Early to bed!

We had a crazy fun weekend, and now I am pooped!

Last night Kenzie went to "Pappy Carl D's" for a sleepover and we had a kid-free evening... although I missed her, I enjoyed it! It was our friend Aaron's birthday this week, so we took him out last night. We went to Winghouse (his choice)... the waitress was pretty, but man, she was dense! I almost didn't get my food! Then we went Xtreme Bowling! It was a blast! I stink at bowling, but by the end of the night the guys were so drunk (and I don't drink) that I actually won a game!!!! The highlight of my bowling career ;)

Today I ran to Publix. I spent $36 and saved $67, relatively good... I had to get a few things without a coupon (that always erks me!)...

For dinner we decided on lasagna... and I had seen something recently about substituting cream cheese for ricotta... never thought of it before, BUT ricotta is expensive and not something I have lying around, whereas I always have cream cheese AND it's cheap! The lasagna came out AWESOME!!!! Here is my recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-cook noodles to package instructions... drain and rinse with cold water--- if you do this before and let them sit, they WILL stick together, so periodically run cool water over them to keep them from getting sticky!

-cook your meat... I use ground beef or ground turkey and sausage (I like the hot stuff), but you can use chicken or veggies if you prefer!!! Joe likes it meaty, so I use about 2 pounds of meat, but less is still delicious!

-dice an onion and pepper and garlic (2-6 cloves depending on how you like it) and sautee them up for a bit to soften. (use more colors of peppers and mushrooms if you want more veggies and less meat)

-mix your meat, the veggies, a can of diced tomatoes (I like rotel or something with some peppers and spice to it!), about 35 oz's tomato sauce (I used a 26 oz spaghetti sauce plus an 8 oz tomato paste), and spices
*** I use LOTS of chili powder ( about 4-6 tbsps), 2ish tbsps of cumin ---I like my stuff with spice though, use less if you don't
***about 3-4 tbsps Italian seasoning, a tbsp of Oregano, a sprinkle of thyme, rosemary and sage (not necessary if you don't have them, they just add flavor) and some salt and pepper

-mix all this over low heat in a pot while you ready your cheese filling

-mix 1 eggs, 2 tbsp parsley and 8 oz cream cheese (double this if you like it oozing, I don't ;) in a separate bowl.

pour a little sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish so the noddles don't stick then layer your noodles, your sauce mix, your cream cheese filling, then sprinkle with cheese (I love cheese, so I used about 4 cups all together, use as you like it!) ... repeat until you have used everything!!!! Bake in oven for 35 minutes!

It was super yummy, and much less expensive than the ricotta version!!!

Hope everyone has a great week, I have a lot of running to do. I need to pull permits to put up a new fence, buy the fence, buy a new computer, Kenzie has a doctor's appointment, not to mention class!!!! Night!!!