Spinach Lasagna

I think I originally got this recipe out of Parent's magazine a year ago. It was out of a section for freezer meals/prepping for a new baby. And it was around the time I had Mackenzie, so I was all about the freezer meals. It says it is adapted from Don't Panic-Dinner's in the Freezer, by Martinez, Howell, and Garcia. I have made it before, following it EXACTLY, and it was amazing. This past weekend, however, I did not have a few of the things and therefore improvised. And it was STILL amazing! So, give it a try! I will give you the version I clipped out of the magazine, and then I will *note my changes. I wanted to have a picture of it to share, but, we had already devoured half of the pan when I remembered. And we hacked into it at both ends because the kids did not want a piece with tomato slices. It was not a pretty sight by the end of dinner. But it sure was a beauty to my belly. : )

SPINACH (VEGGIE) LASAGNA

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced  **I replaced this with about 3/4 cup diced red bell pepper

1 (8oz) can tomato sauce

1 (28oz) can whole tomatoes, with liquid  **I replaced this with a 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes, with liquid

1 (6oz) can tomato paste

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil

1/2 cup chicken stock or water  **I used chicken broth

1 egg

1 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, moisture squeezed out **I used a little more than 10 oz. because I had a little more than 10 oz. left in the bag : )

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 lb. lasagna noodles, cooked al dente, drained

1 lb. mozzarella cheese, grated  **I didn't have mozzarella, but I did use 1/2 lb. of pepperjack cheese instead.

**I also added thin slices of tomatoes on the top half of the pan.

THESE ARE THE DIRECTIONS TO MAKE THE LASAGNA FREEZER READY. Omit the foil if you just want to immediately bake the lasagna.

Heat half of the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat, and saute the onion and garlic until they begin to soften. Add the mushrooms (or red bell pepper) and continue to saute gently for about 5 minutes more. Stir in the tomato sauce, canned tomatoes and liquid, tomatoe paste, salt, oregano, basil, and stock, breaking the tomatoes into smaller pieces as the mixture cooks. Simmer 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the egg and combine with the spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, and remaining oil.

Line the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with heavy-duty foil, with enough hanging over each edge to cover the top. To assemble, pour a third of the tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish. Lay down a single layer of the noodles. Spread half the spinach mixture over the noodles, then sprinkle with half the mozzarella (or pepperjack). Continue layering until you've used all the ingredients, saving the rest of the mozzarella (or pepperjack) for the top. Wrap foil around the top of the lasagna.

TO BAKE IMMEDIATELY: Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

TO FREEZE: Cool in the refrigerator, then freeze overnight. Remove the foil-encased lasagna from the serving dish and cover with a layer of plastic wrap.

TO REHEAT: Thaw slightly in the refrigerator, then remove all plastic wrap and foil, placing the lasagna in the original dish. Thaw completely and then bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Did I mention, these make the BEST left-overs?? : )

Last minute din-din

I have no pictures to prove that I made dinner tonight. But I did, and it was awesome. After Tucker got home from school today, we immediately packed into the van and went to the park to meet up with my sister-in-law and her two little gals. We had THE most beautiful weather today!!! Stunning! I am soooo excited that the leaves are finally changing colors. : )

 Anyway, so we were at the park until dinner time, and as soon as I got home, I did the logical thing to do at dinner time. I started cleaning the garage. Like going through stuff and finally parting with things that are seriously trash, or piling up the things that I am now going to sell. I decided after going through one box that I am going to have a garage sale. I am pretty excited because I have never done one! I love going to them though, and I am pretty sure I am going to give some sweet deals. ; )

After I got through roughly 1/2 of the garage and the kids were running around like crazy people and the sun was starting to go down, Ryan told me it was time to wrap things up for the night. I sadly agreed. I really have a distaste for starting things and not being able to see the finished product that day. Leaving the garage only partially organized was really hard. But, we all went in and I looked in my empty fridge and decided we were going to have breakfast for dinner! Yay!  I always allow for one night a week to be something with eggs because 1. they are healthy, 2. they are quick, 3. my kids will eat them. Scrambled eggs, steamed broccoli, and a fruit smoothie was the end result.

