Lasagna

As I was walking from my lab section to the MU to grab something yummy before my lecture class I walked right past these beautiful flowers and couldn't help but stop and snap some quick camera pictures.

Spring in Arizona is like a big huge present we get to make up for how stinking hot it will be in about 6 weeks.

Any-who it is once again Wednesday so I am back with a meat-free recipe to whip up for dinner tonight. I, in fact, will be making this for dinner tonight for that oh so sweet guy I once in awhile blog about while we watch Brad Pitt kill some Nazi's in Inglorious Bastards. Just screams romance doesn't it? Especially eating something this red and saucy but we've been craving it so oh well.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

from an AMAZING vegetarian food blogger I found Leslie Sarna

1 box lasagna noodles

Tomato sauce

1 large tub ricotta cheese

a handful of fresh parsley, chopped

a handful of mozzarella, shredded

a handful of grated parmesan cheese

a handful of fresh spinach chopped

a handful of fresh basil chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl. Cook teh lasagna noodles till they are done, but still al dente. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with the tomato sauce and on a clean surface, lay a noodle down and spread cheese mixture in the center an=bout 3/4 of the noodle. Start at one end and roll up noodle and place in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with all noodles. When you are done, cover them with the tomato sauce and sprinkle some mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 min until the cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown .

I will try to sneak a picture of the finished product tonight (and of him if I can!!) but again I don't want to scare him off with my paparazzi skills just yet.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Queen

It is the Monday after Spring Break and I need to keep my sanity if I'm going to make it until summer break.

How do I stay sane??

Queen

♥

No...Not that one. Though I did see this movie in 3D this weekend and that was pretty fun.

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Nope. Not this one either.. Her crown in pretty but I'm not down for the fur.

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This one's not it either. Bt as a kiddie I always thought she had the best make-up of all the Disney villains.

♥

While Kirsten looks awesome in this movie she still is not the Queen that keeps me sane..

This Queen is

♥

Why hello Freddie Mercury! Why yes I do adore you

♥

and your glittery outfits

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and when we sing together in the car, bathroom, while cooking, etc.

♥

Thanks guys for helping me through all the ups and downs there are. For every time I needed you there's been a song that I feel has been written just for me.

♥

I can't say what Queen song is my absolute favorite just yet but right now I am in love with their album A Night at the Opera and I'll be there Sweet Lady any day because Queen is the Love of My Life and I wish me and Freddie could go on a Seaside Rendezvous where I would tell him "You're My Best Friend" and together we would just be Good Company sitting there Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon.

What's your favorite Queen song??

"You Can Kiss My Irish A$$"

St' Patrick's Day was a blast. I'm just going to leave you with some pictures from the festivities while I recover for all the fun that was had last night.

Beautiful Arizona Weather + Cold Guiness + Best Girl Friend= Awesome Day!

Here was the completed outfit!

and thank you, thank you, thank you for all the "hott body" comments... I'm sucking it so hard right now in hopes to take a good picture! lol

The Bollox!

Loving up on our Guiness

forget "Got Milk"...

Got Guiness?

I'll leave you with a very myspace-esque photo from when we were getting ready.

Just had to snap a quick pick for that special guy of mine =)

I hope everyone had a fantastic day pretending to be Irish!

Veggie Burritos

Here I am with a yummy vegetarian recipe for What to Eat Wednesday

This one I found at TastyKitchen.com

and you can find the original post here but I have made these burritos twice now and have had one for lunch almost everyday. I make like 12 in a sitting and then wrap em in aluminum foil and stick em in the fridge until I want one. Then I just pop it in the microwave and I have yummy, healthy meat-free burrito that is just as good if not better than having one with meat.

Roasted Veggie and Black Bean Burrito

from Tasty Kitchen member Aggie's Kitchen

2 whole Sweet Potatoes, Peeled And Cubed Small

2 whole Jalapenos Diced

1 whole Red Pepper, Diced Small

1 whole Red Onion, Diced Small

2 teaspoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

1 pinch Salt And Pepper

1 can Black Beans, Rinsed And Drained (15 Ounce Can)

½ cups Fresh Cilantro, Chopped

2 teaspoons Fresh Lime Juice

2 cups Shredded Cheddar

1 package Burrito-Sized Wheat Tortillas Or Wraps (6-10 Count)

In a bowl, toss your raw veggies in olive oil and season with spices. Place in a large baking dish and roast in 425 degree oven for 20 minutes, tossing around halfway through.

Let cool. Add your roasted veggies to a can of rinsed black beans. Add cilantro and squirt of lime juice. Combine gently. At this point, mixture can be stored for later use.

Warm your wheat tortillas or wraps in microwave according to directions on package. Spray a casserole dish with nonstick spray or olive oil spray.

