“What’s for Dinner?”

This used to be my LEAST favorite question asked each and every day. I hate, hate, hate deciding what’s for dinner. I thought that I hated this task so much because I don’t like making decisions. But let’s be honest here, to those of you who know me in real life, I love to make decisions. Thrive on it, in fact. I’m in my element deciding when to do what…aren’t all Type-A personalities that way? We might not like to admit that we are, but we are. So that couldn’t be the problem…

Then I decided that my dislike stemmed from the fact that I didn’t know how to cook that many meals. You know, you’ve got a few staple items that you can whip up/out in a heartbeat that are always crowd pleasers, but your repertoire doesn’t consist of more than 3 or 4 meals…and who wants to eat the same thing over and over? But the recipe books that line a corner of my kitchen and an overflowing-stuffed-to-the-gills recipe BINDER suggest that this is not my problem either. (And yes, I tried to argue with myself that most of the recipes are desserts…but then I’d be a big, fat liar on top of everything else!)

Since my first two answers proved that they couldn’t hang under the pressure, I had to look further. And I decided that my problem stems from grocery shopping. Or it starts with grocery shopping…and ends with cleaning up the kitchen. Because let’s be honest, if you have no idea what you’re going to cook for dinner by lunchtime (at the latest) then you’re probably going to have to stop for at least 1-5 items at the grocery store on your way home. Add that on top of picking up a kid or two…getting home through the traffic…preparing the meal…eating said meal…and cleaning it all up and you’re left with – well…nothing. No free time. No time to play on the floor with your baby. No time to help your third grader with her homework. And you’re exhausted by the time bedtime rolls around.

And in my house being too exhausted to even take a bubble bath is something close to sacrilege. Bubble baths are THAT important. Yes, they are. I’ll never believe otherwise.

So now that I’ve put a finger to the problem, I can find a solution. My solution? Meal planning. Yes, I mentioned last week that I’m probably the last person on earth to jump on this particular bandwagon, but dude – it solves so many of my problems.

I have an immediate answer when asked my least favorite question (possibly after a quick glance at my calendar to see what the answer should be!) so I look smarter.

I have a definable list of groceries needed for a full week’s worth of food (or month if you choose to shop that way). No more last minute trips each and every day to my home away from home – HEB. I’m able to make my shopping list by pulling all required recipes out and sitting down to make out my list…I also use more of my coupons this way since I’m not frantically scanning a stack of coupons while pushing my cart down the aisle at HEB. Sure there are last minute things that I still might have to stop and get once a week or so – rotisserie chicken, fresh tortillas, milk (if we run out). But going every single day? Thing of the past.

And I can shop first at my own pantry. No more buying the large can of chicken broth just to get home and find that I had one already at home on the pantry shelf. I make my list, pull my coupons, shop at my house first (crossing items off left and right!) and THEN go to the store.

Last but not least, being the true Type-A personality that I am, I also borrowed this idea from a blog: a shopping list built in the order that you go through the store. Genius! No more “Oh crap! I forgot tomatoes!” when you’re over in the beauty department…don’t ask me why being in the beauty department would remind me that I needed tomatoes. Just trust me that it happens. By making my shopping list out by grocery department/section, I can (and do) easily breeze through HEB in a more organized manner. This takes less time for the shopping, and more time to relax, do something crafty, contemplate a nap or just get down on the floor and play peek-a-boo to hear that belly laugh that’s just starting to come out!

I know that I might be the last one on this meal planning train, but man, I’ve jumped on with both bags packed and am enjoying the ride so far. Even Brent likes the idea, despite the miscommunication where he thought that I said that I bought groceries for the MONTH for $70 last week…I said the week, but he misheard me. No wonder he was excited, huh?

I’ll be sure and keep you posted on how it’s going so far…if you’re interested…but so far, so good!

#48 – Homemade Pizzas – Check!

Do you love crossing things off of a list as much as I do? I think it comes from my Mom carrying a list around with her for years and watching her get satisfaction out of crossing things off…but that’s just a guess. It could also be my own Type-A personality at it’s best!

This past weekend, I was able to highlight/bold an item off of my 101 in 1001 list, and it felt soooo good! After we picked up all the chitlins from their various pick-up places, we went home to make…

Homemade Pizza!!

