Mr. Beane's First Birthday

Oh, yes.  We are those people.  The people that throw a birthday party for a dog...

And here's the birthday boy!  It's his first birthday and we had a few friends over for some treats.

 

That's his birthday treat table.  Mini milk bones and bacon and cheese star dog treats.  I also grabbed some Purina soft and chewy dog food that can also be used as treats to use as 'goody bags' for his guests.

 

 

His guests brought some little toys or treats.  We recycle our gift bags and birthday banners at this house!

 

 

Each dog had an individual cake made from a basic muffin mix with chicken broth subbed for water.  The icing was pureed chicken Vienna sausages with 1/2 block of cream cheese.

 

Puppy cake, presents and friends...All in all it was a pretty good day for the birthday boy!

 

 



Powerchart Maternity Class

 

Okay,  today was the second day of the power chart maternity class. I am pretty sure my brain melted out of my ears.  There are probably some really good things about this charting system, but right now it really just gave me a headache, nausea and chest pain.  At least I was already at the hospital.  Anyways, the last day of the class is  tomorrow.   Our department's 'Go Live' date is not until the end of May.  That gives me just enough time to forget  everything.

 

Tomorrow is an all day practice day.  Hopefully my patient,  Strawberry Shortcake, will have an uneventful delivery and a completely legal chart.

Spicy General Tso Chicken

Tonight's dinner: Spicy General Tso Chicken.  Delicious.  Delicious and Spicy!

Ingredients

2 lbs. chicken
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
vegetable oil
3 green onions
3 tbsp. rice vinegar
4 tbsp. rice wine
6 tbsp. sugar
6 tbsp. soy sauce
4 tsp. cornstarch

Directions

Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet.  Add 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes.  While oil is heating cube chicken breast into 1 to 2 inch pieces.  Add chicken to skillet and cook until done.  While chicken is cooking mix rice vinegar, rice wine, sugar, soy sauce and cornstarch in a medium size bowl.  Add sauce mixture to chicken and simmer until sauce is thickened.  Top with sliced green onions.  Serve over a bed of perfect white rice with a side of stir fry vegetables.  So easy and so good! 

Never Too Early

In honor of the NFL draft coming up I have designed a new logo for our family fantasy football league. Ta-Dah...

 

 

Do I know much about football?

 

     Nah.

 

Should I learn so I don't come in last place this year?

 

     Probably.

 

I even copyrighted my team :)  And made it my cover page for my team binder (I have a small obsession with binders...). 

 

Mr. T strategizes and keeps up on all of the NFL news.  I'm doing pretty good to know who RG3 is.  Oh, I do know that Tim Tebow and J.J. Watt are cuties!  Yeah, I'll be trying to draft that Texans defense...

 



♥

Making a Quick Get Away

People consider us a bit of a camping family even though I don't think we go near enough.  Anytime we want to take a trip it is always a hassle to get everything together.  Some stuff is stored in one room, some in the den closet, some under our bed...its pretty much everywhere!  Until now...

 

 

I finally made a little camping nook in the laundry room.  Its not much to look at, but neither is dirty laundry...

 

There's still more to get together, but having everything neatly packed and ready to go at the last moment is a perfect idea.  Mr. T is a planner, I'm more of a let's-get-in-the-car-and-go, we'll-figure-it-out-as-we-go-along kind of girl.  Drives him a bit mad.  Hopefully this will help.  Just looking at it makes me ready for a s'more!!

 

 

Oh, and here was Mr. Beane looking completely cute today:

 



Broccoli Beef Stir Fry over Cauliflower Rice

Another low carb dinner!

 

 I am feeling a bit blog lazy so if you want the recipe you can go here.  The nutrition information has also been calculated for you!

Low Carb Lasagna

I have been scouring the internet for some recipes that could be low carb and make me feel like I was eating 'regular' food.  A lot of them had some good ideas.  I never could find a recipe that I really just wanted to try.  Here is what I finally came up with after reading a whole bunch of different recipes:

 

Low Carb Lasagna

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

2 -3 zucchini

2 2/3 cups cottage cheese, small curd

1 pound ground beef (I used 80/20)

1 pound ground turkey

2 tsp salt

2tsp pepper

2 tsp Italian seasoning

3 cups marinara sauce

4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 large eggs

 

 

1)  Preheat oven to 400

2)  Wash and slice zucchini length ways into thin slices (I used a nifty gadget I bought at Walmart)

3)  Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.  Lay out zucchini slices (sides touching, but not overlapping).  Season with salt and pepper.  Spray a bit more spray on top.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes and then remove from the oven.  Flip the slices over (carefully) and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes.  When finished baking, turn the oven down to 350.

4)  While the zucchini baking is going on mix cottage cheese, 2 cups of the mozzarella, 1 tsp Italian seasoning, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper and 2 eggs with an electric mixer. I think this gives it a bit more of the ricotta (higher carb) cheese texture.  Set aside until ready to layer.

5)  Brown the ground beef and turkey in a skillet.  Season with remaining Italian seasoning and a bit of salt and pepper.

6) Layering:  (13x9 pan)

       1 cup marinara

       1 baking tray of zucchini slices

       1/2 beef/turkey mixture

       1/2 cheese mixture

       1 cup marinara

       remaining zucchini slices

       remaining beef/turkey

       remaining cheese mixture

       remaining marinara

       sprinkle remaining 2 cups of shredded mozzarella

7)  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and let set for about 10 to 15 minutes.

 

serves 12

 

Nutritional Info (from Sparkpeople)

     calories 355   fat  24.2g   sodium 443mg   net carbs 5.5g   protein 29.8

 

Everyone at dinner said this was awesome.  No one seemed to miss the pasta!  Kenzie Lou said it was delicious :)

*update - Mr.T snuck some seconds later  and Torrence, who hates zucchini and missed dinner said she thought it looked good and wanted to try some for lunch tomorrow...promising...