good eats, the healthy PW & a giveaway

We are still in full birthday mode around the Good house. We spent the weekend celebrating Mat's grand dad's 90th birthday, my mom's birthday and finally the big first birthday celebration. The actual birthday is tomorrow. I'm a LOT excited and a tiny bit sad. The birthday blog with TONS of pics will come soon... hold your horses. For now, I'm still basking in the memories=) {And the snow-cones rocked fyi}.

In the meantime ....I'm VERY excited about trying a brand new cookbook from a sweet friend Erin. She is amazing. Pure and simple. Long story short this lady has an AMAZING story. She has come through some amazing trials and overcome. I wanted to tell her entire story....but I just can't put it into words. Please go here and read it. Now. You will be inspired and motivated. Just take my word for it. Bottom line - she was in a horrible car crash in which she broke both of her legs and ended up gaining a lot of weight. Through discipline and lots and lots of hard work, she has lost a LOT of weight. She is passionate about healthy eating and living. She lights up any room and makes everyone she's around want to be a better person. She has recently wrote a cookbook and holy smokes it's amazing! So this week I'm going to be cooking up one of her best recipes and I just CAN'T wait! Why do I like her food? It's yummy. And it's healthy. She's the healthy PW. Amazing. SO in addition to cooking up her famous baked ziti I'm giving away this cookbook that features this yummy recipe and MANY MANY more.

Monday: grilling out at the lake!

Tuesday: Tacos (leftover from the birthday celebration)

Wednesday: date night! (ray lamontagne!)

Thursday: Baked Ziti!! 

Giveaway Info:

So what do you need to do to enter?? 

Go like her fb page. That's it. 

Then just leave me a comment that you did so. 

Giveaway ends Wednesday at midnight and winner will be announced Thursday morning. 

And NOW for the recipe:

Baked Ziti

4 oz Rotini or penne whole wheat pasta

1 TBSP minced garlic

1 onion chopped

1 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 8oz package of sliced mushrooms

1 red pepper, seeded & diced

1 green pepper, seeded & diced

1 large zucchini squash, shredded

1 32oz can of pasta sauce

1 TBSP of basil

1 TBSP oregano

1 c. non-fat cottage cheese

1/2 c mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 inch pan. Prepare pasta according to the package, drain & set aside. While pasta is cooking, dice & shred all vegetables & add to a 3 qt sauce pan with the minced garlic. Add olive oil to the veggies & saute for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally over medium high heat. Add the can of pasta sauce to the veggies and layer in the spices. Reduce heat and simmer on low for three minutes. Pour the sauce mixture over the pasta & toss. Evenly spread the pasta into the pan. Spread the cottage cheese evenly across the top of the pasta, following with mozzarella cheese & finally sprinkling on top with parmesan cheese. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.