Eaten: Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna

I love lasagna but I have not always loved the way I make it. I just kind of have thrown it together in the past and I never felt like it was great. It was usually dry. So when I saw this recipe, I thought "Why not? It can't be worse than my usual." It was amazing. The meat sauce was so thick and delicious, I was eating it straight out of the pot. And I loved the fewer layers of noodles. Yum. I also kind of doubled it and made enough to freeze. Here is the recipe from Joelen with my modifications.

Sausage & Mushroom Lasagna
recipe adapted from AllRecipes

1 pound sweet Italian sausage

1 pound lean ground beef (I used ground turkey)
3-4 large portobello mushrooms, diced (I used one box of the button mushrooms)

1 large onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (instead of half crushed and half diced, I used 30 ounces of crushed)
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes

2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste

2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons white sugar

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves (I used dried basil)

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (I left this out)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley + more for garnish (I left this out because I forgot to buy it)

12 lasagna noodles (I used 16 and put 8 in each 8x8" pan so I could freeze one)

16 ounces ricotta cheese (I used low fat)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Fill a large pot with hot tap water. Place dry lasagna noodles in the water and soak for 20-30 minutes. While noodles are soaking, prepare the meat sauce. (So nice, you don't have to boil water especially in the summer.)

To prepare the meat sauce, in a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, mushrooms, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Remove, from heat, stir and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. (To make two 8x8's I used 4 noodles for each layer in two separate pans.) Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese. Chill the lasagna for at least 3 hours or overnight for better flavor.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake chilled lasagna in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25-30minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.

Refashion: Two Tees into One

So even though it has taken me about two days of naps to recover from my girls weekend, we had a blast and I am just waiting for the pictures to share. So for now, more refashions.

The next two shirts were in my clean out my closet stack. The tank is from Forever 21 and I loved the huge bright flower but I hated wearing it because I had to layer something over and under it. Too much work to make a tank work. Also I had this shirt that I loved when I was pregnant but is now too long and has a hole in it. Cheap H&M: love it and hate it. They were stacked together in my pile and I liked the color combo, so I thought I would make it work. I cut out the flower from the tank, used a little heat n bond to iron it to the shirt. Stitched around the design on my machine and...
Done! I even placed the flower over the hole so that took care of that problem too.

Weekend Away

Its Friday and by the time you are reading this, I will be on my way to Myrtle Beach for a much needed girl's weekend. I'm leaving my boys behind. I have a swimsuit, my huge hat, a stack of reading material and my ipod has been updated. See you Monday!

Image from Pinterest

Cardboard City Block Tunnel

Remember how months ago I made this cardboard house for Henry? Well the original idea had been something else completely but I hadn't gathered enough boxes yet. My mom and I had been brainstorming all the fun things you could do with cardboard and the city block tunnel was born. After sitting on the idea for weeks, I finally finished it and I love it! Here is what I did:

First, figure out where you are going to put it, this will determine how many boxes you'll need. Get your boxes. You'll also need an exacto knife, (I got a new blade for my knife and it is a miracle, so much better!) packing tape, butcher paper, paint, brushes and markers. Total Cost: FREE (I had everything on hand)After I had all my boxes assembled, I began to cut out the central tunnel. I just kind of guessed what size hole Henry would need and went from there. My first cardboard cut out piece I used as a template for the rest of the holes so they would all match up for easy taping purposes. I cut window holes and a front entrance as I knew I'd be placing this in a corner in Henry's room. Once everything was cut, I lined the boxes up and taped them together on the inside. Any way will work as long as it is secure.
I made sure to tape over any areas that might be rough, like freshly cut holes and interior flaps. Henry hangs out mostly in shorts and onesies and I didn't want his little legs to get all scraped up.
My second story box wasn't wide enough, so I problem solved by folding it to make it a six sided polygon. I also trimmed the bottom flaps so it would rest on the first story box.
After taping the circular box to the top, I cut out the middle hole. See.
The shape is done, complete with tower and second story windows. Now, Henry and some friends had plenty of fun playing in it just like this but the next steps really do add more magic.
Once I had everything the shape I wanted, I covered the non-brown boxes with craft paper. I am pretty sure you could just buy butcher paper at any craft store. Mine I had from a fabric order. If you were smart, not like me, you would cover your boxes before you tape them together and cut windows. I am just saying, it might be easier than my method of unplanned madness.
I am pretty pleased with the results, if I do say so myself. I used basic acrylic craft paint and filled in small details with sharpies. Spray paint was my first thought on covering the boxes but cardboard soaks up spray paint like no other, just a heads up.
beckie's bakery serves up cakes and baguettes. I like the decor of bunting and a cupcake on the door.
Steve's Reads, the ultimate place for primary colored book bindings. But the bricks are cool and the box taped to the top allows Henry to drop things into the tunnel from above.
Henry's Toy Chest complete with teddy bear, mobile, blocks and colorful balls.
Clark Tower. It kind of looks like a parking garage but it was the last one I painted and I was tired and out of ideas.
And he loves it. I have it in his room now and every once in awhile I will hear him crawling through it and it just warms my heart to think he likes and appreciates something I have made for him.
Let me know if you have any questions on making your own tunnel. I just love cardboard!