I don’t know who was more excited…me, or the kids! In a pinch, I’d say it was me that was the most excited, but that’s just my dorkiness coming out…

I found a recipe for the crust from here that sounded too easy not to try. The recipe for the sauce came from here, and I made it ahead of time since it takes a while to cook down. I assembled the rest of the ingredients, organized my “helpers” and got down to making some pizza crusts. For my first attempt, they weren’t bad…but they weren’t great either…too much like bread, not enough like pizza crust. But still yummy!

Tanner wasn’t interested (read trying to be cooler than most in his 13 year-old angst) in forming his own crust, so I made both his and mine. That was totally fine with me, since that gave me one to “practice” on before making mine! LOL! Jenna was all about making her pizza crust, and Brent got all fancy with some tosses and throws just to show off his skills…

Everyone topped their own pizzas and we got ready to put them in the oven. Right before we slid them in the oven, we took out the breadsticks that I had also made (Recipe found here!) We just used the pizza sauce as a dipping sauce, along with some Ranch, for the breadsticks and viola! we had an appetizer to hold us over while our pizzas cooked.  The breadsticks were ah-mazingly delicious, even if I forgot the kosher salt...I think that I'd try this bread as a pizza crust next time, just for grins!

Here’s the final product…mine and Brent's...



Don’t they just look yummy?





Like I said, I want to keep looking for a pizza crust recipe that I like, but the sauce recipe was wonderful…I would agree with her that it might be the best pizza sauce!  As a dipping sauce it was a bit spicy (which you could tone down by eliminating some of the crushed red peppers that it calls for), but on the pizza itself no one complained about anything being too spicy. It must have been good, because not much was left on anyone’s plate!

I’d also like to try some pizza cooking tips – like warming my pizza stones first, scary! – the next time that we do this…which will probably be next weekend. We’re big on pizza around here! 

Becoming a Kitchen Goddess...

Do you ever fall into a rut cooking dinner at night? You know what I’m talking about…you can’t decide what to cook…you finally make a decision and start cooking it all up…then you’ve made something and it’s tasty and edible, but nothing to really write home about? Yeah, that’s my life for the past few months. I cook when I have to, or feel that I should because we’re eating out too much…but most of the time, I’m ok with just grabbing something quick because it’s easier.

I’ve cut myself some slack on that for the most part. I do work full time and have a “newborn” at the house…but since he passed the 6 month mark this past month, I sort of feel like a charlatan when I say that I have a newborn at home…he’s technically closer to being a toddler now than a newborn, even though the toddler stage is still far away. But still, you get what I’m talking about, right?

So I cook when I have to. It’s good, yummy and edible and I get lots of compliments to the chef from the family…but at the same time it’s the same stuff that I’ve always cooked. Basically, I was bored with my dinner selections. That’s when I turned to food blogs. By following some links from blogs that I already read, I’ve managed to find some new sites to peruse (which is always a score!) and most of them post weekly or daily recipes. Some of them have been catching my eye and I’ve been branching out a little bit in my cooking. It’s been noticed at home and appreciated…and as I’ve tried some new recipes that were hits with the family, I’ve gotten a little braver with my selections to tryout next.

Well, let me tell you…the other night? I hit one out of the ballpark. I became a kitchen Goddess. Literally. A Goddess. Not kidding. I was a hero in my husband’s eyes.

I found a recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup that looked super easy to make, and with the cold weather we’ve been having here, it seemed perfect. It was just Brent and I (and Jax, of course) at our house that night, but we BOTH went back for seconds…and he even had thirds! And the best part? All canned ingredients, which means little to no prep time and very little work on my part, which makes it a great weeknight meal! Double points for that, right? As with most recipes, there are a few things that I would/will change the next time that I make it, so I’ll wait until I perfect it a bit before sharing my version of the recipe with you. But here’s the original recipe, if you’re interested.

We’ve also been on a cornbread kick lately, so I’ve been trying different ways to make that and I thought that I found a winning recipe for it but it seemed a bit too crumbly to me, even though Brent really loved it. I saw a recipe one day that was similar but looked a little less crumbly, so I whipped up a batch of that to go along with our soup. (It was REALLY yummy, but I would cook it a bit longer next time…it was maybe not firm enough.) Not only did we both stuff ourselves at dinner, but then instead of just dropping the leftovers (what little was left!) into the fridge to sit there uneaten, I went ahead and packed it into lunch portions for both of us. I didn’t really expect that we would both want it again the next day for lunch after eating so much the night before…but we both brought our lunch “bags” to work that next day! It was yummy with a capital “Y!”