I didn't add any salt and pepper to the eggs or broccoli while I cooked them, but I did have the shakers on the table so we could add however much we wanted individually.  That right there is a good ol' trick I learned in one of my health classes at BYU.  You'd be surprised at how good food tastes with not as much salt! But, salt is still yummy. : ) The fruit smoothie is what I want to talk about though. I can't give you an exact recipe because I wasn't paying attention to amounts I was using. We didn't have usual smoothie ingredients, so I had a crazy idea. I can tell you I honestly wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I did it anyway. I made these scrumptious pumpkin chocolate chip bars yesterday, so I had a lot of pumpkin puree left. Cue mad scientist smoothie concoction.

Orange-Pumpkin Smoothie



image source

 

*keep in mind, some of these are guesstimates..

1-6 oz. strawberry-banana yogurt
1-11oz. can of manadrin oranges with juice
1/4 can of orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 (ish) cups of skim milk
1 1/2 (ish) cups of pumpkin puree (from can)
2 cups ice cubes

Put it all in a blender and enjoy!!!

It was SO good!! When I was making it, Tucker saw me put the pumpkin puree in the blender and he was grossed out. He asked what it was, and since I am PMSing, I told him it was poop. He then did not want to drink it, but after he took one sip, he was HOOKED! Ryan was even pleasantly surprised because when I make smoothies, things don't always work out as planned. : )

May 2011, when I was prego with Mackenzie and wanted a smoothie really bad.
I HATE making smoothies, but I love drinking them.
FAIL. : )

 

Yeaaaa... that stunk. Big time. It was everywhere. This is probably one of the only six pictures my husband has ever wanted to take of me since we have been married. You better believe he ran to get the camera after the wooden spoon hit the moving blades sending it as a rocket projectile denting our cabinet and then bobbing up and down back into the blender spraying smoothie everywhere while I just stood there screaming.  : )

 

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 Our sweet boy Cole turned 3!!! On October 9th he was officially one year older and MUCH wiser too. ; )

I have a birthday post for him in the making.

 

Happy Birthday my beautiful, opinionated, funny, sweet, CA-RAZY boy! Although you drive me to the brink of insanity many times a day, I ADORE you and I feel so blessed to have you as my baby. I love you Colie!!!

Kettle Corn

A few years ago, when Ryan and I were at BYU still, one of my little sisters came to live with us. Ryan and I had overlapping school schedules that semester, and Annie had just graduated from high school. Her now-husband was on a mission at the time, so she was still figuring out what she wanted to do. She decided she was going to work to save up some money, then probably go to school. I had a crazy idea. I asked her if she would come to Provo and live with us to help watch Tucker while Ryan and I went to school during the day, and she could get a job at night. She gladly accepted that offer. While she was there, she got a job at a movie theater in Orem- and it was the best decision she has ever made. When she would work nights, I couldn't wait till she got off work at midnight. I would be eagerly waiting in Ryan's truck for when she would walk out the movie theater door with a huge trashbag full of left-over kettle corn. It was heaven. Annie and I would sit in our apartment parking lot in the wee hours of the night scarfing the kettle corn down while talking and laughing. When we would go into the house, Ryan (usually sitting on the couch doing homework still) would just roll his eyes at the sight of the almost-empty bag of popcorn. Such fun memories! : )



Annie, me, Nikki at Y mountain in Provo, 2008
(they are twins if ya can't tell)


Well, a few months ago, we went to visit Ryan's grandma. She made us a big bowl of kettle corn, and I was hooked again. She had one of these contraptions to make it. My addiction returned and I just had to get me one. Ryan's parents gave me a bass pro gift card for my birthday, so I knew I could get one of these Whirley Pop's there. While I was in Utah a few weeks ago with my sister, Ryan went and got me one! It was sitting on the bed when I got home. : )

image source

After a few burnt batches, we finally figured out how to make it perfectly!!! So yummy!!!

my first batch of edible kettle corn!

