My go-to meals

I'm out of town right now (in New Orleans at CASE), so it's only appropriate that I post about the food David is surely eating right now :). Granted, he's the cook in the house so it's not like he starves when I'm not there. Quite the contrary. Regardless, these are a few of our favorite meals that we eat all-too frequently. The last two freeze well (which is why I know David's eating lasagna the whole time I'm gone) and can easily be halved for an 8x8 pan. Enjoy!

Impossibly easy cheeseburger pie
1 lb. Ground beef - brown
1 large onion - chopped (1 cup) (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup original Bisquick mix
1 cup milk
2 large eggs

1. 400*, spray 9 inch glass pie pan with cooking spray
2. Cook beef and onion, stir in salt, spread in pie plate, sprinkle with cheese
3. Stir remaining ingredients, pour into pie plate
4. Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean

Broccoli Chicken Casserole
*2 cans cream of mushroom
  2 packages broccoli florets - steam
*1 cup mayo
*4 eggs
  6 chicken breasts (4 large) - thaw - boil
*1 dash worcester sauce
*2-4 cups shredded cheese

1. *Mix in 11x14 dish
2. Shred cooked chicken
3. Mix in chicken and broccoli
4. Bake at 350* for 30-40 minutes

Lasagna
2 lbs. ground beef - brown - drain
1 (14oz.) can diced tomatoes w/ garlic, basil and oregano
2 (6oz.) cans tomato paste w/ garlic, basil and oregano
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
2 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
16 oz. mozzarella cheese
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 (16oz.) ricotta cheese
8 oz. lasagna noodles
1/2 tsp. pepper
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350*. Boil lasagna noodles until soft.
Meat sauce: Mix ground beef, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley in large bowl. Salt to taste.
Cheese sauce: Mix eggs, ricotta cheese, pepper and Parmesan cheese until well blended.

In 11x14 baking dish, layer pasta, cheese sauce, meat sauce, mozzarella cheese. Repeat. Last layer: pasta, meat sauce, mozzarella cheese. Bake 30 minutes.

one of these things is not like the other

So, instead of cleaning and doing the things I really needed to do last night to get ready for our Easter company (the Johnsons are coming TONIGHT and the Geyers tomorrow!! We are SO excited!!), I had a little bit of baking fun.

I started out with this...

...and a little bit of this...

...and one helpful [dirty] doggy...

...and some egg[ish] shaped balls of cake+frosting...

...and the result was...

... these!
My inspiration for these "cake balls" came from Pioneer Woman, who got the idea from Bakerella. Unfortunately, mine are ridiculously embarrassing comparatively speaking (and just in general I suppose). Seriously, see what these are supposed to look like??

Apparently I'm not the baker I'd like to be.

And yes, Sarah, obviously I still have your camera. I'm taking notes from the Somalian pirates and holding it hostage, just not in the Indian Ocean.

great meals

This week has been full of great meals. I mean, I've eaten some good food, but better yet I've had great company.

Monday I had lunch with Shelby! I hate that even though we live in the same town, we see each other so infrequently. Her whole family is awesome, but Shelby has become such a wonderful friend over the years and I am so grateful for her.

Monday night we had a special dinner! The Bryant kids came over (Mary Shelton, Patrick, John and Hayden) and we cooked for them. We (well, mostly David, let's be honest) made a turkey, mashed potatoes, spoon bread (corn casserole, Beth :)), stuffing and gravy. Yep, it was a total Thanksgiving meal. MS just got home for her Christmas break and we haven't spent much time with any of the kids in the past few weeks. It was so good to be together!

David and HayHay. They have a special bond. They love each other so much!

Nasty picture of me, but I love this girl. Tuesday we had lunch (for nearly 2 hours... oops) and it was so good to catch up. She's matured so much- just after being off at college for one semester! I'm SO so proud of her.

Yeah! One big family :)

Tuesday night we had a special dinner too! The fabulous Power family included us in their family dinner. We played Telephone Pictionary again (love that game) and had a blast. They are so good to us and we're so thankful!

We have so many great friends and so much to be thankful for!

it's fall!

It is 44* in Chattanooga right now. Holy cow! No wonder I'm cold! I do LOVE the fall weather and it made for such a fabulous weekend. You can always count on a great Monday morning post of our weekend happenings :).

Friday: Nothing.

