Momite's Lasagna

You didn't think I would rant and rave about my Momite's lasagna and not post the recipe, did you?! I have included step-by-step directions along with pictures for your viewing and potential tasting pleasure. So we will begin, ingredients:

-1/2 lb ground beef (Matt is a beef lover so we used 1 lb) -1 onion (I only used 1/2)
-1 large can of crushed tomatoes -1/2 teaspoon tyme
-12 oz tomato paste -1 teaspoon salt
-1 T (tablespoon) sugar -1 Tablespoon Fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried
-2 bay leaves -1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
-1 lb of Ricotta Cheese -1 Tablespoon fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried
-Mozzarella Cheese (I used about 2 lbs) -14 Lasagna Noodles
-2 eggs -1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (I didn't use these)
-grated Pecorino Cheese (found in specialty cheese area)
Step 1: Cook Lasagna Noodles.

Once completed, place on wax paper or tin foil to prevent sticking. (If my noodles look weird it is because I used whole wheat--much better nutrition and same taste)

Chop onion and herbs for the sauce.

Brown Ground beef with chopped onion. Drain after.

Add tomato paste, tomatoes, and herbs. Bring to a boil stirring, reduce heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 eggs and ricotta cheese.

Layer noodles on bottom of 13 x 9 casserole dish (we used this smaller dish and made another even smaller batch to freeze and eat later). Overlap the noodles when layering.

Next layer the Ricotta cheese mixture.

Sprinkle the Mozzarella Cheese on top.

Next layer the sauce and meat mixture.

Complete the layer one more time and top with the Pecorino Cheese (I also sprinkled a little more Mozzarella cheese-who says you can have too much cheese?!)

Bake on 375 for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Getting and Sharing Some Love for Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!! I realize this is a "Hallmark" made holiday in order to increase sales and force people to buy gifts for their loved ones, but I am a sucker for any occasion that calls for lovey-dovey-ness. Matt and I traditionally go out to dinner at a nice restaurant and get small gifts for one another. After all the years of battling the crowds and traffic to get a jacked up special priced "Valentines Menu" I let Matt convince me to do our traditional dinner out Sunday night and to have a nice romantic evening at home. So last night we went to eat at Village Tavern, one of our favorite restaurants in Birmingham. It was delicious and we had a great time.

Today, we went to lunch at Mama Goldberg's which is a place we used to frequent when we first began dating in Auburn. They have since expanded and we are lucky enough to have one (or several) in Birmingham. So we ate some Mama's Love's for lunch (how appropriate!) and shared nacho's like old times. After work, Matt joined me for a quick run with the dogs. For dinner, I prepared my Momite's (grandmothers) lasanga. It was my first attempt at Lasagna and it turned out great. Matt's reviews included repeating "magnificent" several times and even singing a song about how delicous it was. Fair to say he enjoyed it! I also had some beautiful flowers delivered to me as a surprise from Matt! What a great Valentine Matt is!

I hope you guys have/had a great Valentines Day whether you were with someone special or proudly embraced your single-hood.

Weekly Run Report

This week was a good run week. I improved my distance as well as pace and am pretty satisfied with how the training is going. I ran a total of 20.5 miles. Watch out Country Music Marathon!

Monday- Ran 4 miles on TD (treadmill). Did some good incline/hill training.

Wednesday- Ran 6 miles on TD at a 9:30 minute pace the whole time (no incline). My goal for the marathon is about 10 minute miles, so if I keep this up I may beat my goal!

Thursday-3 miles on TD at 9:30 min pace with lots of incline the whole time.

Saturday-A beautiful day to enjoy the weather and finally get outside! I ran 7.5 miles outside around the Trussville Mall area, a historic/park area. It was a good run, though I averaged about 10:30 min/miles which wasn't as good as I have been running. I am not sweating it though, my first few miles just weren't easy and then it seemed to click and everything went great.

The great news is that the weather is supposed to be very nice all week, which equals lots of good runs outside! I think Matt may have even gotten himself in trouble, agreeing to run with me some this week!

Tipsy Tuesday

I always get a good laugh out of my friend Amanda's blog when she posts silly pictures of our friends. The other day I was going through some of our photos and realized we have a few silly picture's of us and our friends as well. We may not all be "tipsy" (or we may be...:) ) in these photos, but we sure look like it! Enjoy!

Sushi, Shopping, and Superbowl

We had a busy weekend! It started out Friday evening when we met up with Matt and Ang B. for sushi. As the sushi and beverages progressed we somehow let the boys talk us into going to the dog track afterwards. The dog track is not the classiest joint here in Birmingham so it is not typically a place I enjoy to frequent. The hard part for me every time I do go to the dog track I notice how nice it *could* be, as it used to be an actual horse track. History has always been fascinating to me and I can only imagine how nice the track once was. It makes me sad though to see how it is no longer such a nice place. Anyways, I digress....we ended up going and it was a good time.

