Busy Weekend & Two Recipes!

Okay, for some reason Again, another extremely busy weekend! Friday flew by for me at work!  It was my first no-meat Friday of lent.  I started out with an egg and toast for breakfast.

I had cheese & crackers for my morning snack.

Lunch was the Szechwan Noodles that I made the day before.

I honestly can't remember much of Friday itself.  It was busy, but just a regular day at work...

That night we went to a family friends' house for dinner.  She made a fish stew that was fantastic, and had a salad and bread with it.  I even had 1 1/2 glasses of wine, and I counted every bit of it! Luckily, I gave up dessert for lent, so I didn't stuff my face with my aunt's Amaretto Cake (my favorite cake EVER!)  I didn't take any pictures because I felt a little odd doing so.  Maybe after doing this for a while I'll feel more comfortable...  We didn't get home until 12:30!  WAY past my bed time!  (I can't believe I'm saying that! My 15 year-old self would be smacking me saying what's the matter with you!?)

Saturday morning I woke up early to do my workout on EA Active, then hit the showers to get ready for the tea.

Saturday was the day of the Irish Tea hosted by the Delta Lions Club.  Another family friend belongs to the group.  She was the first woman for that group and she hosts the tea every year.  It's just a lot of fun.

The tea is held at the Grand Island Mansion every year in Courtland, CA way out in the delta.

Our tea started out with fantastic scones.  There were enough for us to have 2 each, but I was very good and had just one with some clotted creme and a little jam.

I think the scone was white chocolate and maybe cherry, or some light red fruit.

My tea cup.  Everyone had a different cup.

The hostess, our friend Jeannie, and her 2 granddaughters came over to say hi.

Naya with my aunt Patty.

Jeannie with Eliza

Next came our tea sandwiches.

There were egg salad, corned beef, cucumber and olive, and mini quiches. I had one of each, then an extra egg salad.

I tried to eat as much fruit as I could because the dessert plate looked great, and I couldn't eat any of it.

This is what I got.

After the tea, we went to walk around the downstairs of the mansion.  We used to be able to go upstairs, but this year there was an event going on that night so it was closed off in preparation for the event.

Theatre room.

Downstairs dining room.

Women's Dressing room.

The bar.

The Pool room with a very large fire place.

Gentlemen's Dressing Room

Looking for treasure!

The front of the mansion. From left to right- My aunt, Naya, Me, and our cousin Mark.

Yes, Naya is giving my aunt and me bunny ears!  Here's Naya with her mom Jennifer (Jeannie's daughter).

We had a great time at the tea, and look forward to it every year!

When we got home, we rested for a while, then freshened up to go to the Greek dinner held by Eastern Star (our next door neighbor is a member) which is the women's group for the Free Masons I believe.  I know it has something to do with that.
They brought out a Greek salad first (it was tiny and I only ate the green bell pepper and cucumbers.  I didn't like what was left in the dish.

Next came the main course.  Dolmades (not a big fan of, I tried a little bit of one), a Greek Beef stew that I can't remember the name of, but it was very good, over rice pilaf, and another thing I couldn't remember the name of.  It was like Spanikopita, but with 3 cheeses and no spinach.  That was very good too!

They held a silent auction and I put my name on 2 different things in which I didn't win either one...  Oh well! That's money I still have in my pocket!

Sunday was a more relaxed day.  I went to mass that morning, then came home to get my shopping list, then went straight to the store to get all of my stuff.  I also had a quick breakfast.  1 egg and toast, with an orange.

I made a salad there at their salad bar and grabbed a small baguette to have for dinner as well.  I also had 1 oz. of Madrigal Swiss Cheese with an ounce of the baguette thinly sliced to make it look like more. I only ate roughly 1/2 the salad.  I forget that I'm not much of a meal salad person and it makes me feel full sooner than it should.  I can't explain that, it just does.  I added some hard boiled egg, onion, beans, and sunflower seeds for protein.  I got a side of ranch dressing and dipped my fork in it to control the amount of dressing I used.

I love Madrigal Swiss.  It is naturally lower in fat.  Only 2 pp for 1 ounce!

I spent most of the day cooking.  I made a slow cooker lasagna that's been going around the food blogs I read.  It was FANTASTIC.  I'll post the recipe after the photos.

I started out by browning an onion.

I added 1/2 pound mild Italian Sausage.

Then I added 1 pound lean ground turkey.

While that browned, I pureed 2 large cans of whole peeled tomatoes.

Add that to the pot.

Then add 1 6 oz. can of tomato paste.

Follow by 1 cup Merlot.  I used FetzerFetzer so I grabbed that.

Plus, they are earth friendly!  (It's the hippy in me that get's excited in those kind of things!)  Then I added some oregano, Italian seasonings, and minced garlic.

I let it cook for a half hour or so, then added salt, pepper, and some splenda (I like my sauce on the sweet side) to taste, along with a big bunch of chopped fresh basil.

While that was cooking, I mixed together the cheese layer.  fat free ricotta, part skim mozzarella, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and garlic flakes (ran out of fresh garlic!)  Mix it all together and set aside.

Then it up in the crock pot with no cook lasagna noodles. Sauce, noodles, cheese, and repeat.

Top with 1 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano.

Cook for 2 hours on high, or 4-5 on low.  I cooked it on high because it was getting late.

While that was cooking, I cleaned up and made my chili egg puff muffins.
Whisk 5 eggs until light and lemon colored.

Add 1 cup fat free cottage cheese, 1 cups low fat monterey jack, 1 can green chiles, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, salt, and pepper.

Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray (the kind for baking works best I find, but I didn't have any, so I used my EVOO spray, and I hate saying that but I need to finish this up!)

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  They are done when they spring back to the touch.  You get 2 muffins for 5 pp!  I love them!  Such great flavor, and the cottage cheese add a lot of moisture!

Lasagna is done!  You get 1/6 (a HUGE piece) for 13 pp.  You could really turn it into 8 or 10 slices for less points.  It's a tall lasagna.

My aunt made an asparagus fritatta and we had some bread with it.  MMmmmmm!

Then, because it's Sunday and you can have/do what you gave up on Sunday.  So my aunt made sugar free mousse from a box recipe.  It was pretty good.  It was mocha flavored.  I sliced some strawberries and added some splenda and a little water to "macerate" them.

It was only 3 points for 1/2 of the recipe!  Yum!

Okay, I'm finally done, and it's after midnight, so I'm going to have one helluva day tomorrow from lack of sleep!  Night all!