Munchie Monday- I'm Back With a Great Meal!

Hi everybody. Sorry that I've been MIA for several weeks I've had a lot going on. Today I will be sharing a recipe that I absolutely LOVE! If you love lasagna or Italian food this is hands down the best I have ever had!

You will need:

1 box of lasagna noodles (oven ready or the kind you have to boil)

1 lb ground Italian sausage

1 ¼ lb ground beef

½ medium onion, diced

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 can crushed tomatoes, 28 oz

1 can Italian diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz

2 cans tomato paste, 6 oz each

2/3 cup water

2-3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon parsley

2 teaspoon dried basil

2 tablespoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon slat

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

4 cups shredded Italian blend cheese

Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook sausage, beef and onion over medium heat for 10 minutes or until meat is cooked, breaking up meat into crumbles. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain.

2. In a large pot dump the cooked meat mixture, tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, parsley, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes; stir occasionally. Meanwhile combine both cheeses in a bowl.

3. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Spread a thin layer of meat sauce on the bottom of your baking dish. I used a 1.5 quart and a 3 quart glass baking pan. On top of the meat mixture add one layer of noodles, then add another layer of meat, then a layer of cheese. Repeat layers till the dish is full. Top with any remaining cheese and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

4. Place on a cookie sheet to catch drips. Bake, covered, 25 minutes. Bake, uncovered 25 minutes longer

I hope you enjoyed this lasagna as much as my family and I do. You can also use the meat sauce as a homemade spaghetti sauce. I will be back blogging more often!  To stay up to date with me and the blog through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Garden Tuesday- Garden Update

So in my previous post today I am kinda in  the process of moving from my home in Lockhart to my boyfriends parents house in Buda. My thoughts and plans for a fall garden are no more. I will not be having a fall garden this year maybe next year but for sure not this year. There is just to much going on right now! 

As for my plans for a spring/summer garden in 2015 I have no clue at this point if I will be having a garden next year. If I do decide to have a garden I am unsure as to where it will be. I might still have it at my current location because this years garden took very limited work and effort so I will be able to make it work with going over there once a week.

My Current Garden!

Two weeks ago I said that my tomatoes were dying and that I was going to pull them up and if your follow my Instagram you will know that I did indeed pull up all my tomato plants.

Left is before, right is after. Comment below if you can find the chicken! :D

I still have my basil, jalapenos, banana peppers,  poblanos and tomatillos still going strong. My chocolate mint and strawberries are dead. I did have a chance to pick anything from my garden this past week and I probably wont be able to this week either.

I'm sorry that this post is all over the place. :) I might not be able to blog as often as I should be but I promise I have not forgotten about you guys. Right now the best places to stay up to date with me is through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Life Update!

Hi everyone. Sorry that is haven't posted much this week or last week I have been super busy. At first I didn't want to mention this to you guys but I decided that if I want this whole blogging thing right I should share this with you guys.

My boyfriend and I will be moving to his parents house in Buda after January first on maybe a month or two sooner. We will for sure be in by the beginning of February. My boyfriend has spent about a year commuting an hour to and from work and this way if will be half the time and half the money a month in gas. 

Another reason we have to make the move is because after trying to get a job in Lockhart for the past two years I am still unemployed. Living in the Buda/Kyle area I hopefully will be able to get a job there. That way I can bring in money so we can save up for a house of our own or maybe a cool Fiat or in case something unexpected happens (knock on wood lol) we have extra money.

About our area of the house!

His parents house is a two story 3 bedroom and 3 bathroom house with a upper living room area and a lower living room and a single kitchen and dining area. His sister had the upstairs all to herself. She has now moved into a bedroom downstairs.

Our furniture is from Rooms-To-Go.

My boyfriend, his sister and I have agreed to turn her old bedroom into a very small theater room (11 feet by 12 feet). The living room area will be our bedroom. There is also a little bar type area that we will use as a mini breakfast area with a mini fridge and microwave.

This is our T.V. that we got! Our T.V. is from Best Buy.

This is all so far. I might do a part two in a month or so.  Right now the best places to stay up to date with me is through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Munchie Monday- Catfish Dinner

I decided to make fried catfish and hush puppies for last Thursday nights dinner. I used two recipes in my The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. I will post both recipes as well as the page number in the book.

