And it goes to...

ME! For being the worst. blogger. ever. Again, I'm going to play catch up.



For Valentine's Day, hbf and I found a tradition of staying in and making dinner together. Sure, this was only our second V-Day we actually got to spend together, but I'm calling it a tradition anyways :) Last year, we got two nice steaks, I made some delish potatoes and we called it a night. This year, we decided to be a little more adventurous and made lasagna. It was fun - both of us in the kitchen: I made the sauce, Joe made the ricotta mixture, and Wiz.. she got some ricotta on herself and licked it off. The meal was so good, and not as difficult as I thought it would have been. We'll definitly make this again - and I hope we can add some things to it to switch it up!



I knew this meal was coming to I searched online for the best lasagna recipe... then ended up using a variation of what I wrote, and what was on the back of the noodles box. Either way, still a great meal!

Valentine's Day Lasagna

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 T olive oil
1 pkg Italian sausage
2 bottles of pasta sauce
2 T fresh Italian pasley
1 t Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
8 lasanaga noodles (ready to bake)
1 tub (15 oz) ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs

Directions:

Oven at 375 degrees F.

1. Brown meat in olive oil.
2. Once the meat is cooked, add pasta sauce & italian seasoning. Let simmer.
3. Make cheese filling by combining eggs, ricotta, 2/3 Parmesan cheese and parsley . Beat until smooth.
4. In a 9x13 pan, set out all the ingredients in front of you.
5. Now time for layers! 1/2 cup tomato sauce on bottom, then lay four noodles, spread half ricotta mixture and top with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Add 2 cups of meat sauce, four noodles, ricotta mixture, 1/3 of mozzarella cheese, and remainder of the sauce. Top the rest with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
6. Cover with aluminum foil, bake for 50 minutes. Uncover, bake for another 10 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting into.



Definitely going into my recipe binder. Next time, I think I might even add some spinach into the ricotta mixture to make it a little more healthy.  :D

How do you keep your recipies organized? For Christmas, my sister got me a Moleskin Recipe Journal. I love how pretty it is, but haven't found time to sit down and write everything in. So for now, I have a binder filled with print-outs. Maybe some afternoon I'll sit down and jot everything down.

Cheers,
Natalie