Crock Pot Lasagna

Here is an easy recipe for making lasagna in the crock pot. This is great for days you know you will be busy but still want to put a satisfying meal on the supper table. Thanks to my friend, Lindsay, for sharing this with me. My family finds it very tasty.

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 (26-28 oz) jar tomato sauce (or spaghetti sauce)

1 (8 oz) can no-salt added tomato sauce

½ (9 oz) package no boil lasagna noodles-about 8 noodles

1 jar Alfredo sauce

12 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese 

Brown ground beef –Drain

Spread ¾ cup of the tomato sauce in bottom of sprayed slow cooker.  Stir remaining pasta sauce into the ground beef.

Layer 3 lasagna noodles over sauce in slow cooker, breaking noodles as necessary.  Top with 1/3 of the alfredo pasta sauce spreading evenly.  Sprinkle with 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese.  Top with 1/3 of the ground beef.

Repeat layering twice.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top.

Cover, cook on Low for 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours.

French Honey Bread

1 1/8 c. water
1 t. vinegar
1 T honey
1 t. salt
1 t. sugar
3 c. bread flour
2 1/2 t. yeast

Add all ingredients (liquid first and yeast last) to bread maker. Set machine to dough setting and start.

After machine finishes, remove dough and shape into 2 long loaves.

Cover and place in warm place to rise. Allow to rise 30 minutes or until double in size.

Bake at 375 until a light golden brown.

After removing from oven, brush loaf with melted butter.

Grandma's Wedding China

I am over at the Goddess Of Eats today, finishing up our mini-series on fine china. Today's showcase is extra meaningful to me, because it is the china which my Grandma chose upon her wedding in 1932. Head on over to the Goddess for more info and pictures.

Join me at Sweet Tea Please tomorrow for some more of my favorite pictures from the photo shoots of china. Who knew photographing dishes could be so fun!

Wedding China

I am showcasing my china pattern today over at the Goddess of Eats. In fact, Andrea and I are having a mini-series of sorts over there. We are talking about the fine china we own and adore. We are sharing how they came into our possession and the special people behind them. Today, I shared my wedding china. On Thursday I'll show you my Grandma's wedding china. So if you love all things pretty, click on over and feast your eyes!

Delicious Christmas Gifts

I am privileged to guest post occasionally on a wonderful blog named Goddess of Eats. In the spirit of the Christmas season, my latest guest post is about giving yumminess to friends as gifts. If you'd like to have the recipes for the delicious items pictured above, head on over to the Goddess!

Edible Gifting

Giving food as gifts is a wonderful way to share with friends and loved ones. My friend, Connie, loves cooking, especially healthful cooking. She was recently asked to do the cooking segments for a local Saturday television news show.

During her recent segment, she showed how easy it is to give food as a gift. She suggested taking what you and your family love to eat and gifting it to others. You can create kits which when added to common ingredients in the kitchen turn into yummy treats. You can also gather all the needed ingredients for a specific recipe and place them in a basket along with the recipe.

After you have assembled the food items, use creativity to package them. Mason jars and Chinese take-out boxes are cute and easy options. Finish by tying on a cute gift tag.

Below are the gift tags I created for Connie to use on the segment. You can find the recipes that go with these tags at Connie's blog.

Click on the image below that you want to print. Right click and choose 'save image as'. After opening, choose your computer's print option. Print at full 8.5 X 11 page size.

Please leave comments if you have questions about how to print these. I will be happy to help.

Have fun gifting your favorite recipes!

Chai Coffee

In your coffee pot, place water, filter, and coffee grounds as usual. On top of coffee grounds, add about a teaspoon of each of the following:

allspice
cardamom
nutmeg
cinnamon

Place 2 or 3 whole cloves (can be substituted with a dash or two of ground cloves) with the coffee grounds as well.

Brew coffee as usual.

As coffee is brewing, prepare your mug. Pour about a tablespoon of honey and a dash of milk (to taste) in mug. Heat in microwave for about 30 seconds.

When coffee finishing brewing, pour over warm honey and milk. Stir and enjoy.

Thank you to coffee, deep breaths, goals and grace for the idea.

How to Make Your Skillet Non-Stick

I. did. not. know. this.

Recently, I decided to make omelets for supper. It was one of those nights that wasn't very well planned, and I was scrambling for a supper idea.

As I was scanning the internet, I found this tip. I was skeptical. I didn't really think it would work, but since my skillet is NOT a non-stick pan and I was wanting to make omelets, I decided to give it a try.

It worked! I have since used this trick several times with great success.

Place skillet on stove burner and turn heat to high. Pour a layer of salt over the bottom of the skillet. Allow salt to cook while shaking the pan. Cook until salt browns. Carefully (don't get burned) wipe the salt out of the pan with a paper towel. Your skillet is now non-stick. You can make omelets (and other things) without fear.

Baked Oatmeal

One of our favorite healthy breakfasts around here is baked oatmeal. There are many variations possible with this recipe, but our favorite is banana with chocolate chips. I prefer to use the banana as a substitute for sugar. It makes the oatmeal sweet enough to skip the sugar in the recipe. If you'd like to see the original recipe, you can do so here. The recipe below is the version we enjoy at our house.

