American Girl Birthday Party

Kelsey is my grand daughter Kennedy's doll, and she is having a birthday party!

Kennedy invited five of her friends and their dolls.

What a delicious looking table!  Kelsey's donut is the one with the two candles, because that's how old she is ;)

The girls dressed their dolls in clothes from Kelsey's wardrobe.

Kelsey has a fashion show with all the clothes I made for her in a previous post, you can see it here.

Some of the girls gave their dolls check ups while others put pretend make up on their dolls.

When the girls were through primping their dolls, it was time for the fashion show.  Kennedy was the announcer.

Kelsey's yoga mat was the red carpet.

One of the dolls had a skiing accident but she was still able to go down the runway.

Everyone is so excited!  Kennedy's two year old sister Charlotte and her two year old cousin Neo were invited as well.

My son Addison (Neo's dad) loves to be in all the photos!!!

♪♫♪♫♪♫ Happy Birthday to Kelsey ♪♫♪♫♪♫

The party invitations that Kennedy made said not to bring gifts.

I couldn't resist bringing some gifts for Kelsey.

A pair of shoes, some glasses and a cell phone.

We had such a fun time at Kelsey's birthday party.

I hope you were able to get some ideas for your doll's party.

Lasagna

My mother makes the best lasagna!  Whenever I ordered lasagna at a restaurant, it was never as good as my mom made.  I found out it was her sister Elinor's recipe.  My youngest brother Paul was born when I was 11 years old.  Aunt Elinor and her daughter Pat came to stay with my brothers and I when my mother was in the hospital.  I had the best time with them.  I always wanted a sister and my cousin Pat felt like a sister to me.  We went to Expo 67, the world's fair which was held where we lived, in Montreal.  Needless to say, I loved my Aunt Elinor and my cousin Pat.  Aunt Elinor came to visit  us on occasion.  She lived far away in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  I would wake up in the morning and walk downstairs. I would hear my mom and Aunt Elinor talking and their voices sounded so much alike that I couldn't tell them apart!  Aunt Elinor was just like my mom ♥

 I made this lasagna as a newlywed, and have passed the recipe on to my children. When my five oldest children were married, I compiled all of our family favorite recipes into a recipe book for them.

I am going to share our lasagna recipe with you.

These are the ingredients for the meat portion of the recipe.

 Cook a 1 lb. of lean ground beef.

Add a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes.

Add a 6 oz. can of tomato paste.

Add 1 T. dried basil.  Stir and sautee until the liquid evaporates and the sauce is thick.

These are the ingredients for the cheese mixture.

Slightly beat 2 eggs.

To the beaten eggs, add 3 cups of cottage cheese, l/2 cup grated parmesan, 2 T. dried parsley, 1 t. salt, 1 t. pepper and stir.

Add water to a pasta pot and bring to a boil.

I always add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the water to prevent the pasta from sticking together.

While I'm waiting for the water to boil, I lay the uncooked lasagna noodles in the 9 X 13 pan to see how they will fit, and how many noodles I will need.  The noodles will be layered in the pan twice.

When the water is boiling, I add the lasagna noodles, a few at a time.

The noodles are really stiff, so I wait for them to bend before I add more to the pot.  I put the noodles in the pot at different angles.

The noodles relax once they have been in the boiling water for a few minutes.  I cook them for about 10 minutes.  I definately don't want the noodles too soft, I like them soft but a little firm.  Remember, they will cook some more in the oven.

When the noodles are cooked to the desired consistency, I dump them into a colander and run some cold water over them so they don't stick together.

I spray the pan with Pam so that the lasagna won't stick and can be easily removed when it is time to be served.

I lay the cooked lasagna noodles in the pan.

Spoon half of the cheese mixture onto the noodles.

Then drop the meat mixture by spoonfuls onto the cheese mixture.

Lay the second layer of noodles over the cheese and meat mixtures.  The noodle that is on the end is on the opposite side of the first layer of noodles.

Layer the cheese and meat mixtures again and cover the lasagna with shredded mozarella cheese.  I add a lot because I like it chewy in the center and crisp on the edges.

I spray the underside of a piece of foil with Pam.  The lasagna cooks covered with a layer of foil, for 30 minutes.  After that amount of time, I remove the lasagna from the oven, take the foil off and cook the lasagna in the oven for an additional 15 minutes until it is golden in color.  I never used to spray the foil with Pam, but the cheese would stick to the foil and so much of it was wasted.

