Real Recipes - Crock-pot Ravioli

I've been thinking about starting a recipe series for a while now, but life has been so busy the past few weeks! So finally, here we have it....Real recipes!

Whenever I am meal planning, or hunting for a recipe in the morning to make that night for dinner, there are usually 3 qualifications that I look for in the recipe: 1.) It has to be {somewhat} healthy. I'm looking for a good balance of protein/fat/carbohydrates. 2.) It's quick, or at least something I can pull together before my 8-month old has a come apart. 3.) Either I have the ingredients on hand or I can find them at the store easily. It's not that I don't like different ingredients or don't enjoy using different cooking methods, it is more of the fact that I have a hungry husband and a somewhat limited budget {if it was up to me, I could spend more money on food than our mortgage payment}.


At our house I cook Real Recipies. Not fancy, always healthy, and definitely budget friendly! For each recipe I will give the ingredients, instructions, a cost estimate, and a calorie estimate. I hope to post a new recipe every Friday. Hopefully I will :) So here is is.....

#1 - Crock-pot Ravioli

Serves 5

Ingredients: 

1 Bag of frozen cheese ravioli (I buy mine at Aldi for ~$2.79)

1 Jar of prepared spaghetti sauce (I use chunky marinara~$2.79)

1 Can of diced tomatoes (~$.60)

1 8oz can of tomato sauce (~$.50)

1 Cup shredded mozzarella cheese (~$1.00)

*I also use various spices (oregano, basil, parsley, etc.) and grated parmesan to doctor up my sauce.

Directions:

Prepare sauce by combining jarred spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and spices. Cook over medium heat until heated through (During this step, I also add sugar, salt and pepper to taste).

Pour half of sauce into crock-pot, empty on the bag of frozen ravioli, and top the ravioli with the remaining sauce. Then top with the shredded mozzarella and sprinkle with parsley. 

Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

*You could definitely add ground beef to the sauce, I just choose not to because well, it's kinda expensive, and the cheese has the needed protein. I'm still trying to convince my husband we don't need meat in EVERY meal!

If you prepare the recipe this way, the calorie count per serving is approximately 400kcal.

Total recipe cost: ~$7.68 or $1.50 per serving

*Want ground beef? Add $3.50

Green salad or frozen broccoli? Add another $1-$1.50

Craving garlic bread? Add $2.00

 There you have it! Add a green salad or steamed broccoli and dinner is done! Now go reward yourself by watching a Grey's Anatomy rerun before the baby wakes up :)

My Favorite Room in the House

I am so excited to be writing my first "real" blog post!

This post is very special to me because I am sharing Berkley's nursery, which happens to be my favorite room in the house. We spend a lot of time in her room, and I am so pleased with how it turned out!

When deciding on a nursery theme for her, I knew that obviously we would be using pink, but I also wanted to make sure that it was something that she could grow into. I didn't want to make it too "baby" for when she was a toddler. I chose to use pink, grey, and white because they were classic colors that always look great together and the Paris accents were added because they gave the nursery the Parisian flair that complemented her bedding.

My mom had the idea to add a chair rail, but to do it higher than it is normally placed. Originally we were going to paint the grey dots, but after a little thinking, we decided that using vinyl wall stickers would be MUCH easier. I love them, they are great and super easy. You can find them here.

Berkley's bedding took me sometime to find. I could not find anything that was not some sort of "themed" bedding. After looking through pottery barn, Crate&Barrel, etc. I decided to have it custom made. The bedding is amazing quality. The set included a bedskirt, bumper, quilt (with pink minky lining), and pink sheet (not-pictured). It was perfect, fit the crib beautifully and is perfectly girly :)

                           

The picture that is hanging on this wall is very special to my family. It is now in it's fourth generation! It hung in my grandmother's room when she was a little girl, my mom's room, my room, and now Berkley's room! It is so neat to have a small piece of my grandmother in her nursery.

My mom made the curtain for the window and the runner for the bookshelf to match the dots on the walls. She wanted it to have a Parisian theme as well, I love the bows!

Of course Madeline was included. It has been one of my favorite books since I was a little girl.

Obviously someone was not too thrilled with Mommy taking pictures of her room......

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing Berkley's nursery! I look forward to many more memories made in this room with my sweet baby girl.

If you were wondering......

Bedding c/o Baby Designs by Elm

Furniture c/o Treasure Rooms

Rocker, Bookshelf, Wall Cubes c/o Target

Parisian Decor c/o Hobby Lobby

Eifel Tower Bank(pink) c/o Pier One

Testing, testing, 1,2,3....... Anybody hear me???

So, it's Thursday night, I'm watching House Hunters, and I have decided that tonight I am going write my first blog post.

 I have been working on developing a blog layout and template I like for awhile now. I kept telling myself that I would not begin writing until I had it almost perfect. As I was sitting here blog stalking, trying to learn, and looking for new ideas,  I've now decided that the only way that I will be able to learn how to blog, will actually be to start blogging. (It was somewhat of an epiphany.) 

Therefore, here I am. On an uneventful September night, I have decided to start blogging. Although this first post is pretty dull, (and will hopefully be my most boring) all things must start somewhere. I hope to be able to look back at this post and remember where I started. 

So, welcome to a look into the life of the Berry Family. I cannot wait for this journey to begin.  I hope you will join us.

*** And now because of the boringness of this post. 
I will share pictures from dinner of the cutest baby on the planet :)