Liquid Ingredients:
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs, beaten
1c. milk
2 bananas, mashed

Dry Ingredients:
3 c. quick oats
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/4-1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat liquid ingredients together.

Combine dry ingredients.

Add to liquid ingredients and stir.

Pour into muffin or mini-muffin tray. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Healthy Oatmeal Pancakes

In recent days, I have been feeling concerned and a little guilty about the breakfasts we eat around here. I long ago cut out poptarts and cereal to avoid processed foods. I started making homemade breakfasts such as baked oatmeal, french toast, waffles and pancakes. But now, I am concerned that we have way too much bread/flour in our meals.

I found a recipe for pancakes that are sugar and flour free on a friend's blog. I made a few adaptions and even substituted Rice Dream for the milk. So, these pancakes are sugar, flour and milk free. As a compromise with my kiddos, I put in a few semi-sweet chocolate chips. To my relief, they approved of the pancakes and gobbled them up.

Ingredients:
1 c. oatmeal flour *
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 egg
3/4 c. Rice Dream (or milk)
2 T. canola oil
1/4c. semi-sweet chocolate chips


Make oatmeal flour by grinding old fashioned or quick oats in your food processor until it is a fine powder.

* I put a handful of whole almonds in the processor with the oats and made an oat/almond flour.

Mix dry ingredient in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, mix egg, Rice Dream and oil. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

(You may have to adjust the amount of flour or milk you use to get the batter the consistency you prefer.)

In a heated skillet, pour 1/4 c. batter. Cook until puffed and cooked around the edges then turn. Cook until golden brown.

Serve with a little maple syrup.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

These very moist and extremely tasty cupcakes are a nice combination of tart and sweet. They are easy to transport and eat because they do not have a frosting.


1 white cake mix
1 (3 oz) instant lemon pudding mix
4 eggs
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. pink lemonade concentrate
pink or red food color, optional

Glaze:
1 c. frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
1/2 c. white sugar


Grease and flour cupcake pans.

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, vegetable oil, 1/2 c. lemonade concentrate, milk and food coloring. Mix until smooth. Pour into the cupcake pan.


Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove from oven and prick cupcakes with a toothpick several times. Immediately pour lemonade glaze over top of cake. Let cupcakes stand until almost cool.


originally found recipe at Sugar Baby Aprons

Decidedly Decadent: Baked Banana French Toast

Everybody reads Bakerella, right? If you don't, you MUST go visit her very soon. Her blog is one of my favorite. I am sure to like any recipe she posts.

Recently, she posted a Baked French Toast recipe that intrigued me. And when I made it, I realized that it is just plain DECADENT. My family loved it, and I gobbled it up. But, I won't be making it very often....it is just TOOOOO good.

Here is the recipe (I did make a few modifications based on the ingredients I had on hand in my kitchen and the amount of time I had before serving breakfast):

1 small loaf french bread

4 eggs

3/4 c. heavy cream (I omitted this and used 1 1/4 c. milk)

1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

1 T cinnamon

1 t vanilla

1 large banana

6 T brown sugar

1 T butter

Powdered sugar

Maple syrup

Coat six 4 oz. ramekins with non-stick spray. (I used the Demarle Round Tray)

Cut french bread into 18 slices. 

Whisk together eggs, cream, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.

Place sliced bread in bowl to coat.

Place three slices of bread into each dish. 

Cut banana into 12 or more slices. Coat slices with mixture and then dip coated bananas in 2 tablespoons brown sugar and stuff in between bread.

Transfer dishes to a baking sheet. 

Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight. (I skipped this step,n because I had some hungry people in my house.)

When ready to bake, mix together remaining 4 T brown sugar and 1 T butter and sprinkle over bread.

Bake at350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy warm with powdered sugar and maple syrup.

S'mores Bars

I love to read blogs. There is a long list of blogs in my reader that I follow every day. It probably takes more of my time than it should, but I love all the craft ideas and recipes that I find. When I had several Valentine events approaching this February, I went searching for a fun yet EASY sweet I could make. This one was very easy to make and hit with all the kiddos. I ended up making it for THREE different Valentine parties.

1c. graham cracker crumbs
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. softened butter
1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
4 c. mini marshmallows
3/4 c. M&Ms
homemade chocolate syrup (or store bought, if you wish) :)

Crush graham crackers, then beat them in mixer with brown sugar, butter, flour and baking soda. (Did you know that you can crumble graham crackers in the food processor? I feel silly that I only realized that recently. I have always used a ziploc bag and a rolling pin. I just don't get out enough!)

Press mixture in the bottom of a greased 9X13 pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven and spread mini marshmallows over the crust. Bake 1-2 minutes until marshmallows puff.

Drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Sprinkle with M&Ms.

Let cool, then cut into bars.
Try really hard not to eat them all yourself (you'll fail).

