 

Spring Cleaning - I just found out I will probably be living in the same space for at least another year or two, I always thought it was temporary and never really settled in.  Now it's time to clean and organize and try some of those projects found all around the web. 

Books I Love - This last month was all about Young Adult books. While I still will share some now and then, I am excited to share some other genres with you all and to start expanding on my reviews. 

Fitness and Adventures - The boy and I have a goal to summit three SoCal peaks this summer. That means I need to kick it into high gear. I am excited to share this journey with you. 

What are your goals for March? What are you looking forward to?

xoxo,

kat 

recipes i love: honey mustard chicken

This is my favorite recipe of the moment. I make it almost every week. I love how simple it is to make homemade honey mustard. It's delicious, moist, and so insanely easy to make that I usually have the time (and energy) to make a more complicated side dish with it (like mashed potatoes.) If you don't like mustard, I would say this probably isn't for you. But because you make the honey mustard for this chicken, it's not too sweet and doesn't taste like most honey mustard sauces or dressings you buy at the store.

I cannot stress how easy this recipe is. I have gotten in the habit of making this with thinly sliced chicken. It cooks faster and comes out just as delicious. Like I said, I make this with mashed potatoes or with steamed green beans and there are never any leftovers. 

xoxo,

kat

recipes i love: breakfast bake

I love breakfast. I am mildly judgmental of those who don't, I mean, I am not going to automatically hate you if you say you don't like breakfast but I am going to be a little suspicious of you until I get to know you better.

With the boy recovering from surgery and me needing to find something yummy, delicious, and nutritious I could throw together. I was super excited to try this breakfast bake from Budget Savvy Diva. 

I am in love with this, and I am especially in love with it because you can customize it so much. I added onion to mine and instead of using the precooked Jimmy Dean Sausages (my store was out) I used Jennie-O turkey sausage that I cooked with the onions and bell peppers before putting it all together in the casserole. Even when I added the extra steps, this was still a super fast and easy breakfast to make and the clean up was easy too. 

It's delicious and not too heavy. I think you just have to watch how much cheese you add. For me, I kept the cheese very light, I wanted this to be a healthy option and I know the biscuits on the bottom are already pushing this recipe into the not so healthy realm (but guys, biscuits are so good, you can't not have biscuits.) It is not like most casseroles where the flavors all mush together and it just all tastes the same - you still taste the individual ingredients. You get a bite of bell pepper, a bite of turkey sausage, and you get a bite of biscuit. 

The best part was, I made a little bit too much and we had leftovers. I threw those leftovers in the toaster oven the next morning and was excited to see that even after a night in the fridge it heated up to be just as delicious as it was the day before. I am pretty sure I will end up making this again this weekend. It was that good.  Where do you find your favorite recipes online? xoxo, kat

recipes i love: slow cooker chicken tacos

As I mentioned before, I do not and probably never will consider myself a "food blogger." But I have been trying to learn to cook and I have mostly used pinterest to do so. My first recipe to review is Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos from Spoonful.com.

This chicken is amazing. It is super moist, delicious, healthy, and can be used in so many ways. We made simple chicken tacos with avocado on top and we did not need any salsa, that is how flavorful and juicy this chicken is. It would be great for burritos, taco salads, and the leftovers would be amazing for nachos. It also took almost no time to make. I put it all in the crockpot in the morning and when I came home from work it took just a few minutes to shred the chicken (it broke apart easily) and get the sides together. 

Now I know what you are thinking, why didn't she start the series with a great independent blog?! I promise, I will write about those. But I had a really hard time finding a version of this recipe that I liked. Most of the ones I tried from some of the food blogs I read regularly were too salty for me. They didn't work for my personal tastes, I want to share with you recipes I actually like. I tried this one from My Chocolate Therapy but for me it was too salty so I would say if you find the Spoonful.com one lacking flavor, try this instead. I tend to think most things are too salty so there is a good chance you will love that one as well.