Spinach Lasagna Soup

I have to confess I love soup! It is quick to make, tastes yummy, and there are leftovers for weekday lunches. I have spotted some recipes on the web for lasagna soup but they all have sausage or ground beef in them which just won't do for this veggie girl. It was time to start experimenting in the kitchen!

Spinach Lasagna Soup

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
6 oz. tomato paste
2 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
28 oz. can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
1 cup frozen spinach
8 oz. fusilli pasta
Ricotta cheese
Parmesan cheese
Black pepper


In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until golden. Stir in red pepper, Italian seasoning, and tomato paste and cook 1 minute. Add vegetable broth, water, tomatoes, and spinach and bring to a boil. * (I must confess my husband is a meat eater so to make it more filling for him I also through in 2 cans of dark red kidney beans.) Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. While the soup is simmering, cook the pasta. You can cook the pasta right in with the soup, but if you are anticipating leftovers it is better to cook it separately and add the pasta to the serving bowls otherwise the pasta will get mushy over time. To serve, ladle some soup into a bowl add some noodles, a few dollops of ricotta, a sprinkle of Parmesan, and a dash of pepper. Enjoy!

Snowflakes for Sandy Hook

I am hoping for a peaceful new year for my family, friends, and the world. Like all parents the tragic events of December 14th in Newtown brought me to tears and had me hugging my daughter a little tighter. My heart breaks for those families who lost loved ones and for the children, teachers, and first responders who experienced a nightmare no one should ever have to endure.

I am blessed to be able to homeschool my daughter, however these events still hit close to home as my husband is an assistant principal in our local high school. It was a struggle to reassure my daughter that her daddy was safe at school when I know that my husband would have reacted the same as the brave administrators in Sandy Hook, heading towards danger to protect the students.

Since we live in sunny Florida, we make paper snowflakes as part of our holiday activities as I miss the white Christmases of my youth. When I heard about the Snowflakes for Sandy Hook effort I thought it was a great way to show our love for Newtown while honoring our tradition and a way to give my daughter a chance to voice her feelings on the incident.

When the students of Sandy Hook return to their new school, hopefully the outpouring of love from across the world in the form of snowflakes makes their school day a little brighter.

**As an update to this post, I wrote this before the holidays and sent our snowflakes however I just checked the website and they are overflowing with snowflakes. If you would still like to support Newtown please visit their website at www.ctpta.org/SANDY-HOOK-FUND

Magazine Recycling

I was so excited to see this magazine recycling cart in the lobby of my local library last week. In an effort to reduce our paper clutter I have canceled all our magazine subscriptions, but until our current subscriptions run out we have a lot of magazines around the house. I have donated all our read magazines and have also picked up a few magazines to browse. I know, that doesn't help with my clutter, but once read the magazines get donated back. Judging from the constantly changing stock of magazines, I am not the only patron that loves this great idea.

Homemade Peanut Butter

We eat a ton of peanut butter at our house. The problem we have is my daughter prefers the smooth creamy texture of brand name peanut butter and we would prefer she eats a healthier version without the added sugar. How do you make both sides happy? I decided to try my hand at making my own peanut butter, it turned out delicious and couldn't be easier! I put a pound of lightly sea salted dry roasted peanuts in my Ninja, turned it on and hoped for the best. At first the peanuts turned into peanut dust, then a chunky and dry paste. I was a little concerned that my experiment would fail. I soon discovered the key to creamy peanut butter is patience, after several minutes my peanuts had been transformed into creamy peanut butter! It is delicious and contains only peanuts so everyone is happy.