My favorite dish ever!

I wrote earlier about my Grandpa's Famous Lasagna. I decided to post the recipe because it is so easy and inexpensive. I did a little digging and I found out that my Great Grandmother came up with this simple and unorthodox recipe when she was a housewife struggling to feed a lot of mouths on a very small budget. So I guess it should be called Great Grandma's Famous Lasagna... but that is just too long. I say that this recipe is unorthodox mainly because it doesn't use ricotta cheese and has a few other surprising substitutes.

You Need:

1 to 2 lbs hamburger meat (depends on how meaty you want it to be. I use 2)
1 to 2 Spaghetti Sauce dried seasoning packets (again depends on how much meat you used)
8oz tub sour cream
8oz tub small curd cottage cheese
approx. 12 lasagna noodles (that is what it takes me with a traditional lasagna pan)
1- 28oz can diced tomatoes
1- 6oz can tomato paste (if you like you can buy the tomato paste in the tube. I prefer it because you only squeeze out what you need and the rest stays fresh)
1-8oz-ish bag shredded mozzarella or fresh (I hate grating cheese)
1-80z-ish bag shredded cheddar

Here is where you can play around with it. Add frozen spinach (well drained), shredded zucchini. Let your imagination go wild!

Brown hamburger in a large skillet. Drain and add seasoning packet(s) and diced tomatoes with juice. Stir. This is where the tomato paste comes in. I add a heaping tablespoon if my sauce seems a little runny. You want it to be thicker than spaghetti sauce. Once sauce is well combined set aside.

In a large deep pot cook lasagna noodles for about 8 minutes. You want them flexible but not done.

While pasta is cooking combine sour cream and cottage cheese in a medium bowl. (You could use ricotta cheese if you like) This is also where you would add the spinach if you chose to put that in as well.

When all ingredients are ready it is time to assemble.

Smear a small amount of your meat sauce on the bottom of the pan. Be careful not to use too much. You just want to create a barrier between the bottom of the pan and the noodles.
Next place one layer of noodles making sure to cover the pan completely. Then a layer of cottage cheese mixture followed by the meat sauce. Top with as much or as little cheese as you like. I probably go a little overboard on the cheese but I like it that way. Make sure all you layers go all the way to the edges of the pan. Repeat: noodles, soft cheese, meat sauce, and finally completely cover the top with cheese. I use a 2 to 1 ratio of motts to cheddar. It makes it nice and gooey.

Now all that is left is to heat it through. Place lasagna in 375 preheated oven. After 10 minutes check for bubbling around the edges. If you don't see a steady bubble check again in 5 minutes. When the sauce is bubbling evenly around the edges and the cheese is starting to brown you are done!

Take it out and let it cool for 20 minutes. This helps everything set up so when you cut into it all the sauce stays put rater than sliding out.

I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as I do!

I need to vent!

So while reading the news articles on my homepage I came across an article about the explosion at a Slim Jim factory in NC. 20 injured including 5 with critical burns on 60% or more of their bodies,and 3 missing. I clicked on the message board because occasionally there is more information. I was amazed by some of the comments I found.

"This is obviously the work of those Obama loving, liberal terrorists. They hate Jesus and Slim Jims"

.....

"Meat processing plant....Hmmm, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Illegal aliens. I wonder if an illegal who couldn’t speak English was smoking next to a natural gas line.

No está permitido fumar, dummy."

.....

"ConAgra, one of the largest employers of illegal aliens in the country. Get one that can't read (English or Spanish) and you are asking for a disaster. Hopefully all of the Americans are safe and alive."

.....

And here is a comment posted after a former employee at the factory pointed out that the majority of the employees were Caucasian and African-American. Trying to deflate all the illegal immigrant talk...

"I live in NC and I can tell you the illegal alien population has grown exponentially in the last 15 years. The African-Americans who used to work there are probably unemployed now."

.....

And another defended these comments when others became offended by saying that "...it is human nature to find comedy in tragedy" and, "remember the space shuttle blowing up??
next day I heard this joke. The teacher on the shuttle had blue eyes, one blew this way and one blew that way.. "


That wasn't appropriate either! Why is it that these people don't even consider that those lost or injured have family that are grieving. There are people in the hospital fighting for their lives and others are making jokes. It is just cruel and wrong.

.....

I am just amazed at how tragedy can bring out all the ignorant bigots. Nowhere in the article does it say what caused the explosion. Nor does it mention anything about the nationality of any of the victims. All these comments just arose out of sheer stupidity. For every sincere comment about prayers for the families and the injured there were 3 like the ones above.

To take a tragic occurrence and use it to push these narrow minded views makes me ill. No wonder so many countries think Americans are assholes. These are the people representing us! I pray that the families of those missing don't stumble across these comments.

Comfort Food

Growing up I had a favorite dish my mom would make for me. My grandpa's lasagna. We don't know for sure where he got it but the name stuck. When I grew up I insisted that she give me the recipe. I couldn't believe how simple it was! I used to work on a ski resort in Montana called Big Mountain. We had a Superbowl cooking contest that was judged by the ski patrol. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to show off the family recipe. And sure enough I won!

