Let's make beef pasta sauce!

Hi all

Erin, here is another one for you. This is really, really easy to make and very tasty. You can also freeze some for quick dinners!

You will need:

-one package ground beef

-one onion, diced

-two or three cloves of garlic (minced - Erin, cut it as small as you can)

-fresh tomatoes, diced (I used grape tomatoes cut in half because I had some) Use a cup or so

-one sweet bell pepper, diced (I used yellow, but you could use any colour)

-one large can of plain tomato sauce

-herbs and spices - I used: salt, pepper, dried oregano, hot pepper flakes and an italian spice mix

-a pinch of sugar to balance out the tart tomato taste, trust me on this one

1. Brown ground beef in a large pot until it is cooked. Remove beef and drain fat out of pot. I will say it again, don't brown your meat and onion at the same time, you just loose flavour this way when you drain off the fat. Oh, and don't add the garlic in with the onion, it will burn.

2. In a tablespoon of oil, saute your diced onion in the same pot you cooked the beef in. Erin - a dice is about the size of your thumb nail or smaller. Once the onion is cooked, add your ground beef back to the pot.

3. Now add into your pot the diced pepper, minced garlic, cut up tomatoes, spices and the large can of tomato sauce.

4. Simmer for a few hours on low heat, stirring whenever you remember. Before serving, TASTE the sauce and add more seasonings as needed.

To serve, make pasta (whatever shape you like) and add on the sauce! I like to sprinkle some parmesan or mozzarella cheese on top; whatever is in my fridge is good.

Enjoy!

E

Erin - I forgot to do it today, but will post a video of my chopping up an onion for you soon, your mom thought a video would be the best way to show you :)

Helpful Black Lab

It is pouring rain out today, so naturally, I decided to work in the garden during nap time! Needless to say, only Tyler came out to help (Toby and Arthur do not enjoy this weather so they stayed inside on the couch). Tyler is usually within touching distance from me, which I like.

This am Loic and I went for a visit at the Aquarium to see Jody at work! We saw the belugas, fur seals and sea lions up close. I love the fur seal pups but find the sea lions a bit too big for me! They move so quickly too.

Wet black lab next to lilies

This was just moss/lawn when we moved in, now look at it! Notice the black lab tail in the shot...and you can see the nice compost bin Rob built me

I think this is his ear in this shot...

Family Swim Class **Cuteness Warning**

Is there anything cuter than a baby in a bathing suit? I think not! Today was bring a partner to swim class so Rob came with us. Such fun! And now baby is fast asleep, he naps so well after swimming.

Here are my boys getting ready to get into the pool!

Can we say Camera Ham?!?

Here we are with our friends Tracy and Ben, in the baby hot tub

Swimming away in the leisure pool

Simply adorable!!

I love my deep freezer

Rob bought me a deep freezer a few years ago (he is such a romantic) and I just love it. The other day for dinner we had home made mac and cheese and homemade double stuffed baked potatoes from the freezer. It is so easy to just defrost, bake and eat things that I make ahead of time!

I made a huge batch of double stuffed potatoes from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook and they freeze really, really well. I made up the mac and cheese recipe and will post that soon - it is an easy one Erin.

In Loic news, he is much less spotted today, yipee! And is he ever busy - he has been rolling across the living room floor chatting away to himself as he does it. Oh, and his new favorite toy? A small cookbook he snagged off of the coffee table. Smart boy! We are off to Dave and Linda's for dinner tonight so will have to remember my camera!

Will post baby photos tomorrow, I promise!

E

Happy Birthday Grandma!

It is Loic's grandmas birthday today - she is a young 39 years old ;)

We are headed to the Boat House for dinner (thanks for baby sitting tonight Jody!!) where my mom can finally eat the lobster she has wanted for months now.

We wish you a very happy birthday!!

In other news, spotty (aka Loic) and I are off to the doctor...where we were told he has Roseola and this is probably why he wasn't eating, he didn't feel good, poor little bug. Oh well, the rash should go away in a few days and hopefully we can go to swimming this week!

E, R and of course Lolo

Food dilemas

Ok, Loic ate solid foods (cereal, yams, apple sauce, bananas, blueberry sauce) for about 2 weeks. He loved it - opened his mouth like a pro and ate a few small meals a day. Now, he hasn't eaten a thing for one whole week...

