Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna

FROM SCRATCH!!!!

Yes, on Monday, January 18, 2010 I made a cheesy vegetable lasagna, from scratch! (It's funny because every time I use or hear those words, "FROM SCRATCH", I think about the Martin episode when Sherman Hemsley, the DMV attendant, constantly sends Martin to the "From Scratch" counter to fill out an insurmountable amount of papers to renew his license.)

Anyone that knows me well knows that my husband did not marry me for my cooking, instead, he married me so he wouldn't have to pay child support (just kidding :-). But on a serious note, my mother never really taught us much about cooking because she never wanted us, her three daughters, to be comfortable in the kitchen. In the words of "The Great One", my mother Novella Perry, "I didn't raise my daughters to be housewives!" However, just here recently I find peace in the kitchen. It's one of the few places in the house that my rambunctious girls seldom visit, and yes, if you wanted to know, they will follow me in the restroom. But my kitchen, yes in my kitchen, I find relaxation, sanity and solace in my kitchen. So yesterday I embarked upon a homemade healthier meal for my family of four.......ergo my masterpiece......I give you, "Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna".

and an awesome salad to start the meal off right................

For the finale, me and the girls made a "Sour Cream Pound Cake" but I forgot to take a picture.

Overall, I think the veggie lasagna was a success. Maybe next time I'll add a tad bit of salt, but it was healthier without it.

Bon Appetit!

Simple Pleasure????????????

About a week ago a friend of mine asked me, "What is your idea of a "simple pleasure"? I responded, "Sitting in front of a warm fireplace enjoying a piece of Apple Pie topped with Vanilla Ice Cream." (This response would probably explain why I still have my Christmas Tree up. We don't have a fireplace and I just love the way it lights up the room at night. While it lacks the amount of heat a fireplace provides, I truly enjoy wrapping up in my Snuggie, in my favorite corner of the couch, with a mug of hot tea, cocoa, or coffee and gazing at the lights on the Christmas Tree).

Then......................

On Friday evening I enjoyed what I would have considered to be another "simple pleasure"; a medium white pizza from Ledo's with Alfredo sauce, chicken, black olives and bell peppers. (Dutch always calls my pizza a salad.....he thinks that I don't appreciate just a real slice of pizza or as he prefers, a cheese pizza with extra cheese). Yum, yum, yummy!!!!!!!

But then...........................

With the recent tragedy in Haiti, I realized that a great deal of my "simple pleasures" are sitting right in front of my face. (Then I began to recognize that the response I gave my friend was both selfish and self-centered). See, the "simple pleasures" described above, hot apple pie and pizza, are all things I can pay for whenever my taste buds yearn to be fulfilled. However, the "pleasure" of watching my kids play and seeing my husband smile are the things some people have lost, or constantly long for, and I sometimes take for granted. While children and love are two instances, in some peoples lives, that are far from being "simple",

they're the pleasures that God has blessed me with........and I only have to open my eyes to appreciate them.

Signed,

Redefining My Simple Pleasures

Who would have known, Rachel Maddow?

Yesterday evening Dutch and I tuned in to watch "The Rachel Maddow Show" , and she used the word "kerfuffle" to describe the devastating scene in Haiti. Who knew that this was an actual word? Surely not me or my hubby, the Brooklyn Brainiac. In our hasten search for the truth, we immediately accessed the Google search engine and typed in the word "kerfuffle:

Google

To our surprise "kerfuffle" was listed in merriam-webster, thefreedictionary, worldwidewords, dictionary.com, and even theurbandictionary....and the critics have the audacity to say that TV is not educational.

Adding to my Tyler Perry Collection

So, yesterday evening me and the fam watched "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" and it was a tearjerker......even my 2 Little Kittens (Blesyn and Faith) were fighting back the tears. While my hubby is not a Tyler Perry fan, he can't deny enjoying the soulful voices of Ms. Mary J. and Ms. Gladys Knight. Taraji P. and Adam Rodriguez were awesome, and it was inspirational to discover that the entire film was produced at the Tyler Perry Studios in ATL. If you have yet to see this movie, I'll answer just a couple of questions and you can decide for yourself whether to buy, rent, borrow, or just "forget about it".

Would I watch this movie again? Yep, but only when my parents come up for a visit because I know they'll want to see it.

Was this movie worth the $15, 16, or 17.99 that my hubby paid for it? (Thanks hubby!) Yes, because had we gone to the movies we'd paid $32.00 for four tickets, and that is only if we were fortunate enough to catch the matinee.

I'll admit that Tyler Perry's movies are becoming more and more sophisticated and less distracting with each new release. I'm looking forward to checking out "Why Did I Get Married Too" when it hits theaters in April.

The New Twenty Ten

Dutch and I were fortunate enough to bring the New Year in with friends. How blessed are we to have such awesome people in our life? Extremely blessed! We come together, we laugh, we drink, we play and we just spread love the entire time we're around each other. I can't wait to blog about the adventures we'll pursue together in Twenty Ten.

Cheers to spending Twenty Ten with friends!