Crockpot Lasagna Soup

To be honest, I'm not much of a cook. Micah on the other hand is an AMAZING cook and therefore makes most of the meals in our little family.  Because he does such an awesome job serving me all of the time, I really enjoy the times when I can find a recipe that I can easily cook AND he loves. I have found that my cooking 'specialties' tend to be crockpot recipes and casseroles, which is awesome because they make such great leftovers. Recently I have tried to commit to making one major meal a week (usually Sunday) that Micah can use as his lunches during the school week. One of our favorites has been this Crockpot lasagna soup, though I would say it's more like a chili. I came across this recipe on Pinterest and have modified it from http://www.familyfreshmeals.com

Ingredients ~ 8 Servings 

• 1 lb 98% lean ground beef 

• 3 cups of beef broth
•  ½ cup of water

• 5 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 TB dried parsley

• 1 TB dried basil

• 3/4 cup chopped onion

• 1, 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

• 1, 6oz can of tomato paste

• 1 cup V8 

• 2 cups uncooked shell pasta

• ¼ tsp pepper

• ¼ tsp salt

• Optional topping- Mozzarella shredded cheese

Directions 

1. First mix together the can of tomatoes, and tomato paste in crockpot.
2. Next add broth, beef (not cooked), garlic, parsley, basil, onion, V8 and salt/pepper.
3. Stir the mixture around evenly and break up the beef. 
4. Cover and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.
5. When 30 minutes are left of cooking time, add in the ½ cup of water and noodles. Stir to combine. Put lid back on and continue cooking for 30 minutes.
6. Top with cheese as desired 

Excuse my lack of professional food photography, but I did manage to get a snap of this delicious meal before it was gobbled up. 

I put together the nutrition facts for this and actually found out that it was a fairly healthy meal! Here are the stats: (before cheese) 

Calories: 218

Carbs: 32g

Fat: 2g

Protein: 18g

Sugar: 8g

If anybody else tries out this recipe I would love to hear your input and suggestions! Have a great night! 

Accountability

From the time when I was about 16 I was pretty much an independent woman. I had a nice 1988 Chevy Celebrity which got me to and from my job at the YMCA where I worked as a lifeguard making $7.00 an hour. I loved the independence and strove to be in control of my own life as much as possible. Getting my first car made all of this possibility for me. It felt like pure freedom. I could drive wherever I wanted and buy anything I desired (As long as it came from the money I made at work of course). Prior to this I had to ask for pretty much everything.

Since I was 16 I have thrived in my independence. I assume this is mostly because of my personality. I love planning, organizing, and being in control as much as possible. And to be honest, I worked very well for me. But now, things are now longer the way they used to be. I am directly held accountable for almost everything I do. Micah and I combined our bank accounts, so there is somebody to point out when I am spending too much money on fast food, or to ask what was that $20 thing that I just bought off of Amazon. Not only did I feel like marriage was taking away my independence, I also felt like it was taking away my control. I suddenly didn't know exactly where my money was going, or if certain bills were paid the second they came out. I was struggling. I had this whole other person in my life now and it was a huge adjustment.

I have learned that this adjustment has been very beneficial for both of us! Now that I am accountable to more than just myself, I find myself making better choices. I go on less 'splurges' that I would usually feel guilty after. I think more about each thing before I by it. I ask questions such as "Is this necessary?" "How will this benefit my family?" and "Is this actually worth the price?" Most of the time I am an impulse buyer, and Micah is ANYTHING but. He will look at multiple different stores, and even check the prices on Amazon before buying things I wouldn't think 2x about. It has turned out to be such a blessing! Here are a few tips that I use to help embrace this new change and transition into being accountable to more than just myself.

1.  Use https://www.mint.com/  It is budgeting website that connects to your bank account. You can see where all your money is going and in what categories that you are spending the most in. We set up our budget together, and being able to see where everything is going helps me SO much with my control issues.

2. Share the responsibility. Something that has really helped my in the transitioning process is that no one person is in charge of everything. For example, Micah takes care of the internet bill and the rent, while I take care of the electric bill and the cell phones. This has helped me by letting me have important roles as well. He can trust me to do my part, and I can trust him to do his. (I can even check mint to see if it's been done instead of nagging ;-) ...) I have an active role, and I love it!