I am hoping that this is just a phase and I do know that at his age (almost 7 months!) he doesn't need solid foods, just breast milk, but I want him to want to eat. Sigh.

Today I put a piece of banana in his mesh hand held thing (really tough to explain) and I think he ate some banana, who knows though, it was a bit of a mess!

Oh well, will keep trying. He is still happy and funny, but maybe he is teething? Wish he could tell me!

Edited to add - he has a rash all over, might be roseola (we are going to the Dr. tomorrow). That might explain the not eating because babies with this don't feel good for a few days before the rash appears. Poor little squid!

E

ps - might make a new pasta dish for dinner, will let you know Erin :)

Drumroll Please!

It was a big weekend for Tyler! He got his AADC! After years and years of effort, our training has paid off.

Tyler with his Q ribbons and his AADC ribbon

My goal for Tyler this year was to get our third and final Advanced Standard Q (Qualifying run). A Qualifying run is one without faults. There are three levels in agility; starters, advanced and masters. Once you get a certain number of Q's in each game, you move up a level. Tyler has needed on final advanced standard Q for about two years now; he is in Masters for all of the other games.

This weekend, I signed him up for all four of the Advanced Standard runs in the hopes that he got one of them and he did - in the first run! So Tyler is now in Masters and got his Advanced Agility Dog of Canada title! Complete with pretty blue ribbon. I never thought that he would get into Advanced when we started, let alone Masters. To top it all off, I moved him up to Masters Standard because I had already paid for the runs, and he got a Q in one of his Masters Standard runs!! Such a good, good dog. The best part: he no longer has to do the table, which has been his agility nemesis for YEARS now. For sale: one well used table, going cheap! Any takers? (Seriously, it can go to a new home now, Rob built it so it will last you forever).

Our new goal for this year: to get his Masters Agility Dog of Canada title; he now only needs two more qualifying runs to get it. Oh, our second goal is to be able to walk into the ring calmly and not have a total bark-fest before each and every run. Tyler, it is a little embarrassing to have to tell you to sit about 10 times before each run while you bark your head off. You also have an obedience title and clearly know how to sit!

In other dog news, Ryan qualified in each and every run he did (smart, smart dog!). Jody put a lot of work into training him and it has really paid off. Go Ryan go!

ETA - for those of you wanting dinner recipes and think that I cook a nice dinner every night, here is what we had for dinner tonight: Nibs and chips. And a glass of wine. Back to our regularly scheduled dinners next week. Oh, and did any of you cook any of my recipes? Is so, how did they turn out?! Erin - I would like a cooking update please!

E

Dinner # 6...

...was take out chinese food, with our friends Alice and Sebastian! Sorry, no recipe today! We did have a lovely dinner and visit though.

In other news, Tyler got his AADC title today! He has needed one Advanced Standard Q (qualifying score) for two years now and today he got the final leg for his title. Good, good dog! We have had a heck of a time getting out of this level and into Masters because he is not good at the table. But, today, he did it! Also, he got his first Masters level Q in Jumpers AND he won the class!!! Will have photos tomorrow of him with his big fancy AADC ribbon.

E

Let's make fajitas!

Alrighty ladies! You need to take a look at the cute baby and then can read recipe #5 below - beef fajitas! Rob is really quite pleased that you have both asked for recipes, he is enjoying the dinners this week :)

These are really, really easy to make and I even use a mix!! You will need:

- one red pepper, sliced into thin slices

- one green pepper, sliced into thin slices

- one small yellow onion, sliced into thin slices

- stir fry beef slices (buy them raw in your meat department, so easy to use)

- one package of fajita mix (similar to taco mix)

- tortillas (as many as you can eat!)

- shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream and lettuce for toppings (you can also use tomatoes, chilies, salsa - you name it!)

Here are my sliced veggies - not too thick and not too thin

1. Slice your veggies

2. In a frying pan, cook the beef in a small amount of oil until cooked through. Remove to a plate and put your veggies into the pan. Stir fry for about 3-4 minutes, careful not to burn them. Add the meat back into the pan and add in the fajita mix and about a 1/4 cup of water (read your mix, it might ask you to put in more water).

3. Stir and cook a few more minutes until the sauce thickens up (I told you this was easy!)

Now you are ready to assemble!

Yum - the meat and veggies with the mix, ready to go

To assemble: heat up your tortillas for a few seconds then add on some beef and veggie mix, cheese, sour cream and lettuce, roll them up and enjoy!