Saturday after my run, we cleaned house (thanks to my awesome hubs who helped!), and I managed to convince Matt into shopping with me. The trip was a success as we bought a new end table and lamps. I mean, I have no clue why Matt didn't like our old Walmart lamps and 90's style end table (no offense to Walmarts lamps). Please see the pictures of our new table and lamps, I think they turned out very nice and hope you do too!

In case you live under a rock Sunday was the big game, aka the Superbowl. We headed to Matt and Ang B.'s (they got alotta love from us this weekend it seems) for the festivities. I love the superbowl, ahem, I mean parties, because it is always fun to get together with good friends, socialize, watch the game (I mean commercials), and eat until you feel like you might puke. This year I'm not sure which was a bigger deal, smoking the meats all day with the correct "mop" or actually watching the game. Luckily the guys were able to finish the meat right before they watched the game. Good timing boys! So we along with several friends hung out at Matt and Angelas for the game and also were able to celebrate Angela's birthday which is tomorrow.

Hope you guys had a good weekend! Now it is back to the daily grind!

Angela and her football/birthday cake

A few folks watching the game, or not watching the game. Matt, Mitch and AmandaA small miracle, Romeo let someone (Bethanny) hold him. This must be documented as it happens so infrequently.

Weekly Run Report

So this week was a good week. I ran a total of 24 miles. I was only able to run outside once due the cold weather (ice, sleet, and snow, oh my!) but kept on track using the treadmill. Here's a quick re-cap of my runs:

Sunday- I wasn't able to run Saturday due the the "Breakfast Club" meeting (see last post) but luckily the weather stayed beautiful and warm for Sunday and I got a long run in that morning. I ran 6 miles outside and did okay, I ran a lot of hills and I'm not gonna lie, it was hard (the hills). I felt good after though.

Monday-I planned on running a short run (3 miles) Monday since I ran longer than usual on Sunday but once I started it felt great and I ended up running 4 miles on the treadmill.

Wednesday-After taking a day off I felt great and ran 5 miles on the treadmill. It was a great run and I maintained a good pace.

Thursday-I ran a short 3 miles on the treadmill before heading into work. I picked the "rolling hills" program on my treadmill and it was more like "incline UP the whole time". It was difficult because running outside I can slow down and speed up as I need to, but on the treadmill I try not to change my speed often. It wasn't a great run but I need that hill training, if I can't get it outside I need to make myself do it inside.

Saturday-Ran 6 miles on the treadmill and it went well. I got a little tired around mile 5 but pulled through and ended it fine. I ran the whole way and maintained a 10 min/mile pace. Getting tired though so early makes me worry how I am gonna complete 13.1 miles, but I know that the training is how I will be able to get my stamina and endurance up.

Overall, I feel I'm on target with where I want/need to be. I have been maintaining a 10 min/mile pace inside and outside for the most part (my 6 miles outside was a little slower with the hills...). My goal time to complete the half is 2:15 and I think if I keep up the training hopefully I should be able to accomplish this (hopefully!).

The Breakfast Club.

For the second time a few girlfriends and I decided to have breakfast, or brunch, and it ended up being an all day event. It started when a few best friends and I decided we would meet up at a restaurant called Silvertron in Birmingham while the boys were out playing golf. The weather was beautiful, the food and drinks were great, and so was the company. We met up around 10:00 am and started off with a few mimosa pitchers and some great breakfast. The turning point was around 10:57 when our Waiter informed us that the mimosa "special" which we thought ended at 11am, actually was an all day deal. Well, we girls don't want to pass up a great opportunity for some cheap drinks (and to also get in some vitamin C, duh) and more time to chit chat so we decided to stay, and to keep supporting the wonderful restaurant of course.

Around lunchtime we decided to change venues and enjoy the beautiful weather and headed over to a place called Jackson's in SoHo Square in downtown Homewood. Jackson's is one of my favorite restaurants with its awesome food and amazing atmosphere. We got a table outside and enjoyed the weather. While we were there we ran into Ryan Shoemaker, Auburn's Punter. We got our picture made with him (check Amanda's blog for pic's) and briefly chatted with him and his father (he was there with his girlfriend and mom also, but strangely we didn't talk to them much ;) ). As the dinner guests began to arrive at Jackson's, we decided it was time to call it a day. We met up with the boys, Matt and I grabbed a quick bite for dinner and passed out. It was a great Saturday! The weather sure was a nice tease, making me miss the days we can spend outside without a jacket!