It was so good that I totally forgot to snap a picture of it…I suppose that I could have taken a shot of my empty bowl – that’s got to mean that it was good, right? LOL! But seeing what a big hit it was, I’m sure that it will be requested again pretty soon, so you won’t have to wait long to see my modifications. And maybe that time I’ll remember to take a picture!

It’s Late…


I know that I owe you guys a 6 month post on baby boy…but to be perfectly honest, I’m beat. Like bone-tired. I can’t even tell you why for sure, lots of little things, I guess. Also, I can’t remember what his height was at his check-up last week (most of last week is now a blur in my brain!) and the papers are upstairs…which is a LOT of work right now, just in case you’re wondering. And what’s a monthly post without stats? Not that great, if you ask me. So we’ll just brain dump for a moment if you don’t mind.

I’m so tired. Not because Jax kept me up last night…his sleeping pattern is slowing going back to normal or pre-sickness/ear infection state. Which is a GREAT thing, believe me! So I’m getting plenty of sleep…but maybe that’s the problem. Last night I slept hard…like sleep of the dead sort of hard…and when he woke up to eat, I felt like I had already slept all night. I guess that my body thought that it was time to get up, even though it was, in fact, NOT time to wakey-wakey.

So this is how I know that the Arctic Blast cold front hit our house at 3:21am precisely. Because I was awake and playing cards on my phone to try to go to sleep (it’s totally ok for you to admit to this too…) when the house started shaking and the windows started rattling. It stayed that way for an hour…and to someone who’s a really light sleeper there was no hope for sleep while this was going on, even if my mind had been so inclined to go nighty-night. Which it wasn’t. That’s probably why I’m so tired now…

Do you have a game that makes you sleepy? Both Brent and I swear by our card games and one of my friends at work swears by Bejeweled to make her go to sleep. Just wondering what your go-to game is for inducing sleepiness. You know, just in case insomnia strikes again and the cards aren’t doing it for me…

Mentioning the Arctic Blast. I’m sure you know by now that most of the US is covered in snow. Including places in Texas. Not yet in Austin, but it’s like 18 degrees outside here now. Can I just say “What the hell?!?!” It’s not supposed to be like this in Texas. At least not in the Southern/Central part where we live…sure the twenties at night…but the teens during the daytime? No thank you. You Northerners can have your coldness back anytime you’re ready to take it back, I’ve had about enough. And according to our weathermen, “enough” is actually coming into reality on Saturday when it’s supposed to be in the 60’s temperature-wise. Yes, you read that right. From 20’s-30’s for three days back up to the 60’s this weekend. That’s crazy Texas weather for you!

Since the weather patterns are swinging so wildly this week – I walked before dinner on Monday in Capri work-out yoga pants because it was 80 degrees outside…to the Arctic Blast for the middle of the week…and then back to the 60’s this coming weekend – hello Sickness! We’re all taking extra vitamins and breathing treatments to try to stave off another visit to the doctor. Not that we don’t love her…we’ve just seen her enough to last a while, thanks!

Last but not least, maybe I’m the last one to catch on here but this meal-planning thing might be something worth considering. I’ve been reading this blog about how she manages to feed her family delicious, home-cooked meals 6 nights a week on just $250/month and how she plans all of her meals. I’ve been a skeptic about this process for years (I mean, how can I know on Monday that I’ll feel like eating Beef Stroganoff on Friday?!?!) but maybe, just maybe, I’m going to admit defeat and accept what the masses already seem to know: Meal planning works. Not only do you use up the strange ingredients that you buy for one dinner faster when you plan to cook something else that also uses that ingredient during the week, but I actually bought 4-5 meals worth of groceries yesterday for less than $70, and those are meals that will leave leftovers so will actually account for a few lunches or other meals. (You know, just in case the city of Austin shuts down for the ice/sleet that MIGHT hit us tomorrow!) That’s amazing to me…coming from someone who goes to the store for each meal, spending $20-30 per trip…

I’ll be honest and not blame that mental slowness on my state of tiredness…it’s more laziness on my part, I’m sure.

Anywho…so that’s about all I’ve got for you today. Sorry it’s sort of boring. But really, send me your “sleepy game” suggestions! And let me know if you meal plan and like it or not…I might cave and start doing that on a regular basis…you know, like a grown up!

Busy Little Elves…

You know what? I think that’s the most magical part of the whole Santa concept…the part where he has unlimited access to magical toy-making elves. And I’m sure that there are also treat-making elves in there too, since there have to be package wrapping elves to wrap up all the toys that the toy-making elves made. That’s why I’m running so behind! I can’t find my elves!!!