E

Let's make turkey lettuce wraps!

Ok ladies - here is dinner # 4! Turkey lettuce wraps.

These are easy to make and you can really use any ground meat, I like turkey because it is lean and tasty and not just for thanksgiving. I saw a recipe online but didn't have everything they listed so I made up this recipe - I think it is pretty good and so does Rob. You might have to add less hot pepper sauce, this version was very spicy.

You first need to prepare your veggies. Dice the following:

-one onion

-two stalks of celery

-one small red pepper

-two cloves of garlic, minced

-a chunk of fresh ginger, minced

-1 can of water chestnuts (I buy the sliced ones and then chop them up)

1. In a large frying pan saute the onion and celery until soft. In a bowl, add the minced garlic, ginger, red pepper and water chestnuts. Once soft, add the onion and celery to the bowl. You will cook the rest of the veggies later, it is just that the onion and celery need a little longer.

2. Now it is time to cook the ground turkey, in the same pan.

3. When the turkey is cooked, add in the bowl of veggies that you have already prepared. (Tip - you can chop everything up the night before so that you are ready to go for dinner, if you are in a rush). To recap - in your pan is: cooked turkey, sauteed onion and celery, diced red pepper, minced garlic and ginger.

4. Time to make sauce! In a bowl add:

- 4 tablespoons soy sauce

-4 tablespoons peanut sauce

-1 tablespoon red pepper sauce

-a few drops of sesame oil (not too much - a little goes a long way!)

-a pinch of sugar

Mix it all together then add it right into you pan of meat and veggies. Simmer for a few minutes, until everything is combined and cooked.

Here is what I use to make the sauce, plus the water chestnuts - I use a little can of them

To serve - wash a whole head of iceberg lettuce and make a pot of steamed white rice. Add equal parts rice and meat/veggie mix to a leaf of lettuce, roll it up and enjoy!

Lettuce

This is the finished meat/veggie mix, so good

This is really, really tasty.

Enjoy!

E

High Chair and Swimming!

My grandparents bought Loic this highchair and it is great! We just put it together last night and while Loic is on a bit of an anti-eating strike, we still try a few times a day to feed him. He has put on quite a bit of weight in the past two weeks, which is nice because he slowed down in weight gain in December-January.

Happy baby! Eating home made apple sauce - yummy!

"Feeding" himself but really just chewing on his spoon, he is just so clever

Funny face! Such nice big blue eyes you have!

We had our second swimming class today and it was fun! I was brave enough to dunk the baby, we are supposed to, and he was just fine with it. He kicked his feet for the whole class, it is funny how that is so instinctual for them. I think he is going to be a swimmer, as well as a genius, not that I am biased or anything!! He chatted away for the entire lesson too and seems to really like it. Had to resort to the old t-shirt over the swimsuit look so that we didn't have a wardrobe malfunction :)

Next week is bring a partner week so Rob is coming swimming too! We are learning how to fit life jackets. After this session I think we are going to do an aqua fit class - Loic crashes after swimming and is currently napping. Now off to plan dinner for tonight...

E

Let's make really, really easy beef stroganoff!

Dinner #3 - Simple beef stroganoff

This is my mom's recipe and it is really, really easy. It takes about the same amount of time to make as it does to make the pasta to go with it! I always have mushroom soup and pasta on hand. This makes an excellent lunch for the next day :)

You will need:

- ground beef (an average sized package)

- one onion (diced)

- 1-2 cloves of garlic (diced)

- 1 can of mushroom soup (don't use the low fat kind)

- 1 small container of sour cream (250mL)

- a good amount of fresh parsley

- pasta (whatever kind you like)

- salt and pepper

1. Put a big pot of salted water on to boil for your pasta.

2. Brown the ground beef in a large frying pan until it is cooked through, removed the ground beef into a bowl and drain the excess fat out of the pan.

3. Saute your diced onion until it is soft. **I know some people brown the onion with the beef, but this is a mistake because you loose the onion flavour when you drain off the fat**

4. Once the onion is cooked, add the cooked ground beef back to the frying pan and add in your chopped garlic at the same time. Don't put the garlic in with the onion, it has a tendency to burn.

5. Ok, in your pan is the cooked beef, onion and garlic. To this, add one can of cream of mushroom soup and turn the heat down to low. Simmer while you cook the pasta. Erin, don't cook it too high, it burns easily and don't add any water to the soup, just use the one can as is.

