Recipe Share- Cheesy Mostaccioli

I hope you all had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! Nathan and I fully enjoyed our long weekend. We were even able to take a short get-away trip to Nashville for a couple of days to spend some quality time together. It was very refreshing! I am so thankful we are able to do things like that! I will post a few pictures of our short trip soon.

For now, I want to share one of my favorite recipes with you all. My mother used to make this dish for us when we were growing up. This year, she purchased me a stone bowl for my birthday so that I could make this dish for my family. This dish can feed at least 8 people, if not more (I've fed at least 10 with it), which makes it a great dish to make for others. While I would suggest using a stone bowl, it isn't required.

Cheesy Mostaccioli (Pampered Chef Style)

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package mostaccioli pasta, uncooked
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1 (11 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-1 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I use more like 4 cups of cheese)

Directions
1- Prepare the pasta according to the package directions; rinse and drain.
2- In a non-stick skillet, cook and stir the beef over medium-high heat until meat is browned; drain.
3- Add in spaghetti sauce, soup, pepper, and Italian seasoning; stir to combine.
4- In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, sauce, and 2 cups cheese.
5- Transfer mixture to a greased 4-quart baking dish.
6- Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheese over the top.
7- Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until heated through.
8- To freeze: Complete recipe through step 6. Seal with foil or place in a zip top bag. Freeze.
9- To serve: Thaw in fridge overnight. Bake as directed.

Enjoy cooking for your loved ones this week!

Works for me Wednesday- Microwave Cleaning Made Easy

As some of you may have detected, I took a short break from the blogging world due to a need to focus on other things for awhile. I assure you that Nathan and I are alive and well! Hopefully, I will take the time to write an update about the excitement in our lives in the near future, but for now, I am going to share with you all a simple cleaning tip that "works for me".

For the most part, I really enjoy cleaning our home. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment I feel as I look at our clean home. I have even found that I am able to relax and find more peace when our home is in order. While I can "let the house go" for a few days (I don't recommend this), it usually starts to get to me by the weekend. That being said, I also have certain cleaning tasks that are more of a "chore" for me. I don't desire to look at cleaning anything as a "chore", so I have recently tried to discover ways to make these daunting tasks more easy and enjoyable.

I don't know about you all, but our microwave can get just plain gross. A couple times of leaving something in for too long or forgetting to cover a dish and food is fully baked on to every part of the interior. I used to spend way too much time scrubbing the inside of our microwave, but now I do a little prep work before I attempt to wipe away the old food.

Microwave Cleaning Prep Work:

- Fill a microwavable safe bowl with about 4 coups of water.

- Place a few lemon slices in the bowl.

- Microwave the lemon water until it is boiling.

- Leave the boiling lemon water in the microwave for a few minutes.

- Remove the mixture and easily wipe the "un-stuck" food off the walls of the microwave.

Just a simple cleaning tip that "works for me"! Hope you all have a great week!

Happy cleaning :)!

Learning...

Titus 2

Good Reads...

Check out this awesome series called "Homeaking, It's a Real Job". It has been very encouraging to me and I thought some of you ladies would enjoy it!

If you are up for a challenge, check out this post on being a Jezebel!

Prayer Request and Recipe Share (Oreo Bon-Bon's)

PRAYER REQUEST:

Please pray for my sister-in-law Natalie. On Wednesday, she broke her ankle on both sides while playing with the children at an inflatable play ground of sorts (odd, I know). Today, she is having outpatient surgery on her ankle. While it is an outpatient surgery, anesthesia is always frightening, so please pray for her peace and safety.Pray that she has a quick recovery and is able to return to her busy schedule of caring for the children and keeping the rest of us in line.

I had to include my favorite picture of us. We took this picture on our awesome ski trip in Breckenridge in Febuary of 2008. Don't we look like we are in a band?

RECIPE SHARE:

I made these tasty little treats for bible study on Wednesday and I thought you all might enjoy the recipe. They are easy to make (warning: do not attempt to make them at 6am before going to work) and they require very few ingredients. Plus, everyone seemed to like them!

