Back On Track Challenge, Day 18

Here's what happened today:

* Health & energy -- ate healthy all day, drank plenty of water, exercised, kept up with BCI

* Bible study -- got back into my study of A Place of Quiet Rest; in Psalm 119 today.

* Homemaking -- changed sheets, did 4 loads of laundry, kept up with my routines

* Creativity -- spent about a half hour on a cross stitch sampler called "Country Baking"

And also did a bunch of proofreading and printing of pages for the devotional book.

Baked Ziti Casserole

Here's what I made for supper tonight. It was easy and very tasty. I adapted the recipe from a Light & Tasty cookbook.

BAKED ZITI CASSEROLE

16 ounces ziti or other small tubular pasta
15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
Granulated garlic (or garlic powder) to taste
Italian seasoning to taste (I used about 1 Tblsp.)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 jar (26 ounces) meatless spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese or to taste
Additional grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside. In a bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, granulated garlic, Italian seasoning and 1/4 cup Parmesan.

Spread 1 cup of the spaghetti sauce in a greased 13x9-inch baking dish. Top with a third of the pasta, half of the ricotta mixture, 1/3 cup of the mozzarella, about 1 Tblsp. Parmesan, and 1 cup sauce.

Repeat the above layers.

Top with remaining pasta and sauce; sprinkle with 1/3 cup mozzarella and Parmesan to taste. Cover and bake at 375º for 45 to 50 minutes or until heated through.

Yield: 12 servings.

This will make several meals for the two of us. It is very good and is relatively low in fat. I served it with salad (“Classic Romaine” from a bag) and multigrain ciabatta rolls from the Wal*Mart bakery.

Menu Plan Monday for April 30

Here's my plan for this week!

MONDAY -- Baked Ziti Casserole, Salad, Ciabatta Rolls

TUESDAY -- Lemon-Dill Chicken Popover, Cranberry Jello Salad, Squash

WEDNESDAY -- Broccoli Wild Rice Soup, Whole Wheat Bread

THURSDAY -- Almond Chicken Stir-fry, Bow Tie Pasta, Orange Salad

FRIDAY -- Cannellini Comfort Soup, Cornbread

SATURDAY -- Overnight Spinach Manicotti, Salad, Bread

SUNDAY (potluck at church) --Italian Sausage & Vegetables, Cannellini Bean Salad, Lime Angel Squares

Back On Track Challenge, Day 19

Being Sunday, it wasn't the greatest day for this challenge. But I stayed on track in a few areas:

* Health & energy -- ate healthy all day, kept up with BCI, drank water, actually exercised -- something I seldom find time for on Sundays.

* Creativity -- worked on bookmarks & tea bag holders for luncheon.

* Homemaking -- kept up with my routines pretty much. Made a nice crockpot meal for lunch -- so nice to come home from church to a hot meal all ready.

I also did some proofreading and printing of pages for the devotional book.

Back On Track Challenge, Day 20

Today was a fairly good day.

* Health & energy -- ate fairly healthy all day, but a birthday party meant a little bit of cake and ice cream! Also printed out some helpful forms from Flylady and kept up with the BCI (body clutter investigator) all day. Exercised, but didn't go for a walk. Drank plenty of water.

* Bible study -- did a bit toward next week's Sunday School lesson.

* Homemaking -- did some dusting in Zone 4; managed to stick with my routines.

* Creativity -- designed some bookmarks and tea bag holders to use as favors at a ladies' luncheon. Designed a title page for the devotional book I've just finished writing.

Writing Countdown Challenge, Day 3-4

In the last couple of days I've done a few more things toward the completion of this project:

* Proofread and printed out more pages.

* Designed and printed a title page for the devotional book.

I'm waiting on another person who is designing the cover. As soon as I complete my proofing and printing and the cover is ready, we'll take the books to the print shop!

Back On Track Challenge, Day 21

Today was an OK day as far as this challenge goes. It was a very busy day, with people calling, coming by, and then in the evening we drove to visit Mr. T's uncle who has recently entered a health care facility for rehab. He is about an hour away from us and we wanted to make a brief visit. I spent the afternoon baking cookies to take to him, and also calzone to take along for an in-transit supper.

So most of my achievements today were partial ones.

* I started the Bible study for next week's Sunday School lesson in Judges.

* I stuck with almost all of my daily homemaking routines. I dusted about half of the bedroom (zone 4).

* No walk today -- it was raining -- but I did eat healthfully all day, exercised, drank plenty of water, etc.

* Guess my creative pursuits today were limited to baking cookies and calzone. But cooking is a creative activity, too!

Hoping for a better day tomorrow!