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Revamping Recipes: Ground Beef and Cabbage Casserole

After eating my heart out at Easter and munching on all the jelly beans and chocolate candy the following week, I was ready for some healthier food.  I found a recipe for Ground Beef and Cabbage Casserole that looked not only healthy, but easy and low in ingredients.  A small shopping trip later and I was ready to go.

Here’s what I started with:

DSC_0295 Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced (I used garlic powder)
salt & pepper, season according to taste
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce (one fifteen ounce can did the trick)
4 cups shredded cabbage (silly me couldn’t find that so I substituted two bags of coleslaw mix instead)
2 1/2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Because I used a 9”x13” casserole dish instead of a 2 1/2 quart dish, I found that I needed more sauce to cover over all the cabbage, so I also added some spaghetti sauce to the top of the dish, which I will show later.  There I go again, revamping the recipes!

Revamping Recipes: Ground Beef and Cabbage Casserole

Brand New Target Shoes at Goodwill Prices

Sunday must have been my day because not only did I finish my room and chalkboards, make a great spaghetti casserole, and think of a great idea for a cheap spring decorating accessory (more on that later this month), but I also scored some great shoes at amazing prices.

San and I decided to stop by the local Goodwill, more to kill time than to buy anything.  When I walked in there was a huge section of brand new Target shoes.  Not only were they cheap, but they were so cute.  I would have probably bought a pair for full price at Target because I liked them that much, but instead I snagged four pairs!

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Okay, so I bought three pairs in the same style, but I seriously love them!  I love wearing flats, but I have a problem with them cutting into my heels making them unwearable.  These are a soft suede that does not cut into my heel and they have a great hard rubber bottom making them great for random Minnesota weather.  I also bought the tan ones because they also will not cut into

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Revamping Recipes: Chunky Vegetarian Chili

Ever since Ash Wednesday and all the talk of giving something up, I’ve been on a healthy food/exercise kick.  I usually exercise at least three times a week, but I want to work out more because it is such a great stress reliever and it makes me feel great about myself.  In addition to that, I thought it was time to find some recipes which are inexpensive yet filling and healthy.  I found this Chunky Vegetarian Chili recipe and new we were destined to be together forever.  I am a huge chili fan, but I have never had a vegetarian version before.  It was exciting!  All the beans in this recipe I think definitely make up for the lack of meaty protein, as well as my eggs for breakfast and ham sandwich for lunch, so I don’t need to worry that I’m overworking myself without any protein to rebuild.

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Ingredients:

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped and seeded
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used garlic powder instead)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans Mexican-style tomatoes, undrained (I could only find Southwestern-style tomatoes)
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Working Through Frustrations to Sew a Beautiful Apron

After getting a new sewing machine for Christmas and looking over many sewing crafts I want to try, I went to a fabric store and bought some fabric to make an apron.  I went with this pattern online, which I would recommend, however I think while I gain sewing skills, I should stick to store bought patterns.  You’ll see why as you read on.

The fabric I chose was a beautiful light blue and chocolate brown fabric pattern and a darker turquoise fabric for the pocket.  I chose a similar color thread and bought a set of four metal D-rings for the adjustable neck strap.  All together, the supplies took me back only about twelve dollars.  Not bad when most aprons of similar quality sell for $30 or more in stores.

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Because this pattern was found online, I had to make the pattern using measurements online.  This was very simple, but took a little more time than having the pattern already in my hand.  For a free price tag, however, it was very easy to do.

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Three Rooms, Three Designs, One Cheap Craigslist Dresser

I often search Craigslist for inexpensive furniture, even though I have no need for any or any money to buy anything.  I just like to see what I could buy if I were looking to buy and what I could do with a piece once I bought it.  I realized that there is no rule that says I cannot imagine I am buying something now and recreating it, so I am going to present one Craigslist dresser I found for $50 in three imaginary rooms: a vintage-inspired bedroom, a child’s vibrant playroom, and a soulful luxurious bathroom.  All of these would be simple to recreate and easy on a budget.  All would look great in my imaginary rooms.  Here is the dresser:

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Original Posting (may be removed)

Here are the three ways I would refinish the dresser according to the different imagined rooms. Keep in mind that they all involve three big changed: paint, drawer pulls and knobs, and drawer lining which can be decorative paper or wrapping paper that would be glued on using Mod Podge.  All of these would be fairly simple projects

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