Cooking Thursday

I got today's recipe from my friend Carrie at Northwoods Scrapbook. She shares lots of good recipes and this one sounded like a winner.  And... it was!  Her recipe called for ground beef but I used Italian sausage because I had some in the freezer.  I'm sure either would be good.  It was easy to make and full of flavor.

Easy Spaghetti Hot Dish

1 pound ground beef or Italian sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 jar spaghetti sauce or marinara
1 box of your favorite pasta; spaghetti, penne (I used rigatoni)
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Spices of your choice; salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic, oregano

In a dutch oven or pot, add the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and green pepper and cook for several minutes until softened. Add the garlic and brown for a minute. Then push veggies to the side and add your meat, cook until it's done and drain any grease. Stir meat and veggies together.
Pour in your sauce and add seasonings of your choice.  Cover and let it simmer.
In the meantime boil water in another pot and make pasta according to the box directions.
Drain pasta and add to the sauce mix. Stir half of the mozzarella into the pasta and sauce, then sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top.
You can cover it to let the cheese melt and then serve it or put it into a casserole and keep warm in the over.
Serve with parmesan on the side to sprinkle on top.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Photo Books

I've posted before about the photo books I make every year and some of you have asked to see them.
I've tried different companies for this over the years and have decided that Mixbook is the best of all I've tried.  It's easy to work with, has so many options for backgrounds, stickers, fonts and layouts.  (I'm not getting paid to say this, I just think they are the best.)
When my kids were younger, I did scrapbooks for them. I like this better because you don't have to go to the store and get supplies, store everything and haul it out to work on. It's all on your computer!
Anyway, I do one of these every year for each of our grandkids, and I do it from one birthday to the next. I also do one for Bob and I, with all the fun and events of the year.

Here's what they look like:

Here's Alaina and Ruby's books.

This is a page in Alaina's book from when we took them to Greenfield Village.

This is a page from Ruby's book showing her entry in the school Art Show, and also the visit from my friend Jenny of I'm having a Thought Here. 

And here's Cassie and Connor's books.

This is a page in Cassie's book from a day she spent with us.

and a page of Connor being cute!

This one is Bob and my family book for 2025.

This page has Alaina and Ruby doing a craft and a visit from Terri of Your Friend from Florida.

It's so nice to have all these photos in books with dates and documentation.

Right now I'm working on another book that I'm really having fun with. It's a family history book with photos of both my Dad and Moms families, letters my Dad wrote to my mom when he was in the army and history of the farm I grew up on. I'm looking forward to getting it done and sharing it with my siblings.