Friday night Pat and I started the weekend off right with a campfire outside. The night air had cooled off a bit and the fire was nice and toasty. We were enjoying every second until I spotted a bat in the sky. And then another one. And then another. Pat kept assuring me they wouldn't fly close to us but that didn't really make me feel much better. I was basically freaking out. And then out from the wood-line at the end of our yard came a deer. And another bat. I finally told Pat this was too much nature for me and ran indoors. Hey I'm all for nature...but bats?!?! No thank you!
Saturday morning we got up and headed out on a bike ride to a few garage sales in the area. We ended up getting a small plastic red phone for Lucy from a free toy bin that was the best find of the day. Pat and I laughed as we were biking since we could hear her babbling away on her new phone.
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| Checking out the park! |
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| If you look closely, you can see part of her red phone by her feet :) |
After the garage sales we decided to swing by few local parks for Lucy to play. The one park had some really neat areas for little kids to play in. It was so much fun to watch her run around and explore new areas. At one point she caught sight of some birds in the area and freaked out with excitement. This kid loves her some bird watchin' :)
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| A little nervous at first.... |
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| ...but then loving it! |
Sunday after church we headed out on the lake with some friends for a mostly relaxing and sunny afternoon. I say mostly relaxing as Lucy had a rough go for awhile. I accidentally got some sunscreen in her eyes and from that point on her eyes watered the entire time we were out there. She also had missed her usual nap time but I did manage to get her to sleep on the boat for awhile. The combination of new people and being on a boat made her pretty clingy early on, but she was a trooper. And when she did finally fall asleep Pat and I were able to enjoy a cold drink or two and spend time with great friends. The only disappointment is that I didn't get a picture of her! She looked ridiculously cute!
To wrap up the weekend we headed to my parents lake house on Monday. My mom took Lucy swimming in the lake and they had so much fun! I think this will be a fun summer as she is really warming up to the water. So much so that while I took her grocery shopping with me yesterday I was picking out some salmon at the seafood department and she saw the live lobster tank she started jumping up and down and shouting, "Wa-da! Wa-da! Wa-da!" Apparently she saw all the water (wa-da) in the lobster tank and wanted to go for a dip! Silly girl!
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| Fun with Grammy! |
All that fun though does take a toll. I peaked in on Pat rocking Lucy to sleep last night and found this!
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| Too much weekend! |
This weekend I tried a few new recipes and among them was this one for Portobello and Summer Squash Lasagna and it was delicious! Like all lasagnas, there is a bit of prep work involved, but it's so worth it in the end. I of course didn't follow the recipe exactly and took a few short cuts (like not individually browning each and every piece of squash...who's got time for that?) but it still turned out great! I also subbed half of the mozzarella cheese for the vegan variety and you couldn't tell a difference at all. I know this because I snuck the veggie shreds "mozzarella" cheese in and Pat never noticed a difference. My pictures are horrible but I promise the results are worthy of your time.
Portobello and Summer Squash Lasagna
Adapted from Eat Live Run
Ingredients
3-4 tbs olive oil divided
4 zucchini or summer squash cut into thin rounds
3 portobello mushroom caps, "gills" scraped out and sliced into 1/4" pieces
1 15-oz container ricotta cheese
2 organic eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 24-oz jars marinara sauce
about 12 no boil lasagna noodles
6 oz vegan mozzarella cheese (any brand is fine, or you can just use actual mozzarella cheese), grated
6 oz mozzarella cheese, grated + 3 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Heat about a teaspoon of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add about 1/3 to 1/2 of your zucchini/summer squash mix to the skilled and saute until well browned. Remove and place on paper towels and repeat with remaining squash until all are browned.
Add more oil to your pan and then add your portobello mushrooms and saute until tender. Place all vegetables in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Combine the ricotta cheese, salt and pepper and eggs in a medium bowl. Whisk until well combined.
In the same skillet you cooked your veggies in, heat your remaining olive oil, about 1-2 tbs. Add the minced garlic and onion and saute until tender. Add the pasta sauce and season with salt and pepper as needed.
To assemble, place about a cup and a half of the pasta sauce at the bottom of a 9 x 13" dish. Then on top, lay three no boil lasagna noodles flat, overlapping if necessary. Follow this with a third of the veggie mixture, a half cup of the ricotta mixture, a cup of marinara sauce and a sprinkle of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese blend. Lay another three noodles on top and repeat the process until all your noodles are gone, or you run out of filling like I did. On top drizzle remaining marinara sauce and the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese mix.
Cover pan loosley with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 30 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. Let lasagna set for 15-20 minutes...or gobble up immediately.
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