A Recipe: Spaghetti Pie

This week, my hubby asked me if we could have spaghetti pie for dinner one night.  In nearly 4 years, I cannot recall ever hearing this from him.  I’d never heard of it otherwise either.  So, we looked it up, and all of the ingredients sounded good, so we made it and ate it, and IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!  I decided right then and there, this would be inserted into our regular meal rotation.

Here’s the recipe for ya, via Better Homes & Gardens (I got it from the cookbook but it’s online here with a slight variation, the fennel was left out from online recipe)  I forgot to take pictures of ours, so here is one I borrowed, see the source for another variation of the recipe.

Spaghetti Pie

Source

Here’s the recipe for ya, via Better Homes & Gardens (I got it from the cookbook but it’s online here with a slight variation, the fennel was left out from online recipe)

Ingredients

• 4 ounces dried spaghetti
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine (I’m pretty sure this could be eliminated)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 ounces ground beef or bulk Italian sausage
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
• 1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seed
• 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

• Nonstick cooking spray

• 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese, drained
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (I’d say we used a bit more than this, maybe 3/4 cup)

Directions

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain.

2. Return spaghetti to warm saucepan. Stir butter into hot pasta until melted. Stir in egg and Parmesan cheese; set aside.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet cook ground beef, onion, sweet pepper, fennel, and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain. Stir in tomato sauce and oregano; heat through.

4. Coat a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray. Press spaghetti mixture onto bottom and up sides of pie plate, forming a crust. Spread cottage cheese on the top and up the sides of pasta crust. Spread meat mixture over cottage cheese. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese.

5. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and heated through. To serve, cut into wedges.

This recipe is pretty low in fat and high in protein.  Give it a try, it’s delicious!  Everyone loved it, we had just enough left over to take for lunch the next day.  Yummy.

Show me Christmas: Holiday Traditions

Christmas decorations in our family start the weekend after Thanksgiving when we normally put up our Christmas decorations and tree.  This year we did it the weekend before Thanksgiving because it was my birthday weekend and that is what I wanted to do for my birthday.  We even decorated outside this year, but you read about my decorations last week. 

After that, we don’t really have any big traditions until right before Christmas.  I make lots of cookies.  Sugar Cookies mostly, but I’ve made Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Chip and all kinds of others in the past.  Since my son was born, though, I’ve basically cut it down to just one type.

This year, we’re going to make Jesus a birthday cake.  We’ve been talking to Cooper about Jesus’s birthday and we want him to celebrate the real reason for the season and not just Santa Claus.   

We go to church on Christmas Eve.  I think we’ll put cookies out for Santa this year, as Cooper does understand Santa as he’s been singing “Santa is coming to town” for the past couple of weeks.  The hubby and I put the gifts under the tree, and we work on getting everything else ready for Christmas morning. 

We open presents first thing with everyone on Christmas morning.  We eat breakfast and then get all dressed and drive south to my parent’s houses for Christmas celebrations with them. 

Christmas dinner is usually a repeat of Thanksgiving.  This year it will be a bit different, at least at my mom’s house. 

That’s really about all for our traditions.  What are yours?  Link up and tell us!

 

Miscellany Monday

I haven’t linked up with Carissa in a long time, so I decided it was time again.  Now that I’m taking time to get back to blogging, time to get back to some of my favorite days to post.

1) Friday night we went to a Indiana Pacer’s basketball game.  We were  in the nosebleed seats.  literally.  Here was the view from our seats, nosebleeds I tell you.

Here’s a picture of my cute boy and Ry-Ry and his niece Gracie.  Cooper LOVES Gracie.  Gracie LOVES Cooper.  They are so cute when they play.  She’s 4 and he’s 2.  He’s already flirting, they are sharing a seat.  It’s cute.

2) Saturday Mom and Shawn came up to visit for a couple of hours.  They got to see our Christmas tree and decorations.  I baked cookies and got groceries and cleaned.  It was a productive day.

3) Sunday was church then relaxation.  A day of rest.  Just the way God intended.  Amen.

