Try Something New Tuesday

I am having fun trying some new things, so I thought I would share some of them with you. This week it is a new recipe. Next week....you'll just have to wait and see!

I tried a new recipe...a Lasagna Recipe...where the noodles weren't precooked.  That really intrigued me and I just had to give it a try, mostly because I hate waiting on water to boil.  Especially a big pot  for lasagna noodles.  Also, I've been feeling a little brave lately, so I tried changing it up a bit.  No, I am not very adventurous in the kitchen.

Here's the original recipe from Little Praire Living,  It's called "Stretch a Buck Lasagne."

I added a few healthier choices.  I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef and fat-free cottage cheese instead of the regular cottage cheese.  I used a combination of mozzarella, cheddar and mexican cheese, literally cleaning out the fridge of all the leftover bits. Other than that I followed her recipe pretty closely and guess what? I got a thumbs up from the whole family!!! Hubby loved the turkey substitution, which I didn't mention to the teen.  Teen loved the cheesy goodness and I loved the easy preparation.  The uncooked noodles were perfectly tender but not mushy and the whole process was pain-free! I didn't take any photos because I couldn't hold 'em back!  This one will go in the Turpin Tested notebook for future use.

Organizing

Since we have not had a lot of winter in Nashville this year, I am ready to do some "spring cleaning." If you know me in real life, you know I HATE to clean. There are a lot of things to do in life that are way more fun than cleaning.  But, alas, it must be done.  So, being the procrastinator that I am, I decided to go to Pinterest to see what cleaning tips I could come up with.  And here is what I came up with...

52 Weeks to an Organized Home

I've tried Fly Lady and several other plans, but I never stick to them. But, I'm trying to turn over a few new leaves in my old age and I'm going to give this a try.  I started this week and I jumped right in with this week's assignment - creating menus and grocery lists for healthy eating.  This was an easy one to start with for me because I usually do this anyway.  I check the sale ads and plan my menu.  I like to check with Southern Savers to see what coupons I might have and if there are any really good deals to be found. Also, in my searching and researching (sounds scientific, doesn't it) I decided to use my Evernote app on my phone to store my weekly menu and also to start a recipe file.  I have a recipe file on my computer that I have printed out in a notebook.  It stores my famous Sweet Potato Casserole and several other family recipes from my mom.  But Evernote is great because I can paste from the internet and eventually, print it out if I want to. If you are not familiar with Evernote, it is a note system that syncs with your phone, laptop, desktop, tablet so that all your notes are always available.  It's a handy little tool.

So having made my menu for the week and also, getting a start on next week, I decided to make some other organizational tools for the pantry.  Here are two that I made this week.

 

I just love bins! This is a handy little bin that I'll be making several of to coral things like lunch snacks, pantry items and video games.

 

 

 Grocery bag holder.  I made one of these many years ago, however, I made it WAY to small.  This new and improved version is much larger and holds many more bags.  Savannah reuses these bags for her lunch and when I get a huge build-up I donate them to our food pantry at church.

Of course, both of these items are featured in my Etsy Store.

How are you staying organized? 

I need all the inspiration I can get!

Because I'm blogging instead of cleaning...

What can I say...

I'm hopeless!

Bald Eagle Watching

“The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.

The adult Bald Eagle is mainly brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in plumage, but females are larger than males. The beak is large and hooked. The plumage of the immature is brown. Bald Eagles are not actually bald, the name derives from the older meaning of the word, "white headed".”

Quoted from my favorite unreliable internet source – Wikipedia. So, why the interest in Bald Eagles, you might ask. As it just so happens, my parents have moved to the “Land Between the Lakes” area of Kentucky.  The fishing is good, the weather is mild and the eagles like to nest there.  These great birds have found a home among the tall pines near the banks of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.  Which is convenient for me and my photographic urges.  I like to pretend to take great pictures. Sometime I get lucky and get a few good ones.

This past weekend I got lucky.  Here are a few pics that I captured near the Calvert City Airport. Yes, the airport.  It’s a small non-commercial strip which seems to be the perfecting landing zone for an eagle.  There is also a nearby pine grove with a huge eagle nest.  HUGE, let me say that again.  How they manage to keep it all up in the top of a tree is beyond my knowledge.

If you want more information and to view some more pictures (luckier folks than I took them) then here’s an interesting, fact-filled website to check out. Bald Eagle Info