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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Lasagna Soup

While cruising around on Pinterest, I found a couple recipes that sounded really good and different from the regular meals I make: Lasagna Soup. I then found a "lighter" version of it by Paula Deen's boys. I worked off the lighter version, and made some modifications. Their original recipe can be found here: The Deen Brothers. The recipe I've listed below includes most of their version, with my changes included. If you decide to make it, let me know what you think, and if you make any changes of your own, let me know that as well. I'm always looking for ways to improve already good food!



Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups egg noodles (measured loosely dry, before adding)
2 tsp Italian seasoning
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick saucepot or Dutch oven. Add the sausage, onion, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is crumbled and browned, 8 – 10 minutes.

Add the broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are blended, about 20 minutes. Add the noodles; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens slightly and the noodles are tender, 10 – 12 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in mozzarella, and the Parmesan. 

Serve with the french bread. 


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Happy Birthday, Beka!

Yesterday was my niece Beka's 7th birthday. She had a great day: Feed My Starving Children, Happy Meal and Playland for lunch, and rollerblading at RollerGarden's Christian Music Night. I wish we would have been in MN to celebrate with her; it sounded like an awesome day!

I remember January 21, 2005. I was honored to be with my sister in the delivery room. She had 2 fairly easy births with her boys, and we all figured the 3rd would make it's appearance quickly. It didn't quite happen that way! Amanda called me earlier in the day, as her water had "kind of" broken, and after a few hours of contractions we all headed to the hospital. I remember sitting in her room, just waiting, while nothing was really gong on. We played cards, and then our mom and I headed down to get some food in the cafeteria...then we got a call...the Pitocin had kicked in and a baby was coming!

My sister and brother-in-law didn't know what the baby was, and after "it" was born, the doctor said, "It's a girl!!" To which my sister said, "Are you sure?" We were all super excited to have another baby girl in the family! Rebekah Elisabeth joined our family that day. She was a chunky little baby, with the cutest, most squeezable thighs around! She's grown into a spunky, high-energy girl who's smile can brighten up the room. She's got a big heart, and a caring spirit. We love you Beka!!! And hope that you have an awesome 7th year!

Here's my sweet Beba at about 6 months old!
And here she is, just 3 weeks shy of 7 years old!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Happy Birthday, Andy!

On this day, 3 years ago, we welcomed our 3rd child into the world. I was blessed with another easy delivery; after 2 pushes he appeared! Andy Cole Ellis made his first appearance at 11:42pm, weighing 6lb 15oz and 20 3/4 inches long (our biggest baby!!) He was an excellent baby. Nursed well, and slept well, though he didn't sleep through the night until he was 10 months old! His big sisters were so in love with him, and I'm happy to report that 3 years later, they still love the little guy!

Andy constantly brings smiles to our faces. He is all boy and loves fire trucks, construction trucks, Cars 2, boats, monster trucks, airplanes and pretty much anything else with wheels or wings! Though he has been known to play My Little Pony with Belle and Barbies with Em. He loves play dough and moon dough, painting and coloring. He also loves the DVDs from the library, like Mighty Machines and John Deere.

He is quick to give a hug when someone is hurting, and kisses are given freely. We love this little guy, and can't imagine our lives without him!

Here's a few picts from his first 3 years:

Minutes after he was born.
1st Birthday
2nd Birthday
3rd Birthday

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas in MN

The kids and I were super excited to spend 17 days in MN around the girls break from school. We so loved seeing friends and family and spending a lot of quality time together. This will be just a brief snapshot of all we did, as my camera was not along at everything, like getting together with my PTA girls!!

Here's a few of my favorite pictures!

Holidazzle Parade in downtown Minneapolis!
We HAD to go to the Mall of America! The kids tried on these adorable hats!
They also did Build-a-Bear from Grammy! Uncle Wheels came to MOA too!
Christmas Eve we were with Beau's family up at his brother's house, and I forgot my camera at my mom's house so I don't have any picts from that. Kids had a great time playing with their 5 boy cousins and mom had some good talk time with the in-laws!

Christmas Morning!
You'll notice that the stockings do not say their names on them. I forgot to pack their stockings so we used mine, my sis and bros from when we were kids. My Grandma Becker made 2 of the 3 of them. Good thing we were 2 girls and one boy also!

The Cousin Invasion!!!
Emily & Grammy made a Happy Birthday, Jesus cake!
We love the MN Children's Museum! Can you find Emily?
New Year's Eve at Como Zoo
We wanted to celebrate New Year's Eve with the kids, but obviously, were not going to let them stay up till midnight. My brilliant sister found that Como Zoo has a countdown...at noon!! We made hats, and they had a beachball drop at noon with all the kids getting to take a ball home. Lots of fun!

We celebrated Andy's 3rd birthday with the family on Jan 1.
Our Jan 1st tradition for many years has been to fondue! Lots of fun!
We went rollerblading 2x and had an awesome time!
Belle was a little speedy girl on blades!
On the last morning, we went to Cabela's.
Definitely the hardest part of the trip was leaving...many tears were shed by all.
We had such an amazing time with my sister, her kids and my mom. We've missed them a lot since moving to VA. I think this goodbye was harder than the first since we're not sure when we'll see eachother again, and since we now know what it's like to not have eachother close by. Skype is fun, talking on the phone is fun, but it is just not the same. Love you guys!!!!