Soup and Pasta Casserole Recipe

Last week, I made split pea soup and didn't love it. I had made a huge pot, though, and I didn't want to toss it. So I incorporated it into a casserole that everyone in the family ate. You can do this with any kind of pasta and any kind of soup. To make it vegan, substitute non-dairy milk and replace the cheese with nutritional yeast. To make it gluten-free, use rice pasta. The possibilities are endless.


Sorry, I ate it before I could take pictures. But you can click on the image for a printable recipe card of the soup and pasta casserole recipe.

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MENU PLAN MONDAY: It's on!

After a few weeks of slacking off, I was back on track this week, and it felt great. Last Sunday, I scheduled most of my blog posts for the week and prepared my meals. I didn't cook all day. I just went into the kitchen when I could and got some stuff together. I had dinners for the entire week, and I barely had to cook on my weeknights. This is when menu planning is so incredibly worth it.

I can't remember what I spent on groceries this week, but it was less than $50. This is getting easier and easier!

The Plan:
Monday: Spring rolls with salad
Tuesday: Cheesy split pea casserole with sausage and pasta
Wednesday: Thai meatballs over rice with kale and cabbage
Thursday: Sausage and pepper sandwiches, tater tots
Friday: Eat at Mom-Mom's
Saturday: Soft tacos

The Reality:
Monday: Spring rolls with salad
Tuesday: Cheesy split pea casserole with sausage and pasta
Wednesday: Thai meatballs over rice with cabbage
Thursday: Sausage and pepper sandwiches, twice-baked potatoes (from freezer)
Friday: Soft tacos
Saturday: Meatball grinders, homemade french fries

The Method:
Sunday: I wanted to kill two birds with one stone, so I "ground" up some chicken breasts in the food processor and combined them with ground beef. I mixed it with Asian flavorings: fish sauce, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, garlic, and cilantro. I browned half of it to use in the spring rolls and made the other half into meatballs. Separately, I sauteed shredded red cabbage and carrots until they were soft. I mixed the veggies with the browned meat and stuffed it into egg rolls. I wrapped the egg rolls in wax paper and put them in a plastic bag, and I deep fried them on Monday. For the meatballs, after they were cooked, I threw them in a storage container and poured a can of coconut oil over them.

Last week I promised you I would do something creative with the split pea soup that I made but didn't love. I made a casserole with ziti and turned the split pea soup into a thick, cheesy sauce. (Recipe to come tomorrow). It was darn good. Even Big T loved it, and he was pretty icked out by the split pea soup. I prepared this on Sunday and even have one in the freezer to eat another day.

Monday: All I had to do today was remove the egg rolls from the fridge and fry them. They did get a little soggy in the wax paper. I've had better luck freezing them and frying them from frozen.

Tuesday: Today, I just made rice and heated up the meatballs and coconut oil together, then threw it over the rice. I don't know why I thought having kale on the side would be good. I did have steamed red cabbage on the side. Yum. If you have never tried that, do it soon. Steamed or sauteed red cabbage is sweet and mild and delicious.

Wednesday: Dinner tonight was simple: I threw the cheesy split-pea casserole in the oven. And ate it.

Thursday: I did have to do a little bit of cooking tonight, but it just entailed pan-frying the sausage, peppers, and onions and throwing them on some sub rolls. I also sauteed kale with garlic for myself.

Friday: Tonight, Mom Mom came over our house, so I cooked again. It was one of my go-to meals: soft tacos. Cut up chicken and pan-fried it, roasted some fingerling sweet potatoes from Downeast Connect with some zucchini and onions, and served it in flour tortillas with salsa, cheese, and sour cream.

Saturday: I still had some sub rolls left over from our sausage sandwiches, so I made some meatballs, covered them with tomato sauce, and spooned them into the rolls. We always keep potatoes on hand, so I made some homemade french fries. It was simple and satisfying!

For more meal planning obsessiveness inspiration, check out orgjunkie.com!

SUNDAY SURF: Organize your Home

I'm joining Authentic Parenting and Hobo Mama for Sunday Surf. Share your best reading of the week, and link up your post at either blog!
For more great reading, visit Hobo Mama or Authentic Parenting for the latest Sunday Surf and linky.
Happy Surfing!
I've been a little preoccupied with organizing this week because I'm doing the 29 Day Organizational Challenge at Orgjunkie.com. So I've been digging around for unique organizing ideas. I didn't think I did much of anything else, but apparently I did. Here's my favorite reading of the week.

Organizing/DIY Home Decor Ideas
Dressers Make Excellent Storage Containers -  I'm more of a bookcase person myself, but dressers make sense because they hide clutter. Plus, you can customize them with your own hardware. Hmmm.... something to think about...

