Weekend Update

Friday we stayed in all night. It was storming, and raining like crazy! I made Lasagna Soup for supper and it was so good. Over on pauladeen.com, her son Bobby is taking some of her recipes and making them lighter, with less butter.

Lasagna Soup

2 tsp. olive oil
1 pound Italian turkey sausage, casing removed
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
32 oz. low sodium chicken broth
15 oz. can tomato sauce
14 1/2 oz. petite diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
4 oz. whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken up
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
3 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
8 whole-wheat breadsticks

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick saucepan. Add the sausage, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is crumbled and browned, 8-10 minutes.

Add the broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salt and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring constantly, until the flavors are blended, about 20 minutes. Add the noodles, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens slightly and the noodles are tender, 10-12 minutes. Serve with the breadsticks and cheeses.

Saturday we started the search for new bedroom furniture. I found something that's okay. I'm not in love with it, so the search continues. We wound up in Waxhaw at some kind of discount furniture place. I'm looking for something that's not to big and in a lighter wood finish. Our bedroom is not huge, so I don't want a bunch of dark big pieces in there. We ate supper at Sagebrush in Monroe. Brian gave me the receipt and he had signed it "Mac Daddy." You just never know what someone's going to do around here.

Sunday since we had no church, we headed to Momma and Daddy's for a cookout. We had a great time and were there for quite a while. We had a great lunch and then just sat around talking. Daddy took Alex for a ride on his new lawn mower and even let him drive. Alex thought he was big stuff driving the mower. There was even a game of tag. Cragan and I sat on the swing while Brian, Amos, Sonya, Brianna and Alex played tag. The swing was base, so Cragan would tag anyone who was touching base. Brianna and Alex thought it was funny that the adults were playing too. After the game of tag, we headed over to Nana's to see her. Alex had to tell her all about his day (I will tell you all what else happened later this week.) The kids slept so good, they were tired from running around.

Monday we did nothing. Daddy had a motor he wanted Brian to look at. Brian brought it home and worked on it. The kids played in the house, it was storming, so they couldn't play outside. I was on the couch. I think I'm getting a cold, so I rested up. The most strenuous thing I did all day was cook and wash dishes. Alex conned me into making pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Brianna conned me into making Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-Up and fries for supper.