Vegetable and Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 1/2 c. diced carrots
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, diced
32 oz. vegetable broth
2 c. water
14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp. italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
9 oz. fresh cheese tortellini
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 c. fresh spinach leaves

Directions:
In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium/high heat, add the onion and carrots and saute for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and zucchini and saute another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next, add the vegetable broth, water, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, itailian seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Turn heat all the way up and bring to a boil. Cover and continue to boil for 45 minutes or until all vegetables are soft (carrots will take the longest). After all the vegetables are cooked, add the tortellini to the boiling pot and cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan and spinach just until the leaves are wilted. Serve hot garnished with more parmesan if desired. Serves 6.

Notes: I've made a similar soup in the past with Italian sausage but now that we're not eating meat I changed this recipe up a little by using some additional veggies in place of the meat. I like it MUCH better this way! Did you know they make whole wheat fresh tortellini now?? I was so excited when I found it in my store :)

Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Shells with Lemon Cream Sauce

Shell Ingredients:
18-22 jumbo shells, cooked al dente
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
1 c. shredded parmesan, divided
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
6.5 oz jar artichoke hearts, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce Ingredients:
2 tbsp. butter or olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. white flour
1 c. milk
1/4 c. lemon juice

Directions:
Lay shells out to cool and dry. Grease a 13x9 baking dish and set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, 1/2 cup parmesan, spinach, artichoke hearts, egg, italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stuffed each shell with the cheese mixture and line up in rows in the prepared baking dish. Preheat oven to 350.
For the sauce, heat the butter or oil in a small saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic and saute for a few minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and stir well to combine. Add milk and whisk until it begins to bubble. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add lemon juice and pour the sauce over the prepared shells.
Cover and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serves 4-6.

Notes: This has got to be one of the best dishes I've made in a long time! I was SO incredibly happy with how it turned out. I've seen several of these types of recipes before and decided to make one up myself based on a few ideas I gathered. This had an amazing flavor and Randy and I couldn't get enough!

1 year blogiversary!

Happy blogiversary to me! I can't believe it's been a year ago already since I started my blog! Thank you all for sticking with me this whole time. There were times I almost gave it up but I'm so glad I didn't!

I know I don't have a whole lot of followers and that I don't get many comments or feedback but I'm glad for MY sake that I stuck it out this long! It's been a great place for me to go back and find my favorite meals I've made and to keep track of the progress I've made on our house.

So today I'm celebrating my little teeny tiny corner of the internet called My Valuable, but Small Life! Here is a look back over the past year of my favorite recipes I blogged about:

-Favorite bread: Pumpkin Bread
-Favorite chicken: Lemony Couscous with Chicken
-Favorite chocolate: Flourless Chocolate Cake
-Favorite cookie: The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
-Favorite dessert: Blueberry Crumb Bars
-Favorite ice cream: Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
-Favorite pasta: Lasagna Roll-ups
-Favorite side dish: Summery Veggie Couscous and Fiesta Quinoa
-Favorite soup: Lentil Vegetable Stew
-Favorite vegetarian: Greek Orzo Stuffed Peppers 

Lentil Vegetable Stew

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
1 large potato, diced
3 medium tomatoes, diced (or a 14 oz. can diced tomatoes) 
2 cups dry lentils
2 32 oz. cartons vegetable broth (or 8 cups water)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste (lots!)

Directions:
In a large sauce pan or stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery and potatoes and saute for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. To the pot, add the tomato, lentils, vegetable broth, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and stir well to combine. Bring to a boil, the reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 60-90 minutes or until the lentils and all vegetables are fully cooked. You may add more salt and pepper at the end. Serves 8.

Notes: I've made a recipe similar to this only it had smoked sausage in it, but now that we're eating vegetarian it was easy to omit to meat and add lots of extra veggies. This stew is so yummy and flavorful! This won't be the last time I make it this season...

Easy Cheesy Manicotti

Ingredients:
8 oz. package manicotti shells, uncooked
15 oz. container ricotta cheese
3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 c. shredded parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
24 oz. jar pasta sauce


Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the manicotti for 8-9 minutes, until al dente. Spread 1/4 of the jar of pasta sauce in a 13x9 baking dish and set aside. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 and in a large mixing bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, the parmesan cheese, egg, italian seasoning and garlic powder. Once the noodles are cooked, lay them out to cool and dry. Once noodles have cooled, stuff with cheese mixture using a small spoon. Line the stuffed manicotti in the prepared baking dish and cover with remaining sauce. Cover tightly with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serves 6.

Kitchen Painted!

The kitchen is ALMOST DONE! My mom and I painted yesterday and now all that's left is installing our sink and finding a white stove to replace our old, ugly, barely working one. We also have a couple more cabinets to work on and a valance to make for the window. That might sound like a lot, but compared to what we've done already and how long it's taken, it's not much at all!

