Delicious Lasagna

My friend brought this lasagna to us when Krynn was in the hospital. It was so good I asked her for the recipe. I think it's the best lasagna I've ever had. I forgot to take a picture before we ate it all...

Delicious Lasagna

1 lb. Italian sausage
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (I use the kind with garlic and basil)
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. oregano
1 large container cottage cheese (at least 16 oz, I used half ricotta cheese.)
3 Tbs. dried parsley
1 egg
2/3 c. Parmesan cheese
1 lb. mozzarella cheese, grated
9 lasagna noodles, cooked al dente

In a large frying pan cook sausage and onion. Drain off fat. Place in crock pot on low heat. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes. Let simmer on low approx. 4 hours, stirring once in a while. Add minced garlic, basil, oregano, and pepper 30 minutes before sauce is done. Then turn crock pot off. In medium sized bowl, mix together cottage cheese, egg, parsley, and Parmesan cheese. You should now have 4 layers (noodles, cottage cheese mixture, sauce, and mozzarella cheese.) Layer it in this order, beginning with the noodles. Grease Pyrex dish with a little olive oil. This makes enough for a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. This is a great recipe to make the day before and also freezes well.

Candy Corn Cookies

I found these cookies on a blog the other day. I thought the girls would have fun making them with me. Who doesn't like to use food coloring and make snakes out of dough?

Ingredients:

1 package (18 oz.) of sugar cookie dough -- or you could use your favorite recipe

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract -- or 1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon orange extract -- or 1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest

yellow and red or orange food coloring

1/2 cup white chocolate chips or white almond bark, chopped

coarse decorating sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using an electric mixer on low, beat cookie dough and flour until combined. Divide dough into three equal portions.

2. Add lemon extract and yellow food coloring to one portion of the dough. With the mixer on low, beat until blended; set aside. Add orange extract and red and yellow or orange food coloring to another portion of the dough; beat until blended. Leave the remaining portion plain.

3. Divide each dough section in half. Roll 1 piece of each color into a 12-inch long rope. Transfer dough ropes to a lightly floured surface, side by side, with the orange rope in the middle.

4. Place parchment paper or wax paper over dough; gently roll into a 15 x 4 inch rectangle. Remove parchment paper. Using a knife, cut dough into 12 equal triangles.

5. Transfer triangles to an ungreased baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Push a ruler against side of triangles to straighten edges. Bake until lightly browned, 9 - 11 minutes; let cool on cookie sheet.

6. In a small microwave-safe bowl, microwave white chocolate until melted, about 1 minute. Stir. Dip wide end of cookies into chocolate then into decorating sugar. Let stand until set.

Apple Coffee Cake Pizza

On Sunday morning I woke up and wanted to cook something for breakfast that would make the whole house smell like Fall. This recipe from allrecipes.com did the trick. It does have five steps, but I made the dough in my bread maker and with the help of Olivia had the other four parts done before the dough had raised.

Ingredients

Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup milk

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 egg

Cheese Topping:

8 0z cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Apple Topping:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

5 medium apples, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup butter or margarine, cubed

Streusel Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar yeast and salt. In a saucepan, heat the water, milk and butter to 120 degrees. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Beat in egg until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 - 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

--Or just throw all of the ingredients in the bread maker and hit the "dough cycle" button.

2. Punch dough down. Press into two greased 12 inch pizza pans; build up edges. In a small mixing bowl, combine the cheese topping ingredients. Spread over dough to within 1/2 inch of edges. In a saucepan, combine the apple topping ingredients; simmer, uncovered, until apples are tender, stirring often. Spoon over cream cheese layer.

3. Combine streusel ingredients; sprinkle over apples. Let stand for 15 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes or until crust is browned. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm pizzas.

Lemon Chicken Not-Potpies with Poppy Seed Crust

Lemon Chicken Not-Potpies with Poppy Seed Crust

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 sheet puff pastry (9-inch square), thawed but cold
* 1 egg, beaten with a little water
* 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
* 2 baking potatoes (1-1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
* Salt
* 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
* 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
* 1-1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
* 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
* Pepper
* 2 leeks—stems split, thinly sliced and thoroughly rinsed
* 1 carrot, peeled and shredded
* 2 tablespoons chopped thyme
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons flour
* 1/2 cup white wine
* 1 cup chicken broth
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* Grated peel and juice of 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Preheat the oven to 425°. Roll out the puff pastry into a 12-inch square. Set aside four 2-cup bowls; invert 1 bowl onto the pastry and cut out 4 rounds. Place on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and brush with the egg. Sprinkle with the poppy seeds and bake until golden, 12 minutes. Let cool.
2.

In a large saucepan, add the potatoes and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, salt the water and cook until tender, 7 minutes. Add the peas and cook for 1 minute; drain.
3.

In a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons EVOO over medium heat. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook for 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon EVOO to the skillet. Add the leeks and carrot; season with salt, pepper and the thyme. Cook for 3 minutes.
4.

Scoot the leeks to the side and add the butter. Whisk in the flour, then the wine and chicken broth. Stir in the chicken and cream and heat through. Stir in the lemon peel, lemon juice, potatoes and peas. Fill the bowls with the chicken mixture and top with the crust.

Butternut Squash Soup

I'm cooking again! Oddly enough, I really missed cooking my own meals while Krynn was in the hospital. We had so many people bringing us food that we've been eating leftovers for weeks. But, I'm finally back in the kitchen. This recipe is the same recipe I use for pumpkin soup, and one of my favorite recipes for fall. I used butternut squash this time, but I think I like it better with pumpkin.

Pumpkin Soup

1/4 c. butter

1 small onion, chopped fine

1 clove garlic

2 tsp brown sugar

14 oz. chicken broth

1/2 c. water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp pepper

15 oz. pumpkin

12 oz. evaporated milk

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Chop onion small and saute with butter, garlic, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Add broth and water. Bring to boil, turn heat down to medium and simmer 15 minutes. Add milk, pumpkin and cinnamon. Cook on medium heat 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with crusty bread. (For the squash recipe, I baked the butternut squash until very soft, then pureed in the food processor. Replace the pumpkin with the squash.)

Lemon Pound Cake

A few weeks ago I signed up to take a dessert to a potluck dinner. I was planning on making a cake mix with a can of frosting since I had a crazy busy day. Then I was told that I had to bring the recipe also to put in a cookbook.

I could just imagine the recipe I would submit:

1 box lemon cake mix

1 can vanilla frosting

Cook according to directions on package.

So I spruced up the cake mix (from the alternate directions on the package) and added some glaze. It turned out pretty and tasty.

Ingredients:

1 package lemon cake mix

1 package (3.4 oz) lemon instant pudding and pie filling mix

4 large eggs

1 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1 tablespoon milk

2 drops yellow food coloring

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 10-inch Budnt pan or tube pan. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes. Invert onto heat resistant serving plate. Mix glaze ingredients together with wire wisk. Drizzle over cake.