Lasagna

My mother makes the best lasagna!  Whenever I ordered lasagna at a restaurant, it was never as good as my mom made.  I found out it was her sister Elinor's recipe.  My youngest brother Paul was born when I was 11 years old.  Aunt Elinor and her daughter Pat came to stay with my brothers and I when my mother was in the hospital.  I had the best time with them.  I always wanted a sister and my cousin Pat felt like a sister to me.  We went to Expo 67, the world's fair which was held where we lived, in Montreal.  Needless to say, I loved my Aunt Elinor and my cousin Pat.  Aunt Elinor came to visit  us on occasion.  She lived far away in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  I would wake up in the morning and walk downstairs. I would hear my mom and Aunt Elinor talking and their voices sounded so much alike that I couldn't tell them apart!  Aunt Elinor was just like my mom ♥

 I made this lasagna as a newlywed, and have passed the recipe on to my children. When my five oldest children were married, I compiled all of our family favorite recipes into a recipe book for them.

I am going to share our lasagna recipe with you.

These are the ingredients for the meat portion of the recipe.

 Cook a 1 lb. of lean ground beef.

Add a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes.

Add a 6 oz. can of tomato paste.

Add 1 T. dried basil.  Stir and sautee until the liquid evaporates and the sauce is thick.

These are the ingredients for the cheese mixture.

Slightly beat 2 eggs.

To the beaten eggs, add 3 cups of cottage cheese, l/2 cup grated parmesan, 2 T. dried parsley, 1 t. salt, 1 t. pepper and stir.

Add water to a pasta pot and bring to a boil.

I always add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the water to prevent the pasta from sticking together.

While I'm waiting for the water to boil, I lay the uncooked lasagna noodles in the 9 X 13 pan to see how they will fit, and how many noodles I will need.  The noodles will be layered in the pan twice.

When the water is boiling, I add the lasagna noodles, a few at a time.

The noodles are really stiff, so I wait for them to bend before I add more to the pot.  I put the noodles in the pot at different angles.

The noodles relax once they have been in the boiling water for a few minutes.  I cook them for about 10 minutes.  I definately don't want the noodles too soft, I like them soft but a little firm.  Remember, they will cook some more in the oven.

When the noodles are cooked to the desired consistency, I dump them into a colander and run some cold water over them so they don't stick together.

I spray the pan with Pam so that the lasagna won't stick and can be easily removed when it is time to be served.

I lay the cooked lasagna noodles in the pan.

Spoon half of the cheese mixture onto the noodles.

Then drop the meat mixture by spoonfuls onto the cheese mixture.

Lay the second layer of noodles over the cheese and meat mixtures.  The noodle that is on the end is on the opposite side of the first layer of noodles.

Layer the cheese and meat mixtures again and cover the lasagna with shredded mozarella cheese.  I add a lot because I like it chewy in the center and crisp on the edges.

I spray the underside of a piece of foil with Pam.  The lasagna cooks covered with a layer of foil, for 30 minutes.  After that amount of time, I remove the lasagna from the oven, take the foil off and cook the lasagna in the oven for an additional 15 minutes until it is golden in color.  I never used to spray the foil with Pam, but the cheese would stick to the foil and so much of it was wasted.

Cover the lasagna with the foil sprayed with Pam and cook in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.

This is what the lasagna looks like after 30 minutes of baking in the oven.  Remove the foil and return it to the oven for another 15 minutes.

This is what the lasagna looks like when it is ready to be eaten!

Doesn't the lasagna look delicious?

Mmmmmmm..........

I forgot to show you the lasagna plated....whoops!

I always serve it with garlic bread and a salad.

At least I remembered to take a phot of the salad.

Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, parmesan cheese and a little bit of vinaigrette.

I hope you've enjoyed this photo tutorial of our family lasagna.

I hope you try it for your family.

Aunt Elinor's Lasagna

Meat Mixture:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 T. granulated garlic

1 T. dry basil

l l/2 t. salt

2 cups canned tomatoes

6 oz. canned tomato paste

Cheese Mixture:

3 cups cottage cheese

l/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

2 T. dry parsley flakes

2 beaten eggs

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

Noodles and shredded mozarella cheese

Brown meat, pour off fat and add other ingredients.

Cook noodles and drain.

Place half cooked noodles in 9 X 13 pan

Place half cheese mixture.

Place half meat mixture.

Noodles, cheese, meat and mozarella on top.

Cover with foil, and bake 30 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered in 375 degree oven.

Centered on the Couch

My daughter Vanessa is studying interior design.

She has a blog starkgolddesign where she posts interesting design ideas and applications.

I have a red leather couch in my living room and Vanessa designed a living space around my couch.  

This is what she said:

My Mom just bought a red couch from RC Willey and so I thought I would design a living room for her. The couch and chairs are all from RC Willey. I really thought the silver and graphite shades of grey looked great with her vivid red couch. The coffee and side tables were all from the same store that I found online and really look great with the seating pieces. It adds some softness to the bold pieces of furniture. Most of the decor I looked to Anthropology. The floor and table lamp I found there but the main chandelier I got at Ylighting from the Jonathan Adler Collection. The drapes I saw at Anthropology and thought it would be a perfect fit for the room and then saw the throw pillows which really tied the grey and red together and brought in another great accent color. The walls will be painted the bright teal color and with the grey trimming the bottom half. The wood wallpaper will be for an accent wall(wall with the two windows). I just love how this room really all ties together for a great contemporary ecclectic look.

I love everything about this room!

She needs to build up her portfolio so if you are interested, she will design for you free of charge.

Let me know or contact her through her blog :)

Eight is Great!

