Lasagna Roll-ups

Okay, I really think that I'm going to stop saying I've found stuff on Pinterest.  Unless otherwise stated, I probably found most of these recipes on Pinterest.

I love pasta and I'm ALWAYS looking for recipes I've never tried before, seem easy, and I could possibly make for years to come. I found a recipe for lasagna roll-ups and I made them the other day, and this recipe is going in my arsenal.  I just really like the options that come with this recipe but be sure not to over-stuff your noodles because they won't roll up easily. The recipe I found called for a spinach and ricotta cheese filling. This may make me sound stupid but I always thought ricotta cheese was like cottage cheese because ricotta cheese is found next to the cottage cheese in the grocery store.  Anywhos, if you don't know yet...ricotta cheese is the fluffy white cheese found in lasagna.

Ingredients you'll need:
- 8 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
-16 oz Ricotta cheese
-Fresh spinach
-Minced garlic
-Smidge of butter
-Italian sausage (or not if you want to keep this dish vegetarian)
-Fresh mushrooms, chopped
-1 jar spaghetti sauce, your choice.  I used Newman's Own Roasted Garlic spaghetti sauce.  Once I tried Newman's Own Roasted Garlic spaghetti sauce, I vowed to never buy any other sauce ever again. It is sooooo good.

First, I boiled the lasagna noodles according to package directions and once they were soft, I laid them out on a cookie sheet covered in foil (to prevent sticking) and just left them.  Because Andy is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, I then browned up some Italian sausage to put in our lasagna roll-ups. I cut up some fresh mushrooms and set them aside...the recipe didn't call for mushrooms but I love mushrooms and wanted to add them to my mixture.  In a separate bowl, I wilted spinach with a little bit of butter and minced garlic.  in the microwave for two minutes, stirring every 20-30 seconds.  I used 3-4 handfuls of fresh spinach because it really condenses when it's wilted. I love garlic and wish I had used more.  I used about 2-3 teaspoons of garlic.

In a separate bowl I mixed together 16 ounces of ricotta cheese, the wilted spinach, and the mushrooms.  I mixed and mixed until the ingredients were well-blended and the cheese was fluffy. I then started spreading the cheese mixture onto the  lasagna noodles and sprinkled the meat over the cheese mixture.  I left one noodle meatless so I could try it without the sausage.  I definitely like my lasagna roll-ups meatless...sorry, Andy.  Anyways, roll your noodles up after filling them. Make sure when rolling them that the noodle remains tight without ripping.  I liken it to rolling up a sleeping bag.  Leave at least one end of the noodle empty of filling and start rolling at the opposite end.  The sticky, empty end of the noodle will stick to the outside of the rolled-up noodle and keep it from unrolling.

I sprayed some cooking oil on the bottom of a 9x13 pan and put the roll-ups (seam side down) in the pan.  I used one jar of spaghetti sauce and spooned it out over the roll-ups.  If I were to do it again, I'd pour some sauce in the bottom of the pan (after spraying with oil) and then pour the rest over the roll-ups.  Bake in the oven, covered, at 375 for roughly 30-40 minutes, or until hot. I waited until the sauce started boiling, which took about 30 minutes for my oven. Different ovens have different cooking times so just keep an eye on it once it gets around the 20-30 minute mark.

This recipe is great because it is easy and I like that it can be vegetarian or not. It is time-consuming but oh man...it is worth it. Now that I know how time-consuming it is, I won't wait until 5:30 to begin preparation for it. This recipe is going in my Fireproof Box...just so ya know.

Until next time...Fire Away!

Apple Crescents

 I dragged Andy to an apple farm  a couple weekends ago and we stocked up on apple butter, apple pie, apple cider, cider doughnuts, and also bought some local, organic  honey.  Oh, and apples we picked ourselves, of course.  Haralson apples were available for picking and they were very crisp and sweet and amazingly delicious.  According to the apple farm website, they are perfect for eating and baking and I can attest to that fact.

I found a recipe on Pinterest (again!) and I knew I needed to use up some of the apples we had left and the recipe seemed easy-peasy.


