Family Dinner

Looks like I managed to make it through my first blog entry! Hooray! Now it's time to get to it :)

After mom passed and my dad was out in AZ visiting my other sister and her family, it was just TJ (my boyfriend) and I at home. I had plans for a Sunday dinner involving a 5 lb rump roast with potatoes, carrots, onion, and celery in the crock pot, but what's the point in making such a big meal for two people? So after the dinner was done I hauled it over to my oldest sister's house and we enjoyed it with her family. After that meal we have been having dinner together (now including my dad since he's home from AZ) every Sunday.

It's really nice to be able to spend time with family on those days. I look forward to it every week. It's a shame that we hadn't started it after we moved closer to my sister, that way mom could've enjoyed it as much as I am.

For last night's dinner I made my first ever homemade lasagna along with the red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting that I had first made for mom's 65th birthday that she spent in the hospital. I guess I'll start with the lasagna first, since unless you are like my grandma, you save the sweets for dessert :P

On one of my random searches through All Recipes I found this lasagna recipe. It looked simple enough, so I thought I'd try it! We have 7 people for Sunday dinners, so it sounded perfect. I decided that I would throw it together at my house and bake it at my sister's, so that's what I did.

The first thing I had to do was brown the hamburger and drain it. Easy enough, but it was unseasoned. I personally like a little bit of flavor in my meals, so I dug out one of my mom's cookbooks and found the recipe she had written for Hearty Pizza Loaf (which by the way, is absolutely delicious) and followed her directions for seasoning the hamburger. I added 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp garlic salt, 2 tbsp instant minced onion (although you can use 1/2 cup fresh chopped onion too). It gave the meat a nice flavor, so I definitely recommend this alteration.

Next I had to combine the mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, fresh chopped parsley, and egg. I have to admit, it was pretty fun to mix it all up lol Also note, the recipe says to use pre-shredded cheese from Kraft. I personally used blocks of mozzarella and parmesan and grated them myself. For the ricotta I just bought a tub of it by Precious.

Then you add your jar of sauce to the meat. I used a 26oz jar of Ragu since we had plenty sitting in the pantry. After you add the sauce to the meat, combine it well. Then fill the empty jar with water, put the lid back on and shake it well. Then add it to the skillet and combine well.

Now that everything is ready to go, it's time to start putting the lasagna together! Here's how it works. In a 13x9 baker, pour 1 cup of the meat sauce into it. Don't worry like I did about how watery it looks. It helps the noodles cook. After adding the meat sauce, you add the uncooked lasagna noodles. The recipe said to add 3 noodles, but I noticed that (at least in my baker), it left the ends uncovered. So after counting and realizing I had enough leftover noodles, I broke some to fit the end pieces.

After adding the noodles, then you add 1/3 of the cheese mixture and spread it out. It can be kind of tricky, so don't get frustrated. Just try to spread it as evenly as possible! Then you add another cup of meat sauce. That's pretty much how the layers work, just repeat it two more times.

After finishing your third layer, you then top it with the remaining 3 noodles (and add 2 more broken pieces to cover the ends if necessary). Now you just combine the remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan and 1 1/4 cups of mozzarella and sprinkle on top of the pasta. This is how mine looked after it was all put together!

Now you cover it with foil (it says greased foil, which I did when I made it, but I don't know if it really makes a difference) and bake it at 350 degrees F for an hour. After that hour remove the foil, put it back in the oven, and continue baking it for another 15 minutes.

After it's done, pull it out of the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes and then enjoy! I know mine looks kind of silly (at least I thought so!). The noodles bubbled up a bit and my sister agreed with me that it looked as though it had morphed into chicken enchiladas! But I assure you, it was indeed lasagna and it tasted great!

My dinner plate. We enjoyed the lasagna with garlic bread and caesar salad. Mmmm!

Now onto the red velvet cupcakes!!

This was also a recipe I had found at All Recipes, however when I went back this week to look it up, it had been moved to the person's blog. So if you would like to see it, please be sure to visit Carrot Top Mom's blog!

First you need to combine your dry ingredients in a medium bowl (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt).

 Then you beat your butter and sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Then add your eggs, one at a time. 

Next you add your buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla, and food coloring. Be careful with the food coloring though, lest you end up like me and have red fingertips for the rest of the day! 

Now you gradually add in your dry ingredients on low speed until just combined. You don't want to overbeat it. 

After all of that's done it's time to spoon your batter into the baking cups. Fill the cups 2/3 of the way full.

A note though! If you think that you will end up filling these more than 2/3 of the way full, be sure to grease the muffin tins beforehand. That way if they end up being oversized, they shouldn't be too hard to get off.

Now it's time to put those suckers in the oven. Bake them for 18-22 minutes at 350 degrees F. I put mine in for 18 minutes and they were perfect!

Let them sit for 5 minutes before taking them out of the pan, then let them completely cool before frosting them. Be very careful when removing them, because these cupcakes are super moist, and I mean that (it's why I love them!). I had a couple cupcakes that had tops that almost came off. They were great "dad testing material" though. "You know, to make sure they're safe for the grandkids to eat!" Yeah dad.... riiiiiight... LOL

The frosting is really easy, just be sure you soften the butter and cream cheese first. Beat the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Then scrape the bowl and beat again. Then gradually add the confectioner's sugar and bam, you have super delicious frosting!!

Needless to say, dinner last night was awesome!

<3 Kate

Recipes:

Simply Lasagna                   [click to print]

Serves 12

Ingredients

1lb lean ground beef

1 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp garlic salt

2 tbsp instant minced onion or 1/2 cup fresh chopped onion

2 1/2 cups fresh grated mozzarella cheese, divided

2 cups ricotta cheese

1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese, divided

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 26oz jar pasta sauce

26oz of water (fill the pasta sauce jar)

12-20 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Method

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Brown the hamburger in a large skillet on medium-high heat with the spices. Meanwhile, mix 1-1/4 cups of the mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, the ricotta cheese, the parsley, and the egg until well blended; set aside.

Drain meat; return to skillet. Stir in pasta sauce. Pour water into empty sauce jar; cover and shake well. Add to skillet; stir until well blended.

Spread 1 cup of the meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; top with layers of 5 lasagna noodles (3 lengthwise, and 2 broken to fit the ends if needed), one-third of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup of the meat sauce. Repeat layers two more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1-1/4 cups mozzarella cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Cover tightly with greased foil.

Bake 1 hour. Remove foil; continue baking 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting to serve.

Copycat Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcakes                                       [click to print]

Makes 24 large, or 30 medium cupcakes

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 2 tsp lemon juice)

1 ounce red food coloring

4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.

Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Gently remove from oven (these are super-moist, and will collapse if you aren’t careful). Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting                    [click to print]

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 (8oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tbsp sour cream

2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 (16oz.) box confectioners’ sugar

Method

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat cream cheese, softened, butter, sour cream and Pure Vanilla Extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl, and beat again. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until smooth.

Frost the cupcakes generously, and enjoy!