Victory Spinach

This is an old recipe from 1919!

* spinach
* 1 onion
* butter
* flour
* salt
* pepper
* grated nutmeg
* meat stock or gravy
* sour cream


Carefully wash the spinach, scald it in boiling
salted water, then pour cold water over it,
drain and chop fine. Stew an onion in butter
until it is soft, add the spinach, sprinkle flour
over it and cook for ten minutes stirring
constantly, add salt, pepper, a little grated
nutmeg, and cover with meat stock or
gravy. Boil a few minutes and when done,
add a little sour cream.

*I made this a few nights ago and it was much more delicious than you would ever think!
I made a few changes tho; here's what I did.

• First I didn't have enough spinach, it shrinks up when you cook it so was a lot of it!
• I didn't, so I added some sliced baby new potatoes that I had leftover.
• I didn't have stock or broth so I added a beef boullion cube dissolved in a cup of hot water.
• I didn't have sour cream so I added a few tablespoons of neufatchel cheese (low fat cream cheese).

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and blank here, (4shared)
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These cards were made with 'Mother's Kitchen'
courtesy of Cheryl McCain available at e-scapeandscrap.net

Please visit Cheryl as she is this month's  

designer in the spotlight at e-scape.

Bento Crazy! Healthy and Easy School Snacks and Lunches

2 Tier Bento Box

Last year when Corinne was in Kindergarten I used this adroable Bento Sidecar for her daily snack.

Often people think you can't fit much in there , but I was able to pack most kinds of snacks with plenty of room. Some boxes are two tier, like this one. One is a little taller than the other, and they fit together or can be used seperately.

Using these containers saved us from a lot of 'disposable' waste. One day while visiting the class at snack time I saw the amount of garbage that was produced by the children's snacks. Juice boxes, returnable plastic bottles, lot's of individual chips packets, etc!

Inside I use silicone muffin cups. I cut the height down to fit the height of the bento. You can get silicone muffin cups at Michael's, Target, specialty cooking stores and I even got a few packs at the Target Dollar Spot last year! I fit three cups in each box. I filled the three cups with all kind of things for a healthy snack.

Some things that I serve are:


Grape Tomatoes
Black Olives
Green peppers cut up
Mayo Cup of Blue Cheese Dressing for dipping
Turkey Pepperoni
Roast Beef (cold cuts) Rolled up
Mini Hot Dogs w/ small party size potato rolls*
(Hillshire Farm or Nathan's Mini Little Smokies or Hot Dogs)
Balogna cut into small circles
Orange Slices
Kiwi Slices
Strawberries
Blueberries
Rasins
Any kind of small cookie or cracker,
(I like Paul Newman's Chocolate Chip cookies)
Chocolate Kisses


*Corinne's Snack time is late in the day and the snack bags were not refrigerated.
She likes her dairy products very cold, like yogurt or cheese, so I serve snacks like that as after school snacks. Also the school had a no peanut rule so I did not use any nut products.

But there are so many things you can pack in a Bento. It's a great way to encourage kids to have the coolest (aka healthiest and most 'green') snack in the class!


Here are some cute Bentos and some good Bento Food Idea sites/blogs to get you going!

Bento Crazy Shop & Bento Crazy Blog
http://bentocrazy.ecrater.com
http://bentocrazy.com

What's for Lunch at our House

http://bentolunch.blogspot.com

Crock Pot Spinach Lasagna

Crock Pot Spinach Lasagna

1 Box Lasagna Pasta 
2 C of your favorite Italian Sauce
8 0z bag Shredded Mozzarella {save 3 heaping spoons}
15 oz container of Ricotta or cottage cheese, use to taste
fresh spinach {save a few leaves}
Cooking spray 
½ cup water 

Spray crock pot with cooking spray for easy clean up 
Place few spoons of sauce to cover bottom of pan

• Assemble in layers as: 
  Place uncooked pasta on bottom of pan
  Spoon sauce a top the pasta 
  Spoon ricotta/cottage cheese a top the sauce
  Sprinkle with mozzarella
  Cover with a generous amount of fresh spinach
  Dot sparingly with sauce
  Top with uncooked pasta

Repeat the layering process 
Top off with saved cheese and the reserved leaves
Pour water around perimeter 
Cover and cook on low until past is tender, about 1  1/2 to 2  1/2 hours.

{Crock pot cooking times vary check periodically the first time you make it for your pot's time frame} 

This is a great recipe because it is so easy and can be varied just the way you like it. Use as much or as little of the ingredients that you like. I used low fat cheeses and made mine pretty saucy. I prefer only a little Ricotta cheese so I used less than half of a small container. I also pinch the stems of the spinach. I used Barilla no-cook Lasagna but you can use regular, just don't pre-cook it! You could add anything to this, mushrooms, sausage, olives, etc.  So customize yours just the way you like it. 

You'll also want to determine your cooking time too. I put mine on LOW and for about 3 hours later because we were out. But I would say about 90 minutes may be enough. Mine came out a little mushy but the taste was great!

A good go-to meal for and easy meal that doesn't have to slow cook all day!

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These cards were made with 'Saxon's Holiday Kitchen'
and ' In My Kitchen' courtesy of Saxon Holt @ Scrapbook Graphics
Font used is 'Lithos Pro'

Papers from Holiday Kitchen

Pasta from In My Kitchen

The Easiest Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork

The Easiest Barbequed Pulled Pork 

2 1/2 lbs pork roast
1 14-oz bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce
1 medium onion, chopped, fresh or frozen

Place the pork roast in the slow cooker.
Cover; cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours or on High for 5 to 6 hours.
Remove the pork roast from the stoneware, and pull the meat into shredded pieces.
Pour out any liquid in the stoneware, and combine pork with (*almost) all the BBQ sauce in the slow cooker. Cook on High for 2 hours. Serve the barbecue pork in a pile or on hamburger buns or hard rolls.  *Serve a bit of extra BBQ sauce on the side if you like.

Cook Times:
10 - 12 hours on LOW
5 - 6 hours on HIGH

Slow Cookers:
4 - 4.5 Quarts
5 - 5.5 Quarts

*I added a dash of liquid smoke and some smokey paprika to mine in the last two hours.

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These cards were made with 'Little Jake'
courtesy of Kathryn Balint ~ KB & Friends
Font used is 'Onyx'

The Little Jake Collection by Kathryn Balint
is a mix of kits containing gorgeous artisan papers and elements for use in vintage, heritage or even modern-day layouts.  

Also at KB's CropMom, on-line digital scrapbooking.

Italian Spinach & Sausage Skillet

Hot Italian Turkey Sausage or
sausage-style soy-protein crumbles
Sliced fresh mushrooms
coarsely chopped onion (1 medium)
Bow-tie (farfalle) pasta
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
Shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese
1 can Progresso Light Italian-style vegetable soup

Cook sausage, mushrooms and onion over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.
Stir in soup. Cover; heat to boiling. Stir in pasta; reduce heat to medium-low.
Cover; simmer 10 minutes. Add spinach; cook uncovered 3 to 5 minutes,
stirring occasionally, until spinach is hot and just begins to wilt. Sprinkle with cheese.

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These cards were made with 'Jacqueline's Old World Page Set'
courtesy of Jacqueline Carney-Scrapbook Elements