Casting Crumbs

Slow Cooker Lasagna

1 lb ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
1 container ricotta cheese (15 oz)
1 package (3 cups) shredded mozzarella
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
1 egg
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
6 lasagna noodles, uncooked

* Brown meat, drain, stir in spaghetti sauce and water.
* In a bowl mix ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, 2 Tbsp Parmesan, egg and parsley.
* Spoon 1 cup meat sauce into slow cooker
* Top with 3 uncooked noodles, broken to fit
* Top with 1/2 of cheese mixture
* Cover with 2 cups of remaining meat sauce
* Top with remaining noodles, cheese mixture and meat sauce.
* Cook on low 6 hours or until liquid is absorbed.
* Sprinkle with remaining cheeses, let stand, covered for 10 minutes or until melted and serve.

** I simmer an extra jar of sauce on the stove and spoon over each serving for those who like the extra sauce. Deee-lish!

This recipe is scrumptious! It is my favorite lasagna recipe that I have found.

As you all know, one of my very favorite places to eat is Olive Garden. I could eat there every week and I excitedly order the very. same. thing. which would be the Soup, Salad and Breadsticks. Zuppa Toscana soup to be exact! Of course you must wash all this down with a glass of Bellini iced tea also.

The other day my wonderful hubby was telling the girls at work how much I love that soup and one of the girls found a recipe online and printed it off for me. I must admit that I have tried other “sausage and potato soup” recipes in hopes of hitting the same exact taste that Olive Garden serves up in a bowl. I never have found it…… UNTIL NOW!!!

This recipe tastes exactly like the real thing. So I must share it. You must make this. You must eat this. You must enjoy this as much as I.

Zuppa Toscana

Makes: 6-8 servings
INGREDIENTS

* 1 lb ground Italian sausage
* 1½ tsp crushed red peppers
* 1 large diced white onion
* 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
* 2 tsp garlic puree
* 10 cups water
* 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
* ¼ of a bunch of kale

1. Saute Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, saute bacon, onions and garlic for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling.
4. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage.
7. Add kale just before serving. Delicious!

Buon appetito!

For the past few years Tom and I have tried our hand at a little salsa garden. We have learned a few things about planting tomatoes, but still have a lot to learn. We have fought all sorts of devourers and blight, worms, rats and even groundhogs. Last weekend while we were out of town most of the tomatoes ripened on the vines. It was a beautiful sight to look out the window and see the big plump juicies hanging there! It also screamed at me “You have work to do now!”

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What do you do?

Make Valentine Cookies!!

Today was supposed to be a fun day filled with Valentine cards and sweets for the little ones at Mother’s Day Out and Julian was getting his box ready to take to school. But, alas, another snow engulfs our little town and we are cooped up again. I really hope the schools are open tomorrow so that the kids can enjoy their Valentine’s Day parties.

I was trying to remember back to past Valentine Days and I can only remember one that had snow. I am sure there were more but this just seems unusual to me. So today we are making our own little festivities.

I thought I would share this wonderful Spritz Cookie recipe with you. I have heard from several people how difficult Spritz are to make: the dough is sticky, doesn’t taste good, hard to work with, etc.

I inherited my Grandmother’s cookie press and my Mom told me that my Grandma was so excited to get her press, but rarely used because the dough was so hard to work with. So I am very thankful that I found a recipe that works great! I am enjoying her press and seeing what sort of things it will turn out.

At Christmas time I found this wonderful Recipe on Allrecipes.com. The dough is a dream to work with, the kids love to help and the cookies taste delicious! My kids are usually chocolate chip only cookies – but they love these.

Buttery Spritz Cookies

I hope someone out there tries their hand at these. You will be surprised at what a tasty and fun treat you will have.

Is with a friend!!

So how is it in your family?? Do you men out there like to talk a lot at the typical dinnertime meal at home? Or do you mainly eat? I’m curious.

In the spirit of Christmas, my kitchen has been turned into a real cooking machine! I have been trying to turn out some scrumptious yummies for the holidays. I thought I would share a couple with you.

Each year when I was a child my Mom made “Strawberries”. I loved them. I would sneak to the fridge and open the container every so often to pop these in my mouth. If you like coconut and a tangy strawberry taste, you will LOVE these. They are easy to make and very pretty to add to a cookie tray.