4) 4  more work days (including today) until a break for celebration of our Savior’s birth.  I’ve been counting down for weeks. 

5) Tomorrow is our “Holiday” Christmas lunch at work.  Our group of Indianapolis Finance people gather together for a nice lunch right before Christmas.  This year we’re going to Sullivan’s.  The menu they’ve got planned for us sounds delicious.  I cannot wait.  I don’t frequent expensive steakhouses so this meal is always a treat.  We do a white elephant gift exchange.  I need to find a gag gift, any ideas?

6) 4 more work days (including today) until we hit the road for this trip.  Indianapolis to NE Ohio. Almost to Youngstown.  We’re headed to the hubby’s family’s Christmas celebration.  Approximately 5.5 hours in a car with Cooper and Tim.  Stephanie, Ryan, Andrew and Sami will be meeting us on the 23rd, but we’re going after work on Thursday.  Visiting with some more of his family during the daytime on the 23rd, then dinner with his siblings Friday night.  Hotel then home on Christmas Eve.

7) Christmas Eve service is at 4 Saturday.  Very excited to attend our first Christmas Eve service at College Park.  We are so blessed to have found a church were we feel at home.

As you can tell, I’ve got lots of “Christmas” on my mind today.  It’s such a special time for families to celebrate the birth of our Lord.  Blessings are all around, don’t forget to recognize them.  Now, what random things do you have to say?  Link up with Carissa and tell us!

Have a great day everyone!

12/19/2007 was the beginning

The day was a Wednesday.  I was a nervous wreck.  I had a BIG problem, I’m talking BIG.  I had a HUGE crush on this guy.  This guy who would be my future husband.  I was borderline crazy for him.  I think he knew it, but I wasn’t for sure.  We were going out for lunch alone and I was going to tell him.  We ended up having a date that night at his house, my house now too, and we’re living happily ever after.

Let’s take a step back………

It was a whirlwind romance.  To go back to the beginning quickly.  We work together at a really big office building and we have hallways that are really long (1/6 of a mile).  He started “stalking” me in August, we started talking on our company’s instant messaging system and walking together each afternoon.  I went to Italy for 2 weeks over Thanksgiving and while I was away, I couldn’t stop thinking about him.  I guess that’s how I knew.  I didn’t admit it to myself until a week or so before the 19th.  My mom helped me realize it.  THANKS MOM!!!

So I just had to tell him.  We went to lunch, I was a NERVOUS WRECK, but I told him and we started dating then and there.  I went home that weekend, and we decided it would be good to come and meet my parents.  We met them for a bit then went out to lunch, a movie and shopping.  That is the day we truly fell in love.  He told me he loved me over the phone in the middle of the night.  Christmas happened and the day I came back to work, he made me dinner and I met his kids.  That was fun.  I was sooooooooo nervous.  But they are good kids, so it wasn’t too bad.  Then went to visit his brother in Cincinnati the weekend before New Year’s, when we came home, I went to church with him on Sunday. 

After that, he took me ring shopping.  Yes, that’s right, 11 days after we started dating, I was helping pick out my engagement ring.  We knew we were going to get married, but he hadn’t asked yet.  I didn’t know when he was going to ask, but I knew he was. 

We spent lots of time together and on New Years morning, he asked me to marry him.  It was perfect.  We started the new year off together just before I had a weeklong trip in FL with my family.  So we spent that week apart, yet spent every spare moment on the phone with one another.  It’s been almost 4 years now, and I am so thankful for this man.  For our family.  He brings joy to my life and I am so blessed.  My love for him grows deeper every day. 

Tim, if you read this, I want you to know how much I respect you, appreciate you and love you.  I found this quote the other day and I immediately thought of you.  You are the best babe. 

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You are the cheese to my macaroni, you are the horizon to my sky, you are the bacon to my eggs, you are the laces to my sneakers, you are the jelly to my peanut butter, you are the smile to my face, you are the gravy to my mashed potatoes, you are the bubbles to my bath, you are the milk to my cookie, you are the ink to my pen, you are the ketchup to my French fries, you are the water to my ocean, you are the icing on my cupcake. 

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