Ingredients you'll need: 
-1 tube of Pillsbury crescent rolls (I used the big and flaky ones)
- 2 or 3 small apples, or 1 large apple
- Ground cinnamon
- Sugar
- 4 tbsp of margarine or butter, melted  (or as much as you think you'll need to sufficiently cover the crescent rolls).  

Optional:
-Caramel topping
-Ice cream
-Whipped cream

      

First, I cored the apples and sliced them into eighth's.  Some of the apples we had picked were very small so I was able to actually use two apple slices in my crescent rolls.

 Second, I unrolled and separated the crescent dough. I just put them on the pan that I was going to bake them on.  I then poured some sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and mixed them up.  I melted the butter in a separate bowl and immediately started spreading the melted butter on the rolled-out crescent rolls.

As soon as I put the butter on all the rolls, I started sprinkling my cinnamon-sugar mixture on the buttered rolls.

 I then placed the apples on the long edge of the rolls and rolled them on up! I had to be careful with the rolls that had two apples in them because the apples kept trying to squeak out the ends. I made them behave in the end.  Start rolling at the long end so the pointed end / small end is on the outside.

I then sprinkled some more of the cinnamon-sugar mixture to the tops of the rolls before I baked them.









Bake the rolls according to package directions, until golden-brown on the top.  The butter/cinnamon-sugar mixture spilled out a little bit and cooked and it tasted like a cinnamon-caramel.  YUM.

I followed the instructions on the main recipe link and drizzled the crescents with caramel as soon as I put two of them on a plate.  I then decided to serve them hot out of the oven with some cinnamon ice cream and whipped cream.  I wanted to cry this was so delicious.  It is seriously the best dessert I've ever made.  Want to drool?   Look at these om-nom-nommy pictures.

Make this. Make this now.  Seriously, what are you waiting for? I'm putting this recipe in my Fireproof Box.

Until next time...Fire Away!

Drunken Chicken

Beer. Chicken. Crock Pot.  The trifecta. The 3 Musketeers, if you will.  I like chicken...I like beer...and I like my crock pot. As if I need more reasons than that to try this.  Of course, I found this recipe on, where else, Pinterest.  If you are not familiar with this website, you need to be.  They have SO many recipes, in addition to pretty much anything else you could want to find on the internet like exercises, quotes, home decor ideas, photography tips, fashion ideas, and cute animal pictures,  just to name a few.

Anywhos, back to the drunken chicken. I actually took two different drunken meat recipes and meshed them together. The crockpot and chicken are from one, the ingredients are from another so I really hoped it would turn out.

Here's what you'll need:
- 2 or 3 large chicken breasts (or more if you need...the recipe I found called for 4-6 chicken breasts with the same amount of beer listed)
- one bottle of beer (your choice) I used Newcastle for this recipe.
- 1/3 cup of ketchup
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- Anything you want to add to it. I added garlic powder for flavor and some red pepper flakes for an extra kick.

I carefully poured the bottle of beer into the crock pot (to reduce foam but I don't think it really matters) and I chose Newcastle because it was in my fridge and it has all the flavor of a darker beer but it's not as heavy as say...Guinness. Plus, I made a drunken pork chop recipe months ago  and used Leinie's Classic Amber, the same amount of ketchup as above, and the same amount of brown sugar and the sauce was SWEET. It tasted really good but it was just so sweet. I didn't want to have this turn out just as sweet so that's why I used a darker beer.  I also didn't want the sauce to be too bitter, which is why I didn't adjust the ketchup or brown sugar amounts.

After pouring in the beer, add the ketchup and brown sugar and stir until it's pretty well-mixed. I added 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and stirred it in, then I put the chicken breasts, still fully frozen, into the crock pot.  I then added a couple shakes of red pepper to the mix and covered the crock pot. Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3 hours.

The sauce actually was still kind of sweet (not as bad as last time though) and had a beer taste to it.  I think it would've been delicious as a gravy over mashed potatoes.

Until next time...Fire Away!

Pot Roast

I love my crock pot. I'm not the best cook so I really think there's nothing better than an appliance doing all the cooking work for you.  I pretty much find all of my recipes on Pinterest nowadays so please bear with me as every single one of my posts mentions Pinterest.