Where, oh where, can they be hiding? Did I not pay enough last year? I was pretty sure that Santa’s elves were paid with hot chocolate and cookies…so maybe I was wrong to assume that and they’re on strike this year because I made them mad and didn’t appreciate them enough last year. Could be. Anything’s possible, right?

Well, barring me finding my little magical elves somewhere under the pile of laundry that’s currently sitting on my couch, I decided last night that I just needed to roll up my sleeves and get busy myself if I wanted to get done what all needs to get done the next few days.

No, my Christmas tree still isn’t up. Don’t ask.

BUT even if I didn’t manage that task, I DID manage to get all of the remaining treat bags assembled and put together. Since they were all sitting there, mocking me, waiting to be stuffed with treats and goodies, I went ahead and obliged them. I stuffed and stuffed until my fingers were sticky (either from all the sugary sweetness that’s contained in the treats themselves or from the adhesive that I was using to close the bottoms of the bags, I’m not totally sure) and then I stuffed some more. The good news? All but two treats got all stuffed and assembled. Yea!

And then, since I was on such a good roll of accomplishment, I headed over to my “sewing table” (AKA the dining table) to work on those dang coasters. I don’t know what possessed me to believe that goodies/treats wasn’t enough for the teacher’s gifts. That they needed something handmade in there too…but 32 coasters later…I’m over halfway through with them now. I cut them all out last week. Then I sewed the all together before we went out of town. I took them with me and turned them all right-side out and pinned the openings closed while we drove for hours upon hours – you know, when I wasn’t assembling the gift bags. All of my step-by-step work paid off though, and I was able to sit down last night and in only about 30 minutes finish up 2/3 of them. I think that I have 10 left for tonight…not too shabby.

So I have to “bag and tag” two sets of treats, sew up 10 more coasters and then put all the bags together and finish them off with name tags and tissue paper. Totally doable…if I don’t care whether my tree goes up tonight. I’ve really about decided that we’ll just start a new tradition and put it up on Christmas Eve, leave it up until New Year’s (you know, so we have “time” to enjoy it!) and then take it down. Done and done.

I have all day off on Friday, which is Christmas Eve…so SURELY I’ll be able to get it done then. Surely. We have plans with my parents that night, but I’m totally thinking of either going out to eat with them or just making something in my awesome new Crock-Pot that I won at our office white elephant gift exchange this year…putting presents to good use already – that’s my kind of Christmas magic!

I promise to have pictures of goodies (along with some recipes!) and the cutesy bags up tomorrow. I started to post them today, but realized that there are a few people who read this blog that me doing so would ruin the surprise of opening their gift…so it’ll wait another day. And then I think that I’ll rest and relax, you know, because after that it’ll be Christmas Eve and I’ll need to be working on putting up that tree and wrapping all the presents that need to go underneath it! Yep…no presents are wrapped right now either. Don’t judge.

Tis the Season...

Have you ever had something happen (a good thing) and you feared talking about it because you didn’t want to jinx things?


I think that this is especially true when you have a blog. You talk about all sorts of personal business here on the internet that’s open/available to anyone with half an interest to read all about it. Sooner or later it’s bound to happen…you talk about something good…and immediately afterward, it goes away. Because you opened your big, fat mouth.

At least, that’s how things work in my life. So, I’m currently sitting on a “secret” that I don’t want to share just quite yet. No, I’m not pregnant. Just get that thought out of your head. And can I ask why must you hate me so much to wish that on me with a nearly 5-month-old at home? I didn’t do anything to you!

But really. I think that if you talk about things happening with your baby the first time it happens (as I’ve done in the past) then that event might never happen again. Or at least not for the next month. It’s sort of like when the baby learns a new trick and you tell all of your family and friends about it…your family and friends come over to see this amazing trick in person with their own eyes…and the little snot won’t do it anymore. No matter how much you beg and plead.

So, my “thing” has happened once. Last night it happened again. That makes twice, if your math skills are a bit fuzzy in the mornings. But I think that it will take several more days to make a “pattern” worth talking about and sharing, don’t you?

Therefore, I’m not talking about it…not even thinking about it…and yes, my nose is growing as I type out these lies!

In other news, since I feel like I can’t talk about what I’d really like to talk about, is anyone else feeling a bit “overcommitted” this holiday season? I know that I am…and I did it to myself. You see, like most other people that we know, the crunch of financial strain is being felt at our household. It’s expensive to have a baby…especially one that likes to continue getting sick and make mommy and daddy miss work. In response to this financial crunch, I decided that the best gifts to give our teachers/day care providers/co-workers was homemade gifts. You know, that personal touch.

