Spinach Lasagna

When I was growing up, my family travelled through Utah on our way to Idaho. We stopped at our friends' house in Sandy to visit.We hadn't eaten in hours so when we arrived I was starving.  The house smelled so good!  I asked the hostess what we were having for dinner and she said, "Spinach lasagna!" I was so disappointed. Spinach was something slimy that came out of a can.  It didn't belong in lasagna.  But then I tried some and I was hooked!  I never got a recipe for this but always make it up.  Hopefully this will work for you!

Ingredients
9 lasagna noodles, cooked (can use rice noodles)
1 small jar Prego spaghetti sauce
16 oz ricotta cheese
garlic powder
Italian seasoning

4 Cups baby spinach
4 C shredded mozzarella
1/2 shredded parmesan

Instructions
Preheat 350°
Spread sauce in a 9X13 pan. Lay down noodles, then spinach, ricotta, mozzarella, more sauce. Repeat until the pan is full.  Top with parmesan. Bake 350° uncovered for 35 minutes.

Mom's Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough:

1 C luke-warm milk

4 tsps. yeast

1/2 C sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 C melted butter
4-4 1/2 C flour
Filling:
1/2 C softened butter
3/4 C brown sugar
Cinnamon
Frosting:
Use the idiot-proof recipe from the sugar cookie page, but reduce the sugar to two cups.

Instructions
In a large measuring cup, mix together the milk, 1 Tbs. of sugar and yeast.  Let if sit for 5 minutes. Mix the dry ingredients. Add the milk, egg and melted butter. Let the dough rise to twice it's size then roll out into a rectangle. Spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Roll it up, then slice in 1 1/2" pieces. Bake for 15- 20 minutes at 350°.

Spread with frosting just before serving.  Makes 12 rolls.

Brooke's Sugar Cookies

For years Brooke was always disappointed at how our sugar cookies turned into blobs when we cooked them. She finally did some research in 2011 and came up with this recipe that produces pretty cookies that are fit for decorating. I clipped the frosting recipe from the newspaper.  If you sift the powdered sugar the frosting comes out nice and smooth.  I hate sifting so I rarely do it.

Ingredients

3 C flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 C butter, room temperature

1 C sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. almond extract

Instructions

Mix butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract.  Add in the flour and baking powder. Don't over mix. Refrigerate dough for two hours then roll and cut into shapes. Cookies bake best on silicone mats.  Bake at 350° for 9 minutes.  Cool then frost.  You can freeze these cookies for several weeks.

Idiot-Proof Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 C butter, room temperature

3 C powdered sugar

3 Tbs. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

Instructions

Beat butter until smooth.  Add two cups of sugar and beat until mixed.  Add milk, vanilla, and almond extract. Add remaining powdered sugar.

Blackberry Pie

I am one of the world's worst pie makers.  I get annoyed when people say things like "easy as pie." Below is one of my best efforts and it's not too pretty.  But it was delicious!  And the berries came from our backyard! The crust is from Monette Magleby and the filling is from the Joy of Cooking.  It can be adapted for almost any kind of fruit.

First, preheat oven to 425°.
Cut the butter, salt and flour together until it looks like little peas

When you roll out the dough out, it's easier with a roller sleeve and muslim.

Mix the berries, sugar and flour together.

Pour it all into the shell and do with butter.

Put the top on and cut off the extra dough.

Cut slits or use a cookie cutter to vent.  Use you thumb and forefingers to make a fluted edge.

Cover the edges with foil. Then bake at 425° for 35-45 minutes until it looks lightly browned and bubbly.  Allow to cool for 20 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Pie Shell
2 C flour
1 C butter-flavored Crisco
1 tsp. salt
1/3 C ice water

Combine salt and flour. Cut Crisco into flour with knives or a pastry cutter.  Sprinkle with water and let set for 5 minutes. Form into a ball then roll out.

Filling
4 C berries
1 C sugar
1/3 C flour
Mix together and pour into pie shell.  Dot with butter then put top shell on.

Bake
425° for 35-45 Minutes

Wonderful Waffles

Waffles are another favorite for the cabin!  It's so easy to make them from scratch that it would be a shame to use an icky processed mix.  I modified this recipe from one I found on Pinterest.  Russell took the picture of the delicious, finished product. 

Ingredients

1 3/4 C flour

1/4 C cornstarch

1 Tbs. sugar

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1 3/4 C buttermilk (or regular milk with 1 Tbs. vinegar)

1/2 C vegetable oil (can use melted coconut oil)

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Spray and preheat waffle iron. Cook for 4-5 minutes.

Let's have Pizza!

When I was growing up, my mom often made pizza for us.  I was so proud of her for being so clever! She made pizza long before Dominoes or other chains that delivered were popular.  Now pizza is is one of our staple favorites at the cabin.  To make the dough, it's infinitely easier with a bread machine or stand mixer with bread hook. If you don't have either of these, maybe you should buy the crust unless you don't mind kneading by hand.

Here's what the crust looks like when it's all stretched into the pan.  To me this is the only hard part.  I've never been able to do the flippy thing with the dough that you see in commercials.  I just use a rolling pin and then stretch it by pulling and pushing it until it looks right.

 

Brooke taking the pizza out of the oven.  She had pneumonia this weekend (thus the nightie) but pizza can cure anything, right?



















This is a margarita pizza with fresh basil and goat's cheese.  You can use any toppings you want.  Remember, when you have a lot of toppings you'll need to cook it a little longer.








Crust for Two Pizzas
1 1/2 C water
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. garlic, minced (optional)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. Italian seasoning (optional)
4 Cups flour
1 Tbs. dry yeast

Put all ingredients into bread machine and put it on dough setting.  When it's finished, take it out a form into a ball with greased hands and then roll and stretch until it fits your pan.

Preheat oven to 450°

Toppings
Start with a good quality spaghetti sauce like Prego (or make your own!)
Sprinkle mozzarella or other cheese generously. About 2 cups per pizza.
Sprinkle oregano or Italian seasoning
Place all other toppings (pepperoni, peppers, onions, tomatoes, olives, onions etc.)

Bake at 450° for about 10 minutes.

ADDENDUM:
A couple of weeks ago we were up at the cabin and I started making pizza dough for our guests that were coming up.  I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if the bread-maker decided to stop working today when I have all these guests coming?"  Well guess what? It stopped working.  What I learned is that it's not that hard to make without the bread-maker.  I'll post a couple of pictures of how the dough looked before and after it rose.  I mixed it in a large bowl and kneaded it by hand, then put it in a barely warm oven to rise.