Homemade Lasagna

I love Italian food!  Almost every dish... almost anything...I try and make whatever I can.  So recently I decided to take on the challenge of Lasagna... homemade.  What's so impressive about it?  Well, home made noodles!  It was a lot of fun and if I had a way to store the noodles pre-done for a while I would do it often.  The noodles tasted great.  Nothing extraordinarily: flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt... mixed...

Rolled till about 1/16in thick

Cut into 3" wide stripes

I use ricotta cheese mixed with spinach and chopped (fresh) herbs

(left to right) basil, sage, parsley 

Eggplant sliced as thinly as possible

This is what the noodles look like when they are cooked.

Layered: sauce, noodles, ricotta cheese, eggplant, mozzarella, sauce, noodles, ricotta cheese, sauce and mozzarella and monterey jack

Make sure you don't overfill.  If you are afraid you did overfill then put a cookie sheet under it to catch the overflow.

Cook at 350 for 25 min

Delicious and wonderful... but then again it is hard to go wrong with marinara, noodles, cheese, and eggplant... just saying

Happy Memorial Day!

So often people put sad and in your face things about how we should remember our troops, present and previous.  I think we can all agree this is needed.

For me, much like I feel in a lot of facets of my life, this isn't a one day thing.  This is an attitude.  Whether we agree or disagree with how things are done, we need to be thankful for what freedoms we have been allowed because the sacrifices of others.  This isn't just today.  This is an everyday action.  It is like your "doctor" always says if you want to get off and keep off the weight it is a "lifestyle change".  Well, "supporting our troops" or showing thanks is an attitude change.

But I like today because it is day were we get to be free (having fun with friends and all that).  Free and thankful.

Thank you to all those who have come, are and will come.  Thank you for your sacrifice, for your bravery.

My husband

My husband.  I love him.  He and I met in college our first month of our first semester.  I accentially tackled him while we were playing 2 hand touch football at midnight.  

We became friends and got to be somewhat close friends over the next 2 years.

From there as the story goes it moved to more.

We went from dating to engaged like that (imagine a snap)

We were engaged for 6 months and now married for almost 3 years.

Crazy where the years go.  He is sweet and loving and kind. . . even to little kids : D 

Showing off his gaming skills to some nieces and nephew

Reading to some younger nephews