eaten: lasagna roll ups

 Lasagna Roll Ups. If you think this tastes any different than lasagna, you are wrong. I don't know why I thought it would taste different. Not that I wasn't looking for lasagna, I was totally feeling lasagna but it wasn't different at all. Maybe I thought rolling the noodles would impart some new flavors?

This is super easy to make and tastes just like a good lasagna. I also LOVED the meat sauce. Using the food processor to grind the meat into fine pieces for the sauce is divine. It is just like restaurant meat sauce. And I used sausage instead of beef because that is what I had, no biggie. I think I am going to take the technique and apply to other recipes. I also forgot to buy romano cheese so I only used mozzarella and parmesan, romano would have given it more of a kick.

 

Lasagna Roll Ups

Recipe and picture from Cooking Classy

Yield: 12

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 lb lean ground beef (I used 1lb ground sausage)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 (15 oz) container Ricotta Cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup fresh flat leaf parsley (aka Italian Parsley, its about 1 small handful), chopped
• 2 1/4 cups freshly grated Mozzarella Cheese, divided
• 3/4 cup freshly, finely grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
• 1/3 cup freshly, finely grated Romano Cheese
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle one tablespoon olive oil into a large non-stick fry pan. Heat over medium high heat, crumble ground beef over oil, add chopped onions and cook mixture stirring occasionally and breaking up meat, until browned. Drain fat from beef. Pour beef mixture into a food processor and pulse for about 5 seconds until it is ground into fine pieces. Pour beef mixture back into fry pan and add crushed tomatoes, minced garlic, basil, oregano and 1 tablespoon olive oil and stir. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste then cover with a lid and simmer over low heat while preparing pasta and cheese mixture.
• Cook lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water along with 1 tsp salt and 2 tablespoon olive oil to al dente according to directions listed on package. Once noodles are cooked, drain and immediately line noodles in a single layer on waxed paper or cookie sheets.
• Prepare cheese mixture (I do this while pasta is cooking) by stirring together Ricotta cheese, egg, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper with a fork in a large mixing bowl until well combine. Stir in chopped fresh parsley. Add in 1 3/4 cups grated Mozzarella Cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese and 1/3 cup Romano Cheese, stir mixture until well combine.
• Stir meat sauce and spread 1/3 cup evenly into a 13x9 inch baking dish by tilting pan back and forth. Spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture evenly onto each cooked lasagna noodle, then spread 1 heaping tablespoon meat sauce along the top of cheese covered noodle. Roll noodles up jellyroll style and arrange seam side down in baking dish. Cover rolled noodles with remaining meat sauce (about a heaping 1/8 cup over each) then sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese evenly over roll ups. Tent lasagna roll ups with foil (don't allow foil to rest on cheese or it will stick you just want to loosely tent to prevent the cheese from browning) and bake for 35 minutes in preheated oven. Serve warm garnished with additional chopped fresh parsley. 

Steve rating: he totally forgot that we had eaten this, unforgettable! so I will put his at 5
beckie rating: 7

strawberry picking

 This is a typical Henry devious look. I just told him to smile and this is what he came up with. Geesh.

Its that time of year again. Strawberry picking season. We got 3 gallons, B2G1 Free.

 Henry was a pretty good helper although he did eat more than made it to the bucket. He also loved picking the green ones. He said they were yummy but I think he was trying to defy me.

 In the end it was a fun afternoon adventure. To see how we have grown here is last year's adventure and two years ago.

We wore red on purpose to mask any sampling stains. We had red hands and happy tummies. 

And what do you do with 3 gallons of strawberries? Bake lots into pies, eat french toast-nutella-strawberry sandwiches for breakfast, and freeze a bunch for later. 

This is my favorite pie recipe.

