Mom's Homemade Lasagna & Bread Machine French Baguettes

Tomorrow my sister Sarah, her friend, and I will be going off to camp - Trout Lake Camps - for a week.  The camp is 4 1/2 hours north from our house.  My sister and her friend will be staying there and then I will be going off the another camp.  I am doing the Challenge Camp.  It is through Trout Lake Camps, but we go up to a more rustic camp several hours farther north.  The next week my brother John will going up to do the Challenge Camp.  It is our first time going to this camp and we are getting pretty excited.

Before we leave for camp, Sarah wanted to have lasagna.  She has been craving it.  I wanted to make it so that I could take pictures and blog the recipe.  This is the recipe that my mom has always made.  It is delicious.

Whenever my mom makes lasagna, she always makes a double batch.

I would suggest using Cento tomatoes, the whole ones, and then just chop them up with the spatula while they are simmering. 

For the first layer of noodles, put three whole noodles going the long way and then break a little piece off the forth noodle so that it fits the width of the pan and is at the end of the three long noodles.  Then, for the second layer of noodles, put the shorter end noodle at the opposite end of the pan that the first end noodle was on.

My mom doesn't cook the noodles for when making lasagna.  She makes the lasagnas a least a day before.  Overnight she refrigerates them and lets the juices from everything soften up the noodles.  Then she bakes one, to eat then, and freezes the other.  When we are going to have the one that has been it the freezer, she defrosts it (lets it sit in the fridge for a day or two) and then bakes it.

I didn't have time to make the lasagna a day before.  So, I made mine right away in the morning of the day we were going to eat it.  I let it refrigerate for the rest of the day, and it still turned out great.

We never have the patience to let our lasagna sit for 10 minutes before serving, so it usually is a little more sloppy.

Lasagna

1 lb. hamburger, cooked & drained
2 cloves garlic
1 T. basil
3/4 t. + 1/2 t. salt
28 oz. can tomatoes, cut up (Cento)
12 oz. tomato paste
8 wide lasagna noodles
24 oz. non-fat cottage cheese
1 egg + 1 egg white (or 2 eggs)
1/2 t. pepper
2 T. dried parsley
1/2 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) low-fat mozzarella cheese

Add garlic, basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, tomatoes, and tomato paste to hamburger and let simmer.

Combine cottage cheese, eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, parsley, and parmesan cheese.

Layer 1:  4 lasagna noodles
Layer 2:  1/2 the meat mixture
Layer 3:  1/2 the cottage cheese mixture
Layer 4:  1/2 the mozzarella cheese (don't add the top layer until the last 10 or so minutes of baking)

Repeat each layer.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Remove foil last 10 minutes and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

*Refrigerate for at least overnight if using uncooked noodles, so the noodle get soft from the juices.



Now, the French Baguettes.  This is not how the French make their bread, shape their bread, bake their bread, or eat their bread.  This is an American French Baguette.

Bread Machine French Baguettes

1 c. water
2 1/2 c. bread flour
1 t. salt
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. yeast

Place ingredients in your bread machine.
Use Dough cycle on bread machine.
Roll into 12x16 inch rectangle.
Divide into 2 - 12x8 inch pieces.
Roll from the 12 inch side tightly.
Make 3 - 4 diagonal slits.
Rise for 40 minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

We have made the dough into one big baguette and it turns out delicious!

These have no oil in them, so they are best on the first day.  And, since there is no oil in them... go ahead and spread some butter on (be American)!





Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

This summer has flown by.  I can't believe it is almost August!

I have been working on my blueberry muffin recipe and I now have my favorite.  First I tried lots of different recipes to find a good basic recipe.  Once I found one that I really liked, I tried it lots of different ways.  I tested to see if I should add vanilla or not, if I can add in some wheat flour, if I can substitute other berries in for the blueberries, if I can use a low-fat milk, and if I can make these as blueberry lemon muffins.

There is no need for vanilla.  These muffins are still delicious with half white flour and half wheat flour.  Of course, I can use other berries besides blueberries.  These must be made with 2% or whole milk.  And, I can make delicious blueberry lemon muffins by adding in some lemon juice to the batter and adding a lemon glaze.

These muffins are wonderful.  They are soft, moist, and full of blueberries.  They don't take long to make - it takes me maybe 10 minutes to whip up a batch. 

Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 eggs
1/2 cup 2% or whole milk
2 cups flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tsp. sugar, divided
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 - 2 1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.  Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Whisk together the butter, eggs, and milk with a mixer or by hand.  Add in 3/4 cup sugar and the flour mixture.  Mix to combine.  Fold in the blueberries.  The batter will be on the thicker side.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.  Sprinkle the tops with remaining 1 tsp. sugar.  Bake until muffins are golden and a toothpick comes out clean, 25 - 30 minutes.

Blueberry Lemon Variation:  Add 2 tsp. lemon juice to the muffin batter.  I still sprinkle the 1 tsp. of sugar on top to give them the yummy crust.  Bake.  When cool, drizzle the glaze over the muffins.  For the glaze, I whisked together 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 T. lemon juice.  I took the paper liners off the muffins before I put the glaze on.  Also, I would suggest setting the muffins on a rimmed baking sheet before you drizzle the glaze on them.  That way you can spoon up any of the glaze that didn't stay on the muffins and re-drizzle in back on.

Enjoy!

They make great on-the-go breakfasts and snacks!

Artichoke Dip

Last night we had appetizers for supper.  Not for any special reason, just because.  Because sometimes it is fun to have just appetizers for supper.  And, when we have appetizers, we have artichoke dip.  

To me, artichoke dip is one of those things that sounds disgusting, but is actually really really delicious.

This is my artichoke dip and it is super good.  It is really easy to make and you can certainly make it ahead of time.  Just mix everything together, cover and refrigerate until needed.  Then before serving the dip, bake it.

Top the hot artichoke dip with salted tomatoes and green onions.  Simply chop some tomato and green onion up, salt them, and then sprinkle them on top of the dip.

We always serve this dip with Triscuit crackers, but you could do some other crackers or chips.

 

 Artichoke Dip

1 cup mayo (I do 1/2 light and 1/2 real)
14 oz. canned artichoke hearts (drained and chopped)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic

Mix the above and bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.
Chop and salt tomatoes and green onions.  Top after baking.
Serve with Triscuits and enjoy!

Our Chickens

In the spring of 2013 my sister Sarah finally got some chickens.  She had always wanted some sort of farm animal, and since we live in the country (we don't farm), why not get some chickens for laying eggs?

We got the chickens as chicks.  As they grew we had to change the size of their living space.  Right now we have 9 hens and 1 rooster.  My dad built a coop in the back of our barn for the chickens to have indoor and indoor access.

Sarah can collect the eggs from the inside of the coop.

Or, she can collect the eggs without having to go inside the coop.

Sarah has named each and every one of the chickens and she can tell them all apart.

The chickens have a little doorway to get from the inside to the outside of their coop.  There is a little sliding door that goes up and down in front of the door.  During the day, the door is open and at night, Sarah closes the door and locks all the chickens inside.

                      

 And, since I am outside with the camera, here are some pictures of some other furry friends.

Sarah's rabbit Serena.

We have several barn cats.