Slow Cooker Lasagna

These days, I'm all about easy dinner recipes. I have a feeling after the baby comes, I'm going to be even more into easy recipes. So I found this one in an old Quick Cooking magazine, and tried it out. Turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. And Jay liked it, too, which is always a bonus. The only thing I would change is to add some Italian spices, in addition to the oregano. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (29 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 package (8 ounces) no-cook lasagna noodles
• 4 cups (16 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 1/3 cups (12 ounces) small-curd cottage cheese
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a skillet, cook beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the tomato sauce, water, tomato paste, salt, and oregano; mix well. Spread a fourth of the meat sauce in an ungreased 5-qt. slow cooker. Arrange a third of the noodles over sauce (break the noodles if necessary). Combine the cheeses; spoon a third of the mixture over noodles. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining meat sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until noodles are tender. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Harvest time!

Last year we planted fruit trees in our back yard to complete our spring planting. Today, we picked some of our harvest. So, so, SO excited about this! We had two lemons, a big orange, and a ton of little satsumas. The limes are just starting to sprout, so those will be next. We're going to use the orange and satsumas to make an orange sherbert in my new ice cream maker. Yum!

 Jay makes the first harvest!

 Lemons!

 This will soon become sherbert.

 Limes

Merry Christmas!!!

So the last 48 hours have been a bit of a whirlwind, but we survived. After a little miscommunication (we thought we were supposed to do Christmas Day with Jay's family, but it turns out they had planned for Christmas Eve, the same day that we do Christmas with my parents... awesome), but we made it work, and I think everyone came out unscathed. The good thing is that today, we had absolutely, positively, nothing to do but enjoy the day together, just the two of us. Here are a few pics from yesterday. I hope you all had as great of a Christmas as we did!

Ella in her pretty Christmas dress in front of the tree

Uncle Jay stuck the bow on her forehead and she kept looking up at it. We got a good laugh out of this one!

Me and my adorable niece!

mmmmm.... stuffed pork loin

 My parents outside decorations... yes, that is an 18' tree

My mom thought the purple cauliflower would add nice color to Christmas dinner... and then she added the cheese...

Christmas dinner table

PRESENTS!!!

Some of my favorite recipes

We're not hosting Christmas this year. We haven't, actually, for quite a few years. We usually end up hosting Thanksgiving, and then doing Christmas Eve with my parents, Christmas morning just us, and Christmas Day with Jay's family. So it works out OK. But I still wanted to share a few of my favorite holiday recipes with you. I don't know why I only make these during the holidays... they could really be for any day of the year, but they're just a couple of my favorites.

Breakfast

Overnight Tex-Mex Egg Bake (courtesy of Betty Crocker)

I usually half this recipe since it's just Jay and I, but if you're feeding a crowd, this one is sure to be a pleaser!

12 oz bulk spicy pork sausage

5 cups frozen southern-style hash brown potatoes (from 32-oz bag)

1 can (4.5 ounces) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles, undrained

3 cups shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese (12 oz)

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa (or your favorite salsa... I usually use homemade)

• 1 Spray 13x9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. In 10-inch skillet, cook sausage over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink. Drain on paper towel.
• 2 Spread frozen potatoes in baking dish. Sprinkle with sausage, green chiles and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese. In medium bowl, beat eggs, milk and salt with fork or wire whisk until well blended. Pour over potato mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 cups cheese. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 12 hours.
• 3 Heat oven to 350°F. Bake uncovered 50 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve with salsa.

Appetizer

Monterey Jack Salsa

4 oz. can chopped green chilies

4 oz. can chopped and drained black olives

1 large tomato (seeded and chopped)

 ¼ cup cilantro

½ cup Italian dressing

one bunch green onions, chopped

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

Combine all ingredients except the cheese. Add the cheese to the other ingredients before serving. You can also mix everything (except the cheese) and let it sit overnight in the fridge. The flavors really mesh and it's super yummy. Serve with tortilla chips.

Cookies

Mexican Wedding Cakes

I can't have a holiday party without these!

Preheat oven to 375°F

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups butter

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Cream butter and sugar.  Add nuts, vanilla and flour gradually.  Roll into finger size shapes.  Bake at 375°F for 15 to 20 minutes.  Dust baked cookies with more powdered sugar while warm.

Fudge

Five Minute Fudge Wreath

12 ounce package semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk (save the can)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8 ounce can walnuts, plus more for topping

½ cup raisins or dried currants (a couple of handfuls)

Candied red and green cherries to decorate top (like holly)

Softened butter to grease an 8-inch round cake pan

1. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with softened butter.  Pour the chocolate and butterscotch chips, condensed milk and vanilla into a medium saucepan.  Put the pan on the stove and turn the heat to low.
2. Cover the empty condensed milk can with plastic wrap and put it in the center of the round cake pan.

3. Stir the chips and milk until they melt together, about 3 minutes.  Stir in nuts and raisins.  Scoop the fudge into the cake pan all around the plastic-covered can in the center to form a wreath or ring shape.  Let it be all bumpy on top.  Keep pushing the can back to the center if the fudge moves it away.  Cut the red cherries in half with scissors and the green cherries into quarters.  Use the green pieces to make leaves and the red to make holly berries.  Decorate the fudge with several groups of holly berry sprigs made from the cherries and garnish with walnuts between the sprigs.

4. Put the fudge in the fridge and chill until firm.  Remove the can from the center, then loosen the sides and bottom of the fudge with a spatula.  Cut the fudge into thin slices to serve.

Variations

White Chocolate Wreath with Pistachio and Cranberry

Substitute the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips, 1½ ounce bag plus 1 cup.

Substitute 1 to 1 ½ cups of shelled natural pistachio nuts for walnuts.

Substitute ½ cup dried sweetened cranberries for currants.

Enjoy! I hope you have a great Christmas or whatever holiday you are celebrating!