Homemade Lasagna

This is one of my favorite recipes that I’ve made and improved over the years. It’s so easy and everyone loves it! It makes enough for about 8 people, so unless we’re entertaining we usually have plenty left over to eat it again the next night.

Homemade Lasagna

9 lasagna noodles*
2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 lb. ground beef or ground chuck
24 oz. of your favorite tomato or pasta sauce
garlic, minced
oregano
basil
salt & pepper
10 oz. fresh spinach

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles and cook until al dente; drain.

To make filling – combine in a bowl: ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan and eggs.

To make sauce – In a skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through; drain. Combine in skillet, browned grown beef, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper and tomato/pasta sauce; simmer for a few minutes.

In a 9″ x 13″ pan, alternate layers of cooked lasagna noodles, sauce, filling and spinach. Top with sauce or filling so that spinach is covered and won’t burn while cooking. Top with more mozzarella if desired (I never find this necessary). Bake for 40 minutes. Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting.

*When we run out of our surplus supply of Barilla lasagna noodles, I’ll start making this recipe with organic whole wheat lasagna. A friend also suggested making it with quinoa noodles.

We’ll Ride on Painted Horses

For the past few years, my grandmother has organized a big family Zoo trip each summer. My mom, aunt, grandmother, cousins, my kids and I all go and spend a whole day there. This year Jason went with us because it was Silas’s first trip to the Zoo that he was actually aware of (he went last year when he was a few months old, but he was in the stroller under a receiving blanket most of the time). Silas is a huge animal lover so it was fun to see him looking and pointing. Jason thought the birds were his favorite.

He really enjoyed his first ride on the carousel too. I can’t carry a tune and never sing loud enough for anyone to hear, but I enjoyed singing (quietly) our favorite lullaby to him as he held on unsure of the ride at first. “The sooner you sleep, the sooner you’ll wake. Tomorrow we’ll go to the fair, we’ll ride on painted horses with wind in our hair, and we’ll always remember the laughter we share.” We rode twice and by the second time, he was more confident and smiling ear to ear.

Please ignore the fact that he’s barefoot in public. It was really hot and his sandals were too tight on his swollen, sweaty feet.

After visiting all of the animals, the big boys played on the wooden playground and Silas played in the soft toddler area. He was quite the chick magnet. Several little girls kept coming up to him and hugging him. Even the other boys were patting his back and checking on him from time to time, lol. He learned how to tumble there from a little girl a few months older than him. He watched her put her head on the ground and roll over, and he tried to imitate her. I helped him a couple times and then he started doing it on his own. It’s so funny to watch him do it around the house now. Wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, he just stops, drops & rolls.

The big boys were fun to watch too! As Trey and Garrett get older, Andrew seems so much closer with them. Every time we get together they’re able to keep up with him even better and he really enjoys playing with them now. They were like the three musketeers at the Zoo. They each got a map and Andrew led the way through the Zoo. At times they were more focused on their maps than the animals we were looking at. We saved the Dinosaur exhibit for the end of the day so they would have something to look forward to. Garrett was a little scared through parts of it, but bravely walked along with the other boys. As much as I wish I could slow down Silas’s growth and keep him a baby forever, I also can’t wait for him to catch up with the older boys. Kristy and I have always been so close, I think of her like a little sister. I only hope the boy cousins are always just as close!

As you can see, we had such a great day! I have a feeling this will be the last year Silas stays in his stroller. Next year he’ll probably be running around with the big boys!

Back in the Kitchen

Some of you know I was very busy over the past few months studying for my real estate license. I’m not quite ready to take the license exam, but I’m finally finished with the online courses (minus some review chapters) and I have to admit it’s nice to have my life back to normal again even if it’s only temporary.

