Cooking Up a Storm

Actually, that would be cooking after a storm. We decided to stay home today due to the 10 inches of snow that fell yesterday. Southeast Missouri does not deal well with 10 inches of snow. Greg did dig the van out and go to the gas station for iced tea, but otherwise we stayed home...and cooked...and cooked..and cooked some more!

Last night I made a chicken noodle casserole with broccoli and a yummy cheese sauce. Greg made the salad.

This morning Greg made apple cinnamon muffins for breakfast. They turned out very tasty.

For lunch, I made patty melts and skillet fried potatoes. The patty melts turned out great. I even whipped up some garlic mayo to go with them.

Tonight, I made the perfect lasagna and some awesome garlic cheese pizza bread from scratch. The crust turned out great. Here is the recipe.

Here is the lasagna recipe. It takes a lot less prep than most lasagnas and the consistency comes out perfect. Do not boil the noodles ahead of time. I quit boiling noodles several years ago and haven't had lasagna come out soupy since. I also use cream cheese because I always have it on hand and I like the texture better than ricotta or cottage cheese.

Easy Lasagna

1 box lasagna noodles (I use whole wheat)
2 blocks cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 26 oz jar spaghetti or marinara sauce
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
1 large or 2 small cans mushrooms
1 1/2 cups water

Heat oven to 350. Brown beef. Drain and return to skillet. Add sauce, mushrooms, and water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Mix cream cheese, eggs, 1 cup mozzarella and parmesan cheese in a bowl until smooth. Spray a deep 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup of sauce in bottom of pan. Add a layer of lasagna noodles. Add 1/2 of remaining sauce and spread over noodles. Top sauce with cream cheese mixture and spread evenly over sauce. Repeat layers. Top with remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes or until cheese browns. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

The added benefit of all this cooking is that I now have lunches and dinners to take with me to work, especially for those nights when I go straight from work to class. I divide the leftovers into individual portions and store them in the freezer.

Carson played in the snow for a grand total of 30 minutes, spread over two trips outside. You would have thought he had just returned from climbing Mt. Everest when he came back inside. He informed me that he had "winter freeze." This is apparently a condition that can only be cured by drinking hot chocolate and watching Star Wars movies. Luckily, we had both on hand.

I'm looking forward to starting a new small group at church tomorrow morning. Our church is starting a new series called Life's Healing Choices. It's an 8 week study and our pastor will also be delivering a sermon to go along with each week's lesson. We'd love to have you!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!