Cover the lasagna with the foil sprayed with Pam and cook in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.

This is what the lasagna looks like after 30 minutes of baking in the oven.  Remove the foil and return it to the oven for another 15 minutes.

This is what the lasagna looks like when it is ready to be eaten!

Doesn't the lasagna look delicious?

Mmmmmmm..........

I forgot to show you the lasagna plated....whoops!

I always serve it with garlic bread and a salad.

At least I remembered to take a phot of the salad.

Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, parmesan cheese and a little bit of vinaigrette.

I hope you've enjoyed this photo tutorial of our family lasagna.

I hope you try it for your family.

Aunt Elinor's Lasagna

Meat Mixture:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 T. granulated garlic

1 T. dry basil

l l/2 t. salt

2 cups canned tomatoes

6 oz. canned tomato paste

Cheese Mixture:

3 cups cottage cheese

l/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

2 T. dry parsley flakes

2 beaten eggs

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

Noodles and shredded mozarella cheese

Brown meat, pour off fat and add other ingredients.

Cook noodles and drain.

Place half cooked noodles in 9 X 13 pan

Place half cheese mixture.

Place half meat mixture.

Noodles, cheese, meat and mozarella on top.

Cover with foil, and bake 30 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered in 375 degree oven.

Centered on the Couch

My daughter Vanessa is studying interior design.

She has a blog starkgolddesign where she posts interesting design ideas and applications.

I have a red leather couch in my living room and Vanessa designed a living space around my couch.  

This is what she said:

My Mom just bought a red couch from RC Willey and so I thought I would design a living room for her. The couch and chairs are all from RC Willey. I really thought the silver and graphite shades of grey looked great with her vivid red couch. The coffee and side tables were all from the same store that I found online and really look great with the seating pieces. It adds some softness to the bold pieces of furniture. Most of the decor I looked to Anthropology. The floor and table lamp I found there but the main chandelier I got at Ylighting from the Jonathan Adler Collection. The drapes I saw at Anthropology and thought it would be a perfect fit for the room and then saw the throw pillows which really tied the grey and red together and brought in another great accent color. The walls will be painted the bright teal color and with the grey trimming the bottom half. The wood wallpaper will be for an accent wall(wall with the two windows). I just love how this room really all ties together for a great contemporary ecclectic look.

I love everything about this room!

She needs to build up her portfolio so if you are interested, she will design for you free of charge.

Let me know or contact her through her blog :)

Eight is Great!

"Just about the time a woman thinks her work is done, she becomes a grandmother."  Author:  Edward H. Dreschnack

Grandmothers are moms with lots of frosting!

"A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty."

These are my EIGHT precious grandchildren!

From left to right, their names are:

 Bridger (7 l/2), Neo (2), Reagan (2), Kylie (one week), Benjamin (4 months), Maisie (2 l/2), Charlotte (2 l/2) and Kennedy (5 l/2).

Needlebook Tutorial

Before I begin this needlebook post, I need to say something to any of you who might be looking for my "paperdoll quilt" post.

Due to Christmas and a new grandbaby and life in general, I am not able to finish the paperdoll quilt at this time.  I will dedicate Friday's post to that quilt asap.  

I saw this sweet little needlebook on Nana Company quite a while back and pinned it to my "Want to Make It" board on Pinterest.  

I love every single thing that Amy creates :)

I finally got around to making one and I had so much fun making it!

The tutorial is here.

I loved choosing vintage fabrics and cute little embellishments for this project.  I made it as a gift for a young woman who loves ♥ Anthropologie.  I tried to make it as interesting and unique as possible.  Notice  all the details?

I added a double pocket on the back side of my front cover.

I made it more of a sewing kit that a needle book.

I originally had silver safety pins here, but I found some pink ones at JoAnn's and used them instead.

This is my favorite page!

Leaf pins, velvet rick rack with little x's embroidered on it.

Sparkly buttons with two trims of ribbon.  

I like the swatch of linen that the needles are pinned to.

I added another pocket to the back cover.

I chose each little square with great care!

The back cover looks cuter with some hand stitching.

The needlebook is smaller than it looks.  It is only about 3"X4".

I was able to squeeze all of these supplies into the needlebook/sewing kit.

I loved making this little needlebook and would like to make some more for my daughters  and daughters in law, all 5 of them!

Oh, and one for me too!