Rachel's Special Occasion Lasagna

I finally made, for my first time by the way, a homemade lasagna. I love lasagna, even though Justin isn't bonkers over it, and have been wanting to make it for a while. I first found out about homemade lasagna in high school when over it a good friends house. Her mom cooked all there meals from scratch and made this for us one night and I could not believe it. My family had always just cooked the Stoufer's frozen version, which I love also. So I asked her all about it and thought I could do that. So after all this time I finally did it! I thought it turned out great and Justin said it was good, but I had to ask him! He is not a fan of ricotta cheese, which he would ahve never known was in here, but he asked and I told him the truth. So he had his nose turned up before it was on his plate! I split the recipe in two and made then in two seperate smaller baking dishes. We still had left overs in just our dish and Justin went back for seconds. I took the other one to our friends house because they had just returned from there honeymoon and I knew they wouldn't want to cook. We ate a small side salad with ours. If you are looking for a simple healthy salad recipe that is always good with any Italian dish then buy mixed greens ( I use organic), grape tomatoes, croutons, parmesan, and balsamic vinaigrette. Follow the serving size for the dressing and with balsamic you will get plenty of flavor in just that small serving size. Just sprinkle a little bit of parmesan to top of the salad. Sometimes I will add chopped cucumbers to mine as well.

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients
1 (8-ounce) package uncooked lasagna noodles (about 9 noodles, used 10 noodles
1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) fat-free cottage cheese
3/4 cup (6 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup (6 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free pasta sauce, divided, used reg. pasta sauce
Cooking spray
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

**I added a few shakes each of the following spices: oregano, basil, italian seasoning, garlic powder into the cheese mixture, then stir well to blend.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Combine the cottage cheese, cream cheese, and ricotta cheese in a large bowl; stir to blend well. Stir in Parmesan and next 8 ingredients (through egg).

Spread 1/2 cup pasta sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 3 noodles over pasta sauce; top with half of cheese mixture and one third of remaining pasta sauce. Repeat layers once, ending with noodles. Spread remaining pasta sauce over noodles.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella; bake an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Information
Calories:284 (28% from fat)
Fat:8.8g (sat 5.2g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.4g)
Protein:15.7g
Carbohydrate:34.2g
Fiber:3.3g
Cholesterol:53mg
Iron:0.9mg
Sodium:657mg
Calcium:179mg

-Compliments of Cooking Light, www.myrecipes.com

Easy Quesadillas

Justin and me ate these last night for dinner. I thought they were very good despite the fact I burned ours! So I can't wait to fix them again without burning them this time! I couldn't find refried beans with sausage so I bought some ground sausage, only used half the roll and mixed it cooked ground sausage in with the refried beans. The reason I burned my quesadillas is because I thought they would be better it I heated them in the oven instead or microwave. I put them on broil and didn't watch them closely enough. I served spanish rice on the side.

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients
3/4 cup refried beans with sausage or
buy sausage seperately like I stated above
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided
1/2 cup taco sauce, divided
Sour cream

Directions
Spread beans evenly over 2 tortillas. Sprinkle evenly with 3/4 cup cheese, and drizzle with 1/4 cup taco sauce. Top with remaining tortillas.

Microwave 1 quesadilla, covered with a paper towel, on a microwave-safe plate at HIGH 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Repeat procedure with remaining quesadilla.

Cut each into 8 wedges; serve with remaining 1/4 cup taco sauce, sour cream, and remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

-Compliments of www.myrecipes.com

Star Lake with Wyatt & Will

Here are the pictures of Wyatt & Will from Star Lake. We went last week and they had a great time. They loved the ducks, fish, and turtles. We will definitely be going back again soon.

Roasted Bell Pepper & Olive Pizza

I made this pizza for us last Thursday night and it was very easy and was really good. I know when Justin approves because I either have to ask him it is good or he says this is really good. When he volunteers his opinion that means he really likes it! He volunteered his opinion on this one! It said this could be used as an appetizer also but I cut some of the ingredients in half to just make one pizza instead of two. It says one wedge is a serving size but I ate 2 and Justin had 3.

Serves 12, or cut recipe in half and it serves 6 (serving size: 1 wedge)

Ingredients
2 large red bell peppers (I used one)
2 large yellow bell peppers (I used one)
1/2 cup sliced green olives
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons drained capers (I omitted)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 (1-pound) Italian cheese-flavored pizza crusts (such as Boboli) or focaccias (I used one)
6 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat broiler. Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise, and discard seeds and membranes. Place bell pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet, and flatten with hand. Broil 15 for minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag, and seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel and cut into strips. Combine bell peppers, green olives, and next 5 ingredients (olives through black pepper) in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Divide the bell pepper mixture evenly among pizza crusts; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350° for 7 minutes or until cheese melts. Cut each into 12(or 6)wedges.

Nutritional Information
Calories:104 (28% from fat)
Fat:3.2g (sat 1.5g,mono 0.8g,poly 0.1g)
Protein:4.6g
Carbohydrate:15.5g
Fiber:2.1g
Cholesterol:2mg
Iron:0.9mg
Sodium:301mg
Calcium:62mg

-Compliments of Cooking Light, www.myrecipes.com

Frame Walk Pictures of the House

We had our frame walk on Wednesday, May 5th. What that consisted of was us walking around our home with the builder and our Signature representative. They pointed out all our plugs, cable outlets, phone jacks, & etc. Everything was great and now said they should have the permit today to continue with the building process. Our brick had just arrived when we got to the house and so they will be starting that this week as well. So now we will basically wait until it is time for orientation. Shellie, our Signature rep said she would be able to confirm the permanent close date on Monday. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will stay around June 30.