6. Once your pasta is cooked and drained, add one small container (250mL) of sour cream to the soup/meat/onion/garlic mixture. Add salt and pepper and stir to heat through. You don't want to really cook the sour cream, just heat it through.

To serve - dish up a bowl of pasta, add your meat sauce on top and then add a generous handful of chopped parsley. I will be making this for dinner tonight. This dish is one of the four that Rob can make :) It isn't super healthy but works well for a quick and tasty dinner.

Enjoy!

E

Let's make Pizza!

As requested, I am going to write down 7 dinners for Erin, my cooking-challenged but very talented in other areas friend who lives in London. I taught Erin how to make a complete dinner one night last summer and she was a great student; she took notes of everything I did in her little notebook!

Ok, dinner #2 for you Erin. Last night was frittata, tonight - Pizza! I will say this up front - I don't make my own dough. I keep a few pizza shells in the freezer (I use the individual ones) so that I can pull them out and make dinner in minutes. I know that dough is very easy to make, but it was 8:30 and I was hungry.

Dinner is served!

Here is how I make pizza. Erin, this literally takes minutes to make and you can make it with whatever is in your fridge (see a theme here? I like to shop once week and then make dinners with what is on hand. This is a learned skill -my mom taught me how to do this - thanks mom!

1. Start with your pizza shells on a baking sheet. I then spread a very thin layer of olive oil over the pizza shells because I don't like tomato sauce on my pizza, but use tomato sauce if you like it. I then sprinkle on dried oregano and a pinch of hot pepper flakes.

2. Time to add toppings! Tonight I used: capocollo, red onion slices, zucchini slices, fresh spinach leaves and chopped green olives. Yum - I love olives. I arranged my toppings on my pizza shells and then added cheese. I had left over cheese from my frittata, so I used that, but I usually use mozzarella. Other toppings that I have used on pizza are: broccoli, sliced cooked potatoes, tomatoes, ham, caramelized white onions, etc. Everything goes here!

3. The trick is to take the pizza off of the baking sheet (which you only use to assemble it) and to bake it straight on the rack at about 400 degrees until the cheese is starting to turn brown.

You can make this the day before and keep the pizza unbaked in the fridge, ready to pop into the oven when you get home and are starving.

Enjoy!

E

Let's make Frittata!

Another dinner idea for you Erin!

This is an easy dinner and you can make it with whatever you have in the fridge. You need potatoes, eggs and then anything else you want. Here is how I make it.

To start with, you need cooked potatoes. I just boiled up a enough so that when sliced about half and inch thick, they cover the bottom of a large oven proof frying pan. This is important because you need to bake the whole thing in the oven once it is assembled.

While my potatoes were boiling, I sauteed the following in a bit of oil until tender:

- half of a red onion (diced)

- one celery stalk (diced)

- one small zucchini (diced)

Now, you can use whatever veggies you like. Red pepper would have been good too. In the fridge I had some steamed broccoli, which I will add later.

Melt some butter in your frying pan and make sure that you spread the butter up the sides of the pan, so that your eggs don't stick later on. Next, slice your cooked potatoes about a half an inch thick and lay them into the bottom of your frying pan, so that they cover the bottom as much as possible. I even added a few on top to fill in the holes.

Then, pile on your sauteed veggies and spread them out. On top of the sauteed veggies I added some diced broccoli and a thin layer of fresh spinach leaves (this time use fresh Erin!). At this point, I also added some diced capocollo (ham would be good too). Once you have spread out your veggies and meat, it is time for the eggs.

In a bowl, scramble about 5-6 eggs and add a splash of cream, salt and pepper. Once well mixed, pour the egg mixture over your veggies and potatoes.

The final step - cheese! I used jalapeno Monteray jack cheese, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand. This is a great dish to make when you want to use up leftovers. Grate enough cheese to spread on the top of the frittata.

Pop the whole thing in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until the eggs are cooked. Serve with a green salad and voila - a tasty and delicious dinner.

E

Loic and his great-grandparents

Last week, my mom, Loic and I went up to Powell River to visit with family. We had a lovely visit and here are some photos of Loic with his great-grandparents!

This is my Dad's Mom, she is 102 years old! She smiled when we showed her Loic. She has 7 kids and countless grandkids and great-grandkids.

This is our little camera-hog, smiling at the camera and not looking at anyone else! Cheeky thing.

