Mom's Lasagna

Our niece has been put on bed rest for her pregnancy and today was her 28th birthday, so I decided the best gift for a pregnant lady on bed rest was food.

Last night I began the process of making my mom's lasagna. It's one of those recipes that dirties every pan in the house and is very labor intensive. First there's the meat sauce to make, then the cheese sauce, then the noodles to boil, and finally to put it all together. I doubled the recipe, because if I'm going to go through all that trouble I wanted a lasagna for us too!

It tasted so good tonight for dinner. All that hard labor was very worthwhile. I'm not much of a cook, in that I don't enjoy it really. I can follow a recipe well enough, but I prefer easy recipes like the ones on the back of the Campbell's soup can.

I am always surprised though when I make something and it tastes just exactly how mom used to make it. I seriously almost cried tonight when I ate that lasagna and it tasted like mom had come into my house and made it for us. For a minute I could just imagine she was still here working her mom magic on all of us...making us all feel loved and special, and it brought back memories of growing up and having my mom's best friend Pattie Anne and her family over for dinner. Mom's lasagna was always a meal that everyone requested and looked forward to.

I'm just thankful that I was able to do her recipe justice, and that I have a few of her special recipes that I can make and still have a part of her with me. Ok, I'm making myself cry now...I miss you mom!