This delicious recipe was found on It's a Crafty Life.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

In these recent cooler months, I have enjoyed preparing soup for our meals. Some of my favorites have been Tortilla Soup, Spicy Potato Soup and White Chicken Chili. Recently, while perusing Pinterest, I found a recipe for Broccoli Cheddar Soup. Thanks to The Little Girl's Guide to Sugar and Spice for a new favorite soup!

The first time I made this, I discovered that it did not make enough for our family. So, I made a few adjustments to make it stretch. I think it tastes just as good and feeds us each at least two full bowls of soup.

2T butter
1 small onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2c. broccoli (about 4 small heads) cut into very small pieces (you want them to fit on a spoon)
4c. chicken stock
3c. milk
1c. flour
1 1/2c. grated cheddar cheese
Salt 
White pepper


Melt butter in a pot over medium heat. Add onions plus a pinch of salt/pepper. Cook until soft. Add garlic, cook for another minute. Add broccoli, cook for a minute, then add the chicken stock and cover. Allow the broth to come to a boil, and cook until the broccoli is soft.


Whisk together flour and milk until combined. Add this mixture to the pot, stirring gently. The soup will thicken and once it's thick and creamy looking, add the grated cheddar. Salt and pepper to taste.

Thanks, again to The Little Girl's Guide to Sugar and Spice for this recipe.

"Watermelon" Waffles

While reading some fun blogs recently, I came across an idea for watermelon waffles!

Since our family loves waffles.....

and since it is summertime....

and since school is not in session....

and since this teacher mom actually has time to have fun in the kitchen,

...I made these for the kiddos. 

I am glad there are creative people in the world who blog about their ideas so that I can make fun foods that my kids think are cool! Head on over to Random Thoughts of A Supermom for the recipe!

Blueberry Cobbler

It is blueberry picking season again. I love picking blueberries. I usually do it in the early morning or late evening to avoid the humid heat of our region. These are my favorite times of the day, so blueberry picking is a great excuse for being in the outdoors. I also usually go with friends whom I can chat with while picking!

This week, we have enjoyed blueberry pancakes and blueberry cobbler.

Warm Blueberry Cobbler a la mode

• 2 1/2 – 3 lbs blueberries, sliced
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 T. cornstarch
• 2 T. water
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 3/4 c. quick cooking oats
• 1/2 c. flour ( I used a gf blend and it worked great)
• 1/2 c. butter
• 
  
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• In a saucepan combine blueberries and regular sugar. Let sit for 30 minutes. After sitting, cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.Combine cornstarch and water and stir into berry mixture and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute or until mixture is thickened. Spoon mixture into 8×8 or similar pan. Combine brown sugar, oats, and flour then cut in butter to form a crumbly mixture. Spread evenly over blueberry mixture.Bake at 350 for 25-30.

Recipe adapted from Strawberry Cobbler at Lynn's Kitchen Adventures.

Watermelon Limeade

It is blazing hot in the deep south right now! The first week of June has brought us temperatures above 100 degrees. It is hard to believe, but sure does make me grateful for air-conditioning!

One way that I have chosen to fight the heat is with this yummy summer drink. Watermelon is in season and is a favorite treat of my family. So why not make it into a cold drink? To make this drink, follow this link!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bliss!

I recently found this recipe for Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies over at A Wise Woman. Since I am a lover of all things chocolate and all things peanut butter, I thought this combination looked too good to pass up!

Part 1:

Make the brownie layer. Preheat oven to 350. Butter bottom and sides of pan.

1 c. butter

2 c. sugar

3 eggs

3 t. vanilla

2/3 c. cocoa powder

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking powder

Melt butter, then remove from heat and add sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Next, add cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add flour and stir until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack.

Part 2:

While the brownies are cooling, make the peanut butter filling.

1/2 c. butter softened

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

2 c. powdered sugar

2-3 t. milk

In a mixer, combine the filling ingredients and beat until smooth. Add more milk if needed to make it spreadable. Spread in an even layer over the cooled brownies. Place in refrigerator until filling is set (about 30 min).

Part 3:

While the filling is setting, make the ganache topping:

1/4 c. creamy peanut butter

2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 c. butter

2 T. heavy whipping cream

Combine ingredients in a double boiler or in the microwave. Melt together and combine. Pour the ganache over the top of the chilled filling and spread gently. Return to refrigerator until set.

Grandmother Eddy's Arkansas Cornbread

2 eggs

2 c. buttermilk

1 t. baking soda

2 c. cornmeal

1 t. salt

Heat oven to 450.

Generously oil round skillet. Heat skillet in oven while preparing batter.

Beat eggs then beat in rest of ingredients until smooth. Pour batter into hot skillet until almost full.

Bake 20-25 minutes or just until set.

Serve piping hot with butter.

Grandma Justice's Turkey Stock

turkey neck, gizzard, heart and feet

2 stalks celery with leaves

1 med. onion, quartered

1 carrot, sliced in several pieces

1 t. salt

1 bay leaf

a few peppercorns

5 c. cold water

Add all ingredients to large stock pot. Simmer for 1-4 hours. Strain.