Lasagna Soup

I have been on Pinterest for less than a month now. I don't know much about it besides the fact that it grabs my attention each time I login, with so many colorful pictures of food and ideas that I can see all at once! It is fun to scroll through pages and pages of cool holiday decorations and tasty-looking dishes. I click on them and then they get pinned to my bulletin board for future reference. Last night, I actually had some extra time being Fall Break and all, so I chose to pull up my recipe board and make this delicious-looking Lasagna Soup. This picture to the left comes directly from my Pinterest Board. You can compare it to my own pictures below.

It turned out to be tastier than I could have even imagined. It wasn't hard either! I substituted whole wheat lasagna noodles and bought the low-fat Ricotta cheese to add a healthier twist. I put all the ingredients in a big pot--garlic, onions, chopped tomatoes and chicken broth. I let it simmer for nearly an hour.

I boiled the wheat lasagna noodles separately. I then filled them up in a bowl with Ricotta and Parmesan cheese.

Moi, j'adore le fromage; therefore, I put more cheese on top. Now this little bowl is just waiting to be drenched.

Alongside a salad and fruit smoothie, this turned out to be the perfect dinner for a special dinner guest! I really think you should try making it. I am going to make it again and again.

Next recipe for the list: Nutella Hot Chocolate! Doesn't this look perfect for a French Teacher?! Maybe we could even make it in class!

Inventions of the Future

Sometimes I think it is fun to have conversations with friends and colleagues about new products that have come out or will be coming out in the future. It is interesting to think that when I grew up, there were no words in my vocabulary like blog or youtube or google. Now, all of these important words and concepts are part of my every-day life. This causes me to wonder what life will be like 10 years from now...20 years from now. How will the world be different?

Some inventions come and go while others are here to stay. Something that I heard about only recently was the Google Car. This car is able to drive without a driver, so I hear. It has proven itself to safely drive through obstacle courses, using thousands of mini-lasers to help guide its every move. It can get on the freeway. It can drop you off at the front door of work and then go and park itself. Would it be exciting for you to jump into your car each morning and tell it to wake you up once arriving at your destination? For many people, I think it might be a bit scary to give up the controls, but these cars could possibly be safer and more efficient once the bugs are all worked out. Are you willing to give up the steering wheel to a machine? Does this sound fun and practical or terrifying and unnecessary?

Another great idea that a set of two guys came up with is combining lip balm flavors. These are called Kisstixx and you should be able to pick them up at the cashier's aisle of the grocery store. Think how exciting it sounds to put on some raspberry gloss and kiss somebody who is wearing lemonade? Or what about sweet caramel and sour apple? Anyone for fire and ice? What other flavors might go well together? Talk about adding some sparkle to those kisses!

I was teaching my AP French class the other day, when my French foreign exchange student spoke up. He told me that in his modern high school, they used 3-D Printers! Now what could you possibly want with a contraption like that? It takes any real-life object and produces it, to scale, in some other material. Sounds intriguing, but I am still trying to figure out how all this expense would really be practical in the end...maybe I just don't know enough about it yet.





Any other cool inventions you have seen or heard of?