No Boil Lasagna

Life has been super busy lately. I got married June 7, 2014. To kick off wedding week, we had  his parents, my mom, both of his grandmothers, and my brother over for supper. The easiest thing that I could think of was lasagna. This recipe is super straightforward, can be made ahead of time and baked at a later date. Would be perfect to take to new parents as a freezer meal, to a family member who had surgery, or to a grieving family as a meal.

I really do need to get better at taking pictures of the entire process. But, I did get a picture of the final product. I think I picked the warmest day of the last two weeks to have the oven run for 3 hours between lasagna, dessert, and garlic bread.  This lasagna has been made by my mom for years and has been passed down to me.

No Boil Lasagna
2 lbs ground beef
Salt & Pepper
1/4 green bell pepper
1/2 onion
2 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can of stewed or diced tomatoes
2 cups water
12 lasagna noodles
1 large container of cottage cheese
6 cups of mozzarella cheese
2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp oregano

In a large pot place the hamburger, onion, bell pepper, salt and pepper in a pan. Brown and drain any excess grease off the meat.

Turn down the heat; add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, water, garlic salt, and oregano

In a 9x13 cake pan spread a thin layer of the sauce mixture

Lay down 3 noodles across and 1 on the bottom. Spread more sauce on the noodles. Put 1/3 of the cottage cheese and mozz cheese.   (Repeat this step two more times)

Bake at 350 for 75 minutes or until noodles are done, cheese is browned.


Now, I am off to spend some quality time with the husband...

Happy New Years!!

Happy New Years to all the people in blog land.  I have decided to start the year off right and get a new tattoo! It all began when my little brother entered college; I told him that when he finished college that I would go get new ink done with him. Well, college didn't work out for him, and he entered Job Corp for Welding. The deal changed at that point to he needed to complete the program and had a full-time job for six months before I would get one with him. He did it, when my mom and little brother came up for the Christmas Holiday from North Dakota we went to Eagle River Tattoo. Turns out getting a tattoo is on my mom's bucket list, so she got one too.

Mom's New Lady Bugs courtesy of
Matt @ Eagle River Tattoo

My tattoo in memory of my dad. Courtesy of Matt @Eagle River Tattoo 

My ink is AMAZING!!! The signature in my heart is my dad's name that was found on my kindergarten graduation card that I got in 1991. That card was 22 years old; I am lucky that my mom kept things like that. I walked in with an idea and no drawings. Described what I would like, and it came out a million times better than expected.

After the ink, it was finally time to eat our New Years dinner.  Before we had left for the tattoos, I had put the ribs I had bought from Costco in the roaster to cook on low. I wish I had taken a picture of them before they were devoured by the three of us, they were fall off the bone good! We also had Alaska King Crab and potatoes.

The sad point in the night came when I would have to say goodbye to my mom and little brother. I had gotten used to them being around, and house being noisier than when it is just me and the cats while the fiancee is on the slope working.  But, the countdown has already begun again because they will both be up here before the 7th of June for our wedding!!

Happy New Years

Well, I have made it another year.  I feel like I have accomplished a couple things in this year that I am proud of.

The big one is that I have made the step and started taking college courses to finish a degree in something. Right now, I am working on my Pharmacy Tech Certificate to get out of my job that I am currently working. Then get on the waiting list for nursing school (waitlist is at least a year long)

The second one that I am proud of is that I am being able to manage my personal life, work life, and school life all without having any major meltdowns. Granted there have been a few mini ones where I called my mom telling her that either school wasn't worth it or my job how much it sucked. Those are just two of the things that I feel I have succeeded in this past year.

Now, I have started my list of stuff I want to accomplish and when I want them done by.

1. By becoming a healthier person
• Not eating out so much and going to the gym 5 days a week
2. Cutting out 95% of soda
• January is going to be 30 days without soda and go from there.
3. Attend Hot Yoga twice a month
4. Not let the little things bug me
5. Start and complete the 52 weeks of savings plan
6. I want to finish and sell me crocheted things in my hobby
7. Plan a Rocking wedding on June 7, 2014

Bruschetta Chicken

A couple weeks ago I was craving Italian food and didn't want to go out to the restaurant to get it. So, I used my noggin and came up with bruschetta chicken. 