Strawberries

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After making the strawberries, I had some of the condensed milk left over and wanted to use it in something. I found this yummy recipe on AllRecipes. These are great if you like the salty/sweet factor in a dessert!

Sweet Pretzel Stacks

Pour saucepan mixture over the pretzel/peanut mixture and stir thoroughly until coated. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto waxed paper or foil. Cool or chill until firm. Store in covered container in cool place or in fridge.

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One other recipe that I stumbled upon yesterday was a Quick Quiche. I made this for breakfast Sunday morning and was surprised at how great it was. Sorry I don’t have a picture, I ate the last piece before snapping a picture.

Quick Quiche

** This is how I made the recipe. You can make it with swiss and bacon, add veggies or whatever you want. It was very simple and quick to put together. It was easy without the crust and yet held together very well. I did add some seasonings to mine – garlic powder and pepper.

Okay, everyone, I promised Tom I would post his Prime Rib picture. Prime Rib is Tom’s absolute favorite thing to eat on the face of this earth. . .but it can’t just be any old prime rib, it has to be JUST RIGHT! This one he had at Anthony’s on the Gulf was Prime Rib Perfection! He made me take a picture of it so that he wouldn’t forget this piece of meat.

Is it just me, or does this look disgusting??!!

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I must share a really funny story with you. The first night we got there it was about midnight but we stayed up till about 1:30 or 2:00 because we were so excited about being in Florida and hearing the call of the ocean just outside. We left the sliding door open in our bedroom so that we could hear the waves crashing.

I was there in our hotel villa and there were all these rabbits running around the room. They would hide behind the couch and whistle really loudly. I knew that the only way I could get them to quit whistling was to feed them a ham sandwich. I fed those darned bunnies ham sandwiches all night and just couldn’t get them to shut up! I was starting to get really annoyed in my dream because the ham wasn’t working. I woke up with a start and immediately realized that the sea gulls were flying all around outside and I was hearing them calling to one another!

Tom and I referred to sea gulls as whistling rabbits the whole trip.

Yesterday we spent a very enjoyable evening with the family celebrating my Mother-In-Law’s Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Rita!!

We met at an Italian Restaurant called Cinzetti’s. Tom and I had never been there before and were pleasantly astounded at the wonderful Italian fare. If you have never eaten there – you MUST try it! It is set up like a market place with many buffets to choose from.

They have everything from pizza, spaghetti and lasagna to pollo penne with gargonzola, fried cheese, zucchini, eggplant, calimari and much more. The salads were awesome and the bruschetta. . .mmmmmm delicioso!!

One of the favorite parts were the desserts! They had hand-dipped ice cream in several flavors, tiramisu, these wonderful raspberry thingies and CREPES! I had never tried a crepe before, so I indulged in a strawberry, banana and cream cheese one. It was pretty good.

Here’s the room that we all crowded into to enjoy our vittles. Can you find Elizabeth?

Thanks everyone for a fun family night together! Blessings to you, Rita, may your year ahead be a wonderful one!

Leona Batt, my priceless Grandmother

Yesterday Julian and I made Butter Horn Rolls using my Grandmother’s recipe. She made these quite often and I remember Thanksgiving’s on the farm with these gracing her table. My Grandmother was the best. . .best cook, best listener, best card player, best smile, best at hospitality, best chocolate chip cookies. . .all around best Grandma!

She taught me so many things that I could never repay her for. She had a hard life as a poor farmer’s wife, yet she made lemonade out of lemons. She was a great lady and will always be one of the “top ten favorite people” my whole life long. Can’t wait to see her one day!

Here is her recipe. It’s a keeper!

Butter Horn Rolls

2 Cups scalded milk
2 packages yeast -dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
6 beaten eggs
9 cups flour

bake at 250 for 15 minutes and then freeze. Pop into oven when needed for 8 minutes at 400.

Julian helped me roll the dough out and make the rolls. He said “Mom, where did you get this at?” I told him about my Grandma making them for Thanksgiving and he said “Wow, did you help her like I am helping you?” It just made my heart smile.