Birthday weekend

I'll first start off by saying I did try the Shrimp and Egg Fried rice with green garlic. Although I didn't have any green garlic, so just used regular garlic, and I also added onions and carrots to this dish. It was very good and would make this again.

So today is my birthday, and had quite the birthday celebration over the weekend. Friday night the Senators were playing, so my hubby got a steak on the BBQ, and yes just one because it was a really big piece which was plenty for both of us to share. We also got some potatoes and onions on the BBQ, and I prepared a garden salad. We had this with red wine, and at about 7:00 pm our friend came over to watch the hockey game with us and she brought over some homemade spanakopita, it's Greek, it has spinach and feta wrapped in phyllo dough. So very good!

Yesterday I got busy in the kitchen with preparing two lasagna for supper today. Today is my birthday after all so wanted to make it a more relaxing day for me, so I prepared ahead of time. I made one with spinach and cream cheese and cottage cheese, and the other just a traditional lasagna. Got the house all cleaned up and had time to relax before heading out for supper. At first we wanted to go to El Cumino because I ended up recording You got to eat here on the Food channel because my aunt and uncle were on the show, so I wanted to check it out. The first place they showed is El Cumino here in downtown Ottawa, and the food looked so good! So we thought since we were meeting friends downtown to go out dancing, he wanted to take me out for supper before. Unfortunately we didn't go because the wait was to long and we were both hungry, it was about 6:30 when we got downtown. So we went across the street to St. Louis bar and grill. I got the pulled pork taco with sweet potato fries. Sorry but I forgot to take a picture of it. Wish I would have it was absolutely delicious!  We then met up with about 20 friends. We didn't know them all, but it was a good night. We started the evening with some drinks and talking, then went upstairs to do some dancing. Had a lot of fun! A huge thank you to my good friend Nic for planning the evening.

Today has been a relaxing day for me. Catching up on some of my shows on TV, which my cat cuddled on me, and I did prepare BLT's for our lunch, and working on a bit of laundry, but other then that, it's been a nice relaxing day. I am very much looking forward to having my family over for supper, which they should be getting here in an hour or so. My dad is coming here with an ice cream cake from dairy queen, and my brother, sister in law, nieces and nephews are also coming over.

Here's the recipe for our lasagna supper. It's so very easy to make and so much better to make your own then buying it. This recipe is to make 2 lasagna, so you can cut it in half or just make two and freeze one for another time  =)

2 pounds of ground beef
2 peppers (I used a yellow and a red pepper), chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
6-8 mushrooms sliced - can use any kind you want
3 jars of tomato sauce

Brown up the ground beef in a large pot, add in your vegetables and saute until it's nice and soft. Add in your your jars of tomato sauce, stir and turn off the heat.  Now have everything around you to assemble, your lasagna noodles (I grabbed some oven ready noodles), your two pans, and your cheese.

For the spinach, cream cheese, and cottage cheese (or you can just use Ricotta cheese, that's what I wanted to do but I was surprised to see that they didn't have any at all). I bought a bag of frozen blanched spinach, I mixed it in with the cream cheese and cottage cheese in a large bowl. You will want to leave your cream cheese out of the fridge for a while so it's easier to mix.

Now you just assemble your lasagna. Put just a bit of sauce at the bottom to help the noodles get soft and to not stick at the bottom, then add a layer of noodles, more sauce, then a layer of grated cheese, unless your doing your spinach/cheese put that there, then another layer of noodles, sauce then grated cheese on top. You can also sprinkle some Parmesan cheese as well. For baking, add your pan covered with foil in the oven at 400 for about 45 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes.

Really can't wait to have some! I'll be putting it in the oven in about an hour. This is my absolute favorite meal, and it's always my first pick for a birthday supper. We will be 10 people which is why I made two, and if we don't eat it all, I'm good with left overs. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!