Ingredients:

1 bag of oreo cookies (I saved 10 cookies from the package for another use)
2 blocks of 80z. cream cheese (I used light cream cheese)
1 to 1.5 packages of vanilla almond bark

Directions:

Use a hard spatula to whip cream cheese until smooth (I wouldn't use a mixer because you don't want it to be too mushy). Crush oreos with your hands (I also used a metal spoon) until finely crushed. Mix crushed oreos with cream cheese. Use a tablespoon to create bite-sized balls of this mixture. Set the balls on a baking sheet and place in the freezer for 20 minutes (or refrigerate for an hour). Melt almond bark according to the package. Dip the balls into the almond bark and let them dry on wax paper. Keep refrigerated until served.

Enjoy serving your loved ones this weekend :)!

Works for Me Wednesday- Watching Less TV

Before I even start to discuss this sensitive subject, I would like to remind you all that my reason for writing these posts is not to say that my way of thinking or living is superior, but merely to tell you "what works for me". I feel that women (my posts are generally not written for men) are often encouraged by other women simply sharing their lives with them. We are all in different stages of life and have different perspectives. That being said, I will continue to write about the ways I continue to simplify my life in hopes that it will encourage someone :).

Watching less TV "works for me"! For over a year, Nathan and I have significantly cut back on the amount of tv we watch. I would like to share with you the ways we cut back on tv and the benefits we received by doing so.

Benefits to Watching Less TV:

*More productive. I have found that I can get a bit lazy when I turn on the tv. If I choose not to turn the tv on and instead listen to music, I feel free to work about the house as I sing and dance (silly, I know).

* More Quality Time. If Nathan and I are sitting in front of the tv, we aren't exactly engaging each other in conversation that leads to interaction and laughter.

* Less exposure to false beliefs. I realize that not every show on tv is negative, but I think it is safe to say tha the majority of tv shows are not uplifting. Most do not encourage me to be a better wife or human being. The commercials alone can leave me feeling like I need to head to the closest restaurant or shopping mall. I am weak, so the less I am exposed to negative shows and materialistic commercials, the easier it is for me to follow TRUTH.

* Better relaxation time. I used to think that watching tv was very relaxing, but now I know that there are other activities (journaling, praying, taking a hot bath, sitting outside on a nice day, reading, etc) that put me in a far deeper state of relaxation. Due to the negative nature of tv, I have found that tv can actually make me anxious, ungrateful, or self conscious.

Ways to limit TV watching:

#1- Watch less tv by replacing tv watching with other productive or relaxing activities. Find alternate activities that you enjoy as much as or more than tv. Nathan and I found that there are many things that we enjoy more than sitting and watching tv.

#2- Cut the cable. When you don't watch much tv, the need for cable reduces significantly because it doesn't seem "worth it" to pay the money for cable when you rarely watch it. If you really enjoy the latest shows, this can be a difficult thing to do. If you are a TV lover, start with #1. If you are successful at watching less tv, #2 should become less difficult.

Try it:

* Limit TV watching to a certain time of day or certain day of the week.

* Evaluate the programs you watch and determine if you feel they are good for you and your family.

* Evaluate if your TV watching effects your productivity. If you feel it makes you less productive, make a plan to keep the tv off in order to get things done.

* Make a list of other activities (productive, interactive, relaxing, etc.) that you could do instead of watching tv.

Learning...

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10-11

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13

Moving Mountains

I found out this week that they are planning on placing me at Lincoln Village Ministries (with the children) to complete my 600 hours! Countless prayers have been answered, ours and so many others (thanks to all of you who prayed)!!! I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it is that the professor would even consider placing me in a non-hospital setting. I am unable to describe how thankful I am to be able to spend 600 hours with these children that I love! I was so discouraged last week after a long meeting with my professor. I started to feel like maybe God was closing a door and I wasn't sure what my next move was supposed to be, but God worked it out...He has my back. He moves mountains and for that I am VERY GRATEFUL!

They still have to sign an articulation agreement with the University, so please pray that the necessary paperwork is signed in a timely manner (the professor is concerned about the paperwork being completed in time).

I am so glad that we will continue to have days like these this summer. There are a long list of reasons why we love the kids, but the way they turn us into complete kids ourselves is certainly found somewhere on that list.

It was a rainy day on Sunday but we didn't let that stop us from having fun with our boys. We played a mad game of kick ball in the rain. We gave all the boys a pair of Nate's ball shorts and told them it was "ok" to get wet and muddy. The load of very dirty laundry I had to tackle following the game was well worth the amount of fun we had on this rainy day. I almost forgot how much fun it is play in the rain :).