Lasagna Cups & 30 Things about me.

Last year I attempted to do this “30 Day Facebook Challenge” which I got to day 14 of.
Here is what was supossed to happen. Post a picture for each day that goes with the description:

Day 01 – A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself.
Day 02 – The meaning behind your Facebook status.
Day 03 – A picture of you and your friends.
Day 04 – A habit that you wish you didn’t have.
Day 05 – A picture of somewhere you’ve been to.
Day 06 – Favorite super hero and why.
Day 07 – A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.
Day 08 – A picture that makes you laugh.
Day 09 – Something you’re proud of in the past few days.
Day 10 – Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad.
Day 11 – A picture of something you hate.
Day 12 – A picture of something you love.
Day 13 – A picture of something you crave alot.
Day 14 – A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.
Day 15 – A picture of something you want to do before you die.
Day 16 – A picture of someone who inspires you.
Day 17 – A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.
Day 18 – Nicknames you have; why do you have them.
Day 19 – Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play.
Day 20 – A picture of somewhere you’d love to travel.
Day 21 – Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future.
Day 22 – A picture of something you wish you were better at.
Day 23 – A picture of your favorite book.
Day 24 – A picture of something you wish you could change.
Day 25 – A picture of your day.
Day 26 – A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 27 – A picture of yourself and a family member.
Day 28 – A picture of something you’re afraid of.
Day 29 – A picture that can always make you smile.
Day 30 – A picture of someone you miss.

So… since my post for today food-wise is going to be super short, I am going to relive the 30 day facebook challenge.

 

This is what I did last year:

Day 01 – A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself.

1- I can touch my tongue to my nose
2- I grew up in Alberta
3- I have a ridiculously large family, and love every single member of it.
4- I live with my boyfriend
5- I am only 19 and lived by myself in an apartment in a city I barely knew for 5 months
6- I get really excited about historical stuff
7- I am a comic book geek.
8- I don’t have cable
9- In 8th grade I peirced my own ear.
10- I’m addicted to painting my nails, even though I always chip them
11- I play online RPG’s
12- I have 3 sets of Shampoo & Conditioner and rotate between them
13- I can easily spend more time in Chapters than in a mall. And that’s saying something.
14- I LOVE halloween.
15- I work at a Golf & Country Club, and have never played golf or curled, ever.

Day 02 – The meaning behind your Facebook status.

I posted a picture of the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party because my status was

“If everybody minded their

own business, the world

would go around a great

deal faster than it does”

I love Alice in Wonderland, and this is one of my favorite quotes. That crazy Duchess knows her shit.

Day 03 – A picture of you and your friends.

I posted a picture of my girlfriends from Highschool. We called ourselves the Sextuplets 🙂
Day 04 – A habit that you wish you didn’t have.

Shopping, shopping, and more shopping…. I shop a lot.
Day 05 – A picture of somewhere you’ve been to.

I put up a picture of the Calgary Stampede. I grew up in Calgary, so I have been to the Stampede many times.
Day 06 – Favorite super hero and why.

Ironman. My reason? He is awesome.
Day 07 – A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.

Family. I love my family.
Day 08 – A picture that makes you laugh.

A picture my friend took of herself with my camera where I am behind her pushing her boobs up so it looks like she has clevage… but you can see my hands LOL
Day 09 – Something you’re proud of in the past few days.

A picture of Chicken Fajita Lettuce Wraps 🙂
Day 10 – Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad.

Lady Gaga- anything Lady Gaga.
Day 11 – A picture of something you hate.

Peas. Yuck.
Day 12 – A picture of something you love.

My boyfriend, Chris and my brother, Addam.
Day 13 – A picture of something you crave alot.

McDonalds Soft Serve Ice Cream.
Day 14 – A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

Chris.

 

This Year (without the pictures!):

Day 01 – A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself.

I’ll borrow some that are still true…

1- I can touch my tongue to my nose
2- I grew up in Alberta
3- I have a ridiculously large family, and love every single member of it.
4- I live with my boyfriend
5- I plan on getting a PhD

6- I get really really excited about historical stuff
7- I am a comic book geek.
8- Even though I’m Canadian, I know all the lyrics to the American Dad theme song, and belt them out when the show starts 🙂

9- In 8th grade I peirced my own ear.
10- My cabinets are perfectly organized with all the labels facing out, and I know if something gets moved.

11- I play online RPG’s
12- Every summer I watch the entire Sex and the City series, start to finish… In about a week.

13- Commercials make me cry, all the time.

14- I LOVE halloween. I start to plan my costumes and recipe for the family party on November 1st.
15- I want to travel to Hoboken NJ just to go to Carlo’s Bake Shop (LOVE Cake Boss)

Day 02 – The meaning behind your Facebook status.

My status is from last night and explains itself: “Everyone in my family seems to be posting what they had for dinner…. so, Mac n Cheese Soup. Nothing special, but easy to make and a cool twist on a comfort food classic”

Day 03 – A picture of you and your friends.

I would probably post a photo of my old room-mate and I.

Day 04 – A habit that you wish you didn’t have.

