Crock Pot Lasagna

I got this recipe from facebook

1 pound Ground Beef
Lasagna noodles
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
Brown ground beef and drain. Spoon 1 C. spaghetti sauce in bottom of 4 quart crock pot. Mix remaining sauce with beef. Place 2 uncooked lasagna noodles on sauce in crock pot. Spread 1/3 meat mixture on top of noodles. Spread 3/4 C. cottage cheese over meat. Sprinkle 1/2 C. mozzarella cheese over cottage cheese. Add another layer of uncooked noodles, 1/3 meat mixture, the remaining cottage cheese and 1/2 C. mozzarella cheese. Place another layer of uncooked noodles, meat mixture, and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top. Cook on low for 4 hours.
If cooked much longer, it gets a bit well done.

May 10, 2013 1

Busy

Hello everyone! We have finally moved out of the rain and cold and into sun and warmth. I am glad. I am definitely ready for warmer weather and sunshine. I have clothes on the line, windows open and enjoying the day. I just finished baking chocolate chip banana muffins. I have rolls rising for supper tonight so all this added together makes my home smell wonderful.

Well, just a short post to let everyone know what has been going on here. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

May 10, 2013 2

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

I got this recipe from http://homejoys.blogspot.com/2013/05/rhubarb-upside-down-cake.html

2 cups fresh rhubarb (approx. 3/4 lb.)

1 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoon butter

Batter:

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Choose fresh, crisp rhubarb. Chop rhubarb into 1/4-1/2″ pieces. Melt butter in a medium-size skillet over low heat. Add brown sugar and diced rhubarb. Continue to fry for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. If you are not using a cast iron skillet remove the rhubarb from the pan to a small baking pan.

Batter: In a small mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, mix until incorporated. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Add flour mixture and milk to batter and mix until combined. Pour batter over the rhubarb. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, and run a knife along the edges to loosen cake. Turn upside down onto a plate. Serve hot or cold with milk or cream if desired.

May 10, 2013 1

Making Ugly Dolls

Yesterday was a fun day at church. All year, we had been doing something at church called “secret sister”. We each drawed a womans name and for the year that lady was our “secret sister”. We gave her small gifts, cards etc. Then yesterday we all got together and revealed who our sister sister was. We also had lots of food.

Then we did a craft. We made ugly dolls. I’m not sure why they are called that. I thought they turned out very pretty.

We are cold here. Our temperature is 42 degrees with wind chills in the 30’s. We have been cold, rainy and foggy all week. We have had to build a fire several days. Oh well,it won’t be long until we will be complaining about it being too hot.

I hope you all have a great Sunday and God bless.

May 5, 2013 3

Wednesday

I thought I would share this picture of Katie that Dave posted on facebook. She certainly is growing. Thanks Grace for helping me do this.

Things have been moving along rapidly here. Friday we went down to Jessica’s to fix a railing on her porch. Saturday, Jess and the kids came up to us for a visit. Dave is down to the wire on finishing his book. She thought he might get more done on it if they were out of the house. It was a really nice visit. It had been a while since they had been up.

Jess and I went in halves on a 50 lb bag of soft white wheat. This is totally different from what I am used to using. I have always used Prairie Gold wheat. Supposedly, soft white wheat is for things that use baking powder not yeast. I have had a hard time learning how to bake with it. I made chocolate chip cookies Saturday that were FLAT and I do mean flat. Anyway Daniel said they were delicious! Gotta love that boy!! So I think I have finally cured the problem. Because I freshly grind the wheat kernels, they are “fluffy”. I need to add 1/4 cup more flour for every 1 cup the recipe calls for. I did that this morning with some more cookies and they turned out fine. Next trial-pie crusts. Our rhubarb is up and I think there is enough to make a pie. I want to try this recipe http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com/2013/04/theres-nothing-so-sweet-as.html

We are moving right along with school. I think we will be finished by the end of May if all goes as planned. We are looking forward to summer break this year. Lots of fun stuff going on.