Henry's Kitchen and Felt Food

I have been meaning to blog about my major Christmas accomplishment: to find and outfit an awesome play kitchen with homemade food and fun. I really wanted to do the kitchen for Henry but I didn't want cheap, plastic food and dishes. I saw play sets with 99 pieces for less than $10 but it all looked like it was going to fall apart. I spent about $20 on the food and feel like I got a much better value for the future.
I compiled a list of my favorite tutorials and products for my own reference but also so you can use them too.

We found our kitchen online. I wanted something small and unisex. I also wanted wood. I looked and looked and finally settled on this red kitchen that folds up for easy storage. It isn't available right now but might in the future. It was easy to put together but it did take almost the entire evening. Luckily we put it together on Christmas Eve Eve. One part had a small damage that looked like they had tried to paint over it. But it was really small and I didn't want to try and return it.
It is small but it is perfect for two children to play at side by side and it doesn't take up a lot of room.

 Every kitchen needs an apron and oven mitts. I just used fabric scraps in coordinating colors. I used this tutorial and free pattern for the apron, find it here. It was really easy to make and I added the pocket. Next time I would sew a line through the middle of the pocket to make 2 smaller ones, things tend to fall out of this big one. I also chose this one because the neck piece is elastic and Henry can put it on by himself. The oven mitts are also a free pattern, find it here. Super easy. The only modification I made was to quilt the fabric before cutting out the mitten shape, it was just easier for me to handle that way.

 The chocolate bar and bag of popcorn came from this tutorial. Henry loves popcorn so I knew this would be a big hit.

 Papa Johns gave me this breadstick box for free and even though it is too small for my pizza, it is the perfect accessory. For the pizza I got inspiration from this tutorial. I'll explain my changes below.

 I wanted all my toppings to be sewn on as little pepperonis all over the house would be a nightmare, also Henry still loves chewing things up. So I started by cutting out all my toppings. I traced a cake plate to be the crust (cut 2, one for the top and one for the bottom) and then cut the sauce and cheese layers smaller, I just free handed these. I sewed the toppings to the cheese layer. I sewed the cheese to the sauce and then the sauce to the crust. Then I used my rotary cutter and sliced it into slices. I sewed each slice on the sewing machine along the inner edges leaving the outside open and sewing right sides together. I turned them right side out and then sewed along the cheese to create the flatter part of each slice. Then I stuffed polyfil in the crust and hand sewed the edges closed. So the crust is puffy like a real pizza. The only thing I didn't like about my method was I lost parts of the toppings by sewing them on first. Also make sure to cut out the crust an inch or so bigger than your desired final pizza size.

 For the life of me I cannot find the original source for this idea. I am terrible at pinning things on Pinterest to the wrong boards. Oh well. So these wooden groceries are awesome! I had the only person I know with a table saw, my Dad cut out all these small blocks of wood and then sand them. What a great grandpa. Meanwhile I collected various food boxes and labels.

 I painted each block to match the label and then mod podged everything in place. My mom also had the brilliant idea to do small milk cartons and they put a block of wood in each of these. The wood is painted white and the lids were hot glued shut again, yes, you can still open and "pour."

 My favorites are the Party Pizza and the Angel Hair pasta, I painted the area under the cellophane yellow to look like spaghetti.

When I told my parents about the kitchen they wanted to help stock the cupboards. So here are some reviews of the products they bought that I love that we use in our kitchen. Some have been sent as gifts later in the year. None pictured but dishes.

• Melissa & Doug Let's Play House: Grocery Cans: These cans are amazing. Each has a lid and they are interchangeable. The cardboard is sturdy and I think if Henry tried to stand on them they wouldn't crumble. They also have funny labels and each package comes with ideas on how to use them with your child. Creative play as a family. This is a great company.

• Melissa and Doug Slice and Scoop Sundae Set: This fun set has magnetic ice cream scoops and a scooper. The only problems are the dish is wood and really heavy and Henry destroyed the fake knife in the first few hours. So fun though and the scoops fit perfectly in our little bowls.
• Melissa and Doug Felt Food-Sandwich Set: If you are going to get one thing, I would get this set. It comes with 33 pieces of fun felt sandwich pieces. Veggies, breads, a pita pocket. Its awesome. 
• Green Toys Cookware and Dining Set: I looked all over for quality dishes with lots of great reviews and I kept coming back to this set. They are solid, food safe and pretty colors. I love this set and couldn't be happier. Not only are they cute but they are durable and I know they will last a long time.