I got really tired of eating spaghetti, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. over the past couple months. I relied on Jason to do SO much of the cooking, which always leaves me feeling guilty. I’m a stay at home mom (at least until I start working) so seeing him cook after a long day of work made me feel a little inadequate. I’m honestly not sure where my career is headed or how soon things will take off, so I decided to spend May cooking and trying new restaurants and really enjoying food before things get busy again. I also wanted to add variety to our meal plan this month since we had so much red meat last month! So that’s pretty much what we have been doing for the past couple weeks… cooking, eating, exploring new restaurants, talking about food, reading food blogs, daydreaming about starting our own garden, and learning more about local organic farms.

We try to eat mostly fresh and organic, but as you will see in some of my pictures we aren’t totally committed yet to a 100% “real” diet. I really admire those who have that much discipline, and I’m constantly learning from those people and trying to eliminate processed foods from our meals. The boys are hesitant to try new things or give up some of their favorite processed foods, but they’ve been really great about embracing this process gradually. Baby steps! If you’re interested in taking this journey with us and incorporating more REAL food in your diet, 100 Days of Real Food is a great place to start and learn!

Finally, here are some of the yummy things we’ve been eating this month!

Mama’s Java in Nolensville got me hooked on these breakfast wraps, so much that I started making them at home! They have banana slices, almond butter, honey and maple pecan granola on whole wheat tortillas.

Silly Goose Restaurant on Jason’s lunch break
Grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper, avocado, basil, arugula,
lemon-kalamata olive aioli on grilled ciabatta with mixed greens and herb couscous and ginger, mint & citrus infused green tea

My dessert at Silly Goose
Port poached pear, cinnamon greek yogurt, toasted oat crumble, vanilla bean syrup

Jason’s dessert at Silly Goose
Dark chocolate mousse, milk chocolate vessel, blackberry cream, white chocolate rum sauce, hazelnut crunch

Pan-crusted tilapia with couscous taco salad (recipe below pictures)

Strawberry Muffins with Farmers Market organic strawberries
I think I was the only one who didn’t like these, but I’ll keep looking for a better strawberry muffin recipe anyway!

Crock pot orange chicken with stir fry veggies (frozen)
None of us liked the fake orange flavor of this dish or the mediocre frozen veggies. I have the hardest time finding good crock pot meals with fresh ingredients!

Lunch date at Arnold Myint’s AM@FM restaurant in Nashville’s Farmers Market
Cuban sandwich, with folds of sweet ham and melted cheese on toasted bread, topped with pickled cucumbers and grainy apricot mustard, homemade potato chips, strawberries in lime juice, kale/raisin/walnut salad and fruit tea

Andrew’s class had a veggie tasting party last week! This is what I put together along with some V8 juice (which got very mixed reviews as you can imagine, lol).

Andrew’s lunch using some leftovers from his class veggie party

Dinner with my girls! This was my 3rd sushi experience & the best yet! 1st was at Ru San’s in Nashville (1st sushi experience is always scary!), 2nd was at Sub Zero in St. Louis which was yummy, but this dinner at Virago in Nashville was the BEST!
SPICY STRAWBERRY MAKI
tuna, avocado, asparagus, mango and jalapeño wrapped in avocado and strawberries with honey fire sauce and strawberry sriracha

Chicken Tikka Masala with Homemade Buttered Naan (without the butter)
My first attempt at cooking Indian food! I love Indian food and this gave me a boost of confidence to make it more often at home. It was delicious!

Maple Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Sweet Potato Fries and Chili-Cilantro Sour Cream
Sweet and spicy at its best – this meal was the perfect combination of flavors!

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
For teacher (and maintenance man, bus driver and crossing guard) appreciation week!

Steak Fajitas with Mexican Rice
Technically white rice & white flour tortillas are a no-no for “real” food followers. Like I said, we’re taking baby steps!

Some other meals on our calendar for this month are stuffed zucchini, homemade pizza with cauliflower crust, tilapia with mango salsa and grilled corn, curried quinoa salad with kale chips, steak and arugula on flat bread with roasted root veggies, grilled chicken and strawberry spinach salad, baja fish tacos with guacamole, and pesto & gruyere grilled cheese on rustic Italian bread. When things come up unexpectedly we have to shift our meals around, so what we don’t get to try this month we’ll just try next month!

