Virtual Vacation

I have struggled to end the dangerous part of my love affair with food. It has been a long process with little results but I am seeing improvements none the less. Today I realized another unhealthy relationship I have...Facebook. Part of the problem is the content. There are always a few friends with a happy vibe or a great sense of humor but the rest...it just seems either they don't care or they only want to complain or argue.Scrolling my "Wall" usually leaves me sitting on my fingers to avoid spouting my opinion and/or offending someone. Yet I do it at least 20 times a day?!  I used to check in a few times a day,then I started playing the games and had to check in more often. Now...due to the increase in technology...I check in from my phone all.day.long. and leave the tab open on my laptop in the evening as I check in a few times hourly. But....why? is the question I had to finally ask myself. I imagined the things I may be tempted/motivated to do with out the brain numbing,timesucking social media time I usually waste. I could get started on all my "Someday" projects,enjoy more quality time with my kids in the evenings (another advantage of furbabies is not having a bedtime so they can hang out with you at night),reignite my love for cooking and playing in the kitchen (I know Vern would really appreciate it if I would at least make him a sandwich for lunch) and focus on keeping in contact with the real people in my life and not my 300+ Facebook "friends". And last but not least I will have more time to blog. I am still hoping to have it made into paperback one of these days so in the meantime I have to get better at posting photos ,recipes...well,just more good stuff and more often. For me I look at my blog as a journal of my life that I will (and already have) enjoy looking back on and remembering the many chapters of my life. It's so easy to forget the day to day stuff and I really don't mind sharing it with the world,it saves me from writing/sharing things I wouldn't be proud for my future grandkids to read *smirk*
So I started my "Virtual Vacation" from social media today,a diet of sorts I guess? I admit I still checked in more than I hoped out of boredom,habit or both today but at this very moment there is no facebook tab open. That in itself is progress
 I say we start off with a recipe to get things rolling. Spaghetti Casserole-created by me but surely inspired by something I saw on Pinterest and as usual,it was gone before I got a photo.

Cara's Spaghetti Casserole

I had...some leftover vegetables and salad,a pound of burger, a jar of spaghetti sauce,a bag of coil pasta and Panko. I had to run to the store for Parmesan cheese and a bag of "Italian" blend white cheese.

I browned the burger and in a separate pan, steamed and caramelized the veggies and salad ingredients into a buttery veggie paste (for flavor, like bouillon). I added the veggie paste and the jar of pasta to the meat in a large pan.I gave it a good stir and set the heat to low as I ran off to the store for cheese...

When I returned the sauce looked all bubbly and happy I started the noodles. The coil pasta I used is similar to angel hair so it cooks fast in approx 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat,strain well and pour into 9X13 pan ( I used a Pyrex glass one). Chop noodles into small 1 inch to 1/2 inch pieces and add about a 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and stir well to mix with noodles. Top noodles with happy spaghetti sauce,spreading evenly. Add a layer of Italian cheese mix,then a layer of Parmesan cheese and top with a light layer of Panko bread crumbs. I cooked it at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes hoping the top would brown without using the broiler but it didn't really happen, sooo (even though the pan says no broiler) I put it under the broiler at 400 degrees for less than 10 minutes until the top was crispy and brown the the layer of Italian cheese started to lightly bubble. Had I just stuck it in the broiler in the first place we could've eaten sooner but it was still good either way. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving and should scoop right out in squares much like a lasagna.

Waaahla! A new twist on an old boring favorite and the leftovers were much better than traditional spaghetti!
Ok so that was fun right? I will see what I can come up with for my next blog,maybe even a photo!*gasp*