I wish you a...

Merry Christmas!!

After a fun night out...

I've GOT to get on my to do list for today. But first, a little hangover cure is in order. My cure? COFFEE, and an egg, bacon, and cheese bagel. Hopefully this will energize me for the day :)

Merry Christmas to all!!

Home Sweet (Soon to be) Home

Here is a preview of our new house plans! Last weekend the lot was mowed and little flags were staked for the soil testing which will occur this Saturday. Woop woop!

Send recipes in style!

How fun are these Recipe Postcards?! I discovered them here. Check out Brown Parcel Press (they even have a studio in Athens!).

Comment away!

A few of you told me that you could not comment on here, so I have changed my settings (I am still trying to figure all this blogworld stuff out) to allow all comments! Thanks for reading :)

Christmas Lasagna

"Christmas Lasagna" is a term that stems from the night of Christmas Day. My best friend's mom has made it every year (just in case we aren't already full enough from all the lunch fixins) for as long as I can remember. It has become a household regular, and also Robert's favorite meal by far. It makes enough to feed a family of 8-10 so I rarely make it unless we have company, but last night i got a little froggy ;)

I hope you all will enjoy this recipe as much as we have!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. ground beef or turkey
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 carton cottage cheese
1 4 oz. cream cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
italian seasoning
bay leaves

lasagna noodles

...and a loaf of really good french bread!

1. Sautee onions and chopped garlic in 1 tbsp. olive oil until transluscent, add ground beef, brown, drain, and add back to pan.

2. Grab a beverage (Red wine would be great with this...all I had was beer :)

2. Add tomatoes/sauce/paste, salt and pepper, italian seasoning, and 2 bay leaves. Simmer for 30 minutes.

3. While it's simmering, add softened cream cheese to cottage and blend well. Set aside. Boil 9 lasagna noodles, drain and set aside. Remove bay leaves from meat.

4. Layer in casserole dish as follows:

Noodles

Meat

Cheese mixture

Noodles

Meat

Mozzarella

Noodles

Meat

Mozzarella

Parmesan

5. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes and ENJOY!!

(we were so excited that I forgot to take a pic of the finished product before we dug in!)

P.S. Do dishes tomorrow. You will be really full.

Merry Christmas!!

Oh Christmas Tree!

So Robert and I finally went to get a tree today (in the dark) and the whole way he abnoxiously sang "O Christmas Tree" in the worst tone possible. I think he was trying to make me turn around as he SO enjoys the Chrsimas tree venture every year! But, little did he know, it totally got me in the Christmas mood...not to mention the fresh pine scent that is all over my house :) Here are some visuals that will surely get all of you (I think there may just be 2 of you. ha!) in the mood too...

Now I have to find time to DECORATE the tree!!!!!!