1 container of Grape tomatoes

1/4 onion

2 cloves of garlic

Olive Oil

4 skinless chicken breast

Smoked provolone cheese

red wine

salt 

pepper

balsamic vinegar 

10 basil leaves

Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts, set aside.

In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, warm olive oil. Add chicken, cover pan, and cook for about 10 minutes. Flip chicken breasts and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked thoroughly 

While chicken is cooking, in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat, warm remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute,\. Add tomatoes, red wine and continue sautéing until tomatoes skin starts to soften/wrinkle, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the basil. 

Once the chicken is done, top the tops of each chicken breast with 1 slices of smoked provolone cheese. Pour tomato mixture on top. Cover pan with lid once more and let the mozzarella melt. 

Overnight Crockpot Oatmeal

I am trying to get back on the healthy streak that I was on a while ago. After all, I can't look like an Oompa lumpa in my wedding pictures next summer. I love to eat and drink that is the problem I have always had.  I am fairly active, but I hate the gym.

I tried a new recipe last night to encourage me to eat breakfast during the week, and it will be utterly simple and on the go.

Apple Pie Overnight Oats
2 apples
2 cup old fashioned oats or Steel cut oats
4 cups water
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon ( I will be putting more next time)

1) Spray the inside of crockpot before starting. I didn't do this, and now the pot is soaking in the sink in hot soapy water.
2) Core, cube and put apples in the bottom of a pot
3)Add brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, and water
4) Turn on low and cook for 8 hours.

Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes and Blueberry Sauce

Downside to living in Alaska is not getting quality, tasty, and  fresh fruit. This summer I discovered a company that only comes to Alaska from California with a truckload of fruit every three weeks. The first order I got was a case of blueberries, blackberries, 1/2 case of peaches and 1/2 case of plums.  The peaches were the size of softballs and were extremely juicy.  With that fruit that I received I have eaten a bunch of it and canned some plums, made blackberry jam, peach bbq sauce, and plum sauce.  I have recipes for them to follow in future blogs. 

It has been very rainy and cloudy here, perfect for a great breakfast. I found a couple recipes and used them for inspiration. 

Blueberry Sauce

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 C Orange Juice

1/4 cup of warm water

3/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Dash of Vanilla

1/4c extra cold water

2.5 T cornstarch

Juice of 1 Lemon

Put the blueberries, OJ, water, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon in a pot. Bring to boil and simmer for a couple minutes. While it is simmering, combine the cornstarch and water. Once that is combined, pour in while stirring, and simmer until thick. Take off the heat and put the juice of one lemon in it. 

Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes

2 C buttermilk
2 large eggs

2 T butter, melted

3.5 lemons zested

1/3 cup poppy seeds

Juice of one lemon

2 C flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt

In a large bowl pour the buttermilk, eggs, butter, poppy seeds, zest of lemons, and juice of one lemon. Whisk them all together. Then add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into the bowl. Combine all of them.  Heat the griddle or pan. Makes about 15 pancakes with a 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. 

Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day to all. Thank you to those who have served in the Armed Services.

In exciting news I traded in my 2008 Chevy Cobalt for an amazing new vehicle for me. I got a 2011 GMC Terrain AWD it rides like a dream and has a lot more room.

Watch out world it has warmed up a lot here in the last couple days. It has been in the 70's, I had forgotten what that felt like after 232 days. I have been busy planting flowers and grilling everything possible on the grill. I also created a new recipe with inspiration from two salads. One was a Grilled Corn Orzo Salad with Chili Lime Vinaigrette and Mediterranean Orzo Salad

Now for the long anticipated Salad. I am having a hard time coming up with a cool and funky name for it...
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
1 cup orzo, uncooked
2 ears sweet corn
1 avocado, chopped
¼ small red onion, minced
2 Tablespoons chopped basil

Dressing
½ cup olive oil
honey (can use however much you want) I think I used 2tbsp
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 teaspoon chili powder (Next time I will use a little bit more)
Salt & pepper

Cook orzo in a large pot of salted, boiling water until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.

Shuck corn then grill for 5-6 minutes, rotating every minute or so to evenly char on all sides. Let cool slightly, then cut kernels off the cob.

Combine cooked orzo and corn kernels avocado, red onion, olives, feta and basil in a large bowl and stir to combine.

For the dressing: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine or you can put it in blender. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Serve chilled, or at room temperature