Lasagna Roll Ups

Lasagna, comfort food for the winter months.  I found this recipe on the web and thought I would give it a try.  The flavor was good, but it was missing that wow factor that I like in food (flavor that burst in your mouth, not just a mild taste of flavor).  Don't get me work, this recipe has potential and on a scale of 1 -5 I would give it 2.75.  With additional herbs added to the recipe and pureeing the sauce, this recipe could easily rise to a 5.  Changes I made to the recipe were, using fresh spinach instead of frozen and I didn't use 10 oz of spinach either because I didn't want a mouth fall of spinach.  I have never had artichoke before so I wanted to make sure the flavor of the artichoke came out.  The portion size was just right, 1 1/2 rolls and I was stuffed.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the salt and cook the lasagna noodles to al dente, according to package directions. Drain and carefully lay the lasagna noodles out flat on a large piece of parchment paper. Let sit to cool.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg, garlic, spinach, artichoke hearts, parmesan cheese, basil, crushed red pepper, and nutmeg. Stir until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Take about 1/4 cup of the ricotta spinach mixture and spread it evenly onto each lasagna noodle. Top each noodle with 2 tablespoons of mozzarella cheese and 2 tablespoons of marinara sauce. 

4. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Line the bottom with marinara sauce, about 1/2 cup. Set aside.

5. Carefully roll the noodles up and place them in the prepared pan 








6. Top the lasagna rolls with the remaining marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Spray a large sheet of foil with cooking spray and cover the pan.

7. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted on top. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve warm

ingredients:

12 lasagna noodles
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 large egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
10-ounces frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and squeeze to remove water
1 cup chopped canned or jarred artichoke hearts
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
4 cups Easy Marinara Sauce or your favorite sauce

Note: To prepare the lasagna rolls in advance, roll them up, add the sauce and cheese and cover with foil and place in the fridge until ready to bake. I've made them a day before baking and they were still great. To freeze, bake and let cool to room temperature. Place in a freezer container and freeze. Reheat in the microwave. You can place a whole pan in the freezer and heat back up in the oven, but I like to freeze the rolls in individual servings for easy lunches and dinners.

Tomato Soup for a cold winter day

Temperatures are getting close to the freezing point, so I decide to pull the last of the tomatoes indoors and move everything else into the green house so I could get an extra month of harvesting.  Now that I have all these tomatoes, what to do with them?  I stubbled upon a Tomato soup recipe on pinterest and decided to give it a try.  My coloring of the soup  was more on the orange/redish side and I think that is because I didn't use enough tomatoes. Even though the recipe called for 4-5 tomatoes it didn't really tell you the size of tomatoes to use, I thought I would play it safe and I used 6 small tomatoes. The flavor of the soup was excellent, especially if you compare it to the store bought canned tomato soup.  Store bought soup tends to be a bit watering and this tomato soup I made is nice and creamy and has some thickness to it.  So, grab yourself a book and curl up to a nice bowl of tomato soup.

Fresh Tomato Soup

1 tbsp olive oil 
1/2 c onion, chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic 
4-5 c chopped ripe tomatoes, seeded (you can sub in some canned, if needed)
2 c chicken broth (or 2 c water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp (+) salt
pepper to taste

 1. Heat olive oil in stock pot, and cook onions and garlic til tender, but not browned. Add chopped tomatoes and chicken broth and simmer for 20-25 mins. Remove from heat and use food mill, immersion blender or regular blender to carefully puree mixture.

2. In separate small skillet, melt butter and add flour, cooking til light golden brown. Whisk in 1 cup of pureed tomato mixture slowly, ensuring that the mixture doesn't clump. When tempered, add mixture from skillet to the stock pot.

3. Add sugar, vinegar, basil, salt and pepper, and simmer 5 more minutes. Season to taste.

The leaves are changing colors, the air is cooler and it’s time to harvest the pumpkins for homemade pumpkin puree and doggie treats.  If you ever have the chance try a slice of a store bought pumpkin pie and homemade pumpkin pie at the same time, you will be amazed with the difference in flavor.  Homemade pumpkin pie with homemade puree has a sweeter taste that kinda pops in your mouth at the end of a bite.  It truly is delicious! This is how I make my homemade pumpkin puree for pies and yes I also use it when I make my homemade doggie treats.  My dogs go crazy for these treats! I gave my neighbor some of these doggie treats and she told me her dog was crazy for them as well.

 

What you will need: cutting board, sharp knife, spoon, tray with a lip, cooling rack, blender, bowl and a baking pumpkin not a regular pumpkin that you put out for Halloween.

 

 Slice your baking pumpkin in half with a sharp knife.  The half on the left has been scooped out and the one on the right has not.  You will want to scoop both halves middle section up where the seeds and the stringy stuff is.  I save my seeds so I can use them the following year for planting.




 

Cut your halves into quarters and place them on top of the cooling rack that is sitting inside of your tray that has a lip.