The two pictures above are of us in the front of our house....

Above is a view of the foyer/front door entrace looking into the front yard....

In foyer looking into Guest Bedroom 1/ office....

Guest bathroom...

A side view of the living room...

The living room and the doorway on the left will take you to the laundry room, pantry, & kitchen. Right doorway will take you into kitchen & dining room....

Laundry room...

Side view of kitchen & keeping room...

The kitchen...

Dining room...

These doors open up to our patio/ backyard...

Patio...

Walking into the master bedroom...

Hallway that connects master bedroom to bathroom & the walk-in closet is on the left...

Walk-in closet...

Mater bathroom...

Master bath, this is where the sinks will be...

Watering closet...

Hallway walking to garage...

Garage...

A view from the stairs looking at the upstairs den & a view of the 2nd guest bedroom on the right...

View from upstairs den into the 2nd guest room...

Upstairs guest bathroom...



These last two pictures above are of the 3rd guest bedroom...

So this is our house! We can't wait to see it with the walls up & everything. They said everything will be moving very fast now! Our cabinets should be in next week! So more pictures to come soon....

Random reminders, etc.....

I saw an ad in one of my magazines a week or so ago about leaving canned goods in your mailbox and decided to look it up on the Internet. I have not heard a lot of advertising for this so I thought I would post it on here to spread the word. It's called Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive 2010. It will we held Saturday, May 8, so this coming Saturday. What you need to do is set a bag out by your mailbox and the postal service will be collecting them on that day. It has to be non-perishable items only. The mail carriers will then be delivering the food to the local food banks, etc. So it will be feeding people in your area. Everyone has extra cans of soup or can pick up a few items for cheap to give. Just thought I would remind you or inform you if you have not heard about this! Here is the website if you would like more information on it :

http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/

Also, just a reminder this weekend is Mother's Day so make sure you show your appreciation to your mother or any mother out there. I decided to look up special days in May because here lately I feel like I've missed some nationally celebrated days. So I found a list of all the dedicated days in May. I was shocked to see almost everyday in May is dedicated to something. Here are some that I thought I should show my appreciation to.

The first full week of May is Nurse's Week, & May 3rd-7th is National Teacher Appreciation Week & Teacher Appreciation Day is May 4th. May 2nd was Baby Day and Brothers and Sisters Day, Happy Baby Day and Happy Sister Day since I am already behind! Haha. We all know Wednesday is Cinco de Mayo, so I'm sure many of us will be showing our appreciation by eating Mexican. May 6th is National Nurse's Day, May 7th is National Military Spouses Day, man my mom is racking up in May so far! Hehehe. Just a little random but No Socks Day is on May 8th and then on May 9th is Lost Sock Memorial Day?? I'm not lying! May 10th, is Clean Up Your Room Day, May 11th is Eat What You Want Day, ok I can do that! May 12th is International Nurse's Day, National Receptionist Day, & School Nurse's Day. On May 14th it's Dance Like A Chicken Day, haha. May 15th is Armed Forces Day, which is a good one to know in my family. May 16th is Love A Tree Day & Wear Purple For Peace Day. May 27th is Sunscreen Day, my boss will love this day. On May 30th, it's Justin and my anniversary, & Water A Flower Day. Then the 31st of May is Memorial Day, Save Your Hearing Day & World No Tobacco Day. If you would like to see a full list of all the dedicated days in May then go to

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/may.htm

Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes with Homemade Fries

I have made one sloppy joe recipe before that I got from Whole Foods and it was amazing. I saw this one in Cooking Light magazine last week and decided to try it as well. I added just a few things to throw in extra flavor so it might have upped the calories just a little. I served homemade fries with the sloppy joes. The other sloppy joe recipe has already been posted before along with the homemade fries recipe. If you click on the "veggie" tag you will be able to get the homemade fries recipe.

Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces ground sirloin (I used lean ground beef, that will help cut calories)
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1 (15.5-ounce) can low-sodium red beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
4 (2-ounce) whole-wheat sandwich rolls, split and toasted
4 (1/4-inch-thick) red onion slices, separated into rings

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, and beef to pan; cook 5 minutes or until meat is browned and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally to crumble beef.

2. Add carrot, chili powder, sugar, oregano, and red pepper; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes and worcestershire; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes or until thickened and carrot is tender, stirring occasionally.

3. Partially mash 1 cup beans with a fork or potato masher. Add mashed beans and remaining whole beans to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Spoon 1 cup bean mixture onto bottom half of each roll; top each serving with 1 red onion slice and top half of roll.

Nutritional Information
Calories:405
Fat:14.4g (sat 3.2g,mono 7.5g,poly 2.3g)
Protein:19.4g
Carbohydrate:53.3g
Fiber:10.4g
Cholesterol:28mg
Iron:5.1mg
Sodium:781mg
Calcium:148mg

-Compliments of Cooking Light Magazine