Still shopping too much. It’s a problem I have, I have to hide my VISA so that I don’t max it online.

Day 05 – A picture of somewhere you’ve been to.

Greece- I would put a picture of Santorini.

Day 06 – Favorite super hero and why.

Still Ironman. Why? Many reasons, but mainly because he is awesome.

Day 07 – A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.

Family, always my family.

Day 08 – A picture that makes you laugh.

Day 09 – Something you’re proud of in the past few days.

Organizing my closet- it’s a 2 day mission.

Day 10 – Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad.

Taylor Swift

Day 11 – A picture of something you hate.

Mess.

Day 12 – A picture of something you love.

Sunglasses!!

Day 13 – A picture of something you crave alot.

McDonalds Soft Serve Ice Cream.

Day 14 – A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

Christopher. He means everything to me.

Day 15 – A picture of something you want to do before you die.

O man. I have no idea how to answer this. There are so many things I want to do before I die. Get married, buy a house, decorate that house, have children, host children themed birthday parties, have a career, host dinner parties, cry when my kids grow up and move out, grow old with Christopher, retire somewhere beautiful and have a big garden… But I guess one thing out of the ordinary that I want to do before I die is vacation in Italy and go to Verona, and see Juliet’s Balcony.

Day 16 – A picture of someone who inspires you.

There is no single person who inspires me. Every part of my life is inspired by a different person who has impacted me in a certain way.

Day 17 – A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.

Money and Time. Those two things pretty much dictate everything during the summer. Come fall… School.

Day 18 – Nicknames you have; why do you have them.

I have two main nicknames that I will admit. The first is Nickers. Right now there is only one person who calls me Nickers all the time, and that is my Auntie Becca. When I was younger, most of my family and my closest friends called me this. How did the nickname Nickers come about? My Dad’s side of the family is VERY VERY British, and my Nanny pronounces words that end with an A as an ER, so Veronica is Veronicer, and eventually the fmaily just cut off the Vero and just called me Nickers.

My other common nickname is V-Ron. Why? I’m not sure… I guess it’s jsut quicker and easier to say than Veronica. My Dad and Brother started it, and now most people call me V-Ron. (Or just V).

Day 19 – Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play.

It’s 11:20pm, I have no idea where my Ipod is… I’m not getting up.

Day 20 – A picture of somewhere you’d love to travel.

Egypt.

Day 21 – Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future.

Chris.

Day 22 – A picture of something you wish you were better at.

Working out.

Day 23 – A picture of your favorite book.

Hmm. My favorite book? That’s difficult. I have different levels of favorite books..

Favorite Series = Harry Potter, growing up my Mum would read HP out loud to the family and the books became a big part of my family, so they will forever be my favorite series.

Favorite Book for a long long time= Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Book that I was forced to read for school and have since then gone back and reread, and absolutely adored= Atwood’s Oryx & Crake.

Day 24 – A picture of something you wish you could change.

Parents who want children but can’t have them. This situation breaks my heart.

Day 25 – A picture of your day.

Today? Organizing Closet, doing laundry.

Day 26 – A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Physically, I’m a little more round in the middle, my hair is a bit frizzier, and I have a lot more worry wrinkles (and I’m only 20!!)

Pictures can’t show the changes that I have gone through in the last year.

Day 27 – A picture of yourself and a family member.

I would put the picture I took of My aunt, my God daughter, and myself at lunch a few weeks ago. It’s an adorable photo.

Day 28 – A picture of something you’re afraid of.

I am one of those people who have many irrational fears. I have a phobia of Balloons and I am terrified of open waters- terrified. Also, I am afraid of disorder- I don’t like it when things are unorganized or when I don’t know what is happening.

Day 29 – A picture that can always make you smile.

Day 30 – A picture of someone you miss.

Here is where I would put the picture of my ‘sextuplets’. I miss them like crazy!

 

 

Alright. So. There is some insight into my life and how I feel at this very moment in time.

Lets get back to the food: Since it is what really matters 🙂
As the title of this post stated, At some point in time last month I made Mini Lasagna Cups.

They were enjoyable, a cool way to present a traditional food. And, they were great portion sizes for just Chris and I because we never would have gotten through an entire normal Lasagna. Having said that- They weren’t anything special. I prefer a good sloppy lasagna. Which these were not- I’m sure with a little tweeking I can make them sloppier and more like a good old fasioned Lasagna. This is definatly a recipe that needs to be adjusted to the person making them- Every family has a lasagna recipe they love, and once I find a way to incorporate it into the cup portions, this will become a popular item on the menu.

… Incorporating Chris and I’s favorite lasagna into the cups might be a little more difficult than it seems because we don’t actually make the lasagna- it is from the Curuso Club in Sudbury (Spelling?). They make the BEST lasagna, when Chris’s family has big family dinners, sometimes they order a lasgna from the Crusoe (spelling?) Club and it is just DELICIOUS!