Place your tray in the oven at 300 degree, pour some water into the bottom of your tray and steam bake for about  1 ½ hours (the length of time will depend upon how your oven cooks and the size of the pumpkin)

 

 

 

When you can stick a fork through the top of each quarter with the least amount of effort that quarter is done baking (not all quarters bake at the same rate).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The skin of the pumpkin should literally fall away from the sides

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once all the skin is removed you are left with a big piece of pumpkin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place this piece of pumpkin into a blender (my picture shows a food processor because my blender decided to die).  The setting should be set for puree.  When there are no lumps in your puree, you are finished. 

 

HAPPY BAKING!

 

Fender Guitar Table

Well winter is fast approaching so all outdoor projects must come to an end.  This is the last of the projects for the season that my daughter and I did for her boyfriend.  Her boyfriend has 3 guitars so she thought it would be fitting to have a coffee table in the shape of a guitar head.  The only thing we had to guide us, was one of his guitars and our free hand drawing skills.  We also used a printer, scissors, pencil and paint.  Once all the templates were created we simply taped the templates down to the wood and traced the templates with the pencils.   We then painted everything and once it was dry several coats of varathane was applied. If I had to do over again I would only add a fourth leg for more stability.  

Pretty in Pink

Today is what I am calling a pink day. I purchased this flannel material awhile ago, I really liked how the pink and brown actually went well together. Well, today I had a brain storm on what to do with the fabric, create a gift basket! I liked the way the word "BABY" was done on the material so, I decided to reproduce it so my embroidery machine could stitch it out on different fabrics. I then embroidered the word onto some cotton fabric (bib) and some pink fleece material that I decided I would make a baby hat from. I added an elastic band at the hat hem line along with a flower. This elastic will allow the hat to stretch so the baby can get more then just one or two uses out of it. Of course I had to add a matching burp cloth to complete the set. I really like how everything pulled together in an elegant modern way. If you would like to purchase this gift basket you can find it at www.slurpsnburps.com or on esty.com

Baby Mittens

Tiny Twisted Mittens

I originally found this pattern on http://www.ravelry.com/.  If you are not aware of this web site, it's heaven for knitters and crocheters.  You will find lots of free patterns and patterns that you will have to pay a few dollars for.  I knitted these little mittens in a red glitter (hard to see the glitter in the yarn from the photo) yarn for Christmas.  Now all I have to do is make a matching dress, hat and booties.  Creating never stops.

Lace baby booties

Purple is my birthstone color, so when I saw the pattern for these lace baby booties, I knew they would look great in Purple.  

This is what your work should look like before you begin the instep rows.

This is what your work should look like after you completed the instep rows.

After you completed your foot sections, this is what your work should look like.  I provided the front, side and top view.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask by leaving a comment.  And, please feel free to leave a comment if you see something wrong with the pattern or just to say you like the pattern.

Happy Knitting!

Crochet Flowers

These little flowers are a nice addition to any crochet project.

I don't assume everyone knows how to crochet or the terminology.  For the life of me I can never remember what the Garter St is in knitting, so I always have to look it up before I begin a project.  I hope this step by step tutorial with pictures will help you with making these cute little flowers.

Making the slip knot

Row 1 - ch 3, sl st in 3rd chain from hook to form a circle

Row 2 - do not sl st to connect to row 1.  Do 10 sc inside the circle again, at the same time squeeze your bud together as you do your sc.  The tighter the bud the higher it will stand up from the petals

The black bub was pulled extremely tight, look how high it stands above the petals compared to the 2 other flowers that were pulled at different tightness

Row 3 - change to smaller size crochet hook, join contrasting yarn

ch 3, dc in the same st as ch 3, ch 3, sl st in the same st as ch 3

Row 4 - repeat row 3,  9 more times around your bud.  Completed flower should have 10 petals

Completed Flowers

Ribbon baby booties

As I have mentioned before knitting and crocheting is a passion of mine (oh heck, anything that is crafty or allows me to create art is a passion for me).  I found this cute "babystovler" pattern from Calista Yoo blogspot.  Not sure why the name "babystovler" was chosen for the name of this pattern, to me they look more like strips of ribbons, so I called them ribbon booties. These cute little booties were pretty easy to make and I whipped up this pair in less then an hour in a half.  The only difficulties I found was sewing the seams closed, where the strips meet in the center, they didn't quite lie flat.  Or it just could have been me being picky.  For those of you who like to crochet I have provide the link to this pattern below.  

Happy crocheting!

http://calistayoo.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-version-of-babystvler.html

Call to Knitters and Crocheters

Knitting and Crocheting has always been a passion of mine since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  So it didn't surprise me when I saw a picture of this Owl cocoon on Facebook, I had to make it.  It didn't take me long to find the pattern, pay the fees and begin to crochet away like a mad man. Of course I had to make a few minor changes to the pattern that I thought were more pleasing to my eyes.  I believe I spent about 3 days making this cocoon and it was well worth the time.  I just love the colors and the cuteness of the finished project.  My initial thought for creating this adorable owl cocoon was, I was going to use it in my photography work with babies.   I posted a picture of my completed cocoon on Facebook and within 15 minutes I was asked if it was for sale, the women insisted that she needed to have this cocoon for her unborn baby first photographs in January 2014.  Needless to say I began working on a new one to be used with my photography work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/pamelamckee/245--owl-cocoon-baby-crochet-pattern-245

Vinegar, who knew?

