Lasagna

When I went to create the hand out for my cooking class, I realized that I have never posted my lasagna recipe on here. I make it all the time because it is Nathan's favorite meal so it is time for me to post it.

My students made this particular dish of lasagna.

Basic Lasagna Recipe
1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 large jar of spaghetti sauce
8 oz ricotta cheese*
8 oz small curd cottage cheese*
1 egg
Dash of nutmeg
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 package no cook lasagna noodles

Things I like to add to the sauce by adding to the meat while it is browning:
chopped onion
chopped bell pepper
minced garlic
mushrooms
chopped zucchini
chopped pepperoni


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef and other vegetables in a skillet with high sides or sauce pan over medium high heat. Drain excess fat if needed before adding spaghetti sauce. Lower heat, cover and let simmer while you prepare cheese filling.

2. Mix ricotta, cottage cheese, egg, nutmeg, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. When well combined, add mozzarella cheese and stir.

3. Spoon some of the sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and then layer:noodles, meat sauce, cheese filling, noodles, cheese filling and meat sauce.

4. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and sprinkle cheese on top if desired and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

5. IMPORTANT: Let the lasagna sit for 10 minutes before you cut into it. The sitting time allows it to firm up so you can dish it out better.

*Note: every recipe that I have seen calls for 15 ounces of one or the other of these cheeses, but I have found that I like my lasagna best with both of them. Ricotta adds a more authentic Italian flavor and the cottage cheese adds more moisture.

Vote for Ellen!

I'm reposting, please vote for Ellen.

My Freshman college roomy, from my Helaman Halls days, has entered a modeling contest for e.l.f (eyes lips face). This contest allows you to go and vote for your favorites from now until some time in December. One vote per day. This is my beautiful friend Ellen.

Let me tell you that Ellen is just as much fun as she is beautiful! Here is her personal statement for the contest.

Personal Statement:
I believe that all women are beautiful, regardless of age, size, or ethnic background. I am also an advocate of finding products that will help accentuate the beauty that is already there. I'm a real woman living a busy life, and E.L.F. products help make my life easier--at extremely affordable prices. I would love to have the amazing opportunity to help women realize their true beauty through E.L.F.

To vote for Ellen simply click HERE.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

So, do you want to know what I've been eating for lunch this week? With my novel characters running rampant in my mind, I have not been able to concentrate on food. Novel writing may turn out to be a new form of dieting. Anyway, the only thing that sounded really good was a grilled chicken sandwich, but I did not want to drive to Chick-fil-A to get one. So, I turned on the grill and by golly I think my sandwich is better than Chick-fil-A!

I salted and peppered both sides of a chicken breast and put them on the grill to cook on medium heat, brushing them with a Hoisin Sauce (about 3 tablespoons) and Liquid Smoke (about 1/4 teaspoon) mixture. I did add about a tablespoon of water to thin it out as well. I put it on a hard roll with Swiss cheese, honey mustard, bell pepper slices and green lettuce. I ran out of tomato by the time I thought of taking a picture and blogging about this yummy sandwich so I added dill spears instead.

Moving once more

October was a really bad month for me and running. I don't know why, it just was. After returning home from TN and the wedding I decided that I had to get moving again. Why? Lots of reasons.

1. Running helps me deal with stress (and I have a lot of stress right now)
2. When I run I have more patience with my children who tend to act out the most when I have a lot of other stress in my life. See number 1.
3. Running boosts my overall energy level and I need more energy to accomplish everything on my "to do" list.
4. I cannot plan to run a full marathon next April if I'm not running now.
5. Some of the wedding pictures made me want to gag. My second chin is trying to come back!

So, what does all this add up to? Monday I went for a short run and was surprised at how easily I slipped back into my groove. I was afraid that it would be hard, and I actually planned to walk quite a bit of the two miles I planned. However, as I hit the road my body remembered how good it felt to be moving and I just ran. I actually did the two miles in 20 minutes which means I didn't lose anything over the last month. That said, I was pretty stiff when I woke up the next morning, so I put in another two miles on Tuesday.

That run was brutally hard! Not only were my feet lead, my legs all the way up felt like to concrete pillars rooted to the ground. Now, I probably needed to take a day off, but other people run every day and I am determined to run two miles Monday through Saturday this week. I'm keeping it short and I slowed down considerably on Tuesday (I think I did it in 25 or 26 minutes) and will continue the slow pace the rest of the week, but I have to kick my rear into gear.

The weather is going to turn cold very soon and I need to be back in the habit of running before then. The bonus this week is that since I went running, my hubby got out to run too, so I feel like it is my responsibility to set the example and encourage him to get out and do the same. Yes, it feels good to be moving again.

Masquerade Wedding Cake

Can you believe that I made this! I am still giddy with joy at how well it turned out.

I am so proud of this cake! As you can see I figured out how to do the topsy turvy and make it look right.

Diamonds--Neapolitan layer about 7 inches tall.

Circles--Orange cake layer, mmmm, one of my favorites.

Stripes--plain old boring yellow cake because that is all the groom likes!

Groom's Cake--Batman in the Chicago Bear's colors (it only looks black in the picture). I etched the stitching on the flipping footballs, you just can't see it in the picture.

Our Deepest Fear

Last night I was able to enjoy a wonderful evening session of Stake Conference for the adults. Our ward choir provided the music, my children stayed home, I sat with my dear husband, and I was spiritually fed. I enjoyed each topic and speaker, but Sister Crowely's talk was my favorite. She speaks on my level, stories and life examples that I can relate to.

