Last Minute Lasagna

I got this recipe from a blog that I read and she got it from real simple. But I modified it to add in more veggies and be more to our tasting. It was so easy and great. I actually made it on Sunday minus the cheese and put in the fridge till we were ready to eat it. This let the frozen ravioli defrost in the fridge. When I came home I pulled it out of the fridge and put it into the oven which I then turned on to 375. Once the oven was up to 375, I timed 10 minutes then put on the cheese and left in for another 15 minutes. This is a great busy weeknight meal.


Last-Minute Lasagna
Hands-on-time: 15 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes
1 24- or 26-ounce jar pasta sauce –I added ½ a jar more of Vodka Sauce
2 18-20-ounce refrigerated* large cheese ravioli (used costco frozen spinach cheese ravioli)
2 cups cooked veggies – I used onion, red pepper, mushrooms, zucchini
1 8-ounce bag shredded mozzarella (ran out of so I added Aged Cheddar)

Heat oven to 375° F. Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Cover with a single layer of ravioli. Top with half the vegetables and a third of the sauce. Repeat with another layer of ravioli and the remaining vegetables, and the remaining sauce(not all the ravioli may be needed). Bake for 10 minutes. Top with shredded cheese and bake for another 15 minutes or until cheese is all melted.

* I used frozen ravioli instead of the expensive refrigerated kind. I defrosted the frozen ravioli before using them in the recipe. The frozen ravioli worked great!

Layers: sauce, ravioli, vegetables, repeat.

Here is a picture of the layers....and melty cheese.
My husbands second plate - you know it is good when they go back for seconds.

By using the spinach ravioli I was able to sneak in another vegetable without any complaints. I love these sort of tricks! Plus this was easy clean up and now we have leftovers for the weekend.

Billy Jean's not my lover

I just had to mention my sadness that Michael Jackson left us so soon. He is 50 - my husband is turning 50 in the fall. That is way too young to die no matter what you have done with your life. I hope he finds peace and love for I believe that is what he was missing in his world.
As for me, I will always remember rollerskating to Thriller and doing the hokey pokey - both seemed to weirdly be played every time we went rollerskating even when I went in my late teens. I will still sing to Billy Jean in my car at the top of my lungs just because it totally rocks my world.
I am remembering one big controversy of my high school time period. Although I can't remember what song of Michael Jackson's was popular, the song was chosen as our theme song for a year and then the first child abuse charges started and that song was not able to be played. His songs also couldn't played at our dances. Does any one else remember this or remember the song?
I guess I am reminiscing for other reasons too. I have my 15 year high school reunion this weekend which I won't be able to make but it does have me thinking of the memories.

Facing fears

I made it to the gym last night. I got home and the hubby was sleeping on the couch so I figured it was a good chance to go conquer the gym and face what happened yesterday. No one laughed but more importantly no puking either! Just a lot of sweating. I took my new shape with me. How come 30 minutes of cardio can by so fast somedays and other days it takes forever!

Workout gone wrong

I had the most embarrassing moment at Bally's last night. Worse then falling off a machine or fainting. No instead I puked.
Bally's has turn up the air conditioning so last week I made a mental note to myself to bring extra water. The extra sweating only dehydrates me and my already over heated body. So I get the gym at 5:30 last night and do 1/2 hour of elliptical. I am proud of myself because I have been having a hard time fitting in cardio on the days that I train with my trainer. Then the personal training session starts. Lunges, squats, lifting, sweating. I am hot but feeling ok at 6:30. Keep lifting, sqatting and oh now abs. Almost done 6:55 just have biceps left. And this is where it all goes wrong. I get really overheated, then comes the lightheadedness. Usually at this point when I lie done on the floor to stop from fainting I am fine because the floor is cool and blood goes to my head to stop the fainting. So I lie on the floor. Its not helping. My trainer brings to cold water it feels good but I think at this point I really am already too far gone. I puke all over my hair, shirt and the floor. (The good news - I didn't harm any machines and it was mostly water in my stomach!) But still disgusting. Embarrassment made me stand up and walk into the womans locker room. I sat on the bench for 5 minutes still recovering. Then realized I was disgusting so I jumped in the shower. Nice cold water! I didn't have soap but at least I was able to rinse well. I also was lucky to have clean workout clothes in my bag. So when I walked out of the locker room I felt somewhat human.
So this is the part where I do have to THANK my trainer Judy and Nick the manager who had to clean up my mess. I know they didn't sign up for that and they definitely weren't the ones to decide to turn up the heat. I really appreciate the no nonsense, don't worry attitude. It was an embarrassing moment but they helped make it better.
Now how do I get over my embarrassment and get back into the gym? My first grade brain is conjuring up images of people pointing at me and laughingly referring to me as the girl who threw up. I will have to get over it because next Thursday I have a training appointment with Judy again... Maybe I should buy her a poncho in case it happens again?