DIY Clipboards Out of IKEA Panels - Too bad I don't have an IKEA near me. I love the idea of clipping photos and other inspiration to clipboards instead of keeping static frames. My tastes change often, and I get bored with what's on my walls. This is an easy way to switch it out.

Life
Manifesting Lessons - Rachel at Clean talks about the law of attraction. I have always had amazing experiences with this. It's what led me to believe that energy is tangible, and when you put your energy out into the universe, other energy comes to meet it. Rachel talks about how just focusing on what you want can lead to positive results. This has always been the case for me. I went through a spell where I didn't paint or create art for 2 years. I was in a rut, and I was uninspired. As soon as I began creating again, I began getting random emails from people who found my art on sites I had put it on years before. They told me how amazing my art was. Other people reached out to me and asked to buy my work. I wasn't even actively doing anything; I was just thinking about my art. This is an amazing concept and really emphasizes to me that we are so much more than our material world. Read it. Practice it. Enjoy it.

Quick Tips - How to use less conditioner, ways to reuse plastic storage bags, and how to (not) clean up cheerio crumbs. It's the little things that help us find our groove as moms every day!

Love is in the Air, Keeping the Spark Alive - Stylin Momma gives a really good tip: After a long day with the kids, take some time for yourself, and then find time to reconnect. If I had an hour of alone time, I would be glad to give it up!

Poop? What Poop? - Yes, poop is a big part of my life right now. This article describes how Osocozy Bioliners changed my life. I swear, I don't work for the company and I'm not compensated by Osocozy. This explains how much I am addicted to Bioliners for cloth diapering a solid-eating toddler though.

Breastfeeding and Birth
Breastfeeding as Birth Control Clarified - This article by Marah at Happiness Redefined clarifies how effective breastfeeding is for birth control. Basically, the more often you breastfeed and the more time you spend with your baby, the more effective it is. But every woman varies, and the list sounds exhausting, even for the most attached mama.

Nipple Stimulation for Labor - One of the students who recently attended a Tmuffin childbirth education class was asking about ways to encourage her baby to come out. Since I don't think standing outside her vagina with a dog biscuit would work, I gave her the link to the website. Nipple stimulation for labor releases oxytocin, which can help bring on contractions. If her body is ready, maybe it will give her that extra "push."

Pins of the Week:

Squirrel Sorting Activity Source: toadallytots.blogspot.com	Art Armoire Source: theembellishednest.wordpress.com	Flaxseed Pillow Source: etsy.com
DIY Mason Jar Labels Source: thepaintedhive.blogspot.com	File Cabinet Upgrade Source: salvagelove.net	Art Supply Shelves Source: apartmenttherapy.com

I'm Organizing My Office in 29 Days

As you probably know if you read my blog regularly, on Mondays I link up with Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie to share my menu plan from the previous week. Well, she sucked me into a 29-day organizing challenge. That's right. I actually hemmed and hawed about doing it, and then after I decided I needed a push to organize something in my house, I hemmed and hawed about what space to actually organize.

Um, you would have thought it was obvious:

You walk through the door and look to the left. There are stacks of papers on top of the file cabinet. I sit on a really nasty pillow, some baby clothes, and an empty pillow case every time I nurse Little M. There are 2 sound machines on the shelves to the left. I stub my toe on the crate peeking out from under the shelves every time I nurse Little M.

Look to the left. The armoire is missing a knob on the drawer, making it difficult to open (so of course nothing goes in there and it just gets piled up on the shelves). Look at the wires. The papers piled up on the shredder that's hiding on the floor to the right of the armoire. There are papers and plastic falling out of the too-small garbage can.

Look to the right of the glider. A boppy, a book, a matchbox car, and a sweatshirt have fallen into the abyss and stayed there.

Keep turning to the right. This happens to also be Little M's bedroom (until I can move him in with Baby T). The bed is never made, and there are blankets instead of curtains. The pictures on the wall are crooked.

Turning to the right a little more, there is the bookshelf that's overflowing with papers and...stuff.

Even Little M thinks I need to do something with all this crap. He chose today to pull it all down from the shelves.

I know. It's embarrassing. And slightly disgusting. This is my office--my space to organize my business and personal paperwork. I don't spend much time in this room, but it's Little M's room and the guest room when people visit. I need to be able to actually find things. And to feel a little less embarrassed when guests stay here. The room needs some major help.

So here I go...

I have a list that includes:

• Get a bigger garbage can
• Organize armoire drawers
• Get longer screw for armoire knob
• Cover cereal boxes with burlap for work paperwork
• File/organize old documents (there is an empty beer case filled with old paperwork under the armoire).
• Rearrange room
• Fix wire situation behind armoire
• Make curtains
• Fix the artwork in the room.
• Put shelves on wall for photos
• Cover pillow on glider
• Organize armoire shelves

I started today by quickly removing all the junk that didn't belong in the room: the matchbox car,  the sweatshirt, the towel on the floor.