"Just about the time a woman thinks her work is done, she becomes a grandmother."  Author:  Edward H. Dreschnack

Grandmothers are moms with lots of frosting!

"A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty."

These are my EIGHT precious grandchildren!

From left to right, their names are:

 Bridger (7 l/2), Neo (2), Reagan (2), Kylie (one week), Benjamin (4 months), Maisie (2 l/2), Charlotte (2 l/2) and Kennedy (5 l/2).

Needlebook Tutorial

Before I begin this needlebook post, I need to say something to any of you who might be looking for my "paperdoll quilt" post.

Due to Christmas and a new grandbaby and life in general, I am not able to finish the paperdoll quilt at this time.  I will dedicate Friday's post to that quilt asap.  

I saw this sweet little needlebook on Nana Company quite a while back and pinned it to my "Want to Make It" board on Pinterest.  

I love every single thing that Amy creates :)

I finally got around to making one and I had so much fun making it!

The tutorial is here.

I loved choosing vintage fabrics and cute little embellishments for this project.  I made it as a gift for a young woman who loves ♥ Anthropologie.  I tried to make it as interesting and unique as possible.  Notice  all the details?

I added a double pocket on the back side of my front cover.

I made it more of a sewing kit that a needle book.

I originally had silver safety pins here, but I found some pink ones at JoAnn's and used them instead.

This is my favorite page!

Leaf pins, velvet rick rack with little x's embroidered on it.

Sparkly buttons with two trims of ribbon.  

I like the swatch of linen that the needles are pinned to.

I added another pocket to the back cover.

I chose each little square with great care!

The back cover looks cuter with some hand stitching.

The needlebook is smaller than it looks.  It is only about 3"X4".

I was able to squeeze all of these supplies into the needlebook/sewing kit.

I loved making this little needlebook and would like to make some more for my daughters  and daughters in law, all 5 of them!

Oh, and one for me too!

Quilted Wall Hanging

I wanted to design a wall hanging for my new grand daughter.  

Looking through my fabric stash, I found a really cute Japanese print.  I thought it would be perfect to design the wall hanging around.

This is the print, shown in two photos.

I drafted up a design with tons of calculations, and was set to go.

I framed the print in white and chose seven colors to match the print. Then  I made half square triangles and sewed them all the way around. I sewed another white border to make the colors pop.

I'm sorry for the lack of photo cropping but I'm not using my personal computer for a couple of weeks.

I sewed a red border, a print, and another red border with blue squares in each corner.  

It was difficult choosing fabric for the printed pink border, the color value had to be just right.  I wanted the print and the triangles to be the focal point.  

I found a great piece of pink fabric in my stash that worked perfectly for the back.

I outline quilted the prints with white thread.

I used a free motion quilting foot for the curvy areas.

I quilted little flower designs in the white areas.

I did a lot of machine quilting and I am happy with the look.

I like the crinkly look on the back!

I can see the sun and the clouds and the triangles :)

I made the binding from each of the colors used in the triangles.

I made two times as much as I needed, so I will just keep the rest for a mini quilt.

I sewed the binding on by machine.

Then I sewed the binding by hand on the back of the quilt.

The colors in the quilted wall hanging match the throw carpet in the  baby's bedroom.  The quilt measures 30" long and 36" wide.

Minky Blanket Tutorial

I have a few things that I make for each grandchild when they are born.  I make them a baby quilt, a quilted wall hanging, and an heirloom blessing gown/outfit.  

I asked my daughter in law what type of quilt she would like for her  baby.  She said she preferred soft ones rather than quilted ones.  I went to www.fabric.com and looked at their vast assortment of minky fabric.  I chose two pinks, one for the front and one for the back.  I thought I would try something different and add a shag trim.  I also bought some flannel from JoAnn's to put in the middle.  I read that it helps stabilize the slippery minky fabric.

I pinned the flannel to the wrong side of one of the minky pieces, and machine basted all four sides.  

I forgot to mention that I cut the two pieces of minky fabric 33"X42".

I cut the shag minky seven inches wide.  I cut 3 strips and sewed them together to make one long strip.

Be warned, when the shag minky is cut, it sheds more than a Pekingese dog!  See what I mean?

After picking up most of the shedding shag, the rest is hard to get rid of....it sticks to the cutting board so I had to get the vaccum cleaner out.  I really didn't care that it was so messy because I think the results were worth it.

I sewed the shag minky to the pink minky, right sides together.

When I reached the corner, I folded a large pleat in the shag to allow for ease.  The minky is so shaggy that even if you do make a mistake, it will never show.

I sewed the second piece of pink minky to the shag minky, right sides together, again folding pleats into the corners. This time, I left an opening about 8 to 10 inches long. 

Then I turned the blanket right side out.

There is still an opening where I turned the blanket.

Where the opening in the blanket is, I folded the l/2" seam allowance in, and topstitched the opening closed.

I continued the topstitching all around the blanket, making sure I didn't sew over any shaggy pieces of fluff on the top side or the under side.  I kept making sweeps with my hand on the underside to make sure that there weren't any pieces of shag in the way as I sewed my way around the blanket.

I folded the blanket in half so you could see the two prints.

Don't you just love the fringe?  

It ripples as it moves :)

With the shag border, the blanket measures about 36"X45".

Here's a close up of the "ripply" shaggy minky.

Here is Kylie Violet (4 days old), wrapped up in her new blanket.

The blanket can even hold two little girls, Kylie's two year old sister, Neo!

Neo loves her new baby sister!

This is my son Addison, with Neo and Kylie wrapped up in her new minky blanket.

This is my daughter Vanessa and her niece Kylie in the new blanket.  I guess I have given you almost every scenario I can think of with Kylie in her minky blanket.  

Thanks for letting me share and I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial.