Audra's Lasagna

  This is my version of traditional lasagna. I recently prepared a pan of this lasagna for my sister and her family while they were moving in to their new home.

I realized this recipe was blog worthy when she called me the next day and

told me my brother-in-law woke up thinking about how good the lasagna was the night before!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!

 

 

1lb ground beef
2 TBS olive oil
1 small purple onion chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomato paste
1- 15 oz can tomato sauce
1- 15 oz can diced tomato
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. garlic & herb
¼ tsp. red pepper
1 ½ tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 package of oven ready lasagna noodles
I recommend
(Barilla Flat Egg Lasagna 9oz Box)
½ lbs - 1 lbs. shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil and remove from pan then fry beef in the remaining oil. If your beef is fatty drain the grease. In a large pan add tomato paste, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, onion, garlic, sugar, all herbs, salt and pepper.

Add meat to mixture. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering beat an egg in a medium bowl. Then 
add ricotta cheese and add a sprinkle of all herbs and mix well.

Now you are ready to put your lasagna together!
Place a small amount of sauce (so the lasagna noodles do not touch the bottom of the pan) in a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. Spread layers of noodles, ricotta cheese, sauce, and mozzarella cheese for 3 layers. Pour the remaining sauce over the last layer of noodles. 

Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and oregano. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes covered with foil. Then remove foil for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Call the family to the table and enjoy a wonderful family meal made by you! Serve with fresh steamed green beans, salad, and French bread. Enjoy :)

Homemade Applesauce

This is a delicious applesauce recipe! I think the secret is the golden delicious apples. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does! Your kids are sure to come running when they smell this cooking :)

Ingredients:

4 large Golden Delicious Apples

1/2 cup of apple juice (I use Simply Apple) or water
2 TBS sugar, if you use water

(less or more, depends how sweet you want your apple sauce)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp of  fresh lemon juice

 

Peel and core apples, cut into eighths. In a medium saucepan, combine apples, juice, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Heat to boil and then reduce to low, cover and simmer until apples are very tender, 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and mash coarsely with potato masher.

Coming Soon November Recipes

I have lost my camera's usb cable so I cannot upload any pictures :(

Good news I have ordered another one after looking everywhere.

Coming Soon November Recipes

-Lasagna

-Quick Turkey Chili

-Pumpkin Pie

-Fun, New Nifty Gadget

-Pumpkin Pie Coffee Creamer

-Pumpkin Pie Cake Pops Tutorial

 Praying my camera usb cord comes in soon :)

Pancake Pen

How fun is this, a Pancake Pen! We traditional have pancakes at my house just about every Saturday, so when I saw this on a friend’s Facebook post I had to check this item out.

Walmart $6
Pancake Creator

 A must have for pancake lovers with kids! You can draw anything you want and perfect for writing out names, numbers, and alphabet letters. I am all for fun stuff in the kitchen and this was definitely a hit at my house.

Fun Halloween Cupcakes

       These fun cupcakes are sure to please your kiddos at your Halloween bash this year. 

         
The cake mix I used is the exact recipe off the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa box “Perfectly Chocolate Cake”. I homemade the icing and tented each bowl of icing with Wilton’s icing colors, but if you are short on time use the already made icing.

  

Colors- white, black, brown, green, yellow, and red     

I highly recommend Wilton disposable decorating bags for this project!

Butter Cream Icing
1 stick of butter (at room temp)
2 cups of confections sugar (sifted)
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBS of milk (add more if needed)

In small bowl mix butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Then add milk and vanilla until blended well.

To make chocolate butter cream icing add ½ cup Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips melted with the milk and vanilla.

I made chocolate icing for the werewolf cupcakes, but if you want feel free to color your white icing brown.

I doubled the icing recipe and I halved the recipe for the chocolate icing.

Directions for Decorating

1. First with white icing completely ice the eye and spider web cupcakes.

 

2. Then with green icing ice Frankenstein and Monster cupcakes, but only ice half the cupcake for the monster.    

 

3.  Mummies – I used Wilton tip #352 and turned the tip on the side and used a wrapped look. Each mummy is wrapped differently, so don’t worry about technique just have fun. Leave a small opening near the top for the eyes.

 

4.  Next start on werewolves. I used Wilton tip #18 with chocolate icing. Start in the center and sweep out till point, kind of like you are making a flower. Also create little ears.

 

5.  Then change to yellow for the eyes; I used Wilton’s tip #3. I used yellow eyes for the mummies and monster eyes.

 

6.  After that I used Wilton tip # 18 with black icing for Frankenstein’s hair. Switch to tip #3 and fill in pupils for the mummy and monster eyes, Frank’s smile, and spider web.

 

7.  Then Tip #3 and white icing for Frank’s eyes, monster’s teeth, werewolf’s fangs, and werewolf’s eyes.

8.  Next use red icing and tip #3 for Frank’s tongue and red shot eye.

9.  The final touch is black icing and tip #3 for werewolf’s and Frank’s pupils, and werewolf’s mouth .

Enjoy a Merry Not Scary Halloween!