Here is the recipe I followed for the Lasagna Cups:

Cupcake Lasagna

Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins | Servings: 24 | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 package gyoza wrappers
• 1 small container parmesan cheese (grated)
• 1 medium package mozarella cheese (we used aged cheese but you can use fresh if you like)
• 1 jar marinara sauce or homemade marinara (about 24 oz)
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced small
• 1/2 medium eggplant, sliced very thin and diced into 1 inch strips
• 1 cup diced crimini mushrooms
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• fresh basil
• olive oil
• Italian herbs (rosemary is great)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Sauté the onions and eggplant in olive oil over medium-high heat until both are tender. Add mushrooms and garlic and continue to stir and cook until the vegetables are soft and slightly browned. Season with rosemary, salt and pepper.

Prepare your cupcake tins by coating them with a light layer of olive oil or unflavored cooking spray. Drop a small dollop of marinara in each cup. Press a gyoza wrapper into the cup, pushing down until it fits snugly into the bottom of the cup and the sides of the wrapper curl inward. Top with grilled veggie mixture, shredded mozarella, and more marinara (remember not to

overflow the cups). Seal the cup with another gyoza wrapper, tucking it in as you did with the first. Top with a dab of marinara and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Bake at 375 until the gyoza wrappers are browned and the lasagna is bubbly. Remove from the tin with a spoon, and top with a curl of basil. Enjoy!

Source: http://kristinandparisa.blogspot.com/2011/06/cupcake-lasagna.html

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 –> Still excited about Paprika!

Bacon & Egg Toast Cups

Wow! I feel like I made these in another life time. It was about a month that I made these, one morning I woke up and remembered seeing these on Foodgawker, so I made them.

They were quick, and yummy. Not something I would make often because it is a lot of work for bacon, eggs, and toast, but it was a nice little treat. If you are hosting a brunch they would be a great idea for how to wow your guests with something everyone will enjoy.

Bacon & Eggs in Toast Cups

Prep Time: 7 mins | Cook Time: 12 mins | Servings: 6 cups | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 6 slices of bread
• 6 slices of bacon
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup of shredded cheese
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin pan with butter non-stick spray.

2. Using a cookie cutter, cut circles out of bread slices about 3 inches in diameter. (I confess I do not have a cookie cutter so I use the lid to my tub of orzo pasta and just cut around the edges ;D)

3. Take bread circles and press them into the muffin pan, set aside.

4. Heat a large skillet on medium-high. Cook bacon on the skillet until partially cooked but still pliable, about 3 minutes.

5. Shape bacon strips into the toast cups, fill with 1 Tbs of shredded cheese. Place in the oven for 5 minutes, allowing the bacon to toast just a little more. Remove from oven.

6. Crack your egg and separate out most of the egg white. Drop eggs into the cups, sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Place back in the oven and cook until white begins to set, about another 8 – 10 minutes. The yolk should be creamy.

7. Remove from oven when done and pop out using a spoon, serve warm.
Source: http://thenoshery.com/2009/03/29/a-two-bite-breakfast/

Now the best thing about this post, is that I have finally found an easy way to copy recipes onto the blog without having to type it all out again. I use an IPad app called Paprika, it is fantastic. I should have figured this out before, but you can email recipes from Paprika, which is how Chris’s mom and I exchange recipes, and so in order to put recipes in my blog all I have to do is email them to myself and copy/paste them here. UGH. I can’t believe this took me so long to figure out.

It’s one of those things that takes one second to figure out, but you never really think about so you don’t realize it until a time like now when it is embarassing that you’ve waited so long to figure it out. Like when you were younger and realized how a Lava lamp works…. Yepp, one of those moments.

 

Well, while the bacon, egg, and toast cups were a nice little treat. The ‘Beef and Mushroom Burgers’ we had the next night were not.

I would give the Beef and Mushroom Burgers a 4 of 10 star rating.  They were rather bland, or so I found. Chris liked them more than I did, but he said they were nothing he would make again. Nice to try but nothing worth raving over.

Beef and Mushroom Cheeseburgers

Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 10 mins | Servings: 4 | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 8 cremini mushrooms
• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 lb (454 g) extra-lean ground beef
• 1 tsp (5 mL) chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tsp (5 mL) dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) black pepper
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) cayenne pepper
• 4 slices Cheddar cheese
• 2 cups (500 mL) baby arugula
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 4 whole grain kaiser rolls, halved and toasted

Directions:

In food processor, finely chop mushrooms with onion; scrape into large bowl.

Add beef, thyme, mustard, salt, and black and cayenne peppers; mix until combined. Shape into four 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick patties.

Place on greased grill or in grill pan over medium-high heat; close lid and cook, turning once, until digital rapid-read thermometer inserted sideways into centre of each reads 160°F (71°C), 10 to 12 minutes.

Top each patty with cheese. Sandwich with arugula and tomatoes in rolls.

Nutritional Info:

Nutritional Info Per serving: about – cal 451 pro 36 g total fat 18 g sat. fat 8 g carb 39 g fibre 7 g chol 82 mg sodium 780 mg potassium 914 mg % RDI: – calcium 25 iron 33 vit A 18 vit C 22 folate

Source: http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/beef_and_mushroom_cheeseburgers.php