 For the chips and the bag I used this tutorial as a guide, find it here. They also have a complete sack lunch with sandwich. So cute.
Strawberries can be found here, I sewed my seeds on after they were sewn.
Orange slices were super easy, I used this tutorial and stuffed them with polyfill before sewing shut. 
The corn in husk was from a blog which is marked private now, if you want the directions I have them downloaded, just let me know.
I just looked at some felt food on etsy and copied their ideas for the pancakes, donuts, bacon and eggs. For pancakes, layer one cream piece inside two tan to get the more realistic look. Also I opted for lots more machine sewing than some tutorials did, I am all about saving time.
This was the easiest carrot tutorial, find it here.
The ravioli can be found here, instead of felting I just machine stitched along the filling of each one.
Felt cupcakes can be found here. I also got that bakery box to put them in from Publix. I wanted a cardboard pink one but knew it would get destroyed. This box also works great for sandwiches.

Master Chef sets the table. Seriously, we play with this food every day. We don't always use the kitchen but we have picnics, lunch and parties every single day. He loads it in his shopping cart and invites me to join him on a camping trip. We spread a blanket and pizza sandwiches with pancakes are served round. It is so fun. I don't regret any of the hours it took to make.

Oven mitts!

Apron shot and on the move. He hardly stands still for a minute these days.

If you have any questions, please let me know. 

As I have been going through these again, I really did have a wonderful time to creating these toys.

Recent Happenings

 Here are a few things that have been happening of late:

• Henry has been waking up at 6:00 am (!) and as much as a bright and early morning is supposed to be good for your soul, I think it pretty much sucks. By 9:00 I cannot even believe how long I have been up and I am all off on the eating/grumpy/energy dragging routine. So we're letting him stay up an hour later to see if that helps. Cross your fingers for our tired souls. 
• It has been raining buckets here. I love it! But we miss being outside. It also rained during my entire craft show and I tried to hold on to a positive attitude. Luckily a few brave friends came to keep me company throughout the day.

•  Last week we lucked out to spend the afternoon in South Carolina with our friends Nathan and Celia and their adorable children. It was fun catching up over delicioso cheese dip and park playing. So happy we could see them. All pictures in post are from that trip.
• Lately we have watched a variety of movies ranging from Galaxy Quest to The Perks of Being a Wallflower. With the easiness of tv these days, I barely have the attention span for film anymore. Which is pathetic! Here is to a great summer of movie watching. 
• Speaking of tv, I am hooked hard on Scandal and my love for Grey's Anatomy keeps growing. Oh Shonda Rhimes: master of addictive and totally unrealistic guilty pleasure viewing.

•  I can't seem to get enough cilantro lately. I know this is hardly blogworthy but seriously, I put it on everything. Wraps, BBQ chicken pizza, salad; it is a miracle herb. And is makes me sad for my friend Maren who thinks it tastes like a foot. (Hey Maren!)
• Are anyone else's kids obsessed with Angry Birds Star Wars? Henry loves the game, the youtube run throughs and to just play it on his own. He runs around the house pretending to be the characters. He "pulls it back"-scooting backwards- and then launches around the room knocking down invisible towers. We found a sticker book at Sam's Club that came with over 1000 stickers. They are all over the house. Luckily they are the reusable kind but still its very haunting to have them everywhere. The other day I found one on my leg. Who knows how it got there.

