Wordless Wednesday-Tickle Flowers

Tasty Tuesday- Shortcut Lasagna

This is another new recipe that my family loves. I love this lasagna because it is so easy to make and it even has spinach in it for an added health benefit. The Prep time for this recipe is 15 minutes and cook time is 45 minutes in the microwave or you can bake it in the oven for 50 minutes. I hope you enjoy this as much as we have.

1 pound ground beef
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup water
l large egg, lightly beaten
1 (12 ounce) container cottage cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
8 lsagna noodles, uncooked
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 cups ( 8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese


Crumble beef into a 2-quart bowl; add garlic. Microwave at HIGH 6 minutes or until browned, stirring beef once; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and water.
Combine egg, cottage cheese, and pepper.
Spread 1/2 cup meat sauce in a 13 X 9 X 2 inch baking dish. Top with half each of uncooked noodles, cottage cheese mixture, spinach, meat sauce, amd mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, and cover with heavy-duty plastic wrap.
Microwave at HIGH 8 minutes; then microwave at MEDIUM (50% power) 30 to 32 minutes or until noodles are tender, turning dish occasionally.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese; cover and let stand 15 minutes before serving. Yeild: 6 servings.


Additional comments: The shortct? Not cooking the noodles before layering them. They soften as they bake in the lasagna.
If your microwave won't hold a 13 X 9 X 2 inch dish, use your oven instead. Just cover the dish with foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and bake, uncovered, 10 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Visit From Mimi- Oh What Fun We Had

Last weekend my mother came for a visit. We all had a great weekend visiting with her. We played games, went to the park and played, went shopping and even fought the bad guys. Here's a brief glimpse of some of the fun we had.

Mimi helping Elizabeth on the monkey bars. She loved climbing on the bars and being on Mimi's shoulders.

Elizabeth climbing off the slide.

Gabriel crossing the dry creek bed on the way to the river over-look. More on that later.


Gabe and Mimi playing Tic Tac Toe.

Abby crossing the monkey bars all on her own.

Abby hanging upside down on the bars.

Playing Monopoly.





Look out bad guys!! Here comes Gabe and Mimi to get you!

Mimi will kill me for putting this one up but you can tell that she is going to get those bad guys no matter what it takes.


I just missed Gabe using the bed as a cover.

Thanks Tank Thursday

Here are the things I am thankful and a few of my prayers this week. I hope you join me in being thankful and prayerful. And I hope that you have a great week.

I am thankful for my bloggy friend Carey over at Life in the Carpool Lane. She is going through the adoption process for her daughters. She is adopting a daughter in China and in Africa. In the last day she has moved up 3 spots and is that much closer to bringing home her daughter.

I am thankful that my friend and blog buddy Carrie over at Martin Manor Happenings is feeling better and recovering from her mouth surgery.

I am thankful that Aubrey over at Aub's World didn't break her foot when she took a fall last week. I am also thankful that Aubrey's daughter Makenzie is recovering from her surgery and the catheter is being removed in a matter of hours.

This week I am also praying. I am praying for the people in Haiti who have lost their homes, loved ones and who are having trouble finding the most basic of human necessities. I am also praying for the families who are left to wonder what has happened to their loved ones who have not been found yet. Or what is going to happen to those who have been hurt. My heart goes out to each and everyone of these people. I am thankful to hear the stories of people like the husband who didn't give up on finding his wife. As rubble was being moved away he would go in and search for her. And find her he did. She was under the rubble of the building she worked in for 6 days without food or water. She was alive. When they pulled her out she was singing and praising God. What a wonderful miracle and blessing for the family and for those who witnessed this miracle.

I am also thankful for the great walk I had with my mom and family this weekend. It was such a blessing to be able to enjoy this world that God created for us to live in until it's our time to b with Him. Here are a few pictures of what we did and saw as we enjoyed our walk together.


The black dots in the tree are a couple of roosting Buzzards.

Starting up the path.

This is an old stacked rock wall about 10 feet off the path.

A cool looking knot in a tree.

Gabriel throwing rocks into the river at the end of the trail.

Elizabeth checking out a really cool rock and tree stump formation.

Another really cool knot in a tree.

Gabe's New Blue Room

Much to Gabe's dismay his new room was pink when we moved into our new home. I had intended on painting it after we closed on the house and before the movers arrived, but with a mix up in closing dates that did not happen. And then Gabe decided to poke a bunch of holes in the wall with a screwdriver and a hammer and lied about it. So as punishment he was told that his room would remain pink until he learned to take care of his room.

Well last weekend Gabe was having a friend over to play and we decided that his room shouldn't be pink anymore. So on Sunday after church I got busy painting his room. Gabe's room is now blue instead of pink. Gabe is so excited to have his room no longer looking like a girls room.

Since Gabe is very much into sports and has several favorite sports teams we decided to focus on them. Gabe's favorite sports teams are the Nashville Predators for hockey, NFL would be the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans, and for college Tennessee Volunteers and Middle Tennessee.

Tasty Tuesday- Tortilla-Chili Casserole and Banana Bread

I love trying out new recipes but it is often hard to find recipes that everyone loves. It is even rarer to find dinner recipes that everyone asks for seconds or thirds. I have been trying some new recipes and have found a winner in the Tortilla-Chili Casserole. It is easy and takes no time at all to assemble and cook.

Ingredients:
1 (9 oz.) package tortilla chips, coarsely boken
2 (11 oz.) cans Cheddar soup, undiluted
2 (15 oz.) cans chucky chili with beans

Garnishes: sour cream, pickled jalapeno pepper slices

Directions
Place 4 cups broken chips in a lightly greased 13 X 9 X 2 nch baking dish; spread 1 can soup over chips. Spread chili over soup, and top with remaining can soup. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining chips; bake 5 more minutes. Garnish if desired. Yeild: 8 servings

I usually serve with Mexi-corn and a simple salad.

Several weeks ago I did a post on Elizabeth and I making Banana Bread. I thought I had included the recipe, a friend of mine later pointed out that I had not. So here is that recipe.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 large bananas
3 Tbl. Buttermilk
1 tsp. soda
2 cups flour, I use 1 cup whole wheat and l cup plain
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 to 3/4 cup walnuts

Cream together first 5 ingredients. Mixed the next three together in a seperate bowl. Slowly add the flour mixture to the banana mixture. Once mixed add the lemon. After that is mixed stir in the walnuts, if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

ENJOY!!!
And let me know if you try and like these.