Saturday: Morning errands, a little baking, and FAMILY! My mom, dad and Greg got into town around 12:30 and it was SO great having them here. We missed Ashley big time though! Saturday we ventured out to Whitwell for the Ketner's Mill festivities. Since David and I are new to town, we thought we'd check it out. We all had a great time since the weather was absolutely perfect and it was good just to be outside. It was a bit of a bummer that we spent more time driving than we actually did at the mill and that it cost $5 to just get in. It probably isn't something we'll do on an annual basis, but it was fun to check it out.

When we got home, Dad and David scoped out a potential "man room" addition that has become David's newest project, and Mom and I (Greg watched) worked on my newest project- sewing! She brought me one of her sewing machines so I can polish my [few] skills, and she refreshed my memory on the whole thing. We made Brianna this cute Halloween pillowcase dress and hair bow (it's going in the mail today, Beth!):
This Saturday is Greg's 17th birthday, so we celebrated early with the peanut butter cookies I made:We went to dinner at Big River and headed home to watch a movie. Unfortunately, the movie of choice was Saw 4, so I opted out. The rest of the fam tortured themselves through the entire thing though!

Sunday: We had a lazy Sunday morning, complete with Dunkin' Donuts that came all the way from Newnan, GA. Man, I miss Dunkin' Donuts... When I finally got ready to go, David and I took the fam on a little Chatty outing. We went back to Renaissance Park and enjoyed the gorgeous day, great company and a beautiful city with fun photo ops!

Two of my favorite boys:

Greg and D climbed to the top of the landfill hill:

Lastly we drove through the National Cemetery, which we all enjoyed, but especially my dad :).

All in all, it was SUCH a fabulous weekend (well, day really) with my family here! I'm glad they aren't far down the road so they can come back and visit soon!

After everyone left, we watched some of The Office (of course) and then headed to the Rochas! We just hung out with Becca, Keith and Kate, watching football and doing stuff around the house and then we ventured out to enjoy the great outdoors! Again, the weather was perfect and our night was just as good. We went on a walk and threw the football and it was a perfect fall day! It quickly turned cool(er) and we made a fire and sipped on hot chocolate. That baby is just durn perfect, and it was so fun to pass her around and love on her all night.

What a wonderful weekend!

I made dinner!

It's true. I cooked. I know, all of my family probably just fell out of their seats, but get back up and look at the meal I made! Granted, it's hardly fancy, but it was very yummy. David is really proud of me for trying new things and even attempting to eat a little bit healthier (note the green).
Here it is: broccoli, mashed potatoes (that David made of course) and country fried steak with mushroom gravy.
Baby steps, ok?

It's raining men

Ok, so it's not actually raining men, but it is raining. I realized as I drove to work this morning that today is the first time it has rained since David and I have been married. The reason this is noteworthy is because the rain makes me desperately want to be home cuddled up in a blanket, watching a good movie with my husband! It's still really fun to call him that :).

Sorry I have become a bad blogger! I was talking to Becca last night about how I've kind of become a blog snob... I don't really want to post anything at all if it isn't exciting news, a momentous event, or at least if there aren't pictures associated. I think I've gotten spoiled because I have had lots of all of the above lately- which have made for a good blog! Regardless, I am thankful, so, so thankful, that life is slowing down a little bit.

So, in thinking about it, I don't really have any new news. However, David does, so it makes sense that I'll share his:

• David started grad school at UTC last week for his MBA, and he seems to think the class shouldn't be too bad. Also, it's great that Jason is in his class so they can hang out (or at least sit next to each other). Since he's just taking one class right now he only has to go on Monday nights, and that is a good thing!


• David is getting a group of guys together to start meeting together as a Bible study. He's gotten jealous of the "Newcleus" and taken matters into his own hands :). They are meeting tomorrow night at the Rocha's and hopefully we'll all be able to meet at the same time.


• David is 23! Saturday was his birthday and it was a really nice day. We didn't do anything special- mostly because we are "celebrated" out. My birthday is tomorrow and I'll honestly be ok if everyone forgets about it. I did make David his favorite- banana pudding- and we watched John Bryant play football at Baylor. David had a good day, and that was the important thing!

I am so proud of David, and so thrilled to be his wife! It's been so much fun getting to know him better over the past two weeks, and we love being roommates! He is my bestest good friend and I'm so blessed. And, while we're on the topic of David... check him out in his grilling attire:

What a stud! And a good grill master, I must admit.

In other news... our bedding arrived! After debating back and forth about so many different bedding options, my sister finally helped me decide (go figure, Ashley helped me make a decision) on this lovely set:

We love it, and it's so nice to have our home coming all together!

Ok, that's all for now... thanks for tuning in :)