Well, I guess that’s about all that’s going on here. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 1, 2013 5

Mongolian Beef

This recipe from thefamilyhomestead.com Crystal Miller

2 lbs round steak, cut into small pieces

2 T soy sauce

2 T cornstarch

4 carrots, peeled and sliced very think

1 bunch green onions, cut into 2 lengths

6 large mushrooms, sliced very thin

¼ cup olive oil, divided

Sauce

¼ c soy sauce

1 T cornstarch

1 t cane juice crystals

2 t red pepper flakes (this makes this dish quite spicy.. so reduce if you dont like your food real spicy)

1 t salt

pepper, a few shakes

1 ½ cups water

In a medium size bowl combine meat, 2 T soy sauce and 2 T cornstarch and let sit for a few minutes. In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients.

Heat a large frying pan and add half the olive oil. Add meat and cook until meat is no longer pink. Remove from pan and put in a bowl. Add rest of oil to frying pan and add carrots. Cook until the carrots are just tender and add onions and mushrooms. Stir fry these until the veggies are soft. Add the meat and heat. When everything is hot add sauce ingredients and cook and stir until sauce is thick and bubbly.

Serve over brown rice..

¼ c soy sauce

April 30, 2013 0

Rosemary Marinade for Meat

I have had this recipe for a long time. I am not sure where I got it from. It is Dave’s favorite marinade for pork on the grill.

1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tsp. minced garlic, 2 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary. Combine all ingredients and pour over meat. Let sit overnight or at least a few hours. As in all marinades, overnight is better but not always possible. I have made this plenty using dried rosemary and even not using any rosemary at all. It is still delicious either way.

April 25, 2013 0

Tuesday

Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well. Seems like the week rushes by here and I haven’t made a post. School is going along. Maybe even finishing a little early. I have been watching ebay like a crazy woman getting all our books for next year. Our science book is on the way and that finishes up all we need. YEAH!

Our weather cooled off a bit over the weekend-redbud winter. When the redbuds are in full bloom it always cools off some. We have been having a fire but today has nice. Hubby has been working on putting the vinyl siding on the new room. I helped him some after school. There always seems to be so much to get done in the spring.

Friday, Dave and Jess took us all out to eat to celebrate mine and Dave’s birthday. We had planned on doing a cookout at their house but the weather was too bad. We ate at a really cool restuarant. I think the name was Hillbilly Hideaway (I could be wrong on the name but it was something like that). They serve you family style. BIG bowls and platters of food. 3 types of meat and tons of veggies. It was really good. Thanks, Dave and Jess. Of course, Jess couldn’t resist telling the waitresses it was our birthday celebration so they sang happy birthday to us. It was a lot of fun. One of the waitresses and I were talking. She has several grandkids. She said “I like to watch them one at a time. I can’t handle them all at once,they wear me out, drive me crazy”. Sam looked at me with big eyes and said, “MawMaw, are you crazy?” I hugged him and said, “Yes, Sam, I think I am!” I know I’m crazy for all them. My children and my grandchildren are so important to me. I can understand though what she was saying. They sure do have lots more energy than I do.

Well, I guess that’s about all that’s going on here. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

April 23, 2013 3

Hello!

I thought I would share with you all a few pictures. Things are really coming to life here in Floyd. This is a field not too far from our home. Look at how green it is!!!

Yesterday, we went to check on a job. We took a few pictures along the way.

I love goldfinch. These were certainly enjoying their feeder.

Today is a nice day here in Floyd. Temperature is 66 degrees. The sky is overcast though. Dandelions are popping up all over the place. I think it is getting close time to make some dandelion jelly.

I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

April 17, 2013 4

Homemade Ranch Dressing

Ingredients:

Black Pepper ¼ C
Parsley Flakes 1 1/2 C
Garlic Salt ½ C
Kosher Salt 2 Tbsp
Granulated Garlic ¼ C
Granulated Onion 3/4 C
Dill Weed 2 Tbsp

Procedure:
1. Combine all ingredients, store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 ½ cups of dry mix
2. To Make Dressing, whisk together 2 Tbsp of mix with 2 Cups each of mayonnaise and buttermilk 1 ½ Cups sour cream, & 1 tsp Lemon Juice. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Makes 1 ¾ Quarts

I got this recipe from http://www.thecraftyblogstalker.com

April 10, 2013 0