Easy lasagna-ish dinner

Yesterday I was very lucky to have a very old (or maybe I should say long-time) friend come visit with her kids.  We aren't old so she cannot be an old friend right?  We had a wonderful afternoon of visiting and the kids had a great time playing together.  Then we had dinner together and it was a pretty easy meal that went together quickly.

Easy lasagna type thing -
2 pounds of hamburger browned
2/3 of a package of small pasta shells cooked and drained
Spaghetti sauce of your choice, enough to make it good and moist but not runny.  I used about 2/3 of a large jar of Prego from Costco.

Filling - 2 cups of Ricotta cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup of powdered Parmesan
1-2T Italian seasoning
Mix together

Put half of the meat mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 dish.  Spread filling in and then top with the other half of the meat mixture.  Top with Mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the center is baked and fairly firm.  This would freeze well too.  Just put it into 2 pans and eat one and put the other in the freezer before baking it.  Pull it out in the morning and let it thaw on the counter all day then bake for dinner.

We served with garlic bread and salad.

Desert was my easy brownies.

Brownies
1 box of cake mix (use chocolate or white but if you use white put in about 1/4 cup of cocoa powder)
3 eggs
1/3 cup of oil
Candy pieces!  I used about 1/2 bag mini M&Ms and 1/2 bag of the Kraft Caramel balls
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until firm in the center but not dried out on the edge.

These are the brownies I make for convention.  They are easy and they come out of the pan perfectly.  Of course, with the candy they are a big hit with the kids!

I didn't take any pictures of this either because I was busy talking! :)

And the meal was made so much better with the chatter of kids and visiting with someone I have been friends with my ENTIRE life!  It is so great to get together with someone and the years just fall away like they never passed!  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Michelle's sisters and Jona had been there too!  Then it would have really been like old times!