90

I have decided I love the number 90. That is what I got on my 8 pages of hand writing (or chicken scratching), sweat, tears, hand cramping, carpel tunnel....ok I may be exaggerating but it was a challenge of a test. But I still got a 90! Way to go Debbie! I also participated in a group presentation last night and it went pretty good. I would say really good but we have a challenging team player whose two minute summary turned into 15 minutes. But to focus on the positive everyone loved my brownies! I made cream cheese brownies, peanut butter chip brownies and regular brownies and they were a huge hit.

I only have one more month of school then I get a month off! I am looking forward to it already. No homework seems heaven. Although I really like having one class because I feel like I still have a life and it has been a really interesting class. But 7 days a week of time to myself seems priceless. Seriously how do mom's and dad's do this sort of thing with kids? All I can think is they must not sleep!

Blueberry Spinach Smoothie

Here is my recipe for the blueberry and spinach smoothie.

2 cups spinach (or two handfuls)

1 cup soy milk

1 cup blueberries

1 frozen banana

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

icecubes (I used 4)

Blend well for at least a minute, pour and enjoy!

Smoothies are one of my favorite things to do with bananas when they turn too brown to eat. I just stick then in the freezer and enjoy later.
You will see the smoothie doesn't turn out green and you can't taste the spinach just the blueberries and banana. There are other bloggers out there that even use kale but I tried it and could taste the kale so I don't think I will do it again. But you may want to check out Angela's Ode to Green Monster for other bloggers recipes of smoothies. The possibilities are endless with fruit choices, milk choices and other addins. Enjoy!

Disappointment

So I found out yesterday that I didn't get the promotion at work. I will be honest I let three tears escape and then picked myself back up. No need to let it get me down. I have so much going for me.

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts! I may not have got the promotion but I definitely was supported and felt the love. How can you lose when you have friends?

Are you ready to rumble?

Last Sunday, Bruce and I went for a drive done to Anna Maria Island to check out where we plan to stay for our vacation in September. After driving for a while, I needed a break so we stopped at a restautant called the Sandbar (same place we went in April with Dad and Susan). This time we decided to sit out on the patio because it was a beautiful day. We are shown to our table and I notice this guy .... yeppers - Hulk Hogan. So these pictures are dedicated to my brother Mike because I wouldn't really know who this guy was without him. He looks pretty good although the way he walked reminded me of the movie The Wrestler we had just watched. Oh and the girl to his right was his "date" not his daughter.

Bruce shook his hand and talked to him for awhile. Of course there were a million other people wanting to do the same thing so it didn't last long. But it is pretty cool to have chance encounters like this... This guy has tortured his body to entertain us and although he was "short" and not welcoming long conversations, he was patient and let people take pictures and ask for autographs. I don't know how much patience I would have through all of that- honestly I like my life no fame needed.
As we left, we asked the valet about Hulk and he says that he has been there a few times so maybe we will get lucky again in September when we go... you never know!

Switching Teams or not....

I have been MIA lately not only due to the crazy month end world of accounting but also because I am trying for a promotion at work. There is a Carrabba's team lead position open which is the first one in almost 2 years and competition is tough tough tough. Well I made it through the first and second interviews now so I am hope I am not jinxing myself by telling everyone about it. I won't know if I made it to the final round till next week which seems forever away!

The crazy thing is that this would be my first promotion since Walmart. So that has got me reminiscing. Maybe I will head to walmart this weekend to shop.

Anyways, I could use all your prayers and well wishes because I really want this promotion. I want the challenge and the chance to prove to myself I can rock at being a manager.