But hey, it’s a new year and after celebrating my birthday season and the holiday season back-to-back a low cal lasagna sounded like a great idea.

Plus (and this is a big plus), you make part of the recipe in the food processor!  

That might not excite many of you.  But readers of my old blog (no, you can’t find it, I took it down) might remember that I won a food processor from Centsational Girl.

Oh I was excited about that food processor.

Big dreams, people.  Big dreams.

Hummus.  Pesto.  Complicated recipes.  Processing food in large quantities.

Then the food processor arrived.

And sat on the shelf.  Looking at me reproachfully.

I felt so guilty about not using it that I actually loaned it to a friend who wanted to make hummus.

She brought it back, still in the box.

It’s like the food processor was destined to gather dust forever.

Until Valerie Bertinelli came along.

Way to go Val!

I’ve made lasagna in the past, but it was cheater lasagna made with no-cook noodles and bottled sauce.

This time it was from SCRATCH.  Woot woot!

I started the noodles cooking and pulled out the food processor to make the sauce.  First up you had to process two cloves of garlic, and then add some tomatoes.  I grabbed my garlic bulb and realized it was pretty old.  Many of the cloves had kind of shriveled.  I kept throwing away yucky cloves until at last I find some good meaty ones.  The middle cloves.  You know, the ones that are like three times the size of a regular clove.  I put one in the processor to pulverize as I peeled the other.  As I dropped the second clove into the processor I thought to myself, “Hmm.  Those cloves are pretty big.  Wonder if I should have just used one.”  But at that point the second clove was in the processor.  It hadn’t been processed yet, but I struggled mightily with getting the lid on in just the proper way and I wasn’t quite sure I could get it back off.  (And no, I did not read the manual.  Why do you ask?).

So the two nuclear-holocaust garlic-growth-hormone mutant cloves processed in the food processor.

The kitchen filled with a mist of garlic.

Tourists knocked on my door and asked if this is Little Italy.

You are not here

Vampires for blocks around keeled over cursing my name.

I did not let any of this stop me.  No no, I was pressing on toward the goal that was lasagna from scratch.

The noodles finished cooking and I began assembling the layers.  And this is when I realized why those no-cook noodles are so popular.

Because have you ever tried to get a wet lasagna noodle out of a pot and into a casserole?  While it’s boiling hot?  And slippery?

It’s not an easy task.

But it got significantly easier when I remembered these handy little guys.

Tongs. Silicone tongs.

My mom bought them for me years ago.  And I remember at the time thinking to myself, “why is she buying those tongs?”  And so I asked her, “Why are you buying those tongs?”  She gave me some song and dance about how they are really so very handy and I’ll be glad I have them someday blah blah blah tongs blah blah blah useful and whatnot.

She was right!

I will now compose a haiku about tongs:

Happy tongs today

Silicone goodness for food

Hold that noodle tight

I layered and baked and became acclimated to the garlic.  Neighbor C came to join me for dinner.

I served that lasagna with pride.  As BooMama would say, I was walking in lasagna victory.

She took a bite and said “Um, I think it’s a little heavy on the garlic.”

Which is the exact same thing that Neighbor G said the next day at lunch.

But I must note that the excess garlic did not stop either of them from cleaning their plate.  Neighbor C even took leftovers home.

Oh mutant garlic, where is thy sting?

1. Get more sleep.  Part of that means getting better at turning off the internets and heading to bed!

Chloe sets a good example.

2. Try new recipes.  I have a collection of recipes I’ve pulled from magazines over the years.  It’s time to stop collecting and start cooking.

Chef Juice with jazz hands

3. Get to know my neighbors better.  I have made some wonderful friends in the neighborhood (see pic below) but there are many people I don’t know well at all.  I want to do my part to be a good neighbor and foster an even friendlier community.

Halloween potluck at Casa Juice 2011

I haven’t added any measurements to these resolutions, but that’s ok by me.  This year it’s more about being mindful of the ideas behind the resolutions: take care of myself; be creative and open to new ideas; be a good neighbor.

On that note, I’m turning this computer off and going to sleep!

No?  That’s ok.  I’ll review them here:

1. Go on six hikes with Chloe.

2. Do X number of weights workouts.  (I know what X is, but I don’t feel a need to share it here.)

3. Pay my home equity line of credit down to X.  (See above.)

4. Complete X amount of my current cross stitch project (Ditto.)

5. Celebrate my 40th birthday in some special way.

So how did I do?

