RandomCity

I made chicken soup yesterday. Turned out good. We had it for dinner tonight. My little man loves to help me cook, I let him cut up the Kale for the soup. I did supervise...don't worry.

It turned out yummy and I had some ham I needed to use up so I did grilled cheese and ham tortillas
Our roof was worked on today and it's half done. I am just so excited to be getting some things done on our house. I just can't believe it and I'm itching to get started on the inside!
But the weather was amazing today and we played outside after dinner. Gotta love the time change.
I just love it when the kids get along...it seems rare but it's amazing.

Wordless Wednesday - Puppy Love

Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

I'm a little late today in posting this. But I'm finding that as the kids get bigger they just naturally take up more of my time and sitting down on the computer is minimal during the day.

But better late than never.

This week...MMMMMM.....LASAGNA!

The perfect rainy weather meal with a good salad and warm bread

There are so many ways to make this dish, but I would recommend you always make at least 2 so you can freeze one. This is one of those dishes that easily doubles.


So I cut up some veggies and used 2 cans of sauce that I found on sale and then I add my hamburger...RAW...yes, you read that right. I don't precook it. Really, it's OK. I really prefer the meat done like this, it's so tender and you don't get those hard pieces of hamburger from prefrying it. Just be sure to break the meat up while the sauce is cooking. And here is my secret that I gleaned from the cook at a local pasta place here...CINNAMON. He said to add cinnamon to your pasta sauce, I've done this since then and it's always a hit. Just do a little bit, trust me, try it, it's good.

I put my two dishes side by side, just for you! So you can see how I layer it and create this yummy dish. You start with a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of the dish and then lay the noodles on top. NOTICE my noodles are NOT cooked...they are not even those special ones that say oven ready. They are whole wheat noodles, nothing special. You DO NOT need to precook the noodles....EVER...serious, don't spend the extra time or the extra money for ones that say oven ready...they all are.

Then I add frozen spinach that I had wrung all the liquid out of and cottage cheese and another layer of noodles....that are not cooked...get it...not cooked, really trust...me...

more sauce...more noodles...that are not cooked...I think I've made my point with not having to cook the noodles...we are building trust along with this lasagna here

top with yummy gooey cheese as much as your heart is ready for. Cover the extra one, label and freeze.
Cook for an hourish at 350, ON A BAKING SHEET, trust people. You'll thank me when the sauce boils over the side of the dish. If the cheese is getting too brown, cover it with foil while it finishes cooking

Look at all this goodness. Let it sit for about 10 minutes or so. I'm so happy that this time my lasagna actually held up. I often make it watery, my family still loves it, but this time....YAY, it stayed together.

MMMM, goodness in the belly

Head over to see more Tempt my Tummy recipes....you'll be glad you did!

RandomCity

It's been a loooong day. But I still managed to make dinner! YAY ME!


I've been so excited with the renovations we have been planning. I stopped by the lighting store today and left with an idea for my bathroom lighting, but nothing for my kitchen. It will be so amazing to see it finished!
So tonight I made chicken with a Cesar salad. It was yum. I really like this new pan I picked up at Costco
It has the grill on one side and a flat on the other. It's great. I'm thinking of getting another because I just love it so. Two is always better then right?
Anyway, I marinated the chicken in an amazing Italian dressing from a local restaurant. WOW, this was so tasty!

And so easy for a fast dinner. I bought the dressing premade and it was not a favorite of mine, but it was okay.
The kids enjoyed it to

Menu Plan Monday #11 - March 15-21

Another week! I think that my family has kicked the cold...FINALLY! We still have a few lingering coughs and sniffs, but overall we are all on the mend.

We had a bit of a crazy week between colds and deciding to renovate and finding quotes and all that goes with that. We stuck to the last weeks plan pretty well...until Friday, I was just done. It was a long week. As you can tell by the lack of blogging.

Here goes for this week....