• Henry has started threatening us with time out. Its pretty funny. Example: In the car while radio surfing, "If you change the song one more time, you're going to time out."  Sometimes I'll even let him put me in timeout and he sets the timer on his little kitchen. I personally love time out. Sometimes I fall asleep on his floor while I am in there. Time out well spent.
• Amazon Prime just released seasons 1-10 of America's Next Top Model. Since we stream Prime through our Wii, it has been guilty pleasure watching for me. It reminds me of the time when I had just had Henry and was celebrating with maternity leave and hours of watching those marathons Bravo loves to put on. Nothing but ANTM for weeks. Maybe that is why Henry can "smize" so well...

Well now I am just rambling so that's the end. 

Bye.

eaten: grilled pineapple

One of the saddest parts of leaving Utah was leaving behind one of our favorite restaurants, Tucanos, a Brazilian steak house buffet. They did meat right. They also had wonderful grilled pineapple, it was rotisseried on a spit and then carved table side like all the meats. Sugary, caramelized goodness.

So when we got the grill I knew I needed to find a good copy cat recipe. Years ago I tried to grill pineapple but nothing happens if you just put pineapple on the grill. It gets warm, that's it. You need sugar to get the juices going. Heavenly sugar.

This recipe was easy and delicious but Steve thought it was a tad sweet and I would agree. One slice was plenty. Next time I'll use less sugar and maybe brown sugar instead of white. I will also just drizzle with butter instead of dipping each slice in butter. Moderation in all things, people!

Grilled Sugar-Dipped Pineapple
recipe from The Barbecue Bible by Steven Raichlen

1 ripe pineapple
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lime or lemon zest
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves

1. Preheat grill to high.
2. Cut the leafy top off the pineapple and the rind. Slice fruit into 8-10 even rounds. Core if desired. Since we just ate this with a knife and fork, next time I won't core each slice, much less work. 
3. When ready to cook, melt butter in a bowl. Combine sugar and spices in another bowl. Grill side, dip each slice of pineapple in the butter and then dip into the sugar. Shake off any excess. Arrange pineapple on hot grate and grill, turning with tongs until browned and sizzling, 5-8 minutes per side. 
4. Serve hot or warm. 

Steve rating: 7
beckie rating: 9

bexcaliber: Indie South Fair

Hey all you Athens Folks. I will be at the Indie South Fair tomorrow Saturday May 4 from 11-7

Come brave the rain and visit me, I'm booth #3!

I have lots of new sale items and designs to dazzle you. 

Myrtle Beach Girl's Trip 2013

 Last weekend I was lucky enough to go on another Girl's Trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. Nine of us headed out bright and early (6:30 am!) to spend a whirlwind 48 hours in relaxation. Our hotel was right on the beach and we shared a massive four bedroom suite. Seriously the place was twice as big as where I live now and way nicer. The weather was warm but breezy which is my favorite mix. No sweating on the beach for this girl. And while every single one of us burned a little, we all got lots of nice sun.
The Ladies: Andrea, Chelsea, Robyn, Molly, Kelly, Me, Sara, Lindsey, Kristen

 Friday night dinner had us pigging out on family-style pasta and bread and the best steak of my life. Everyone who got a steak could not stop talking about it. So good. Yum. Umberto's is worth a stop if you find yourself in Myrtle Beach. After dinner we did a very girly thing and went to the mall. New sunglasses for me! We spent the night chatting, hot tubbing, eating lots of candy and doing more girly things like highlighting hair. Molly and I shared a room and stayed up until almost 3:00 am talking. With the luxury of sleeping in, why not stay up late? I, however awoke with a start at 7:00 am when I felt a bug crawling on my neck. Yes, that's right. It was a tick! Don't worry, I was able to go back to sleep after I killed it.

 Saturday we had an early checkout but first ate a delicious continental breakfast provided by ourselves. We also brought a chicken salad croissant lunch to share. The morning and afternoon were spent on the beach before heading back to real life. How amazing was it to just sit on the beach and not be constantly aware of my child? Amazing. And while the water was chilly we did stick our feet in a little. Why drive all the way to the beach and not even go in?

Myrtle Beach, we'll be back.

Or we'll at least have another girl's trip sometime soon.