Here is my mom and Loic with her parents.

Valentine's Day menu

Since I am on a bit of a food-posting kick, here is what I am making for valentines day dinner, which we are having tonight because I am at a dog trial tomorrow...

Good steaks, cooked the way my mom showed me

Roasted zucchini with italian spices and parmesan cheese (even Rob likes it this way!)

Rice pilaf

For desert: chocolate fondue with oranges, strawberries, bananas and cream puffs! Yummy.

Erin, remind me to show you how to cook a good steak when you are here next - easy and really tasty. My mom showed me which ones to buy (more importantly, my dad taught us which kind not to buy :)).

E

He isn't my little baby anymore

Loic is growing up too quickly for my liking. He has always liked to be swaddled for nap time, but this past week hasn't been napping very well so today I tried putting him down for his naps un-swaddled. I put him down in his crib, he grinned at me, rolled over, and fell asleep. I know that this is a very good thing and some parents would kill to have such an easy baby, but part of me can't help but think that he isn't a little baby anymore.

Thinking about crawling now!

Grabby hands! Reaching for the camera :)

Speaking of grabby hands, this baby want to grab a hold of everything near him! Nothing is safe anymore :)

E

Baby swimming

Today Loic and I went to our first swim class! He had a good time, and was exhausted by the end of it. He was asleep before we left the parking lot. I had a hard enough time dressing him, myself, showering, swimming, showering again, and drying off and dressing both of us to take pictures so you will just have to imagine Loic in his swimsuit (adorable, simply adorable). And I wore a two piece suit, mainly because I couldn't find a one piece in a size DD...which my sweet baby tried to untie at one point! Cheeky thing :)

Erika

Another request! The best potatoes

Hi all

As requested, here is another recipe for you - the best smashed potatoes, ever. Now, I am not a potato fan so my saying that these are great should tell you something.

Now, the ingredient amounts are a bit vague because it all depends on how many potatoes you use. I make a big batch because they are really good fried up the next morning for breakfast. There is nothing like frying up already fattening potatoes in more butter first thing in the morning!

You will need: potatoes. I use the small, round thin skinned ones and I don't peel them, just leave the skin on. (Erin - buy whatever kind you want, whatever colour, just don't make this dish with big baking potatoes. Got it?) You can buy the small ones in the bags - I like to use the red skinned ones, it makes the dish look really pretty.

Put the potatoes in a pot of salted water and boil them until they are cooked through. You want them to be really well cooked so that they mash easily. Meanwhile, grab a big bowl and to it add the following:

-Butter (lots of butter) cubed

-Heavy cream (do not skimp out and use milk!)

-A few green onions, chopped up finely

-dill (finely chopped)

Now I know I didn't give amounts, because it depends on how many potatoes you use, but feel free to add a lot of the above ingredients. The more cream, butter and dill the better! You can always start smashing and add the cream as you go until they start to look creamy, like mashed potatoes.

Once you have your butter, cream, onions and dill in the big bowl, add in the potatoes, right out of the pot. The potatoes need to be really hot in order to melt the butter and to "let the flavours mingle". Once everything is in the bowl, start smashing! Start with a large knife and roughly mash up the potatoes, then switch to a fork or spoon. You want them to be roughly mashed up and you want the butter and cream to be evenly mashed into the potatoes.

Enjoy! I like to serve these with beer can chicken (another awesome dish!) and roasted veggies, but they go with just about anything and are so, so easy to make.

E

Photos (for Jody!)

We did a little photo shoot with Lolo on Saturday, here are some of the pics!

Tired, sweet little baby

Mischievous!

So funny!

Cheeky again!

Awwww!

Fruit Crisp (For Erin)

Hi all - as requested, here is my fruit crisp recipe. Ok, I did steal it from my mom but I made a few modifications of my own!

You will need:

Fruit (I use apples and a combination of berries) The apples are fresh and I tend to use frozen berries - Erin, no need to thaw the frozen fruit, just use it right out of the freezer.

** If you want to make only apple crisp, add cinnamon to the apples, a few teaspoons will do**

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon butter

Topping:

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 cup rolled oats (I use quick oats)

1. Cut up your apples into chunks and add your frozen berries. To the fruit, add I tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of white sugar. Mix well and put the fruit into your baking dish. Fill the dish so that it is almost full and pack the fruit down lightly.

