Lasagna that will make you cheat... (on your diet)

White Cheese, Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna


Disclaimer:  This recipe will make you cheat on your diet!

Ingredients:
9 lasagna noodles
2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp oregano (divided)
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 cups broccoli
1/2 cup butter
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (divided)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (divided)
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 tbsp basil

What to do:
In large stock pot, boil noodles for 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
In frying pan over medium heat, cook chicken breasts (cubes) with olive oil, 1 tbsp oregano, Worcester sauce, dash of salt and paper until done (about 20 minutes). Set aside.
Boil broccoli in 1/2 cup of water in small saucepan for 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In large saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion. Stir in flour. Cook until bubbly. Pour in milk and chicken broth. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 tbsp oregano, salt and pepper, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1/4 Parmesan cheese. Stir well and set aside.
In large bowl, combine all of the above and ricotta cheese and basil.
Place mixture into 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and oregano.
Place in preheated 350 degree oven. Cook for 30 minutes.

Fall in love and enjoy!

My First Garden

I had a garden when I was a little girl and loved to go sit in the dirt and eat cherry tomatoes right off of the vine.  String beans, snap peas and snow peas were other items that were near and dear to my heart.  Ah, the days when my mom used to have a garden and I could reap the benefits of it...  Now that I am a 'grown up', married and have a daughter of my own, we are starting our very own garden.  Now, if you knew more about me, you would know that I HATE bugs, snakes, mice, getting dirty, weeding, etc, etc, etc.  With that being said, why not start a garden?! How hard can it be??  This should be a pretty interesting adventure! 

How we started:
My husband, Maeberry and I went to a store, talked to someone who worked there who knew a wee bit about gardening, harassed a few customers and watched what there were buying, bought way to much stuff and then brought it all home.  It sat in piles on our kitchen table for about 24 hours before I decided to roll up my sleeves and take a crack at it.

Since we live in Vermont and the ground stays frozen until what seems like the middle of July, we have to start our garden inside.  We bought these fool-proof planters that makes it almost impossible to mess up.  We'll see about that...  They have little individual "pods" that grow when you pour water on them.  We bought a few of these in different sizes to spice things up a little.

A large planter with no water.
 

A small planter after I poured water to make the pods grow.

We bought over 30 packets of veggies and herbs to plant.  And yes, we ARE getting in over our heads.

We took lots of pictures (just in case nothing last more than a month, I can say that I honestly gave it a shot).

Maeberry helping her Mama!


Oh boy, onto the large tray...

And in no time (actually about 2 hours), PRESTO!  We have ourselves a little indoor garden and are ready for SPRING!  Oh wait, there is still inches of snow on the ground... Gotta love Vermont...


Maeberry was VERY excited that she was our 'little helper'!  Isn't she the cutest ever?!?!

So, once these cute little plants grown into something that can be transplanted (fingers crossed) into the currently frozen ground, we will need to first tear down our above ground pool (we've been wanting to get rid of it anyways), BUY dirt (I still get irritated that people have to BUY dirt), get a rototiller, make the area level, probably buy some super important stuff to make things grow faster, get a cute new gardening outfit and then 'dig' in and get to growing!  Are you as scared as I am to see the progress on this?  Oh good, I'm not alone...

Share your gardening secrets (don't worry, no one really reads this blog so it will be between just you and I).  Help a clueless gal out!

Time for some coffee!!

Damn You Google...

This mama LOVES Google.  I Google everything from recipes to how many yogurts are too many for me to consume in one day, from the weather to cute shoes I must have, from when is Easter? to how to talk in Spanish, and recently, "Is the cough that Maeberry has just a cold or courp?".  Well, boy oh boy was that last one a MISTAKE!  Here's the deal.  Let's rewind...

Maeberry started with a cold Thursday evening.  No big surprise, it's that time of year.  However, when it went on through the weekend and then only seemed to be getting worse, I started to freak.  Go ahead, roll your eyes... "It's only a cold  - calm yourself...".  Yes, I know.  I tend to freak each and every time Maeberry gets a little sniffle, in part because she really has not been sick much at all in her 20 months of beautiful existence.  Snicker and snare all you want, I am who I am.  Anywho, as I mentioned, the cold (especially cough) was getting worse, so I took my mommy concerns to Google.  I actually remember thinking, as I was typing the letters into the Google box on my trusty iPhone, "Oh why are you doing this? Bad idea, woman! Bad idea!".  In the past I have Googled things and just got me all worried for no real reason.  But, I did it anyway, and before I knew it, I was CONVINCED that she had croup.  With the matching "symptoms" that were listed, I either needed to rush her to the ER or get a doctor on the phone ASAP.  I called her pediatricians office and it was closed.  I was actually jumping for joy because this meant that I got to talk directly to a doctor and not a nurse.  I LOVE nurses, don't get me wrong, but when I read what I read, I wanted nothing but a doctor OR our family friend (who is a nurse) who I have renamed our "Family Doctor" because she always knows what to say, etc (more on this at a later date).  I didn't want to bother our "Family Doctor" this time as I was a hot mess over this, so I just wanted to talk to M's pediatrician.  After what seemed like 3 hours for the on-call doctor to call me back, I had my anxiety replaced by puppies and rainbows.  The pediatrician said "Not to worry!".  She thought that it sounds like a regular cold and cough, but since she had had the cough for almost 5 days now, she should go into the office in the morning for a quick check. 

Into the pediatricians office we went this morning and ALL IS GOOD!  WHOOHOOO!!  Maeberry does in fact have a cold and a lot of mucus in her throat.  Rest, fluids and the usual remedies for a common cold,  and before we know it, no more cough and we can resume our new playgroup schedule.  If I would have stuck to my guns and not checked Google, I could have saved myself from the worry that turns out to just be the side effects of "Mama Google".

In hopes that everyone has happy, healthy and LOVED babies,
Mauranda

xoxo

P.S.
TIME FOR COFFEE!   *Cheers*