Zoo Atlanta

We went to the Zoo Atlanta last Saturday with our friends and neighbors, the Gleasons. We scored a free family pass by going to the library, attempting to watch a video about the zoo, failing because of technical difficulties and then asking the librarian if she would just give us the passes for our valiant effort, which she did! Zoo Atlanta is way better than the Hogle Zoo and the best zoo I have been to in years, although I don't think it would have been worth the $42. Yikes.
Henry especially loved the petting zoo action and ran right up to a goat and pulled its ear. He then pet a lamb and stared at some baby goats eating. Fearless kid!
He also enjoyed watching playful lemurs and the baby panda bears. Most of the time he spent in his stroller but we got him out to walk around and see the sights from a better vantage point. When he was free, he would run away and try to push stranger's strollers. We have to work on that one.
Steve was excited to learn that Atlanta has the largest gorilla habitat in North America. Gorillas are his favorite besides the Reptile House.
It made me so happy to see this large pretty area for the giraffes. Hogle Zoo's concrete cage makes me want to cry. We got to the zoo early to beat the heat and it was pretty pleasant weather-wise. Don't get me wrong, I was sweaty but I wasn't about to die. There was plenty of shade and AC spots to ease the warmth. We ended the morning in the playground to eat lunch before we went home. Henry went down the slide twice by himself. Fearless.

Refashion: Trouser Jeans

So I decided to clean out my closet. It needed some serious organizing. The best way to clean out your closet is to take everything out (no picture taken) and then to evaluate each item individually. I am pretty good about tossing stuff but I always have a few things I hang onto even though I don't wear them. I think the reason for this is two fold.

1) I like having a full closet. Its totally psychological. I feel like if it is full then I have a lot of stuff to wear. Even when I only wear a fraction of it. I am afraid to only have wearable items in my closet. I am afraid of an empty closet.

2) I often like my clothes but there is something about the item that keeps me from wearing them. Something about the garment fits weird or is off.

So I didn't really get rid of anything but I pulled out all my sweaters and winter clothes and also everything that needed some type of fix. The winter clothes and boots were packed away into storage and I got to work on my to fix pile.Bye, bye winter clothes. See you in 8 months!Hello! Clothes to fix. You'll probably see a lot of these in the next few weeks.
These jeans are okay. They fit and I like them but I never wear them. I don't know why, I just don't. So I decided to make them into shorts. An easy change.
Lay out your jeans and use a pair of shorts you already own as a guide. Trim off to desired length. Err on the side of caution, if you trim too short there really isn't a lot you can do to lengthen, ruffled shorts aren't cool.
Double turn the hem and you're done. Already I have worn them more than I ever wore those jeans. So worth it.

P.S. I finally figure out the picture situation. Set up your camera on the top shelf of a bookcase and use the timer. Done and done.

P.P.S. Stay tuned for the shirt re-fashion from that last shot.

A little bit of Henry

This week Henry turns 18 months. When I think of it as "Hey, I have an 18 month old," it is kind of astounding but when I think about Henry in our lives it just makes sense. So here is a little bit about our crazy cute boy.He is very quick to smile and laugh but when he throws a tantrum it is hilarious. He stops walking. Throws his binkie down, scrunches up his face, squats down and wails. We usually laugh, you know when we're not tired or in public. Reasons why he would throw a tantrum: we're eating something and he is not, he can't go out on the deck or he has found a marvelous new toy that has promptly been taken away (ie: batteries). He also throws down his binkie when food makes an appearance, as if to tell us in his own language, "I am ready. Give me some!"
We cut his hair at the beginning of the summer and the curls are growing back quickly. I was worried when we cut them that they were just baby curls and they wouldn't come back. But they are.
Peace, Man.
We have started the "blankie phase". This is his blankie. It was a gift from one of my old co-workers and it really was a great choice. It is cute cotton on one side and fuzzy fleecy material on the other. It is trimmed in grosgrain ribbon. He totes it around with him all over the house and cries if he isn't put to bed with it. I think it is very cute when he drags it everywhere but we'll see how long it takes the novelty to wear off.
Ticklish neck
Only two teeth. Still.
Mini self portrait with mommy.
Another new favorite toy to Steve's delight. And we were on the way to beach, we don't just let Henry run around in his diaper.
And finally just chilling and watching a little Futurama before bed. Steve took this one while I was at a meeting. This is pretty rare, for him to sit still like this. Usually he is a whirlwind of wiggles, running everywhere. The other night we went to dinner and he would not stop running into the kitchen. At the restaurant. Oh and he really likes wheels and things that roll. Like the rolling trash cans at church, carts in the grocery store and strollers.