2. Melt the butter in the microwave and to it add the 1/2 cup of flour, brown sugar and the cup of oats. Mix well.

3. Put all of the flour/brown sugar/oat mixture on top of the fruit, spread and pack down lightly.

Bake at 350 until the fruit is all bubbly and the topping crisp (hence the name). I usually put a fork into it to make sure the apples are soft, or sneak a taste from the side...

You can serve this with vanilla ice cream but I like it all on its own and I really like it for breakfast! Any questions Erin? :)

Enjoy,

E

Quick Vent

This is a quick vent sent out to whoever broke into Rob's truck this morning. You only stole a few hundred dollars worth of tools, not enough to use our deductible to pay for them, and because your broke two, not one, windows, we have to get it fixed through ICBC and not just at a glass store. You might make a little bit of cash but it is going to cost us quite a bit more to replace everything and fix the truck. I hope you really needed the money, but please don't come back and try again.

And now for the good stuff! A photo of our favorite little boy, who ate a mixture of yams, apples and cereal for breakfast AND he didn't spill any of it on me or on him!! He was really into it this morning, funny little man.

Percentiles

So, Loic had a check up this week. He is now 6 months old and I was a little worried that he was too little, so off we went. It turns out that he is in the 82nd percentile for length (I didn't think he was that tall!), in the 51st for his head size and in the 11th for weight. So, he is on the thin side, which seems odd to me because he has cubby legs, but is a tall boy. The doctor says he is just fine, besides, all he does is move and laugh so he must be.

Right now he is rolling all over the living room floor, chatting away. I can't leave him for a second or he rolls right out of the living room! :) This morning he had some cereal with mashed bananas - yum! So far he has had cereal, yams, apple sauce and banana. He seems to really like the yams which means that both him and I are often covered in them!

E

Lasagna Recipe *Edited*

Hi all

I have had a few people ask my for my lasagna recipe, so here it is! This recipe makes two large lasagnas, one to eat tonight and one to freeze for a later date :)

To start with, you need to make a tasty sauce. You will need:

1 package of lean ground beef

2 hot italian sausages (out of their casings)

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped up finely

1 small zucchini (chopped up into small pieces so that your picky eaters don't notice it is in the sauce)

4-5 roma tomatoes or a small can of diced tomatoes

2 large cans of plain tomato sauce (the kind with no seasoning)

*You need to use a lot of sauce because you want the sauce to be on the thin side, so that it cooks the noodles later on*

italian spice mix, oregano, hot pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste

pinch of sugar

Begin by sauteing the chopped onion is a small amount of olive oil. Cook until soft. Remove onion from pan and add in ground beef and sausages. Brown meat until it is cooked. *I know that some people brown their meat with the onions, but this is a bad idea because when you drain off the fat from the meat and onion mixture, you loose the onion flavour as well*. Once the meat has cooked, drain of most of the fat and add in: the cooked onions, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, both cans of sauce and season well with all of the spices. Add in the pinch of sugar at this time. Don't add the garlic to the onions because you don't want it to burn when you cook the onions and it will cook while you simmer the sauce.

Stir and simmer for a few hours on low. When you think it is done, TASTE it and re-season if you need to.

The other ingredients you need are:

2 boxes of lasanga noodles - I use the oven-ready ones, they are so easy to use

1 large and 1 small container of cottage cheese (I use 1%)

1 egg

a large chunk of mozzarella cheese

parmesan cheese

1 package of frozen spinach

To make the cheese layer, combine all of the cottage cheese, the mozzarella and the egg. At this time, you need to squeeze out the excess water from the spinach but don't add it to the cheese mixture!

**Edited section here** When making the cheese mixture, give your black lab the cottage cheese containers to lick out. This will entertain your baby to no end and greatly pleases your black lab**

To assemble:

1. Put a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of each dish

2. Cover the sauce with one layer of noodles

3. Spread a layer of spinach over the noodles

4. Cover the spinach with the cheese mixture (half in each pan) and spread it out evenly

5. Cover the cheese with noodles

6. Add another layer of sauce

7. Add another layer of noodles

8. Add a thin layer of sauce and cover the sauce with a generous amount of parmesan cheese

Bake, covered with foil, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, uncover and cook for another 15 minutes. This is an important step taught to me by my mom - be patient and let the lasagna sit for at least 10 minutes once you take it out of the oven! This lets it all set up nicely.

Enjoy!

E