3. Communicate! I can't emphasize this more! Every time I am feeling anxious or stressed about something I talk to Micah and get a reality check. There are TWO people handling things now, It will be ok.

4. Be equal partners, but understand your roles.  I am a firm believe that marriage requires equality and partnership, but that doesn't mean you are without roles. And by NO WAY are the male/female roles the same in every marriage. Sit down and talk with your spouse about what those roles are, how often they changes, and how strict they are. I swear it does wonders. :-)


These are some things that work for us. Every couple is different and I am still very new at this and learning more and more each day!

6 things I (hope) I will never do again...

Learning to be a wife has been quite the learning process. :-) Here are a few things that figured out in the last few months that I hope to never do again. Enjoy! 

1. I will never again clean the kitchen right before dinner
2. I will never again let my husband put the toilet paper where I can't reach
3. I will never again lay down for a nap right before he gets home from work. 
4. I will never again try to 'fix' electronics that don't belong to me 
5. I will never again attempts to cook cake without knowing the proper temperature to set the oven. 
6. I will never again forget how pale my husband is before we spend hours at the beach.

laughs had and lessons learned. Hope you are all having a wonderful night! 

Our wedding :-)

After Much waiting and anticipation the big day finally arrived about three weeks ago on May 5th, 2013. For us, the day was simply perfect. The weather turned out to be a perfect northern Wisconsin spring day, full of love, joy, and celebration. We opted for a smallish wedding, with only about 60 of our closest friends and family there. We had so much help and support and felt so blessed throughout the whole process. Here are a few of my favorite highlights and memories from the happiest day of my life. :-)

Pre-Wedding:

Since we got married about 4 days after completing of our last final exams, things seemed to just fly by so quickly. I honestly didn't have much time for nerves! The thing that I struggled with the most was trying to make sure I spend an adequate amount of time with my family that was in town. Almost all of my side traveled at least 10 hours to be a part of our day. Some pre-wedding activities included a beautiful shower thrown by Micah's aunt, chatting with family, and getting to spend some quality time with my awesome bridesmaids. The big day was SO CLOSE! 

Wedding day:

I woke up about around 6am to finally experience my first set of nerves. It was quickly replaced by pure excitement, as we got right to business with hair, nails, and my favorite activity (insert sarcasm here**) waiting. Time seemed to be moving so slow that  morning! 

The ceremony:

Pure Joy. It was finally happening.

Married at last! 

So many blessings!

We were so blessed to have so many friends there to support us! We love you guys!

Micah's brother, and best man, Jake, was able to lead the music for our ceremony and was accompanied by two of the bridesmaids. Our music and song selection really held special places in our hearts and hearing those lyrics come from our loved ones made it simply unforgettable. 

Our loving families and wedding party! 

Our 18 month-old nephew Baylen stepped right up to his important ring-bearer position! There may have been some candy bribery involved ;-) He sure was the cutest! 

We were also incredibly blessed to have our dear friend Lydia make the wedding cakes for us! They were absolutely delicious and loved by all! 

They day was simply amazing and I could go on about it for days! It is almost surreal to think that it is over already. Even though the time seemed to be moving slowly in the moment, it was all over so quickly. One of the best pieces of advice I was given was to enjoy the moment. Try to slow down, absorb it all and just enjoy the ride. This day only happens once, so try to not let it fly past you. 

So now on to married life! I have already learned so many things that I am very excited to share! Looking forward to posting again soon :-) 

With love, 

Sarah.... Kuiper (wha??!)  :-D!!!

Less than One Month to go!

With 28 days to go things are getting pretty exciting around here! The invitations are out, honeymoon is booked, and now pretty much all I have left to do, (as far as this wedding is concerned) is wait.

My ring has been at the jewelers for the last few weeks and my left hand had has been feeling quite empty! My original ring came with a substantial slant in the setting which made it quite difficult to find a wedding band that would have fit well. Instead of opting for a super expensive custom made band, I ended up having my diamond placed in a new setting that would fit perfectly with a simple, traditional, plane wedding ring. I was able to pick it up this weekend and I am in love with it! I am typically not a jewelry person, so I love the fact that it isn't too 'over the top' and super flashy. Now to stop staring at my hand.....

