Welcome to guest chef Emily! Emily is a 29 year old homemaker who loves serving this Rice Lasagna to her family. She and her husband, Barry, have two boys (ages 2 and almost 4) and a little girl (5 months old). Emily describes her present life: "I'm very busy raising kids right now!" :)

Emily enjoys working in the kitchen. She says, "Recently, I have really been enjoying trying things that are really easy, but that seemed too hard. I knew very little about cooking, up until a few years ago.

"It all started with pancakes. I didn't even realize that you could make pancakes without Bisquick. My mother-in-law got me a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook though, and I one day when I ran out of baking mix, I decided to look up the recipe and that's when I learned how easy it could be.

"Since then, I have really enjoyed learning how to make all kinds of breads, tortillas, soups, and other various foods from scratch. I have a lot of fun doing it.

"I don't however, like to make things that call for strange ingredients. If its not something that's a staple on my shelf, I won't usually attempt it."

Emily's Rice Lasagna is a casserole of browned ground beef mixed with spaghetti sauce and freshly cooked rice, layered with cottage cheese and topped with cheddar before baking. Why is this one of Emily's favorite meals to make? "It's easy, cheap, and very yummy!"

Emily's everyday cooking goes something like this:

"Breakfast and lunch are usually pretty simple. We do a lot of pancakes, eggs, and oatmeals for breakfast, and a lot of sandwiches or canned soups for lunch. I almost always cook from scratch for dinner, and I usually pick things that aren't hard to fit into my schedule. I'm big on casseroles or things like my Rice Lasagna.

"I normally start dinner about an hour before my husband is due home, and it's rare that dinner is late. Wednesday nights we have church, so we do leftovers or crockpot meals on those days so that I'm not rushing around, and cleaning up afterwards isn't so much of an issue."

Emily, her husband Barry, and their three children attend a Baptist church near their home, a couple hours from Detroit, where they both grew up. When Emily's not cooking, cleaning, playing, changing diapers or disciplining, (which doesn't leave much time ) she enjoys reading, talking with friends, or drinking coffee.

Thanks so much for sharing, Emily! :)