I managed to find Uno and Checkers, and Battleship and most of the pieces of Candyland. Which I figure, we can mix together to create a fabulous new game, Candyship Battleland. War never tasted so good!

With our apartment contract coming to an end in October, we have been on the mad search to find a new place to live.  Yes, we could just renew our contract, but we are tired of living in an apartment.  We have decided that we want to become homeowners... HOMEOWNERS!  We have been scouting everywhere to try to find the best place in our price range.  We found a really nice town home, which we put a deposit down on and were going to buy, but the HOA was being ridiculous.  We decided if we are already having problems with the HOA and we haven't even moved in yet, that it can only get worse.  We pulled out of that purchase quickly.  We finally actually found us a home.  It is an actual house.  Not a town home, not a twin home, not a condo... a real-live house! We are ecstatic! We move in mid October.  I am so excited to finally be able to make our living quarters actually ours.  We can paint the walls; heck, we could tear down walls if we wanted to. Don't you worry, I will post projects as I do them throughout the house.  As for today though, I am going to share with you a golden recipe.  This is a recipe a friend of mine gave me.  She lived in Italy for almost 2 years, and it is a recipe she picked up there.  It is legit and delicious.  It can be a little time consuming though, so  I will also include my quick version that I make more frequently than the full-blown recipe.

Bre's Italian Lasagna

(I apologize for the pictures.  I'm working on my food pics.)

First, you need to start making the marinara sauce.  This is the part the takes the longest.  The longer you let it simmer, the better it tastes.  Here are some of the essential ingredients:

First you will want to grate the onion, zucchini, and carrot.  Drizzle with olive oil and saute for a few minutes until the onion is clear and the carrot and zucchini are soft.

Add the ground beef.  Brown the beef with the veggies.

Once the ground beef is browned add in the rest of the ingredients for the marinara sauce.  Allow to simmer for at least 1 hour.  Longer is better though.  One Sunday I let it simmer for 4 hours and it tasted divine! This sauce can be quite messy, so if you have a splatter guard I would use it.  I don't, so I will usually just put the lid on half way so the steam can still exit, but it helps save my stove and wall from being covered with red sauce.

Start making the white sauce when you are ready to assemble the lasagna.  First, start by melting the butter in a saucepan.  Add in the flour and stir to combined with the butter. Slowly add in the milk.  Continuously whisk to keep the white sauce from burning.  Once it starts to boil, turn it down to a simmer and stir for about 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Once the white sauce is ready, you can start assembling your lasagna.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and pull out a 9x13 glass pan.  Start with a thin layer of marinara sauce at the bottom of the pan.  Lay a layer of lasagna noodles on top.  Keep the noodles all going the same way.  I like to use the oven ready noodles so I don't have to boil them, but any type of lasagna noodle will work.  Break or cut noodles to fit in the pan.

Spread another layer of marinara sauce on top of the noodles.  Then drizzle a layer of white sauce on top of the red sauce.

Sprinkle some mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top of that, then prepare for your next layer.  Lay your noodles facing the other way, then continue with your sauce layering (red, white, mozzarella, Parmesan).

Once you run out of space, or sauce make sure that your final layer is the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Bake it in the oven for 40-45 minutes or so until the sauce is bubbling, and the cheese is melted.  Serve with a fresh green salad, and breadsticks.  Enjoy!

Bre's Italian Lasagna Recipe

Marinara Sauce

1 carrot

1 zucchini

1 med. onion

1 lb. ground beef

2-28 oz. cans tomato sauce

1 tsp basil

1 tsp bay leaves

1 tsp salt

Grate the veggies into a large pot.  Saute until onion is clear and  zucchini and carrot are tender.  Add ground beef and brown.  Once beef is browned, add tomato sauce, basil, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a boil, then allow to simmer for at least one hour.

White sauce

5 T butter

1/2 cup flour

3 1/2 cups milk

dash of salt

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add in the flour and stir to combined with the butter. Slowly add in the milk. Salt to taste. Continuously whisk to keep the white sauce from burning.  Once it starts to boil, turn it down to a simmer and stir for about 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Lasagna Assembly

Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles

Mozzarella Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Marinara Sauce

White Sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put a thin layer of marinara sauce at the bottom of a 9x13 glass pan.  Lay a layer of lasagna noodles on top.  Keep the noodles all going the same way.  I like to use the oven ready noodles so I don't have to boil them, but any type of lasagna noodle will work.  Break or cut noodles to fit in the pan. Spread another layer of marinara sauce on top of the noodles.  Then drizzle a layer of white sauce on top of the red sauce. Sprinkle some mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top of that, then prepare for your next layer.  Lay your noodles facing the other way, then continue with your sauce layering (red, white, mozzarella, Parmesan-- keep alternating directions with lasagna noodles). Once you run out of space, or sauce make sure that your final layer is the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Bake it in the oven for 40-45 minutes or so until the sauce is bubbling, and the cheese is melted.  Serve with a fresh green salad, and breadsticks.  Enjoy!

Simplified Version:
To simplify this recipe I just use bottled spaghetti sauce instead of making the marinara sauce.  I still make the white sauce (it makes or breaks this recipe).  I do everything else the same in the recipe, but sometimes I leave out the ground beef and it still tastes amazing. Since our family is quite small (just me and my main man) I usually bake it in a 8x8 pan.  I use one bottle of spaghetti sauce and I half the white sauce recipe.  This recipe reheats great!