Monday - I have some chicken marinating so it will be BBQ Chicken and Cesar salad with some rosemary bread

Tuesday - Chicken Soup - my hubby requested this one again. He loved the one I made last week and said it was perfect for leftovers for his dinners at work

Wednesday - BBQ Hamburgers with Cesar salad again....I bought a huge package of romaine lettuce from Costco...don't ask!

Thursday - We are going to tour my hubby's new work warehouse so we will be out for dinner

Friday - Chicken Tettrazine from the freezer

Saturday - left overs or grilled cheese

Sunday - pancakes of course!!

I will leave you with this simple post and of course some pictures of my cuties!

Check out the Organizing Junkie for some ideas!

Menu Plan Monday #10 - March 8-14

Here I am at another week of Menu Planning. I've been thinking about my menu for the week this week and I think it will come together as I type!
Last week went REALLY well, I changed a few nights around but we didn't order in for dinner at all! A first I think!! I didn't end up making the steak, but rather BBQ Ribs that were on sale at Costco. I'm not a fan of ribs, but the rest of my family loves them. I don't really have any fancy pictures for you this week as my whole family was sick last week with colds and I forgot all the time to take the pictures. My lack of blogging last week is a result of a sick family and tired and stressed out mommy. Fingers crossed this week is a much happier week. At least that as been my constant prayer today!

Monday - The pasta I made the other week and froze, with a salad.
And we have some company coming for dessert so I think I'll do an apple crisp.

Tuesday - Homemade Chicken soup - to help the sickies get better! Not from a mix this time...I'll make it from scratch

Wednesday - Taco salad. I have some taco meat frozen

Thursday - BBQ Steak with sweet potatoes and salad

Friday - left overs

Saturday - BLT's with left over soup or just salad

Sunday - I have my family coming for lunch possibly so I'm not sure what we'll do...we might not get our pancake fix!

Pretty uninspired this week! But for more inspiration head over to the Organizing Junkie for hundreds of menu plans

A year in Review

I'm sure you're thinking I'm 2 months late in posting this. But I'm not.
Today We celebrated my little sweet angels first birthday. So last January and February I was still in a holding pattern waiting....until March 2nd...9 days late. If I'm honest she was much later in my mind as my first due date was February 11th and it was changed to February 24th. If you have had this, it totally sucks and you feel pregnant for way longer. I had a high risk pregnancy at 30 weeks as my I was hospitalized with my liver shutting down. But God is good and after 9 months of being sick. My sweet girl was born.
She is one of the funniest people I know. She loves music. Any hint of music and she's dancing. She'll turn her little music player on in her crib and dance herself to sleep. She wakes up with smiles and kisses and you can see her excitement to start the day. She loves to play peek-a-boo and thinks it's just way to funny. She loves our animals and walks after them all day calling them by their names. At 12 months she's almost walking full time and has a dozen or so words she uses and more she just repeats as she hears them. She loves her brother but is learning fast how to fight back and hold her ground. She loves all food (except boiled eggs...go figure) and has discovered how to feed the cats from her highchair. She brings me joy and makes my family complete.I hate to say I don't remember much of the year as I've struggled with post partum depression. And there is much I want to share regarding this illness. But it's not time yet. I'm still in the midst of discovering what God is teaching me in this difficult time. But God has given me this amazing girl to bring me joy in my dark days.
PPD is a terrible illness that I encourage any mother or anyone dealing with depression to seek help. It's absolutly not something you can just suck up and ignore. It's a real illness and needs real treatment. God has been carrying me and the verse from Jer 29:11, He knows the plans he has for me...NOT TO HARM ME....this has been how I've survived the last many months. God is Good all the time.
I've just starting meeting with a mentor and it's amazing. She challenged me this week to be thankful FOR ALL THINGS. Really all things, even PPD, even when my kids spill apple juice over the entire floor. Thank God for it, as hard as it seems and even pointless. Thank God for all things. Try and let me know how it goes for you. I'll let you know how it works for me. It's certainly put my focus on God today as I have been thanking Him for many different things that make me feel at my wits end.