Then, I tackled the mail organizer that was overflowing with papers on top of the bookshelf. I brought it into the kitchen so I could have more room to work.

It basically entailed a lot of throwing away. I also pawned 3 small bags and a bunch of little lotions off on my friends. This was the final product:

It's a start.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: Heartache

My aunt passed away suddenly last Sunday, and my heart broke. It's that nauseous, brick-in-the-pit-of-your-stomach feeling that follows you around and almost prevents you from crying. She was a vibrant, generous woman who was straightforward and honest but never had a bad thing to say about anyone. She was like a second mother to me. She loved my sisters and me--we were the daughters she never had. This is how I'll remember her.

Check out other wonderful Wordless Wednesday posts and link up at:

Pasta with Sausage and Cannelini Beans Recipe

Last week, I threw together a delicious pasta dish that blended cannelini beans, diced tomatoes, and sausage with pasta. It was simple and yummy, so I decided to make it into a printable recipe card for you. You can use any type of sausage and really any type of white or red bean. It's one of those recipes that takes almost no time to make, and it makes tons and tons of leftovers. The trick to making it tasty and not dry is to add in some of the cooking water from the pasta at the end.

Cook the pasta, then throw everything together.

Lots of nutrients packed into a simple pasta dish.

Dump in some cheese, because that makes everything delicious.

Enjoy. Yum.

Click on the image below to print your own recipe card for Pasta with Sausage and Beans.

For more delicious recipes, check out:

Menu Plan Monday: Off the Wagon Again

Last week was not the best for my menu plan. But I didn't go to the store either, so I didn't spend any money on groceries.We had an incident with my car pouring smoke out of the hood, which would have ruined dinner on Monday if I hadn't prepared it earlier in the day. Big T was working late most of the week, so I didn't have to worry about providing dinner for him. And we had a birthday party to go to on Saturday, which meant I didn't really need to plan dinner for that day either. So I planned out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and forgot about the rest of the week. Oops.

The Plan:
Monday: Cheesy chicken and rice bake
Tuesday: Split pea soup with bacon
Wednesday: Bacon quesadillas

The Reality:
Monday: Chicken and rice ranch casserole
Tuesday: Chik Fil-A
Wednesday: Split pea soup with bacon
Thursday: Apple with peanut butter
Friday: Eat at the in-laws'
Saturday: Pizza


The Method (not that there was much of one this week):
Monday: I started dinner early today, since the kids were with me all day. I knew I didn't want to be rushing toward the end of the day. (It was a good thing, too, since my afternoon ended up crazy and rushed when my car broke down.) In the morning, I cooked 2 chicken breasts by spreading mayo on them, then cutting an onion into rings and laying that on top of the chicken. I then baked them in a 365 degree oven for about 45 minutes. They ended up soooo moist and juicy. I reserved the liquid that had seeped out of the breasts for my casserole. While the chicken cooked, I made some Lundburg Wehani rice (my new favorite). To make the casserole, I diced the chicken and mixed it with the rice, the cauliflower I had cooked up last week, and frozen soybeans. I poured this mixture into a casserole dish. I mixed half a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing with the liquid left over from cooking the chicken and poured it over the casserole. At dinnertime, I had planned on baking the casserole in the oven to heat it through, but since all the ingredients were pre-cooked, I ended up microwaving separate portions. This was a delicious casserole. The leftovers were even better, and I'll definitely make it again.
Tuesday: Since I had to take my car to the shop today, I had to drive Big T to work. This meant I had to pick him up in the evening, too. Since I knew the kids would be getting home late because of this, we had to eat dinner out on the road, somewhere between picking up Baby T from daycare and picking up Big T from work. We ended up at Chik Fil-A, where Little M ate 4 entire chicken nuggets, and Baby T picked at one and ate some fruit while trying to stay as far away as possible from the clown that was there for kid's night.
Wednesday: I had gotten a bag of split peas the week before, and wanted to try my hand at split pea soup. I used a veggie broth I had cooked in my crock pot the night before, and threw that in with some bacon, sauteed onions, split peas, potatoes and thyme in the crock pot for 6 hours on low. At the end of the day, I pureed the soup (in tiny batches in my knock-off Magic Bullet, ugh). I threw some shredded cheese in at the end. It was better when eaten off the end of the bread I dipped in it than eaten off a spoon. I realized I don't love split pea soup, although it probably would have been tastier with some carrots and celery thrown in. I'm going to try to work it into a pasta and sausage casserole next week. Stay tuned.
Thursday: This was one of those days that I didn't have a menu planned. I was going to eat leftover soup, but I ended up eating the crusts off of Baby T's peanut butter sandwich and had an apple with peanut butter.
Saturday: Party. And pizza. Yum.

For more meal planning obsessiveness inspiration, check out orgjunkie.com!