delicious lasagna!

I tried this the other night for dinner and it was delicious!! It was a little time consuming but not hard...definitely worth it though. :-)

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

As you know I never follow a recipe perfectly, and I didn't want to take the time to let the sauce simmer for that long so I let it simmer about 20 minutes while I made salad. And I only had one big pot clean so instead of boiling the noodles I soaked them in a bowl of hot water (a trick I heard from a friend of mine) and it worked great! I made a double batch (one for some friends who's daughter just had surgery, and one for our family) and everyone raved about how good it was!

EASY Peanut Butter Cookies

So today I wanted something sweet, but I had nothing premade. So I opened up my Taste of Home book and looked through the cookies. This one only has 4 ingredients and could be whipped up and baked within 30 minutes. And they are SO good the girls and I ate almost all of them. We shared 3 with the neighbor kids, and I had to pack a few away so Kollin could get some. ;)
This recipe also contains NO flour at all, its a good one to add to your gluten free recipes.

1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter

In a bowl stir all ingredients until combined. Shape level tablespoons into balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets; flatten with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes or until set. Cool for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks. Yield about 2 doz.

Here are the (few) changes I did. My cookie dough balls were more than a tablespoon, so I only got 18 cookies. And my oven runs hot so they only cooked for just under 15 minutes. Its important to let them cool for 5 minutes otherwise they will just crumble and fall apart. The cool down helps them set and firm up. But after that, enjoy them with a glass of cold milk! YUM!

Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff

So this is what I made yesterday. I was a bit nervous at first but it turned out nicely and I really enjoyed it.

(I did make a couple changes. Not all the mushrooms I put in were Portobello and I added some garlic, and omitted the parsley, simply because I didn't have any on hand. Instead of using vegetable broth, I used Better than Bouillon, No Beef Base.I also didn't remove the cooked mushrooms to a bowl, like it says to in step 2, and just mixed the flour in a bowl of a half cup of cold water (so it didn't clump) and added it to the warm broth, and it still turned out yummy. OH! And the recipe only serves 4, so I doubled it.)

Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients

* 3 tablespoons butter
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 3/4 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced
* 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
* 1 1/2 cups sour cream
* 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
* 8 ounces dried egg noodles

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles, and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside.
2. At the same time, melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring until softened. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and add sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are limp and browned. Remove to a bowl, and set aside.
3. In the same skillet, stir in vegetable broth, being sure to stir in any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, and cook until the mixture has reduced by 1/3. Reduce heat to low, and return the mushrooms and onion to the skillet.
4. Remove the pan from the heat, stir together the sour cream and flour; then blend into the mushrooms. Return the skillet to the burner, and continue cooking over low heat, just until the sauce thickens. Stir in the parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over cooked egg noodles.