Baked Spaghetti

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing long weekend! We spent ours hanging out with friends, lounging by the pool and still attempting to put away wedding gifts.

I made one of my favorite recipes last night for dinner and wanted to share it. It is one of my aunt's "go-to" recipes. I altered her recipe(that originally had no meat and no veggies--just pasta, sauce and cheese) to be a little healthier. It is easy to make, delicious and we usually have enough left overs for 3-4 meals!

Original Recipe Ingredients(plus notes from me!):
1 (8oz) pkg. vermicelli--I use whole wheat noodles
½ c. milk--I used 1%, because that's all we have besides almond milk. I bet skim would work too
1 egg, well beaten
½ c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 jar prepared spaghetti sauce or 2 to 3 cups homemade--we're fans of any sauce with roasted red peppers and garlic
4 oz. (1c.) shredded mozzarella cheese.

To that I added:
1 lb lean ground beef(you could probably do turkey too)
1 yellow squash, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1/3 vidalia onion, diced
2-3 white mushrooms, diced

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degree. Cook pasta to desired toughness. Drain and rinse with hot water. Lightly grease a 8z12 or 9 x 13 baking dish. In a large bowl, lightly toss cooked pasta with milk, egg and Parmesan + any additions(veggies, meat). If you are adding meat, brown & drain it before mixing it in.Turn mixture in to a prepared dish, spreading evenly. Spoon sauce evenly over top. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-40 min. or until thoroughly heated. Allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting into squares.

It is delicious! We loved it during the winter, but it really isn't too heavy for spring/summer. You can play around with the veggies you add as well.

Anyone else have a good go-to recipe to share?

I clearly need a long weekend

...I am clearly in need of this long weekend. I am working away, checking things off my to-do list and realized the office is really, really quiet. Some Fridays are like that, but today it is exceptionally quiet.

And then I remembered we close at 2 PM. I glad I realized this at 2:05 and not 4:55!

Have a great long weekend. Mine will look something like this:



Except it won't be a Jamaican sky I'm looking at. ::sigh:: Have a great weekend!

Hey Y'all

Welcome to my new blog!

No, this isn't the first blog I've started, but I'm wanting to start fresh and hopefully keep it up :)

First posts are always so awkward.

I'm a newlywed as of April 16th, 2011! My husband and I have been together almost 3 and a half years.

Born and raised in Georgia, I've been living in Memphis for a little over three years now, hence the name "Barbecued Peaches".

• side note, I don't really like BBQ that much. I realize this is a sin in Memphis. I like Rendezvous or Germantown Commisary nachos, but after 5-6, I'm good.
  

I'm a proud University of Georgia alumn and a member of Delta Gamma Fraternity. Proof that love conquers all, my husband is a graduate of the University of Tennessee.

I like lists(especially To-Do lists that allow me to draw a line through them!), so that's how I'll introduce myself to you!

I like:

• music
• good books
• twitter(ob.sessed.)
• cooking
• working out(most days)
• SEC football
• maxi dresses
• smoothies

I don't like:

• nuts in candy
• the University of Florida
• The obsession with American Idol/Dancing with the Stars/America's Got Talent, any of those types of shows
• doing the dishes
• dirty bathrooms
• cleaning the bathroom
• chili
• wearing socks
  

I want to:

• decorate our apartment
• travel to Spain
• learn how to use my DSLR camera
• get a puppy

What I'll write about:

• newlywed life
• budgeting...I'm reading everything I can about budgeting in hopes of helping us start our marriage off right
• the Memphis summer heat(read: complaining)
• cooking
• working out/weight loss(Most people lose weight while planning a wedding....not this girl)
• wedding planning(I enjoyed most of my process, and still like talking about it)
• good books
• any thought I can't fit into 140 characters on twitter

I think this a good start, don't you?