Sweet Potato, Butternut Squash, and Sage Lasagne

Thanks to my wonderful Aunt Diane, I was introduced to the heavenly mix of butter and sage...there really is nothing on this planet like this fusion, it's absolutely amazing. I tried to incorporate those flavors in this lasagne paired with butternut squash and sweet potato. The ingredients may seem a little odd, but I literally did this on a whim with what I had in my cupboards and fridge at the time. I took out what I thought would be good, put on a Beatles record, and went into a cooking coma......this was the outcome. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 organic sweet potatoes

sea salt and black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

nutmeg

1/4 cup organic butternut squash soup

1 package lasagne noodles (the ones that do not need to be boiled first)

1 package chicken sicilian sausage

1 16 ounce container cottage cheese

shredded mozzerella cheese

parmesan cheese

sage

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Cut up sweet potatoes and put on baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, nutmeg and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Once done, poor potatoes in a bowl and mash. Mix in 1/4 cup butternut squash soup. Mix until creamy.

Heat a large skillet on med. high heat and squeeze chicken sausage into pan. Cook sausage and set aside.

Butter a casserole dish and poor about 1/3 cup of potato/squash mixture to bottom of dish. Put 1 layer of lasagne noodles over potato/squash mixture. On top of lasagne noodles put another layer of potato/squash mixture, followed by 1/4 cup cottage cheese, followed by a handfull of mozzarella, and lastly the chicken sausage. Keep re-layering until you're out of potato and sausage. For the top layer, cut up 3 tablespoons of butter into small cubes and sprinkle all over the top of lasagne. Now, tear up a few leaves of sage and sprinkle over the butter.

Doesn't this look beautiful????

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Cover lasagne with foil and back for 40 minutes. Remove foil and back an additional 10 minutes until the top is browned....like this!
Now it's time to dig in!
Bon Apetit!

My Pomegranite Tree :-)

We planted our Pomegranite Tree on Monday! This holds special meaning to me as all growing up I had a pomegranite tree, and I always said when I bought my own house I would plant one for my kids. Well, here it is.....

Thank you mom and dad :-)

"M" is for Moist Meyer Lemon and Rasberry Loaf

Well, Meyer lemons are back on shelves again and boy am I grateful! This bread is so deliciously moist and such a burst of citrusy, yet sweet hints of meyer lemon and rasberry in each bite. Believe me, this recipe will not disappoint any crowd!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flower

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. sea salt

6 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temp

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs (mine are fresh from my Aunt and Uncle's farm, spoiled I know)

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp. grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup rasberry jam

the juice of 1 lemon freshly squeezed

Lemon glaze:

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Spray with a non-stick vegetable spray (or butter if you prefer) the bottom and sides of a loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3 inch). In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract, lemon zest, lemon juice, and rasberry jam. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk the 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar and the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice together until all blended together. Allow loaf to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from pan and drizzle glaze over top. Enjoy!

Chalkboard door

My first pinterest project...the chalkboard door! Super easy and the family loves it :-)

Here's the before, this is our door going from the family room/kitchen to the garage.

Set the frog tape and put on a coat of primer first.
Then add about 3 layers of chalkboard paint and voila!
You can get chalkboard paint at home depot for around$14....I have a bunch left so my mind is spinning on what else I can paint in the house. Super fun and super cheap project!

Slugs, slugs, and more slugs!

Out of all the insects and critters you can find in our backyard, why must you be into slugs?!?! Ughhhh, I guess I just have to let him be the boy he is and hope this phase passes soon....

Breakin out the pipe cleaners!

Today we created bugs, worms, and other lil creatures with the following supplies:

Pipe cleaners

glue

cotton balls

googly eyes

Just break out the supplies and create!

Presidents Weekend Pizza Party!

In honor of Bella's 4 day weekend we decided to make pizza :-) Pizza is super fun for kids to make from the dough to spreading the toppings on....and the wonderful pleasure of eating your own home made dough, it makes a worlds difference and it's so easy!

So let's start with the dough. We used the below ingredients and recipe:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

2 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons white sugar

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl combine 2 cups flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar, and yeast....stir well to combine. Beat well until stiff dough has formed.

3. Cover with a damp dowl and store in a warm place (I put mine in the pantry) and let rise. This takes about 1/2 hour.

And now the fun part....flour your surface and knead the dough! Roll out and form into pizza.
Once dough is rolled out you can add whatever toppings you like. We did pizza sauce, shredded cheese, mushrooms and basil.
Cook in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

Our Compost

Here it is when we started 2 weeks ago....

And here it is today!
I don't know why this excites me so much but it does!

Catching worms 101

The kids have had fun exploring our new back yard. But their favorite thing to do hands down is catching earth worms!!! It's actually great because I just have them (after their done playing with them) dump them in our compost :-)

Sponge Paints

Yesterday Willem and I did some sponge painting while Bella was at school. We used tempura paints and a sponge I bought for like 50 cents. Here's some pix...I think Willem prefers to use his fingers :-)

We're Back!!!

After like a 1 year (maybe more) hiatis...we are back! Willem is now 2 1/2 and Bella is almost 7......a big 1st grader, time sure flies!!!!