Kettle Korn
-from http://www.popcornpopper.com/whirleypoprecipebook.html

Recipe Ingredients:

1/3 cup popping corn
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup popping oil
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Cooking Instructions:

Preheat electric stove (just above medium setting). For gas stoves set low, never higher. Preheating is unnecessary. Pour all ingredients into popper. Stir constantly until kernels have finished popping. Quickly empty Kettle Korn onto cookie sheet. While the corn cools, take popper immediately to sink, run hot water into it with liquid detergent. Close lid on suds and let it soak for easy clean-up. When Kettle Korn is cool, break into pieces with a wooden spoon. Pick out any un-popped kernels. Makes approximately 4 quarts of Kettle Korn.

To add color: Add a few drops of food coloring on the unmelted sugar when ingredients are put in popper. Don't squirt in one spot; it will lump. Dot small amounts around in 6 or 8 places. Store finished Kettle Korn in an airtight canister or jar.

To add flavor: Choose from coconut, rum, vanilla, or other flavorings. Try 1/2 teaspoon in the first batch, and increase with each batch to suit your taste.

*my note- for our electric stove, we have to start the temperature between low and medium, otherwise it will burn. Also, I sprinkle just a wee bit of salt after I pour the popped corn into the bowl.
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Go get you a Whirley Pop!!! Your life will never be the same!!! : )

Cowboy Cookies

  

So, I would say I cook about 75% of the dinners in our home. The other 25% of the cooking, and MOST of the baking is due to the manly hands of this here cowboy. Now, this is not just any ordinary cowboy, this is MY cowboy.  : ) Early in our marriage, he found this recipe for Cowboy Cookies off of allrecipes.com, and it is his go-to cookie recipe. Everytime he makes them, my heart pitter patters a little bit with excitement. The problem is, is he usually doubles the recipe, and that leaves me in a very dangerous situation. I almost think the cookie-dough is better than the cookie... but then I eat a cookie and I change my mind. Anyway, it is WAY too much of a temptation for our whole family, so we take some to share with friends or family. EVERYONE rants and raves about how good they are, and they are usually looking at me as if I made them. I gladly would take the credit, but I just cannot. He is the master behind these glorious cookies.



Ow ow!!





yeaa...... I ate a lot of those...



look at all that GOODNESS!!!

So, if you never have the chance to receive some cookies from us, I am sorry ahead of time. BUT... I'll share the recipe so you can partake of this sweet piece of heaven!



Oh, and it's totally healthy because there are oats in them. ; )

COWBOY COOKIES

from allrecipes.com

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup butter softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup (or more if I am making these) semisweet chocolate chips

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheets.

-Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and then set aside.

-In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

-Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

-Gradually stir in sifted ingredients. Next, stir in rolled oats and chocolate chips.

-Drop by rounded teaspoons onto baking sheets.

-Bake 8-10 minutes (just until they are barely getting a hint of golden color, you don't want to overbake them), and allow to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing.

**** My husband wanted me to tell you, a good replacement for chocolate chips in this recipe is to use butterscotch chips. Or like us, we used half choco chips/half butterscotch chips several occasions, and we LOVED them. A tad bit too much really. Enjoy! : )

mary poppins made a pizza

so, sometimes i feel like im still a 5 year old when people ask me what my favorite food is. i remember filling out an "about me" form at one point in elementary school, and it still has not changed. i just freakin love pizza. and im glad i passed on this love to my children. : )

we definately like our little caesar's 5 dollar hot'n'ready pizzas because its a. cheap, b. easy, and c. it fills my pizza craving when im too lazy to make it. lets face it though, sometimes i just want it EXACTLY how i want it- thick crust, lots of sauce, some veggies, and garlic a'plenty. so, i make it homemade. since we have been married, i have tried at least 7 different completely homemade pizza dough recipes, and even partially homemade (jiffy pizza mix). they have been alright, but not my ideal. either too dense, lacking flavor, takes too much effort to make, or takes too much time. the one im about to give you, i almost don't want to give you. but i will because im trying better to be nice. it is SO stinkin good and im pretty sure it will be called mary poppins pizza (mary poppins is practically perfect in every way! c'mon now!)  its half whole wheat, so i feel like im treating myself well when i have seconds, and thirds.

to sum it all up...
1. can make it as thick as you want
2. comes up so fluffy
3. easy to make-like seriously easy!
4. is the least time consuming pizza dough recipe ive ever seen
5. best tasting crust ive ever made.

ive made this pizza twice in the last 2 weeks, and im planning on making it tomorrow night after i go grocery shopping. i don't think i brag a whole lot when i succeed at cooking, but when it is actually good (which is rare), i cant help but talk about it for a few days to ryan. "remember how good that pizza was the other night??" when i made the pizza last week, i found myself hand-tossing my dough in the kitchen by myself and envisioned myself owning a successful and well-loved pizzeria. then my kids came running in screaming they were hungry and i came back to reality.

so, here it is. i got the recipe for the dough off of a bag of Hodgson Mill whole wheat flour.