Recipes:

Couscous Taco Salad

Strawberry Muffins

Crock Pot Orange Chicken

Chicken Tikka Masala with Buttered Naan

Maple Pork Tenderloin

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries with Chili-Cilantro Sour Cream

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Grocery Store Meltdown

Silas hates being buckled in shopping carts, which makes grocery shopping so much fun. Here’s a little preview of his meltdown at Publix today. This had been going on for about 10 minutes, and we left right after the video!

Happy Easter!

We’re spending Easter weekend with Jason’s family in Oak Ridge. His mom made pancakes and bacon for breakfast this morning, and Silas slept a couple hours later than usual. I was able to take a shower and eat breakfast before he woke up – that never happens! After breakfast, Andrew and I did a quick Easter craft. This was so easy, it will probably be a new Easter tradition as long as the kids enjoy doing it!

I got the idea for the peep birdhouse here on Kasey Buick’s blog. The ones on her blog look so pretty. We stopped by Food City in Harriman, TN (don’t ask me where that is because I couldn’t tell you) and they didn’t have any of the pretty edible grass that Kasey used for the nests. Instead, we picked up some shredded coconut and colored it green. And our icing… well, it’s a mess! But these were fun to make & fun to eat!

Here are some other fun Easter links I came across while looking for this craft.

Easter Around the World: How Other Countries Celebrate Easter

I never knew there was an actual technique for Ombre Easter eggs. This is how I liked to dye eggs when I was a kid.

For several years now I have wanted to try coloring eggs with natural dye, but we’ve celebrated Easter out of town for several years in a row now. There are lots of great tutorials online for natural egg dyes, and we will definitely do this if we ever celebrate Easter at home!

Peaceful Parenting: Natural Easter Egg Dye
The Kitchn: Vibrant Eggs, Dyed Naturally
Spoonfed: Natural Egg Dyes, Simplified

I wanted so badly to make this sweet bunny softie for both of the boys for their Easter baskets, but I’ve been busy studying for my real estate license (and so close to being finished!) and crafting has taken a seat on the back burner. I’m curious if Andrew will still like playing or sleeping with stuffed animals next year. Either way, I’ll be making one or two of these next year for sure. If I make them for both of the boys, I’ll change a few details to personalize them.

Lastly, if you’re not on a low-cal diet like myself then you’ll love these Peep s’mores!

Happy Easter!

Spicy Walnut Pasta with Seared Scallops

Jason and I love to cook, but we’re very different in the kitchen. We both love to try new foods, but I prefer using recipes and he likes to experiment on his own. His ambition sometimes leads to a huge mess & both of us frustrated, but I’m usually really impressed with what he comes up with – like this meal, which has become one of our favorites! We don’t have it very often because scallops aren’t cheap, but whenever it’s been awhile since we’ve had it I beg him to make it for me (usually on a rare occasion that the kids aren’t eating with us, since it’s spicy). I wish I had a better picture, but trust me – this recipe is GOOD! It’s earthy and spicy, and the combination of flavors is just… perfect.

Spicy Walnut Pasta with Pan-Seared Scallops

12 oz. fettuccine
3-4 garlic cloves
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
handful walnuts
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan
1 Roma tomato, seeded & grilled, then diced
1 red chile pepper, seeded & grilled, then diced
1 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce

Cook fettuccine.
Heat oil in skillet.
Add garlic & red pepper flakes and saute until fragrant.
Add parsley, basil & walnuts and heat until walnuts are browned. Add more oil if necessary.
Remove from heat.
Add tomatoes and chili peppers.
Add all to pasta, mix and stir in Parmesan.

For the scallops, he just pan sears them very much like this Alton Brown recipe.

If you try this recipe, leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Picnic & Park Play Date

Silas and I went to the park on Friday morning to meet two of my good friends for a picnic lunch & some play time with our smaller kids. It was a little challenging to visit with my friends with all the babies & toddlers going in different directions! But so much fun to see all of our kids together.