Add two heaping tablespoons of vegetable and bean mixture to center of wrap. Top with shredded cheese. Fold over, fold in sides, place in pan and continue to roll the others. Place into your baking dish, seam side down so that they stay together.

Bake in 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Baking this way will make the tortilla wrap crisp. For a softer burrito, spray burrito with nonstick spray, then wrap in aluminum foil and bake for same amount of time.

(or don't bake at all and just stick em in the fridge and grab one for lunch each day!)

Seeing Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

I am sooo ridiculously excited to be celebrating my first real St. Patrick's Day this year. How am I gonna pretending in Irish? By seeing The Bollox, Metric, and Flogging Molly tonight and drinking as much green beer as I can!

Now I can't go out not wearing green and after looking around I noticed I didn't have the right green shirt to wear for tonight so I picked up this shirt in the boys section at Wal-Mart for $4 and made a proper uniform for my green beer drinking ways. =)

Lay your shirt out flat

cut off the arms from the shirts on the inside of the seam

you will then cut off the collar at the straight line just under collar of the shirt

this is how your shirt will look without sleeves (we're aiming for Red Neck at this point)

I had some funky edges from the bottom of the arm hole

so go ahead and cut that out and even things up a bit. If the shirt fits really big this is were you would cut off more from the sides and pin it and re-sew the shirt to fit you

turn your shirt inside out and pin sides together to sew

sew the sides making sure to backstitch at the start and end

for the top I just folded the shirt over (while inside out) and sewed it for a finished look

This is the finished product!

and the full outfit for tonight (sans green beads and hair clip)

I sort of really love Arizona for being able to get away with wearing a tube top and jean skirt mid -March...but give us 8 weeks until we are melting =(

Hope you all have a fabulous night. I'll be out enjoy my first pint of green beer!

ps- I'll be back later today for What to Eat Wednesday!

That Dress

I've caught a couple episodes of My Life as Liz and it's weirdly scripted/reality can be pretty entertaining but boy oh boy did I swoon when I saw what Liz wore to go to the prom.

This is perfection for me...on a do-able level; like this I could do at home..

and you best be believing I will figure out a way to look like this.

Prom or no prom, I'm pretty sure I can rock this at the grocery store.

♥

Happy Friday Everyone and WHOO Spring Break!!

On Eating Meat

It's been over a week since I last ate any meat.

I'll be honest I never thought that I would become a vegetarian and even now I can't see myself as one. I'm more like a person who is not eating meat from factory farms. Yes even the organic, natural, hormone free stuff comes from factory farms (about 99% of poultry in grocery stores is from factory farms) and really isn't so nice and pleasant when you get down to the facts. That leaves me a whole whopping 1% of chicken to eat that isn't factory farmed that I haven't found yet...so that makes me vegetarian.

I love to cook, and I honestly could, would, eat chicken for every meal, every day. I still miss it sometimes and crave it but reading Eating Animals has really changed what I choose to put in my body. The entire time I was reading I just kept thinking to myself "I never knew" and now that I know I can't go on putting that unnatural and unhealthy stuff into my body anymore. I'm getting flack for it from my parents though and that makes things a little difficult..It's very much that scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where they find out that "he don't eat no meat??" and instead invite the soon to be husband over for lamb because he is vegetarian. They don't understand why I'm not eating meat anymore, so while they keep pushing roasted chicken, chicken tenders, and chicken breast at me I just want to try give them the facts on what is in all this meat so they can know and decide.

I'm still a firm believer in the Lion King "circle of life" logic. The part where Mufasa is telling Simba that they eat the gazelles but one day they will die and become grass and then the gazelles will eat them. I'm still true to that logic but no where in that circle is there a huge farm that is mistreating animals, or injection hormones and antibiotics into them to get them big and keep em alive until they slaughter them.

This interview with the author of the book, Jonathon Safron Foer, on the Ellen show does a really good job of opening the conversation of where our meat really comes from and what changes we can make to be more conscious consumers and eaters.

In trying to spread awareness and give some support to those who maybe want to switch up their dietary habits a bit. I will be utilizing this here blog on Wednesday's to post some meat-free recipes, vegetarian friendly sites and alternatives as well as document my change from a total meat eater and lover to a vegetarian/factory farmed meat-free girl.

If anything please look into the issue of factory farmed meat and decide for yourself. I was a very curious child growing up and wanted to know all the facts and opinions about any given topic before deciding where I stood and I still feel the same today and after learning all this new information I want to share the resources with all of you so you can go out and get informed and decide for yourself.

My goal is to live a long and healthy life and I'd love for you all to do that too.

Happy Wednesday Folks!