Home/Made Mushroom Lasagna

 Home/Made Mushroom Lasagna recipe courtesy of

The New York Times and Monica Byrne, Home/Made, Brooklyn

David's stepdad treated us to this special lasagna for dinner a few weeks ago and I've been jonesin' for it ever since.  It was cheesy and full of the most amazing flavors.  I simply have not been able to get it out of my mind.  Having a day off from work made today the perfect time to try my hand at satisfying this craving.

  

It was time consuming; but worth every minute of it.  Not only did we get to put the new stove to the test; but, David discovered that the new backsplash that he put up to protect the wall behind the stove makes the most perfect place to hold the recipes as we prepare them.  Bonus!

And about the lasagna.... 

 It was awesome.

Goodnight...

Good Morning!

The sunrise was spectacular this morning.  I am so happy that I was up to see it.  I only wish that I could have captured its true beauty. 

May your day be blessed beyond measure...

Merry Christmas!

And since we've no place to go...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

We have had unseasonably mild weather lately and I'm not complaining.  It's much easier to get up and out of the house and off to work when the weather is not yucky outside.  But it's Christmas and I'm in New England where Christmases should ALWAYS be white.

I have four days off and I was getting kind of worried that we might not have any snow for Christmas this year.  We didn't get a lot of snow this morning; but we got enough to make it a little festive outside.  It was nice to wake up and drink some coffee and watch it snow knowing that I didn't have to leave the nice, warm house.   I have been sort of hoping for a big storm that would keep me inside my little cottage with my family for some much needed down time for the entire weekend; but that's not going to happen.  So I will be grateful for the little snow that we have.

2011 has been a very busy and fun year.  We have been in New Hampshire for over a year now and I think I can say that I have finally settled in to my new home.  We have good health, all that we need and most everything that we want.  David and I both have jobs that we love and all of our kids are finally close by for the first time ever.  We are so blessed.

Merry Christmas andHappy New Year

from my family to yours!

Much love,

Ummmmm......

I don't even know how to begin this post.  That's probably why I haven't posted anything since November 14th.  That's a long time.  I know.  Life has just intervened.

over and over again.

It is what it is. 

I've thought on several different occasions to just do a post and tell you that I'm taking a blogging break; but, seriously, after all the time it has been, I thought you guys had most probably figured that out already.  You are smart cookies. 


So here I am with a few minutes and I'm just going to ramble for a bit.  I hope you don't mind.


Thanksgiving was great.  I got two days off which made for a wonderful and much needed long weekend.  We went to my in-laws where we enjoyed lots of fantastic food and spent time with family.  I love Thanksgiving.  The roasted butternut squash risotto with bacon and sage that we contributed was amazing, if I do say so myself.    We didn't take any pictures.  Can you believe that?  

The job is going well.  After two months, I can honestly say that I really enjoy it.  We moved our office to a new location a month ago and it has been liberating for me.  The space is bright and cheerful and I feel more organized and together.  I still have a lot to learn; but I feel like I'm in a good place with it all.  I'm encouraged.

With the new job though, I haven't done a lot of cooking lately or taken very many photos.  I guess I've lost my mojo.  I think about cooking.....I think about taking photos.....I think about blogging about what little I cook and/or photograph....and then I get distracted by something else and move on.   That's just where I'm at in life right now, I guess.  Maybe the new year will bring a renewal of sorts and I can get back into the swing of things. 

Christmas is roaring in like a freight train for me this year.  I did manage to get the tree up the day after Thanksgiving.   We have a huge pre-lit tree that is absolutely gorgeous and absolutely too big for our home.  Since we had it, we decided to try to make it work in our little cottage.  We carved out a place for it and set it up only to find the branches and the lights to be a tangled mess.  Pre-lit trees are a good idea...in theory....but when you don't have a box for it at the end of the season and you wrap it up in plastic and bungee cords, it tends to be in sad shape when you take it out to set it up for the season.  Having said that, I determined to take all of the lights off and start over so I tore my hands up in the branches getting the lights off and when I had them all off, I decided that I really wanted white lights instead of the colored ones that came on the tree.  Since we were going to have to buy lights anyway, we thought we should buy the LED ones and save some electricity.   David and I made a run to the store before the LSU/Alabama game started and got new lights.  We are saving electricity alright; but, I'm not sure that I'm sold on the way the LED lights look on the tree yet.  I probably should have gotten the "warmer" lights instead of the "cooler" ones; but you live and learn and we're making it work.  It's coming down in a couple of weeks anyway.   I'm always excited to get the tree up; but, I'm usually even more excited to take it down again. 

There are a few presents under there.  I'm still not finished shopping yet; but I've made a good start, I think.  I won't consider at this time that I only have one more weekend to get it done.  Shopping up here is not an easy endeavor.  It's a drive to get to stores or the mall.  That can be a good thing, I guess, but it's difficult at Christmas.

I'm excited about the holidays this year though.  My "baby" flew in last night to stay with us for awhile and we are looking forward to having all of the kids around this year for Christmas.   We are settled into our cozy cottage and our sweet little Monkey is getting so big and being so much fun these days.   It's going to be fun to do Christmas with her this year.   What a joy to experience Christmas with children!

Thanks so much for stopping in and catching up with me.   You have all been so sweet to send emails to check on me and I appreciate that more than you know.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Love,