Lately I have been craving it like crazy. I don't make it very often because I'm afraid that if I do it won't be so special anymore. But I think it is time to pull out my little black recipe book where I keep all the family secrets and bake my heart out. I will try to take some pictures of the finished product. And with my mother's permission I will post the recipe too. It is just too good to keep a secret. I think it should be a staple in any mother's arsenal.

How did blood get on the ceiling?

Yesterday was one of those pull your hair out need a Valium IV sort of days. When my husband called me and asked me if he could go fishing after work I was less than excited about the idea. I had been looking forward to punching out when he got home and taking a relaxing bath. Then I realized that considering my mood it was probably best that he wasn't here. So off he went with horse/dog in tow... at least I had one less child under foot! The rest of my evening went surprisingly well! Kai went to bed without any problems and I finally got to relax. Everything was great until..........

Brandon finally came home at around 11:30 with 5 huge catfish. He was grinning from ear to ear like a little kid. It was cute. After he told me about his exciting adventure he started trying to cut the heads off of his still squirming catch. That was my cue to go far far away. (nothing grosses me out more than the sound of a butcher knife repeatedly whacking at a fish) I got all cozy in bed and decided to watch a movie. I don't know what I would do without surfthechannel.com. That's right, I have no problem watching illegal movies online. Have you seen rental fees lately? By the way He's Just Not That In To You was great!

My first mistake was in coming out to check on his progress. There was blood everywhere! On the floor, counter, walls, everything. I decided to just crawl back into my comfy little cocoon and hope for the best. Around 2am I could hear Brandon shuffling around in the cleaning closet and the smell of Pinesol. I made my second mistake in assuming that meant the kitchen would be clean.

At around three all was silent. My movie was over and I decided to make another sweep of the house. Brandon was passed out on the couch, my house smelled like fish, and the kitchen looked like a crime scene. The floor was spotless. I'll give him that, but the counters, walls, appliances, cupboards, and well everything on the counters.... Lets just say it looked like a fish blood paintball exploded. I just shook my head, made a mental to-do list for the following day and went to bed.

When Brandon got up for work he came in to give me a kiss and tell me that he had cleaned the kitchen. Me not being a morning person and generally lacking the brain to mouth filter made some less than friendly remarks about his cleaning skills. I was a little harsh but in my defense he knows better. You don't pet a hungry lion and you don't try to talk to me first thing in the morning. Especially when you have left me a mess that would make the cast of CSI say "GROSS!" He looked like I just kicked his dog. I instantly felt bad and tried to make up for it by saying, "It's ok. Thank you for trying. It was really late and it's a start. I'll just take care if it later." I doubt it helped.

So I finally stumble out of bed and into the kitchen for some much needed coffee. The kitchen still smells like fish and wow..... there is blood everywhere! I shake my head and stumble to the fridge for the creamer. Coffeemate Vanilla Caramel, can't live without it! I don't know what possessed me to look up but I did. I'm pretty sure what happened next woke up the neighbors. In an almost involintary moment I screamed, "HOW THE F***K DID YOU GET BLOOD ON THE CEILING!" Not my finest moment I have to say.

So here I am trying to muster up to energy to don the rubber gloves and clean the kitchen from TOP to BOTTOM.


Still waiting for that Valium IV....

Cereal anyone?


Ohhh it gets better


Did I mention I don't even like catfish?


EWWWWWWW.


This is above the Kitchen sink. On the OPPOSITE side of the kitchen from where he was cutting them!


And finally yes... that is the ceiling. Nice huh?

Where is the mute button!

There was a comedian once that said moms have a mute button behind their ear so when their children are screaming "MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM" they can just press the button and they don't hear anything. They just see a child mouthing words. Ohhhh how I wish this was true. Today it is all I can do to get a moments peace. As soon as I sit down Kai screams MOM! MOM!.... so I get up and see what he wants. NOTHING! Or he wants me to pick up the toy RIGHT in front of him and hand it to him. Now the logical side of my brain is telling me that he wants attention. So I try to play with him and he tells me to go away. I think the comedian got it all wrong. We don't have the button, our children do. It's true! Our children have a mommy time button. As soon as we try to sit down and have some mommy time the alarm goes off and tells them that they need to show us their booger or announce that the picture on their wall is an elephant. ANYTHING to make us get up. I have tried to ignore the MOM call but I just can't. I keep thinking that the one time I don't come is the time he really needs something. Just in the time that I have been writing this I have gotten up 4 times.

1. Because Lightening McQueen just blew a tire. And this is a big deal!
2. Because the tool bench needed to be 3 inches more to the right....
3. To show me his guitar "pick-it" which I had just handed him on my last trip.
And
4. Because he needed more juice (the juice cup was still full)

I sure would like to know where that mute button is.....

One step closer

Today there was a monumental achievement in the Johnson household. Our 3 year old son went potty in the potty chair!!! In mommy world this is a HUGE thing. There is officially light at the end of the poopy diaper tunnel!