Crispy Fried Catfish (Page 214)

2 cups of self-rising cornmeal

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons dried thyme

6 (8-ounce) catfish fillets -or- 1 (32-ounce) package of catfish nuggets

1 cup buttermilk (I did not use buttermilk, I used 3 eggs instead and it came out fine)

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoon ground red pepper

1. In a large bowl combine the cornmeal, salt, and both ground pepper. 

2. In another bowl crack the eggs and lightly beat them for a minute. Dip the catfish in the eggs, buttermilk if you used that, allow excess to drip off, and dredge in the cornmeal mixture.

3. Fry fillets two at a time, nuggets 4-6 at a time for 3-4 minutes or until they float; drain on paper towels.Pour oil to a depth of about 2 inches into a skillet, saucepan or Dutch oven; heat to 375°F (190°C).

Mexican Hush Puppies (Page 71)

2 cups self-rising cornmeal

1 cup self-rising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup milk

1 (14 ¾- ounce) can corn 

1 ½ cups (6 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (I used Colby Cheddar cheese)

2 cups chopped onion (I used 1 cup because I really don’t like onions lol)

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped ( I forgot to add this :/)

2 teaspoons chili powder

Vegetable oil

1. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in the center of the mixture.

2. Combine the eggs and the next 6 ingredients in a bowl; add to dry ingredients, stirring until moistened.

3. Pour oil to a depth of about 2 inches into a skillet, saucepan or Dutch oven; heat to 375°F (190°C). Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls into hot oil; fry hush puppies a few at a time, 3 minutes or until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Both of these recipes are super easy and quick to make. If you don't like catfish you can use any type of fish. Let me know how your catfish dinner comes out! :D Don't forget to follow me on my social media site. Click on the links on the upper right side of the blog.

Thirsty Thursday- Copycat Starbucks Frappe

I love Starbucks frappes so much but I hate how expensive they are. So I experimented with some stuff and I found a recipe that I made that tastes like a Starbucks frappe.

Ingredients:

Vanilla ice cream

Instant coffee

Oreo cookies

Milk

Chocolate syrup 

Directions:

1. Crumble 5 or 6 whole Oreo cookies in your blender. Add about 6-8 scoops of ice cream, spoonful of instant coffee (you can add more or less depending on how much coffee you want) and a splash or two of milk.

2. Blend in the blender till it's creamy.

3. Now with the chocolate syrup drizzle a little syrup around the top of your glass and pour your frappe into the glass. Makes about 2 glasses.

I hope you enjoy this frappe. Sorry that this post a a day late. You can follow me on  Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google+.

Do Your Own Wednesday- New Floor

Tuesday my boyfriend and I replaced part of our old laminate floor due to water damage. I will be talking you guys how we did it so you can replace your floor if you want.

1. Lino first cut a line through the floor where we are ending the new tile floor. He used a plain circular saw and blade to make the cut.

2. After that was over we ripped up the old floor which was the easiest of the whole thing LOL.

3. After we ripped that out we swept and made sure the subfloor was clean. Now it's time to apply the glue.

4. The glue we had some issues with the glue.We had previously used the glue to apply our kitchen floor a few months ago and the glue started to dry up a bit which made it hard to spread. We added some water to the glue which helped eventually. With the glue your will need a special spreader tool. I have no clue which one my boyfriend go that, lol, you can ask anyone at a hardware store what to use when applying floor glue for vinyl tile. With that tool you are going to spread a thin layer of glue all over the subflooring.

Here you can see how we added water to the glue. 

5. Let the glue dry till its tacky and start laying the tile down starting from one edge and we did three rows at a time to make it a bit easier. Also every other rows started out with one whole tile and the next  row started out with a half tile we alternated rows like that.

6. We cut the tile when need to go around the walls when needed.

The floor looks really nice. It brightens up my little working corner.

Excuse the mess!

I hope you enjoy today's post. Sorry it was late. You guys can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google+.

Garden Tuesday- Bye Bye Tomatoes

Sorry that this is late. The heat has finally finished off my tomato plants. :( The tomatoes are turning brown (even though I water them often) and they have no more flowers and no more fruit. 

