Betty Crocker's Got Nothin on Me

I love love love to cook.  And this week the home improvement projects have been taken over by cooking.  Sadly, all of it was not for my husband.  His sister is due to have her second kiddo any day now.  In my family, that calls for cooking.  So, Tuesday night I made her a lasagna.  Yum!  Yesterday morning I got up and made a loaf of zucchini bread and 89 chocolate chip cookies.

Cookies waiting to go into the oven.  Oh yeah, I roll my cookies into balls so they cook up and look prettier.  I also literally buttered my cookie sheet.  I was out of cooking spray.  And butter doesn't leave the nasty gunk on your pans.

Yes, that's right, 89 chocolate chip cookies.  It was a double batch.  So a dozen of the chocolate chip cookies, the zucchini bread, and the lasagna went to the sister in law.  The rest of the cookies are in the kitchen taunting me.  They are hopefully being divvied up between the neighbors.  

Mmmm, they smell so good.  Look at those bad boys.  I really needed a 4th cooling rack though.  I ran out of space.  So glad we got cooling racks for a wedding present.  In our apartment, I would have to lay tea towels on our washer and dryer to cool the cookies on.

Last night I thought I should probably take care of my husband and cook him a really delicious dinner.  So I made one of our favorite make-ahead, easy, yummy dinners.  Slow Cooker Cheesy Tortellini.  Seriously guys, it's so good.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
• 16 ounces Classico® Tomato and Basil Sauce
• 1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (9 ounce) package refrigerated or fresh cheese tortellini
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Crumble the ground beef and Italian sausage into a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain.
2. Combine the ground meats, pasta sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes in a slow cooker. Cover, and cook on LOW heat for 7 to 8 hours.
3. Stir in the tortellini, and sprinkle the mozzarella and cheddar cheese over the top. Cover and cook for 15 more minutes on Low, or until the tortellini is tender.

Mary's Version

1 pound ground beef

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 (14.5 oz.) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

1 carton Philadelphia Cooking Cream Cheese, Savory Garlic

1 bag frozen cheese tortellini or cheese ravioli

Follow the original directions.  Saute the onion with the ground beef.  OMG, it's so good.  I'm thinking about it right now in fact.

This morning I thought I would go for something healthier.  I'd read about the Green Smoothies the other day.  I'm trying to get more fruits and veggies into my day so I thought I'd give it a try.  

My smoothie, about to get blended.

I wasn't super sure about it.  I mean, come on.  But, I was trusting the internet, that can be kind of scary.  I'm willing to try though.  So I blended.

Okay, it's a terrible picture, but you can tell, it doesn't look super appetizing.

So I drank it.  It was the biggest smoothie in  the world, I swear.  It wasn't terrible though.  Even though it took me almost an hour and 2 glassfuls to drink all of it.  I used Vanilla Soy Milk, spinach, vanilla yogurt, a frozen banana, strawberries, raspberries, and some ice.  It was pretty good.  It's possible I followed it with a chocolate chip cookie though.

I think I've been motivated to spend more time in the kitchen because I hung up new artwork and I'm in love.  It's actually a picture I found on pinterest and just printed.  It's gorgeous.

I'm not done getting the right stuff hung up in there yet, but I think this is a step in the right direction.  I want to get wooden letters to spell out EAT above the cupcake but I think my idea has been voted down.  Anyway, I'm off to pick up the bedroom (our new bed gets delivered tomorrow!) and bake some brownies for a party tonight.