I was especially touched by a quote that she read by Marianne Williamson from her book A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracle (also used in the movie Akeelah and the Bee and incorrectly credited to *Nelson Mandela's Inauguration speech in 1994).

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

"Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.

"We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. by Marianne Williamson

How many times in our lives do we begin to hope for something, begin to believe that we can accomplish a goal or task that seemed unattainable, and then decide to be "realistic", convincing ourselves that we are too average to really do what we wish? We dream of making a difference in the world, or producing something that we can leave behind with our name on it, but fall prey to the whisperings of inadequacy. It is so easy to do, and we all do it in some form daily.

What if we could truly believe in the light that fills our souls as children of a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to accomplish great things? What if when someone asks you, "You are a writer?" (or photographer, singer, dancer, pianist, poet, runner, swimmer, whatever you dream of doing) you can say "Yes I am!" proudly without embarrassment or fear of them discovering that you are simply a want-to-be?

We need to let our lights shine brightly, and use that light to show others that it is alright for them to shine as well. If we are confident in ourselves, we will not feel the need to belittle or demean others in order to feel better about ourselves. We can be strong, intelligent, creative, talented and fabulous and allow others to do the same!

Now I'm off to be brilliant, and I can't wait to see all the lights starting to burn in my friends and family around me. Trust me, I have some amazing friends who really do shine!

*Link to Nelson Mandela's Inauguration Speech .

I want to run here...

Turkey Wild Rice Soup--Charity Style!

Have you figured out what my style is yet? Turkey Wild Rice Soup--Charity Style means of course--no turkey or wild rice! Ha ha! I used chicken and plain old brown rice, but this soup was still a hit with my family. I made homemade wheat rolls to go with it and it seriously tasted like biscuits and gravy with chicken instead of sausage. It had a few steps, but they were easy steps. The soup was creamy and I will definitely add this to my "make again" list. I thought it was filling enough with the rolls and a salad, but I did worry that the missionaries left a little bit hungry.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of it. Since we had the missionaries over for dinner and in the rush to get everything ready I forgot to take a picture. There were no left overs so I will take a picture next time and add it to the post.

Ingredients:
3 (10 1/2 ounces) cans chicken broth
2 cups water
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions (I used about 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion)
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice (brown rice)
8 slices bacon (I completely omitted, I image we would have died from the perfection of the added bacon!)
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups half and half
1 1/2 cups cooked, diced turkey (or chicken)

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine chicken broth, water, chopped onion and rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 35 to 40 minutes until rice is tender.

2. If using bacon, cook it until crisp while the rice is cooking. When the bacon is crisp, let it cool, crumble and set aside. This is when I cooked my chicken. I pan fried it in a little olive oil sprinkled with salt.

3. In a medium saucepan (I actually used the same skillet that I cooked my chicken in--it has high straight sides) over medium heat, place margarine. Add flour, salt, poultry seasoning and pepper and mix well. Cook, stirring frequently until bubbly and smooth. Stir in half and half and cook until thickened about 2 minutes. YES! You are making gravy to put in the soup! This is why it tastes so yummy.

4. Add the gravy, crumbled bacon, and diced turkey to rice mixture and cook until heated through.

Makes 9 servings

Chicken and Broccoli Rotini

Simplicity itself. Tonight I was really in the mood for a simple, basically healthy and light meal. This was on the list and it fit the bill perfectly. Of course my family complained that I mixed it all together instead of giving them chicken with broccoli and pasta on the side. But it looked nicer this way and it really was super easy to make. I think it only took about 20 minutes start to finish.

Chicken and Broccoli RotiniYou can't get any simpler, easy ingredients than this! Only 5 ingredients!

* 16 oz fresh chopped broccoli (I used a 10 oz bag of frozen florets)
* 1 (16 oz) package dry Rotini pasta
* 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used one large since my family balks at my garlic usage)
* 1 Tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* salt and pepper to taste
* Cooked chicken (I used about 9 tenderloin pieces)

1. I pulled some frozen chicken out of the freezer and thawed it about half way in the microwave. I think added it to a skillet with some olive oil and dried onion flakes. I sprinkled salt on both sides as well. I let it cook through and brown while I started the next step.

2. In a large pot of boiling water, cook broccoli until tender. Drain broccoli, reserving the water. Set the broccoli aside and return the water to the pot and cook the pasta in it. The pasta will take about 10 minutes. While the pasta is cooking, I chopped my chicken into pieces.

3. Drain the pasta and set aside. In a skillet add 1 tablespoon olive oil and the minced garlic. Saute for about a minute. Add drained pasta, cooked broccoli, cut chicken and grated Parmesan cheese. Toss together and serve.

This dish is nice and light because there is no sauce, and it is healthy enough to eat a large portion of it. Here is an estimate of the nutrition based on my input on myfitnesspal .

Servings: about 10
331 calories, 43 g carbs, 6 g fat, 22 g protein

Tip: Leave out the chicken for vegetarian and/or to make it a side dish.

2009 Walk Now for Autism

This is a VERY last minute decision. Last night Nathan and I decided to participate in the Walk Now for Autism event this Saturday. We both have several other activities we should be at, but decided to do this instead. (Don't worry Soni, I'll still send my soup!)

It is a free event for us to participate in, so our whole family will be walking. They do ask that we try and raise some money for Autism research. If you would like to sponsor our family, follow this link to our Family Page.