The Easiest and Best Lasagna You've Ever Had... I Promise!

Growing up, we had Stouffer's Lasagna.... I loved it.... until I started making my own lasagna. I found a recipe that made it quick and easy to make one of my favorite meals. This recipe feeds my family for about 3 nights....at least, so I don't make it very often (usually once we finish it, we're sick of lasagna)! Enjoy!

Simply Lasagna

1 lb. ground beef
2 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese, divided
15 oz. container of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup of parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
26 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown meat in large skillet, drain fat. Mix 1 1/4 cups of the mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, the container of ricotta cheese, the parsley and the egg. Blend well. Set aside. Pour spaghetti sauce in the skillet (with the meat). Pour the cup of water into the empty spaghetti sauce jar, cover and shake well. Add to skillet and stir. You should end up with 5 cups of sauce. Now, layer- start with 1 cup of sauce at the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish. Then top with 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and then 1 cup of spaghetti sauce. Repeat layers 2 more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles and the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle the rest of the cheeses on top. Cover with greased foil. Bake for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 15 mins.

Just Call Me Betty Crocker...

Today has been busy and I've still got a gazillion things left to do. I am hungry, so I thought I would take a break and give y'all a recipe! I have made the dough for bread sticks and pizza, peanut butter muffins and chicken is thawing for chicken pot pie (making for a MOPS mom that was diagnosed with cancer). I still need to make two batches of Scotcheroos(totally not organic or natural....especially the Karo syrup! ouch!) and a loaf or two of banana nut bread. Not sure when I'll finish the rest. Peanut is sleeping in his crib. Bubbie has been helping me bake. When he gets bored, he'll run to his trains in the next room and then come back... I have promised Bubbie an outing once I get most of my "to-do list" finished. I might just have to wait until this evening to finish the rest- once Hubbie gets home.

The recipe is for Peanut Butter Muffins. My grandmother sent it to me a few months ago and I am just now getting around to making them. I have been calling them Peanut Butter Cupcakes. If you say muffins to Bubbie- he says he doesn't like them. If you call it cupcakes, he's excited! I let him make these with me this morning. He never questioned the yellow and orange "stuff" going into the bowl! I think the article in the Tennessean says that this mother adapted this from Jessica Seinfeld's recipe. Not sure, so if you have that book, you might have this recipe.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Muffins

1 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
1/2 cup of carrot puree
1/2 cup of banana puree
2 large egg whites
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper baking cups.

In a large bowl mix 1/2 cup of the brown sugar with the peanut butter, carrot and banana puree, and the egg whites, using a wooden spoon.

Put the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix. Add to the bowl with the peanut butter in it and stir just to combine (batter will be lumpy). Add the remaining 1/2 cup of brown sugar and stir once or twice.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake until the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Bake 15-20 mins. Turn muffins out onto a rack to cool.

Yummy! Yummo!

Menu Plan Monday...errr Wednesday?

Yes, I know, its not Monday. It is a little late! Thanks to my sweet Hubbie- we now have groceries! I was able to make our menu plan while feeding Grayson and now we're set until April 19th! Hubbie was able to find a lot of things at Kroger that were natural and organic. We even found some "pop tarts" that were all natural. Bubbie loves pop tarts and they are so easy to serve to him on busy morning! Our favorite ceral here lately is Kashi and Good Friends. Both have a lot of fiber and have all natural products in them. I told Hubbie to go ahead and buy some bread. I didn't do so hot last weekend with my baking, so we're out of bread. I can't seem to find time to bake during the week. I must do better this weekend!

Wednesday night- Homemade pizza, bread sticks and salad

Thursday night- Leftover pizza, bread sticks and salad

Friday night- Fish, noodles and squash medley

Saturday lunch- Chicken Pot pie
Saturday night- Chopped Steak, potatoes and leftover squash medley

Sunday lunch- Leftover chicken pot pie
Sunday night- Lasagna and rolls

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

We found this muffin recipe online at cooks.com a few months ago. The whole family loves these muffins. In order to get the recipe a little healthier we added flax seed. The recipe is already adjusted for the flax seed. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour (we tried whole wheat flour and they turned out B-A-D)
3/4 sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
4 tblspoons butter, melted
1 egg, beated slightly
1 cup finely chopped apples
3 tblspoons flax seed

Heat oven 375 degrees. Bake 18-23 mins.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in bowl. Add all remaining ingredients. Stir just until flour is moistened. Spoon batter into muffin liners.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday- Date night

Tuesday night- Homemade pizza

Wednesday night- Baked Spaghetti

Thursday night- Chili and cornbread

Friday night- Leftover Baked Spaghetti

Saturday lunch- Leftover chili and chips
Saturday night- Chicken Pot Pie

Sunday lunch- Breakfast (eggs, bacon and biscuits, pancakes or waffles)
Sunday night- Pasta

Menu Plan Monday

Monday nite- Leftover Roast, veggies and homemade bread

Tuesday nite- Leftover Potato Soup and homemade bread

Wednesday nite- Burrito Casserole with chips and salsa

Thursday nite- Baked Spaghetti and bread sticks

Friday nite- Leftover Mexican Casserole

Saturday lunch- Sandwiches and chips
Saturday nite- Home made Pizza

Happy Easter!
Sunday lunch- Leftover Baked Spaghetti
Sunday nite- Leftover Pizza

I hope everyone has a fantastic Easter this year! We will have two Easter egg hunts- one with the Mom's group and one with Nana and Pops. Chandler keeps saying "It's almost Easter!" We've got the goodies for his Easter basket and the camera ready!

Burrito Casserole

My wedding present from my Dad's sister, Auntie C, was a scrapbook of family recipes. I have loved that book and cook from it often. Not only does it have great recipes, but also the pictures and stories behind the recipes, when they were made, etc. One of the recipes was from Wanda who worked for my Aunt. When I lived in Nashville, with my grandparents, for a few months, Wanda made this Burrito Casserole one day for lunch and it was so yummy! Aunt Cathy put the recipe in my cookbook and Andy loves it! He is always asking me to make it! It's a very heavy meal, so we have leftovers for a LONG time! Serve it with chips and salsa! Enjoy!

Burrito Casserole

Ingredients:

1lb (I use 1/3 of a lb) ground beef (drained)
1 pkg. of taco seasoning
1 can of refried beans
8-10 tortillas
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 medium can of sour cream
1 pkg of cheddar cheese

Mix the first three ingredients together. Then fill the tortillas with the mixture and place them in a dish. In a separate bowl, mix 1 can of mushroom soup and the container of sour cream, and pour it over the tortillas. Place in the oven for 20 minutes, until bubbling. Take out and sprinkle cheese over it. Put the casserole bakc in the oven to melt cheese!