Mary Poppins Pizza Crust (i named it that lol, but its just called whole wheat pizza dough on the company's recipe)
hodgsonmill.com

1 package active dry yeast (i have a big tub of yeast in the freezer, so i just took a Tablespoon out. i figured thats about right?maybe? i should google it.)
1 cup of warm water (110 degrees F)
1 -1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon olive oil
1- 1/2 cup unbleached white flour (i just used regular all-purpose flour)

Directions-
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow to rest 5 minutes. Stir in whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, olive oil, and 1 cup of white flour. Knead in remaining unbleached white flour by hand (about 5-7 minutes. dough will be smooth and elastic). Spray medium size bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl and turn to coat. Cover and allow to rise in warm, draft-free place for 15 minutes. Spray 14-in. pizza pan or cookie sheet. stretch dough across pan, top, and bake at 425 degrees until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

last friday we were uber hungry, so i doubled the recipe and made 2 pizzas. i also hand-tossed the dough (lol or what i believe hand-tossing dough looks like) after it rose and before i stretched it across the pan. then after it was on the  pan, i sprayed with cooking spray (you could drizzle olive oil) and sprinkled garlic powder over top. I like to prebake the dough about 5 minutes without toppings first, so i did that next. then i took it out and topped it with what we had, then finished cooking until cheese was melted/ crust was golden brown.

we usually like pepperoni and cheese, but we didn't have pepperoni. so, cheese it was-mozzarella and cheddar. i just used store bought spaghetti sauce for the pizza sauce. that pizza was more for the kids, but it was scrumptious! then i had everything and more to make a bbq chicken pizza, so i made that too. i used precooked chicken from my fridge, mixed with bbq sauce, dried cilantro,chopped red onion, red bell pepper, and avocado. topped with mozz and chedd cheese and it was THE best. pizza. ever.

*added 9/8/12: I made the pizza last night with changing out the 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, to only using 1/2 c all purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour. So that would make 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour total. It was a lot harder to knead by hand, but I can imagine using a mixer would be easier. I also had to add little extra oil (I used canola last night) and a little extra water. I don't know how much, but enough to get it to the texture I wanted, so just add a little bit, like 1/2 tsp at a time, knead it in, then add more if you need to. If you knead to. : )

i can't wait till tomorrow night.

after we had this pizza, i told ryan i will make pizza now every friday night for dinner because its just THAT easy and THAT good. and that is why i was depressed today when i looked in the fridge and we had no cheese. i know i could make it without, but it wouldn't be the same.

better than a restaurant!

so i know ive told you about the blog, melskitchencafe.com. i follow her blog, so can see her in my blog feed on the right. well, she has some awesome recipes, im tellin ya! i just made her red chile sauce chicken enchilada the other night. this recipe... sheesh, im telling ya, is the BOMB! it totally tasted way better than a restaurant's enchilada! im pretty sure i said it like 10 times during dinner. anyway, in case u haven't had time to look at her recipes, ill just give u her recipe right here. make it. tonight! or even right now! sooo good. u won't regret it! and it is totally not spicy at all, in case you were wondering.

*picture from melskitchencafe.com

Red Chile Sauce Chicken Enchiladas
-from melskitchencafe.com

**makes 12 enchiladas

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium onion, chopped fine

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine

1 teaspoon canola oil

3 medium cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 teaspoons sugar

2 (8-oz) cans tomato sauce

1 cup water

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3 large chicken breasts)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro

12 (6-inch) soft corn or flour tortillas (fajita-size for flour tortillas)

cooking spray

salt and ground black pepper


DIRECTIONS:

In a large saucepan, combine the onion, jalapeno, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and oil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the onions and peppers have softened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar, and cook until fragrant, less than 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a simmer.