I'm planning on ripping some of the tomato plants out later on this week. Be sure to look on my Instagram for pictures. The rest of the plants are doing really well except for my chocolate mint which is still trying to die on me.

Garden Haul

This weeks garden haul is just a handful of banana peppers.

What would you guys like to see on blog? Leave your suggestions below. Follow my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for updates on my blog and my life. :)

Munchie Monday- Better Than Restaurant Style Salsa

My boyfriend says the best way to find out if a Mexican restaurant is any good is by the taste of their salsa. If you don't like the taste of their salsa then you might as well walk out. This salsa is to me and my boyfriend is the best salsa we have tasted.

Ingredients:

1 can of whole peel tomatoes (28 oz)

½ a bundle of cilantro

4 jalapenos

1 clove of garlic

½ small onion

pinch of salt and pepper

*Optional*

1 Tomatillo 

Directions:

1. Drain the tomatoes but keep the juice. Pour the tomatoes into your blender.

2. Add cilantro, salt and pepper, garlic, onion, jalapenos (with the stems cut off) and my secret ingredient a tomatillo. The tomatillo will also make the salsa more green in color then it would if you don't add it.

Remember the tomatillo is optional.

3. This is the part that is a bit more up to you. I personally like my salsa more chunky so I use the blender setting 'chop' until its as chunky or smooth as I like it. Also you remember that I had you guys keep the tomato juice if its to spicy when you taste it add a little of the juice and a pinch of salt.

Now you guy have some yummy salsa to snack on or have it as a whole meal! :)

The little dish is from Walmart only $1! :)

I hope you guys enjoy this salsa as much as I do. Let me know what you guys think about it  either on  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram  or just by commenting below! :)

Throwback Thursday- Lino Turns The Big 2-0!

20 years ago at 9:45 AM today my boyfriend took his very first breath! 

This was taken at his first birthday!

It's so hard to believe that we are both 20. It still feels like sometimes we are still in high school not caring about life.  We have been through 3 birthdays together and I hope we spend many more together. 

He was born in Austin, Texas lived in Mexico for a few years. Then moved back to the Buda/Austin area. At one point he was living in a house with more or less 25 people. He is the oldest among 4 children. He has a black belt in Karate.

This was taken by PKC Karate. He's on a 20-30 foot cliff.

We both went to the same Elementary school (Tom Green), the same middle school (Barton), and of course the same high school (Jack C. Hays). This amazing guy is my best friend and my world. 

Happy birthday Lino Genryc Montoya!

Wish him a happy birthday in the comments below if you guys want to. Follow my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for updates on my blog and my life. :)

Do Your Own Wednesday- How I stay Organized!

Today I'm going to give you guys a look into how I stay organized. I am NOT a organized person at all. I have to work hard at staying organized but I need organization in my life.

I use two different planners. One for me to be organized and messy at the same time The other to be more neatly organized. I use a BIC brand multi colored pen and a Papermate sharpwriter pencil. I love this pencil so much it writes to good and the lead doesn't break easily. I press down pretty hard so I love it!

First off I will show you guys my messy planner because it's the most basic and simple.

These paper inserts I got at Office Max. I personally don't like these that much because there are sections I don't even use. I do like the fact that the dates I put in, that's where my handy stamp comes in :). My dinner meals are written in green.

On the right side I plan my blog posts out. Which are blue

Next up is my simple and neat planner. I purchased this planner in the school supply section of Dollar General. This one I like a lot more, I actually wish I had this when I was still in high school! There are many resources in the back that would be useful in the back for any student.

Excuse my messy hand writing :)

This is the week at a glance. In pencil I have appointments and my blog posts. In green I have my boyfriends work schedule and special meals. Black I have birthdays and holidays.

Above is next week which is currently blank LOL. I have this sticky note (got at Walmart for like $1) for my weekly grocery shopping.

I like to dress up the monthly view by adding some washi tape as a border. I bought them off of Etsy here. I used this tape for October because it's my anniversary month.

I use blue ink for very special events like my cousins wedding. Black for  birthdays. Green and red ink for miscellaneous things. I use those post it flags to mark dates that I need to pay bills on.

That's how I stay organised as much as I can. Next year though I would like to maybe make my own planner that suits my needs a bit more. 

Follow my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin for all blog updates or just random things that are going on in my life. :)