28 days, 28 days, 28 days! Patience really hasn't been a virtue of mine lately. I'm one that loves planning and doing, but in turn goes nuts when asked to wait or sit around. With the bulk of the wedding planning done, you can imagine how I am starting to go slightly bonkers. So to help keep myself slightly more 'sane' I have come up with my own extra list of things that I would really like to get 'done' before the wedding.

1. Be purposeful about spending time with my other friends.  - With all of this excitement going on lately, I have been spending a TON of time with Micah. Now this hasn't been a bad thing at all ( I really like the guy! ) but I need to make sure to be spending time with other people. I am going to be spending the rest of my life with Micah, and time with college friends is precious. Being married and in college is going to be a balancing act. Because I know my own tendency to hang all over my man every chance I get, I just need to be purposeful and keep this in mind.

2. Go through ALL of my clothes. - I have noticed lately that I have a TON of clothes that I rarely ever wear. I think 1/2 of my dresser may consist of clothes that I just don't fit into anymore but am holding onto just in case I can lose the weight. I have decided that it is time to do a good 'ole purge and go through everything and separate them into piles of keep, give away, or throw out. Not only will this be helpful in making me feel more fresh and organized, but Micah won't have to deal with all my extra clothes. :-)

3. Try to get activity in! -This is something that I have always struggled with but I think now it is going to be more beneficial than ever. Not only will it help keep me sane, but I would love to start healthy patterns so that I may be a good example to my future family

4. Grow those perfect wedding nails.  - Ugh, I admit it... I'm a horrible nail biter. Time to give another crack at braking this bad habit so that I can do something with these stumps for the wedding!

5. Study my butt off! - Oh yeah, FOCUS!!!! Come at me finals :-D
   
Does anybody have any other suggestions of smart things to do before the wedding that will help keep me sane?

Have a fantastic evening!

God Bless!

My experience with pre-marital counseling

Often people teeter on the edge of getting pre-marital counseling or not. Why go to counseling before you have any problems? Counseling came highly recommended to us so we ended setting something up with our pastor.

I am SO glad we did! At first this was a pretty nerve racking for me. I wasn't used to just walking into a pastor's office and worried that I was going to be in some sort of trouble. Right away I began to relax and really enjoy the experience. I actually came to looking forward to it as my favorite event each week! 

We ended up being guided through a program called Prepare-Enrich. It started by us both taking a quite extensive online quiz where we were asked many different questions about almost every topic that you could think of. The program then paired our results against each others and attempted to point out the strengths and weaknesses of our relationship. Our results came back and our relationship was generalized into one scary word...

Conflicted

So it turns out that we are very different people. Go figure! Our relationship works not necessarily because we are the same shape, but because our pieces of the puzzle actually fit together very well. His strengths are my weaknesses, and my strengths are his weaknesses. 

Just because you are two different people doesn't mean your relationship wont work out! 

Bottom line is that relationships are going to take work. I highly doubt that there is that perfect couple out there who agrees with each other in every single aspect of life, and essentially are 'soul mates' . There is going to be conflict, and you are going to disagree. The success of your relationship isn't going to be defined by the times you get along, but by the times when you fight. It's going to be hard work, but it's going to be worth it!

Overall, I really enjoyed our experience at pre-marital counseling. Here are a few key points that I took home with me.

1. Not all relationships are perfect 
2. Marriage is going to take work.
3. Love is a choice, not always a feeling. 
4. Communication is key
5. Just because you are good at talking, doesn't mean you are good at listening. 

Well that's all for now! I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday!  I'm off to celebrate a special guy's birthday. :-D! 

From ME to WE: About

As a senior in college, I am at a time of my life when people are beginning toward  the big 'what's next' in their lives. For some people that may mean seeking full time employment, getting married, or facing the next stage of their life with lots of uncertainty of where they will be going next.

This next year of my life is going to be full of lots exciting changes and challenges as I will be getting married, finishing my last year of college, and seeking a full-time position as a science teacher in a high-needs school district.

I invite you to join with me as I go though one of my biggest transitions yet... The transition of just ME to WE as I am marrying the love of my life, +Micah Kuiper  on May 5th, 2013. This blog will focus on my journey of becoming a wife as I share the trials, the joys, and the lessons that I learn along the way.