Nestle the chicken into the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 12-20 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the chicken breasts you are using. Transfer the chicken to a plate, and set aside to cool. Continue to simmer the sauce over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.


Strain the sauce through a strainer into a medium bowl, pressing the onion mixture to extract as much liquid as possible. Season sauce with additional salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the leftover onion mixture from the strainer to a large bowl and set aside.


Shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add to the onion mixture in the large bowl. Also stir in 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese and the cilantro. Toss to combine.


Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with plastic wrap; Microwave on high until warm and pliable, 40-60 seconds. Spread the tortillas on a clean work surface, and spoon 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of each. Tightly roll each tortilla and lay seam-side down in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.


Heat oven to 400 F. Pour the enchilada sauce evenly over the top of the enchiladas. Top with the remaining cheese. Cover dish with foil and bake 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese browns. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.


Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, additional cilantro, if desired.


*** now, when i made this recipe, i added one anaheim pepper to the jalepeno and onion mixture. seriously so good. we had corn on the side, as well as a black bean and rice mixture on the side. tucker also agreed with us that it was fabulous and asked me to make it every day. sadly, i told him no way...the only drawback of this recipe is it does take probably 1 and a half to 2 hours to make. i thought i would be able to do it in an hour, but it definately took longer than that. but it was worth it! love love love these enchiladas!

Yummy!

So, when the boys were sick a couple of weeks ago, I was at the Urgent Care here in town with Cole. While we were in the room waiting for the doctor, I started flipping through some magazines. Inside a Better Homes and Gardens magazine, they had a bunch of recipes from a recipe contest they had. The winner got $25,000. Or some large amount like that, im pretty sure that’s how much it was. ANNNYYway, that’s besides the point. Well, sort of. The grand prize winner definitely deserves it. OH! And she was from provo too! I thought it was meant to be. I kind of felt guilty, but I ended up ripping that page out of the magazine from the office because I wanted to try it so bad! And so, I took it with me, and about a week later, I made it. IT WAS HEAVEN…or close to it! So, I thought I would share this DELICIOUS, SCruMpTious, senSATIONAL wholewheat chocolate blueberry cake recipe. Keep in mind, I am not the best cook/baker ever, and this cake turned out awesome if I do say so myself! Here it goes…


Whole Wheat Chocolate-Blueberry Cake
Prep: 35 min. Bake: 30 min. Cool: 1 hour
Oven: 350 degrees

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup water
½ cup fresh blueberries
1 egg
1 cup frozen light whipped dessert topping, thawed
½ cup semisweet chocolate pieces
Fresh blueberries or Blueberry Sauce (see following recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In blender combine water, blueberries, and the egg. Cover and blend until smooth. Add to flour mixture. Whisk until well combined. Pour into greased 8 x 8 x 2-inch baking pan.

2. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack. Invert onto serving platter.

3. In small microwave-safe bowl combine dessert topping and chocolate pieces. Micro-cook, covered, on 50 percent power (medium) 1 minute. Stir until smooth and chocolate pieces are melted. It will look like chocolate icing now. Let stand 5 minutes. Pour onto cooled cake, spreading evenly.

4. Cut cake into squares to serve. Top with fresh blueberries. Serve with Blueberry Sauce.

MAKES 9 SERVINGS

Blueberry Sauce: In blender, combine ½ cup frozen light whipped dessert topping, thawed, and ½ cup fresh blueberries. Cover and blend until smooth.

SOooooooo, as u can see, this is a recipe rocks. The blueberries that are blended into the cake batter are the butter or oil replacement. And since I LOVE chocolate, I added chocolate chips to the cake batter. Its pretty healthy if ya really take a gander at all of the ingredients! And the icing, is amazing! It really tops the cake! One thing that I wasn’t extremely proud of was the blueberry sauce. I don’t know if it was just me, but it seemed sort of bland. So u should still try it and maybe ull just make it better than me. So after all was said and done, I decorated the top with fresh blueberries. It was really pretty too! Im glad I kifed (sp) the recipe from the doctors office! $50 copay really paid off! : )