I decided to go with gray paint in the kitchen...something I never thought I'd do! But I really really love it. It's bright, crisp and clean looking and goes really well with everything else in the kitchen. First, I bought a gallon of "polished silver" by Valspar and after my mom finished edging all the walls I decided I didn't like it. It was way too blue. It almost looked like we intentionally picked periwinkle paint. I felt really bad but I decided to try another color. I chose "urban sunrise" by Valspar and it ended up being just the right color!

I didn't take any "before" shots because the walls were just plain beige. So here's what it looks like now! 

Lasagna Roll-ups

Ingredients:
9 lasagna noodles
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
15. oz. skim ricotta cheese
3/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
24 oz. jar marinara sauce
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese


Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the lasagna until al dente, drain and lay out to dry. Preheat oven to 350 and spread 1 cup of marinara into the bottom of a baking dish. Combine the spinach, ricotta, parmesan, eggs, salt and pepper. Spread this mixture evenly onto each lasagna noodle and roll up tightly. Place seam side down into the prepared baking dish and cover with the remaining marinara. Cover tightly and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove cover and top with mozzarella cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese and melted and bubbly. Makes 4-5 servings.

Notes: These were delicious! I made them when Randy and I first got married (about 4 1/2 years ago!) and I finally got around to making them again. We love them and I have a lot of fun making them!

Kitchen Back Splash

I took almost the entire summer off from all the house projects I was in the middle of...it's been a lot of work and I really needed a break! I finally dove back into it these last couple weeks and one of the major things to tackle was the back splash in our kitchen.

Last weekend my mom and I did it! It took over 11 hours (on our feet the entire time) but in the end it was totally worth it! It turned out amazing and it wasn't nearly as complicated as we thought it might be. Thanks again, mom, for all your help! She was pretty nervous about it since this was her first tiling job by herself. I had never tiled in my life and I was totally excited...

I bought 12x12 sheets of 1 inch glass tiles in black, white and grays. We ended up using 24 of these sheets. The other supplies were white mortar, white sand-less grout and all the tools for mixing, spreading and cleaning. The total cost of this project was around $225. Everything was from Lowes.

Here is what the tiles looked like:

We cut them with scissors to fit and then used a tile saw (borrowed from a friend) to cut them whenever they needed to fit in the extra small spaces. I'm not going to go into detail how we did it exactly. If you want to know more though, please feel free to ask!

Now, here's what you really want to see....pictures! I'm bummed that they came out looking so "busy". It's hard to appreciate how good the tile looks. I should have taken the after pictures before I put everthing back on the counters. Oh well. It is what it is. Enjoy!

sink area

left side of the kitchen

right side of the kitchen

entire view of the kitchen

close up

You also got a sneak peak of our majorly huge cabinet project. As you can see, it's not quite finished. We have a couple doors and drawer fronts left. That's one of the only things left to do, besides replacing the stove (still looking for one on craigslist), installing our new sink and painting the kitchen. I just got the paint today and it should be on the walls later this week :)

Quick and Easy Tofu Lo Mein

The title of this recipe is so true! This really was fast and easy AND yummy! I will definitely make this again. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and didn't change a thing.



Quick and Easy Tofu Lo Mein

Ingredients:
16 oz. extra firm tofu
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 packages Oriental flavored Ramen Noodles
16 oz. package frozen stir fry vegetables
Soy sauce to taste


Directions:
Drain tofu and press between paper towels to remove most of the moisture. Cut into 1 inch cubes. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium/high heat. Add the tofu and saute, stirring often until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to boil and boil the noodles only (reserve the seasoning packets) for 2 minutes and drain. Add the stir fry vegetables and seasoning packets to the skillet with the tofu and saute just until heated through. Add the cooked noodles and soy sauce and stir well to combine. Makes 4 servings.

Tomato Orzo Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 c. diced carrots
1 1/2 c. diced zucchini
1 c. frozen peas
5 1/2 c. water
2 10.75 oz. cans condensed tomato soup
2 c. vegetable broth
1 1/2 c. uncooked orzo pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
Shaved Parmesan and/or Romano cheese for garnish 


Directions:
In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat, add the onion and carrots and saute for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the zucchini and peas and stir until heated through, just about a minute. Next, add the water, soup, vegetable broth, orzo, salt and pepper and stir well to combine. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and allow soup to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent to orzo from sticking. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley and basil. Serve immediately, garnished with shaved cheese. Makes 6 generous servings.

Notes: Today is the first day of fall and it was rainy and chilly outside...perfect day for soup! Randy and I both loved this stuff! It was packed full of great flavor and was super filling. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it didn't have the best reviews so I made a few changes and it was delicious! We will definitely be eating this more this fall and winter.