1. Check.  Between hikes with friends, Camp Unleashed and puppy play dates we’ve done well with getting outside and enjoying the great outdoors.

2.  Fail.  I think I did about half the number I wanted to and then I just lost interest.

3.  Hmmm.  Well, I did hit the magic number, but then my balance started to go in the wrong direction again.

4.  Check! Although I did not technically finish until 1/2/2012.  Close enough.

5. Checkity check check!  Yup.  I did that one right.  Camp Unleashed, Amsterdam, a cruise with Sandra Dee, a tailgate party and another party with friends.  My birthday season lasted longer than ever and it was big big fun!

Overall I’d say I’m pleased with 2011.  Now, onto 2012!

An undercurrent if you will.

It really started with Sock Monkey Saturday way back in 2008.  I made my first monkey and I was hooked.  In fact, I was so enamored that I went out and purchased additional sock monkey material.  Visions of a sock monkey factory danced in my head.

And then reality set in and I realized that I’m probably only going to make one monkey per year, and that monkey will be made at the AVAM when I’m surrounded by other monkey enthusiasts and spurred on to complete a project.  It was a hard lesson to learn, but I’m older and wiser now.  Thanks to the sock monkey.

Mr. Excuse Me with his sock monkey Yardstick - December 2009

Even though I’ve realized my own personal sock monkey limitations, I still have a soft spot in my heart for all things of the sock monkey.  Remember this Christmas gift from Mom and Dad back in 2009?

Cecilia appears perplexed by the magic of the monkey

I’ve shared my love of the sock monkey with others.  Remember these monkeys I made for Tank and Cricket?

Cricket named hers Miss Yay.  When I went back to Reno last month I was asked to perform some monkey surgery.  Apparently Miss Yay has been loved a lot.  Yay!

Cricket and Miss Yay

So this Christmas I was particularly touched by a couple of monkey presents I received.

Bosslady gave me a sock monkey Christmas ornament with my name on it.

So cute!

Bosslady also bought a sock monkey toy for Chloe.

Then KK and her family bought Chloe a sock monkey dog bed for Christmas.

Don’t you love when people get you gifts that are just perfectly you?

Chloe with all her monkeys

But can we please head back to Reno for a minute?

Because KK had a major life event.

Ok.  Perhaps not major.

But certainly minor.

After all, it’s not every day that you can donate 10 inches of hair for a worthy cause.

Way to go my sister.  You look fabulous!

A raw sock monkey

I convinced my friend Magoo’s Mom to go with me.

Half baked monkeys - mine and MM's

Remember last year when I made a monkey for Linnea?

Linnea's monkey

My goal this year was to create a monkey for her sister Abigail.

Mission accomplished.

I hope you like your monkey Abigail!

Meet Hawthorn, Jayhawk’s brother.

Hi. I Hawthorn. Sometimes I nervous.

Hawthorn settled right into the swing of things.

Everybody down to the water!

In the water and on land.

Now everybody run!

Chloe continued to crack me up with her exploring.

Dis my action figure pose

Jayhawk’s dad made this cartoon depicting the day.  Click on the picture to enlarge it.  (By the way, all of the pics so far were taken by Jayhawk’s dad.  He’s got some skillz.)

Chloe seemed to make an important decision at the end of our excursion.

Mama, I go home with Jayhawk and Hawthorn. Jayhawk says he share dis crate.

I think someone has a crush on Jayhawk.

I just couldn’t get enough of this little girl.

Open a dictionary, look up adorable and I think you know what you’ll find.  My niece Cricket.

Is anyone else tired of hearing about me jetting off somewhere?

It’s enough to turn anyone into a homebody.

But sometimes a girl just HAS to travel.  Especially when it’s been over 7 months since she’s seen her favorite nephew and niece!

So I did a quick trip to Reno.

Tank, KK and Cricket

We explored the Discovery Museum.

Inside a traditional Indian dwelling

Did some science experiments.

Made some crafts.

And then played while KK and BIL went to their military event.

That picture cracks me up.  I told them to act crazy.  KK and Tank took me to heart.  Cricket decided to check out what everyone else was doing and BIL refused to cooperate.

A fast, furious and fun visit with my favorite family folk.