Just Lasagna....

I know it's just lasagna. Veggie lasagna at that. But DANG was it good!!!!!

I made JUST enough chunky tomato sauce to make the dish, too. TOTALLY winged it. Whew.

The sauce was.....really yum. I chopped up one onion, three cloves of garlic, I put a few teaspoons of spices (sweet basil and italian seasoning- more probably after I tasted it), then cut up about 10 small basil leaves, chopped one red pepper and three tomatoes- let that simmer- then I dumped in half of a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes....a little V8, a little tomato paste, a teaspoon of sugar, salt to taste...and a couple shakes of cayenne.... like I've said before, I usually just dump and taste. ;-)

I layered my sauce with some Trader Joe's Italian no-boil noodles, some part-skim ricotta cheese, chopped zucchini, fresh spinah, mozzerella cheese, and romano cheese until I almost reached the top of the 9x13 pan. Baked it at 375 degrees covered for about 30 minutes, then took the top off and let the cheese brown for another 15 minutes.

Needless to say....I dug in immediately. I was STARVED. This would be really great with a salad- I should've had some ;-)

Red Curry

This was my first time making Thai Red Curry. I found a recipe online, double checked my supplies, ran to the store- and I was literally skipping out, I was so happy and SO EXCITED to try it.

It turned out well- but it was not just like my favorite restaurant's red curry- it was way less spicy! :-( And I tripled the amount of red curry paste to put in. I otherwise followed the recipe exactly- but they must like their veggies near mushy for how long it said to simmer.....I like veggies with a crunch! Anyway, it was a first time, so I'll know what to fix next time. Awesome ingredients, my favorites!

Tea Time

I LOVE tea. Simply stated.

Earl Grey is a great black tea. It's been my favorite for over ten years <3 I think it's best with a drop of honey and evaporated milk.

I also love tea cold......and how could it be made any better by the sun itself? ;-)

Birthday Crepes!!!

My mother requested crepes for her choice birthday breakfast (of COURSE!) It's the best breakfast, in our opinion.

The recipe is ever so simple:

1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 T oil
1/4 t salt

Yep- that easy. Just dump and blend (we use a blender) until very smooth. We usually double this recipe.

Heat pan on medium-low-ish. Put a couple drops of oil and scrape it all around the pan, so it is well greased, but not too oily. If you make pancakes, you know how it goes!
The pouring part is probably the trickiest area. I pour slowly in a circle, (counterclockwise) and then quickly tip the pan in all directions until the batter reaches all sides. I'm really a serious beginner, but I'd say from my experience, takes some tries to get the 'perfect crepe' and....it doesn't always happen. No big deal, it doesn't really matter- in my opinion- as long as it tastes good!

You can make any fruit filling you desire! We love fresh fruit with Mascarpone & a little sprinkling of powdered sugar.
Today we had fresh strawberries and my spiced apples.....they were divine!

For the my Spiced Nutmeg Apples:
Peel and chop about 3 apples (we used Pink Ladies)

Heat a sauce pan over med-high heat, with just maybe....a 1/4 cup of water in the bottom, dump the apples in and stir them around while they're cooking, while sprinkling about 1-2 teaspoons of nutmeg (and I even add a tiny bit of cardamon too!). You can add a little slice of butter in the mix, too, just for a little flavor ;-) I didn't add any sugar- but you can, to taste.
Check the apples- I like them with a teeny bit of crunch left in them. That is PERFECT to me.
Enjoy!

Birthday Cake for the best Mother

Well....yes. I lost a family apple cake recipe :-( So yes, I opted for searching the internet for recipes! One of my most favorite food blogs, 101 Cookbooks- (check this out!!!!!) had a recipe somewhat like our family recipe. It said a 'unfussy apple cake' and that sounded good to me. My mother is a 'no fuss' kinda woman ;-)

I'll leave it up to you to check out the website for the recipe!

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/unfussy-apple-cake-recipe.html

(I doubled the recipe and added fresh strawberries with whipped cream for the top!