Lasagna

By far my favorite comfort food...and anytime I have to host a dinner party. I don't think many other meals can come together to feed a group of 10 people as easily as lasagna. If you make it the night before then all you have to do the day of the party is pop it in the oven and toss a salad. Also a great dish to make a few in disposable pans at about the 37 week mark of pregnancy then freezing them unbaked. Then after baby arrives all you have to do is take it out of the freezer and bake and your husband will be so impressed by how you were able to care for the new baby AND cook such a great dinner he'll give you a foot massage...

How many more meals do you know of that can bring you all the way through elegant dinner parties and pregnancy?

Lasagna

1 spaghetti sauce recipe (see here)
1 pound ground beef
9 lasagna noodles
1 - 24 oz tub cottage cheese
16 ounces shredded mozerella
16 ounces shredded parmesan
1 small can sliced black olive (optional)
1 small can sliced mushrooms (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and put in lasagna noodles. Boil about 7 minutes until noodles are extremly al dente. You don't want to cook them all the way because they will be boiling in sauce in the oven and we don't want mushy noodles.

Follow spaghetti sauce recipe, adding 1 lb ground beef as you saute the onion and garlic. (Or use your favorite jarred spaghetti sauce, I won't judge.) If you'd like, you can also stir in a can of mushrooms and a can of olives.

Spray a 9x13 lasagna pan with cooking oil spray. Lay down 3 noodles in bottom of pan. Layer with 1/3 of spaghetti sauce followed by 1/3 of cottage cheese and 1/3 of each the mozzerella and parmesan cheeses. Continue until you have 3 layers.

Bake uncovered 45 minutes, making sure the top is nice and brown. Let set about 10 minutes out of oven before cutting to let the cheese set up.

Enjoy!!!

Spiced Molasses Cookies

Another gem of a recipe that I found is Pioneer Woman's Spiced Molasses Cookies. I like to pull these out for cookie exchanges and Christmas time, or when I bake cookies to send to my brother since they are his favorite. I like to mix it up a little bit and add some colored sugar into the sugar bowl when I'm coating them before baking.

Spiced Molasses Cookies

1 cup Sugar
¾ cups Crisco (vegetable Shortening)
¼ cups Molasses
1 whole Egg
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
¼ teaspoons Salt
2-½ teaspoons Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt and baking soda to a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

Using mixer with the paddle attachment, mix sugar, shortening, molasses and egg until well combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out walnut sized balls of dough and roll into balls with hands. Coat each ball with sugar and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 9 - 11 minutes, allowing to bake about 1 minute after cookies begin to crack.

You can mix together 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons milk if you'd like and drizzle over cookies for a cute variation.

Homemade Oreos

All my efforts of scouring the internet for homemade recipes of my favorite foods is really paying off. Last week I found a recipe for these Di-Si-Dos and now I dug up this recipe for Oreos posted by Butter + Cream. Man, were they good! I gave one to Walnut and he asked me when I was going to put the drawing and letters on them...I told him mommy isn't that talented. My little Peanut broke into them and licked the middle frosting first just like a pro!

Homemade Oreos

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat to 375°F.

Using your electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar and thoroughly mix. On low, add butter and then egg until combined and dough forms a ball around your attachment.

Using a 1 tablespoon sized cookie scoop, scoop dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cut each scoop in half and roll into balls. Flatten each ball with fingers so they are about 1/4" thick. Bake 9 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet half way through.

To make cream, put butter and shortening in mixing bowl and mix until combined. Slowly add sugar and vanilla. Put mixer on high and beat for 2 - 3 minutes until frosting becomes light and whipped.

Put frosting in a gallon size Ziplock baggie and snip about 1/2" off one corner. Put about a quarter sized ball of frosting on one cookie. Then place an equal sized cookie on top of cream and lightly press together.

Enjoy!

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

For years I was a Nestle chocolate chip girl. I thought that was the only brand out there for some reason. Maybe it was because that is the brand my mom always used. I have a tendancy to be brand loyal to the same companies my parents used when I was young. When I bought my first car and later my house for example, I went to their insurance agent without even shopping around.

Where the Nestle recipe tends to give me a flat crunchy cookie each time, the Ghirardelli recipe is the complete opposite. I am an avid underbaker of chocolate chip cookies. I like them to be chewy and melt in my mouth. The Ghirardelli recipes delivers on this quality! And the sizes of the chocolate chips are huge and they incredibly creamy milk chocolately too. I have not looked back at Nestle's since I opened my first bag of Ghirardelli. Sorry Nestle, but we had many good years together...I'll always keep a spot for you in my heart...

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 bag Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together flour with baking soda and salt, set aside.

In mixer bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar on a medium speed until creamy and lightened in color (about 4 minutes). Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, mixing on a low speed until incorporated.

Gradually blend dry mixutre into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips by hand so not to crush them. Drop cookies onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 9 to 11 minutes until golden brown (unless your like me and like them under baked...then bake 7-8 minutes).

Spaghetti Sauce

If there is one sure fire meal that I know my kids will eat no matter how stubborn they are currently being about the food they are willing (or not willing would be more appropriate) to put into their mouths, it is spaghetti. Which is absolutly fine by me because it also happens to be my favorite food too! Have you ever looked at how much salt and surprisingly...sugar is in canned spaghetti sauce? Its a lot, and somehow that sneaky high fructose corn syrup can make it in there too sometimes. I wish someone would explain to me why that keeps sneaking up into the least suspected places.

Spaghetti sauce is suprisingly easy to make and comes together in just minutes. Just a little bit of chopping and stirring and you've got one tasty, healthy, low cost meal on your hands.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 onion, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 - 28 ounce can tomatoes (if you have home canned ones, use 1 quart)
1 small can tomato paste
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 - 3 teaspoons salt
1 lb whole wheat pasta

Boil water in a large pot and add pasta. Cook for 7-10 minutes until al dente.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and add garlic and onion. Saute until onions are starting to turn golden brown. If you like meat in your spaghetti, add 1 pound hamburger or ground turkey now and cook until no longer pink. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, sugar and salt (start with 2 teaspoons of salt and work from there depending on your salt tolerance). Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes until sauce thickens and the tomatoes have had a chance to suck up the aroma of the herby goodness.

Garden Update

I am thrilled to say that my garden is off to a wonderful start! All plants so far have made an appearance at least with the exception of the pumpkin for some reason. The green peppers are a bit slow too...with only 4 of the 10 plants coming up. But everything else has taken off and is dying to get outside into their permanent home.



Oh, I can't wait to be pick ripe, plump tomatos and cucumbers that don't have a layer of "wax for freshness." Oh, and the herbs! I've branched out a bit this year with Rosemary, Parsley, Cilantro, Oregano, Chives and Dill. I can't wait to be cooking with fresh veggies and herbs again. Summer just can't come soon enough. For now though, I'm going to keep babying my little plants. And hopefully Peanut will quit pulling them out...

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

This recipe always reminds me of my childhood growing up in rural North Dakota. My mom and dad had a beautiful garden that fed us all summer long. My mom always had rhubarb and strawberries in the garden too. And she made this sauce all the time. We topped our ice cream with it! I like to use it in place of syrup now...and I still pour it over my ice cream...or eat it straight from the spoon!

When the rhubarb and strawberries are ripe I make up a big batch and freeze them in canning jars. They usually last about 6 months in the freezer...not that they stick around that long in my house.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

6 cup Rhubarb
½ c Water

Boil until tender.

Add 2 Cups Sugar and 1 Quart sliced strawberries

Heat over medium until boils, continue to boil for 2 minutes. Poor in jars and freeze.