What's for dinner?

I often find myself asking that question and resisting the urge to pick up the phone and order delivery from Bulldawg Food. One of my favorite things to make is lasagna. It is the perfect, comforting meal AND creates enough food for 2 dinners, great for a Sunday/Monday combo! Plus it is easy to mix up with different toppings, like bell peppers, olives, or butternut squash.

My recipe makes enough for 4 layers in a normal lasagna pan.

Sauce
1 lb of meat - I love 1/2 ground beef & 1/2 hot sausage or chicken sausage from Trader Joe's
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1/4 to 1/2 a jar of spaghetti sauce
1 small can of tomato paste
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
Onion - 1/2 maybe
Coarse garlic salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper (i like a little spice) to taste

I prefer oven-ready noodles, but normal noodles are fine too ( I like Trader Joe's)

8oz of cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 - 1 cup of Parmesan cheese (I eyeball it)
Nutmeg - maybe 1 tsp? (Yes, nutmeg)

Mozzarella cheese - 2 cups or so
Bell pepper sliced into thin-ish rings
Kalamata olives sliced in half long ways

To make:
Pre-heat oven to 400
Soften cream cheese
Brown the meat and drain
Add onion and garlic and cook until it smells yummy
Add tomatoes, sauce, and paste, season, and stir
Make a cheese mixture by combining the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and nutmeg
Spread some spaghetti sauce from the jar on the bottom of pan
Spread cheese mixture on noodles and place in pan
Layer on sauce and mozzarella cheese
Repeat layers alternating between adding the bell pepper and olives

Let it sit for 30 minutes or longer (or follow directions on the noodle box) then cook for about 30 minutes!

I like to let mine cool for 5 or 10 minutes and serve on a bed of spinach leaves!

Let me know what you think if you make it!

Happy Bday, Frankcito!

Ok, so this post is 2 months after we actually celebrated Frankcito's first birthday (he was born November 25), but Frank and I worked hard on making it a memorable party (for us at least).

I finally decided on an airplane theme since Frankcito was a little world traveller this year. The invites looked like a boarding pass. I made garland made out of leftover invitations and cut outs of airplanes. Frank spray painted cheap party hats silver, and I glued pom poms onto the top and put flight wing stickers on the front. I also made a couple of banners and a huge, fun mobile to hang over the food spread.  Check out where I got all of my inspiration!

The smash cake was a vegan carrot cake that I baked in a empty can of tomatoes that ended up a bit too dense for baby to really get into, but he seemed to enjoy the icing and sprinkles! I also made blue velvet cupcakes for all the big people. We also munched on buffalo chicken dip, cheese dip, pimento cheese sandwiches, sugar cookies, double chocolate cookies, and marshmallow pops made to look like airplane propellers!

The guests also had "luggage" goodie bags, with peanuts and pretzels party mix and an airplane blanket that they picked up at "baggage claim," and they left Frankcito's presents in the "cargo hold."

Frankcito of course is super spoiled and received lots of presents. Ultimate birthday victory came with his crazy ball maze thing that Frank HAD to get him. It is pretty awesome!

Also, the baby and I visited my mom at Delta to do a mini-photo shoot at the airplane museum located at Delta's headquarters.

boarding pass invitation

the spread

frankcito's cockpit

baggage claim & cargo hold

Blue velvet cupcakes with paper airplane toppers

airplane cookies

marshmallow propeller pops

pimento cheese airplane sandwiches

blowout your candle!

cake face

not a fan of the hat

yellow soccer ball

birthday victory!

pooped

Red lights lead to white lights and exit signs, which show you the exits

Captain Frankcito

Talking on the telephone

Walking the aisles on The Spirit of Delta

Frankcito & The Spirit of Delta

New Year's Resolutions

New year, new resolutions to pretend like I'm going to accomplish. So I figured I'd compile a list on the interwebs to hopefully keep myself accountable. Here goes:

1. Instagram photo-a-day: follow me, Frank, & Frankcito at #travieso365

started travieso365 on my 30th bday

2. Travieso365 journal: I saw something on Pinterest awhile ago that lead me to the design sponge post where a woman made a card index of all 365 days and made a point to write one thing that happened that day each year. This is my little "on this day" project. I have 4 notebooks, one for each season, and look forward to seeing how our life changes and grows through the years.

travieso365 journals for winter and spring

3. Take Frankcito to the park at least once a week. The poor baby has never been to the park, and we hardly take him outside. I want to get him out in Athens to see the city I love so much!
4. Take a shower and dry my hair every day. I've already failed at this one, but I wanted to do a slick top knot bun. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
5. Start a blog and write consistently.
6. Make my house more home-y and keep it neat and organized. My favorite chore is wiping counter tops. I don't know, it's kind of weird, I know.

see how clean my counter tops are?

What are your resolutions for 2013? Good luck with being awesome this year!

Hello

Hi everyone. I'm Ashley, and I'm new here.

Well, I created this blog a couple months ago in an attempt to track my life. Clearly, I have done a horrible job. I wasn't really sure of the direction I wanted to go with this, so I figured I could at least start by documenting my world with a ninja baby.

Frankcito is my little guy, a one year old who could leap buildings in a single bound if he wanted to. Baby boy has been sick the last few days, and I blame, we'll let's not point fingers. Anyway, it seems everyone has been sick lately with a stomach bug, and this is my first adventure into the wonderful [gross] world of sick [really gross] baby diapers. At least it's just coming out of one end.

Thanks for letting me over share!