Birthday dinners--we could have 12 of them throughout the year, and that's if we just took care of our immediate family.  when our children were young and the birthday parties were  {figuratively and literally} eating our lunch, we came up with a new plan.  every other year, the children could have the big, blowout birthday party.  every other year, it was to be just family.  and to make that year a bit more special, they got to have the birthday dinner of choice.  it has since grown into every year is the dinner, but when they were small, all available money was spent on the party--and that was their gift from us, also.  so, lots of thought goes into what they choose for their dinner.  the birthday child is met with all kinds of persuasive talk about what would be good for that day :) .  In the end, though, I try to get them to choose what they and they alone want for their dinner.  we have some pretty consistent choices from each person.  we pretty much know now what that person will ask for.  lasagna has become a regular...not just any lasagna, but MOM's {my recipe} lasagna.  It usually goes with cheese bread and a salad i replicated from III Forks restaurant, a very expensive steak house/restaurant here in dallas.  for dessert, we again, have the birthday boy/girl choose what they want.  its almost never cake :) , or if it is, its some non-traditional cake that we just love.

Lasagna

• 1/4 chopped onion
• 8 oz lasagne noodles
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. dried, crushed sweet basil
• 1 t. dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 t. dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6 oz.  tomato paste
• 8 oz. tomato sauce
• 1/2 c mushroom pieces ( I leave out, or no one would eat this :))
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 c. cottage cheese

Cooke lasagna noodles as directed.  Brown beef with onion.  Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, mushrooms, spices and water.  Simmer 1 hour.

In a 9x13 cooking dish, alternate layers of two thicknesses of noodles, cottage cheese, meat mixture and mozzarella, ending with mozzarella.   Bake for 30 minutes at 350.  Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes.

NOW...what I do :)  I always double the sauce recipe for a  single batch.  AND, I always make 2 batches...one to eat and one to freeze.  SO, I double everything and put one in the freezer before being cooked.  You can cook it straight out of the freezer--IF you put it in a cold oven on about 300...but it will take a while to cook.  If you are more organized than me, you will think ahead and take it out and let it thaw, at least a bit before you cook it.

**in the picture, I had extra sauce and just plopped it on, but it usually has just cheese on top :)

tip:  my kids will not eat any chunky onions, peppers, tomatoes, etc...so, I always blend them up in whatever liquid I am using in the recipe.  if it is eggs--say in meatloaf--i will blend them up with the veggies....you get the yummy flavor everyone loves without all the chunks....which I do miss, but will have them back one day :)

bread and salad recipes to follow...........