I am not a huge fan of regular pot roast.  I like flavor in my food and regular pot roast with potatoes and carrots is just so bland to me.  I found a recipe for 3-envelope pot roast and I've made it about 3 times in the last month and a half...it's that good. On top of the recipe being delicious, it's super simple too.

You will need:
-1 envelope Italian salad dressing seasoning.  I HIGHLY suggest using zesty Italian.  I've used both regular and zesty and zesty is by far superior.
-1 envelope brown gravy mix
-1 envelope ranch dressing mix.  DO NOT USE ranch dip mix.  It is not the same. You've been warned.
- 1/2 cup of water
- 2(ish) pound pork or beef roast.  I've used a pork butt roast (what I call rump roast) and a beef roast that I think was actually meant for roast beef. I do have to admit, I like using a beef roast for this recipe better than a pork roast, but that's just my opinion/taste.

I start by dumping all three envelopes in a bowl and stirring until they are all mixed together.  Then I add the water and whisk it all together until well-blended.  I cut slits in the pot roast, put it in the crock pot, pour the seasoning-water mix over it and cook it on high for about 4-5 hours.  That's it.  Simple, simple, simple and yummy.  Andy is your typical meat and potatoes kind of guy and he loves when I make pot roast.  I'll serve it with a baked potato and  some kind of vegetable side, and you have yourself a nice, filling meal that is good for leftovers too.  If you save the leftover meat, be sure to save the leftover sauce too.  You could even thicken the sauce and make it more of a gravy and serve it with mashed potatoes.  I usually just pour a little extra sauce over my meat for more flavor.

As you can see, the closer the roast gets to being done, the wider the slits get that I cut. I think this really helps get the flavor inside the meat instead of just on the outside.  As you can also see, I do not have a picture of the roast when it's completely done. A) we were starving and just wanted to eat and B) I just plain forgot.

Until next time...Fire Away!

Nutella Hot Chocolate

The other night I was craving chocolate and we had NONE in the apartment.  None. Zip. Zero. Zilch.  Except for Nutella.  I love Nutella and was considering eating a spoonful of it just because I wanted something chocolaty that badly.  I  realized that was kind of disgusting and then I remembered seeing something on Pinterest (surprised?) about nutella hot chocolate.  It was cold out and I wanted chocolate.  It seemed perfect.  I then searched on Pinterest for the pin I saw previously and found a recipe that called for stuff like melting chocolate chunks, measuring out the nutella (measure? do you not know how sticky Nutella is?), sacrificing the blood of a virgin, etc, and I thought it was too much work for freaking hot chocolate.  Then I saw a recipe that called for Nutella and milk. That's my kind of recipe, let me tell you....2 ingredients.  I don't always have ingredients in my arsenal, but I did have Nutella in the cupboard and milk in the fridge.

This is what you'll need for my version of Nutella hot chocolate. Nutella (duh), unsweetened cocoa powder, milk, and a saucepan.

First, I measured out 10 ounces of skim milk, AKA one cup and 2 ounces of milk, and poured it in the sauce pan.  Then I scooped about three and a half spoonfuls of Nutella and put it in the milk.

 I knew that much Nutella would make the hot chocolate SUPER chocolatey so I decided to add 1 tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder to attempt to dial back the sweetness on the Nutella but not take away from the chocolatey taste.

Taa Daa!!!!

Turn the burner on to about medium heat and just whisk all the ingredients together until smooth and hot.  It will probably take a few minutes for the Nutella to melt but all the ingredients do blend together beautifully. The hot chocolate was REALLY good, really chocolatey and definitely satisfied my chocolate craving. I highly suggest making Nutella hot chocolate whether you follow my "recipe" or make up one of your own.

Now, the most exciting thing to me about hot chocolate is the mug it's going in.  I have a weird love of mugs and I like buying mugs as souvenirs because they are a useful AND remind me of places I've been.  I've been re-obsessed with Harry Potter lately and decided to use my Harry Potter mug.  

You might ask where I got my fantastic mug and I will tell you to watch the minute-long video to find out.  Please don't mind the spilling...I always spill.

  Until next time...Fire Away!

P.S.  If you didn't watch the video, I got my magical mug at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, Orlando.  Any Potterhead NEEDS to go there and I plan on going back again sometime in my life.