So I collected recipes and projects and have been amassing a plethora of photoshop gift tags and labels that are just as cute as can be. Everything is all arranged in my head into neat little piles and stacks of how it will all be: the gift bags, the tags that I painstakingly slaved over, the treat bags with their little tags, etc, etc…you get the picture, right? But in reality, I still have to make all the stuff…which takes time. Time to bake. Time to sew. Time to print out all of these god-forsaken tags and cut them all out. Time to tie them all on, just so. And time is something that is hard to come by with a little one in the house. Especially when it’s the 14th of December and my husband and daughter are just now putting up the lights outside! Don’t even ask me about where our tree is…

In the meantime, I’ve also been working on our family gifts…and was so impressed with how quickly I wrapped up all of the shopping for my nieces and nephews this year…forgetting that I still needed to finish up our kids and one all important person – Brent! Luckily for me, lots of places are doing site-to-store now, which takes most of the work out of it for me. Now if only the UPS brown truck will hurry up and deliver everything to me on time…all of my fingers and toes are crossed!

And then cue the crazy music as I realize that school ends THIS WEEK, which means that the teacher present that I was making for Jenna’s teacher? Yeah, I have to have that done this week…not next week, when everything else can wait until. Hello crazy life, I’d like to say that I’ve missed you…but you haven’t gone anywhere, you’ve been here all along. Hiding in the background, just waiting to pounce!

So, tonight I made fudge. At 10 o’clock at night. Because that’s the best time to make fudge, didn’t you know? And tomorrow night I’ll make something else. The following night will be another thing. And lunches? Well, they’re all present and accounted for this week as I run from store to store collecting all of my baubles/packages or cutting tags and such out of the special cardstock that I ordered and should be arriving today or tomorrow. Luckily, I can stalk the UPS site from my phone as I do all of this and fret and worry over whether my stuff will get here in time.

There’s really nothing like waiting until the last minute! Don’t believe those people that tell you that it’s best to finish BEFORE Thanksgiving…it’s really best to wrap presents the night before Christmas…trust me!

I guess since I’m complaining about the lack of time…I should get on to bed before I’m adding lack of energy to accomplish all of this to my never-ending to do list, huh? Okay…you convinced me…Good Night!

Bowtie Pasta

Goodness…I really meant to post this two weeks ago…you know, back when I actually MADE it…Then again, if I hadn’t told you that I didn’t cook it last night, I guess you wouldn’t have known, huh? Silly me!

Anyway, this is a quick and easy and so, so, SO yummy recipe that I make when I need something good and fast/easy that is also a crowd pleaser…and it never fails. The thing that I like most about this recipe? It’s so versatile. The way that I make it? It’s not the way that I’m supposed to make it or the way that it was served to me many years ago by my good friend, AmandaW. But it’s a staple pasta dish at my house that you can “mix and match” the ingredients with until it’s to your liking…which makes it a winner in my book!

So I thought that I would share…everyone say thanks to AmandaW for introducing me to her Bow Tie Pasta recipe…thanks!

Bow Tie Pasta
(this is the original recipe…I’ll share how I change it down below!)

Ingredients:
1 (12 oz) package of bowtie pasta
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground Italian sausage or beef
½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
½ cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes (drained)
1 ½ cups heavy cream
½ tsp salt

Directions:
Boil water to cook pasta. Cut the casings off of the sausage (or beef) and crumble. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook meat (and pepper flakes if used) until sausage is browned. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until tender. Stir in tomatoes, cream and salt. Simmer until thickened (8-10 minutes). Stir pasta into sauce until mixed well and heated through out.

Ok – now for my version. The original recipe is FABULOUS. Seriously. But I don’t like sausage. And if you just use beef like the recipe calls for, it turns out a bit bland since beef doesn’t have the flavor that sausage does.

Add another ½ tsp of red pepper flakes.

I don’t measure the salt…I use WAY more than ½ tsp though…more to taste than any exact measurement and I might throw in some garlic salt just for fun.

Add black pepper to taste.

I use half a bulb of garlic – between 5-6 cloves…and I don’t mince it, I just press it into the skillet.

I totally skip the olive oil…I use a pat or two of butter because it's more fattening!