I learned something new about Vinegar today in an article I was reading.  Apparently the properties that make up vinegar have created an acid level within the product that will kill germs and disinfect most surfaces, and it will neutralize and eliminate most odors.

Vineger can be mixed with water and used as a cleaner on glass, tile, and ceramic surfaces, and it can keep kitchen counters, sinks, and disposals looking and smelling fresh. It can reduce lime and calcium build-up in appliances like coffeemakers and tea kettles, and adding a splash to laundry can help brighten fabric colors.

This is what really got my attention. We have a 15 week old puppy that still has accidents and always in the same spot.  I have tried every product under the sun to remove this smell and nothing seemed to work.  Then within this article it stated that vinegar can eliminate pet urine odor.  So with some trepidation I did as the article recommend.  I diluted 1 cup of vinegar with 3 cups of water and sprayed  the area with this mixture, the vinegar actually absorbed the odor! The article also suggested putting a small bowl with vinegar in the room to help eliminate the odor in the air. Then I thought this would work great for that stinking diaper pale we all keep in the baby room or bathroom.

Puppies, we all love them!

 

 

Beyond questioning, the royal family of the sight hound world is the Borzoi, (aka, Russian Wolf Hound).  Borzois are tall, curvy, elegant, and have a coat of silky hair that just seems to flow in the wind and this is why they continue to be featured in art and fashion magazines. They were originally developed to hunt hare and wolves in the harsh Russian climate and like most sight hounds, they love to run and chase things. Their desire to chase things is very likely to override any amount of training your dog has had, so a fenced area to run and play is a must. Borzoi are almost silent, barking only very rarely, they are not a territorial breed, so watch dog-behavior is out of the question. It can be a challenge to train them beyond the basic commands of no jumping, don't eat the couch or don't chase after the cat. These gentle giants are highly sensitive and do not cope well in environments of raised voices or harsh punishment. They have a natural respect for humans and will be aloof with strangers, their desire is to be with their owner(s), As adults they are decorative couch potatoes with remarkably gracious house manners and a joy to cuddle with.

 

 

Meet Loki, our 8 week old Borzoi puppy. There are many Borzoi breeders out there and after researching we selected Enchante Borzoi kennel located in Westchester, Ill, owned and operated by Scott Sumeracki and Mary Sue Marcyn. We flew into Chicago and met with Scott and Sue for several hours.  Our intentions were to return back home with one of the caramel colored puppies and as you can see from Loki's picture, he is not caramel colored (the pictures we reviewed of him before arriving in Chicago did not do him justice).  Personality was the number one factor with us because he had to fit in with the pack of dogs we already have.  Not only did Sue and Scott do a wonderful job taking care of Loki's health (formerly known as Dimples) and beginning to socializing him, I think we did a wonderful job with picking Loki as the latest addition to our family, we now have 2 couch potatoes, Neeko (our adult male) and Loki the puppy.

If you have any questions about this breed don't hesitate to leave me a comment and if I can't answer your question I'm sure Sue or Scott will be happy to.  

https://www.facebook.com/msmarcyn

http://www.theborzoifiles.net/details.php?id=106887

  

Diapers May Hinder Walking in Babies?? 

What do you Think?

 

Most babies wear diapers and now they are saying that these diapers trap more than just waste, they may also be confining your baby’s ability to walk.


This is the information from the actual study that was conducted.

Scientists compared the walking gaits of 60 babies who were either naked, wore a thin disposable diaper or a thick cloth diaper. Half the babies were 13-month old novice walkers and the other half 19-month old experienced walkers.

When the 30 13-month olds walked naked only 10 fell, but while wearing the cloth diaper 21 of them fell, and while wearing the disposable 17 of them fell. Among the 19-month olds only 4 fell while naked or wearing disposables, while 8 fell when wearing cloth diapers. But both age groups took wider and shorter steps while wearing diapers as opposed to walking naked. The research is in the journal Developmental Science. [Whitney G. Cole, Jesse M. Lingeman and Karen E. Adolph, Go naked: diapers affect infant walking]

Because the effects were immediate, this study cannot predict if wearing diapers has a long-term impact. Nonetheless the researchers believe walking naked would speed up walking development. But then we are left with the issue of covering the entire house in plastic and relying heavily on the child’s ability to communicate his or her elimination intentions.


So, I guess my question is, do we run out and buy tons of plastic to lay on our floors? Or, do we avoid the emergency room because our baby slipped on the plastic and hit his/her head on the coffee table and now has an open wound. Or do we just accept the fact that our babies will not be walking at 1 year of age.