That’s all the extra stuff that I add…but I also sauté the garlic and onion first before adding the meat in, whereas the original recipe does it backwards. You can also choose from a variety of diced tomatoes now…when AmandaW and I were first making this delish dish, there was only regular tomatoes and Italian…now there’s all kinds! So experiment with it and see which one you like best.

I think that’s all the changes that I make. Ummm…I maybe use 2 cups of heavy cream since I like mine a little saucier…oh, and I like the mini bowtie noodles. They’re just cuter!

The only other thing you need to know? Mix the sauce in with the pasta in a BIG pot…this recipe makes a good amount of pasta and you can’t pour the cooked pasta into your skillet…not unless you’re cooking with the world’s largest skillet.

Oh, and serve with garlic bread. Everything is better with garlic bread. You can also have salad, if you’re trying to be a little healthier. My family? We no likey the salad so much…give us the carbs!!

Try it out and let me know how you like it! My whole, entire family LOVES this dish…and that’s a feat unto itself! LOL!

My Mom's Lasagna

I've never done a post like this before, but Brent keeps telling me what a good cook that I am...so I thought that maybe every once in a while I could share some of my recipes with you all! Sometimes I find good ones on blogs that I read, so here goes my first attempt!

My Mom has made a killer lasagna my whole life. And it's mostly homemade from scratch. I put a spin on the one that I made tonight and actually made my own sauce instead of using store-bought, and it was Yummy!

Oh, correction - Brent tells me that I made HIS sauce tonight, not my own sauce...and he's territorial about his spaghetti sauce! He told me that I couldn't share that portion of the recipe with you - what a stinker!

Well, here's the rest of the recipe, and like I said, I've always made it using just normal Prego sauce, so it's good either way. And it's super easy to make, just takes some time and planning.

Mom's Lasagna
Ingredients:

Box of lasagna noodles (oven ready, if possible)
Large jar of sauce (possibly even two jars, depending on how saucy you like your lasagna)
small white onion
fresh garlic, pressed (optional)
3 Tbsp butter
1 lb of ground meat
small curd cottage cheese (small container)
1 egg
1-2 packs of shredded mozzarella (depending on how cheesy you want it) Cut onion, using either half of the onion (if you don't care for onions all that much) or the whole thing. Put in a saucepan, along with the garlic if you opted for it and add the butter.

Saute the onions to your liking. Add hamburger meat and brown. Once browned, turn heat down to a simmer and add spaghetti sauce to the pan. (Depending on the type of meat used, you might need to drain the grease off before adding the sauce.) Let simmer for an hour. While you're waiting, if your little one is still sleeping, you can enjoy some of this to pass the time: At least, that's what I did!!

In small bowl, combine cottage cheese and egg together. Mix well. Set aside. Taking your lasagna pan, cover the entire bottom of the pan with a light layer of sauce. A very thin layer, just enough to put something on the bottom of the pan. Next, add a layer of uncooked noodles, covering the entire surface of the pan. Note: if the noodles don't "fit" into your pan, just break them apart and cover the whole area, overlapping as needed. Add a layer of the cottage cheese/egg mixture. Cover with a layer of sauce, thicker than what you put on the bottom of the pan. Top with cheese, depending on how cheesy you want your lasagna, use a heavy hand or a light one here. Repeat the layers, leaving off the bottom of the pan layer of sauce. So the order of the layers is: noodles, cottage cheese/egg, noodles, sauce, cheese. (At least, that's the order that I used tonight...you can play with the order to your own liking.) Repeat to the top of your pan.

When you get close to the top of the pan, put down one last layer of noodles, then sauce and then cheese. You should now be at the top of the pan. Cover with foil and place in the fridge for 6-8 hours. Note, if you buy the oven-ready noodles the time it needs to sit can be cut in half. You can also prepare this the night before and let sit in the fridge overnight.

When ready to cook, bake on 350 degrees for an hour to an hour and a half. Remove the foil for the last 10-15 minutes. Cut, serve and enjoy! Like I said, this recipe is YUMMY! And easy, as far as homemade lasagna goes...the hardest thing is planning ahead of time to make it. I always seem to decide to want it two hours before I would want to eat it, and that can't happen!

Another note that I'll add: I like to put toothpicks into the lasagna before I cover it with foil so that the foil doesn't touch the cheese. It can/will stick to the cheese as it cooks, taking off the top layer of cheese when you remove the foil! Just a helpful hint from me to you...

Let me know if you try this recipe out and what you think of it...I'd love to hear!