Mini Lasagnas

Recently I have been spending some of my free time browsing Pinterest, mostly the foods, and craft sections, and while browsing I come across MANY recipes I want to try, like this mini lasagna! It really fun to make, and I think it is easier than making a full blown regular lasagna (and they are cute!) 

The recipe I kind of followed, used amounts that were JUST under what I would consider normal, like they said to use 12 oz of ground turkey, (I used beef) but the 12 oz?? I just used a whole pond of beef, also for the ricotta cheese it said to use 1 1/2 cups, but the whole container was almost 2 cups, so I just used the whole container. I also don't remember how many oz's of pizza sauce they said to use, because I don't buy pizza sauce, I used the stuff I made and canned this summer, so I just added what I thought looked like the right consistency for lasagna. which was almost a whole pint.

 So, begin by frying up your burger, and half of an onion. Drain when it's all brown, then add almost a whole pint of pizza/ spaghetti sauce, salt, pepper, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil, and 2 minced cloves of garlic.

 Use a whole 8 oz container of ricotta cheese. and mix in 1 tsp of dried oregano....

 Now spray the cup cake pan, and open the won ton wrappers!

 Place 1 won ton wrapper in each hole, and I found that using a small cookie scoop worked best to scoop the cheese, and the ground beef mixture, worked best. So layer cheese, beef, then another wont ton wrapper.

 Then again layer on top of the second wont ton wrapper, cheese, then beef mixture...

Pre heat your oven to 375, then sprinkle the tops of the mini lasagnas with mozzarella cheese, and bake for 10 minutes, or untill the cheese is melted!

I made these to feed 4 people, and I was worried 3 wasn't going to be enough for everyone, but we had 3 left over lasagnas, these little things are more filling than you may think.... Also I have to admit, I think I forgot to add salt and pepper to these, so to me at least, they tasted a little bland, but everyone else thought they were great (I wonder if they were just trying to be nice :).....) 

The Recipe..

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion chopped

almost 1 pint pizza sauce

3 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

8 oz ricotta cheese

24 won ton wrappers

mozzarella cheese

and SALT and PEPPER! :)

Bake 375 for 10 minutes

Super easy "Fancy" bread!

So first, I want to give my friend Ruth all the credit for exposing me to this, and coaching me on how to do it! :)

The other day Ruth told me about this artisan bread that is really easy and very delicious! I'm not really the best at making breads. She told me that you just dump all the ingredients in a container, mix, let "rest" for 2 hrs, then set in your fridge for up to 2 weeks, and you can pull out a chunk and make it whenever! This amazing bread is from artisanbreadinfive.com . It takes seriously like 5 minutes to mix, no kneeding, and no punching it down!!!! In a 5 to 6 qt container add the following.... That's all!!!

1 1/2 T yeast
1 1/4 T kosher salt
3 C luke warm water
6 1/2 C all purpose flour

Seal like 3 corners of the lid, so there still is an opening. Let it sit out for 2 hrs, then you can either cut a chunk off to make a loaf, or put it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, and you can pull it out to make a loaf whenever you want! When you do get a chunk out, sprinkle the top of the dough that is in the bucket with some flour so the dough doesn't stick to your hand when you grab it.


 Get out some corn meal and sprinkle it onto what you are going to let it sit on before you cook it, something your not going to bake it on (I used my cutting board). The corn meal keeps it from sticking to the board, I guess you an also use parchment paper, but when you bake it you have to remove it like 15 minutes before the bread is done cooking. SO back to shaping your dough, shape it, then let it sit on the corn meal covered surface your not going to bake it on :) for at least 40 minutes. While it is "resting" pre heat your oven to 450 degrees, and immediately place what you are going to bake it on, into the oven, and a broiler pan on the shelf below it.

The people from "artisan bread in five" recommend to use a flat cast iron baking plate, or a pizza stone (if using a pizza stone place broiler pan on lowest rack, and place stone on rack like 2 racks higher (so you dont crack your stone when you put the water in)

I dont have either and Ruth had a brilliant idea of turning your cast iron pan upside down and using it that way :) What a great idea!!

After the oven is heated, slide the dough onto the pan, then add 1 cup hot water to the broiler pan and close the oven door!! I think the steam helps make the crust. I made a small loaf because I wanted to just try it quick, and it was only Leon and I, so I baked it for only 20 minutes, but a full loaf will take 30-40 minutes.

This was the most easy and delicious bread!!! (for a gourmet bread) I like my good ol' sandwich type homemade bread, but Leon and I love to dip bread in oil and balsamic vinegar, and this bread is PERFECT for it!!!! YUMMMMMMMERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Shoot out

I know it's Valentines Day, but I'm not in the loving gushy mood this morning, what I'm in the mood for is shooting!!!! We brought our chickens home last night, and zip tied all the fence to the bottom rail so that NO dogs could get in....then this morning 8 chickens were dead, and some were just injured, that is why I'm in the mood to shoot!!! We have 10 chickens left, and they are secured in a horse trailer that no animal could get in...hopefully...... Now Brody has a dead chicken tied to his collar, I hope he gets the point!!! Anyways.....

The other weekend my brother came down, to have a man date with my husband :) They both had Cabela's gift cards and wanted to spend them, also my sister-in-law was out of town, so Tony my brother decided to hang out down here with us. I had to work that morning, so they went shopping, then they were going to have a shoot out after they got back, and this is what I came home to....

 This is my dad's shot gun that he gave to my brother, I know it's a 12 gauge, and really long and heavy.

 Moose and Brisko slept through most of the shooting!

 Brody kept going in front of the shooters, and wanting to chase the skeet, so we tied him up.

 Some of their trucks...Everything is represented, Nissan, Dodge, Chevy, Ford.

 This is our friend's son Peyton, he brought his gun too.

 My brother's gun.

 I don't know who's guns these are...

 It was freezing, so the puppies kept me warm :)

 This is the back of my car...the loading station.

 This was our makeshift target...

I just have to brag a tiny bit....I WON A GAME OF ELIMINATION!!!!!!! :) Then I quit shooting on that high point. For those of you who don't know, elimination is when you all line up and the first person yells "pull" the thrower throws the skeet, then whoever yelled "pull" gets 1 shot to shoot the skeet, then if they miss the next person gets a try, and if they shoot it, the then first person is out...I survived, and won a game :)

My wedding cookies

These cookies have to be the best cookies I have ever made, and they are easy!!Warning: They are VERY rich, but soo yummmy!! These cookies remind me of my bridal cake at my wedding, chocolate orange, maybe that's why I LOVE them so much. The technical name for these are chocolate orange ganache cookies. 

 The cookie part of the cookie is just a chocolate cake mix, with  2 eggs, and 1/3 cup oil. mix, roll into balls, then bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes.

 The orange part of the cookies are an orange butter cream frosting. Mix 2-3 cups powdered sugar with 1 stick (1/2 cup) soft butter, then comes the magic of this cookie, the orange extract, add 1 1/2 tsp of it. You can also add some food coloring to make it orange in color.

 Frost the cookies when the cookies have cooled, then make the ganach, melt together 2 1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, and 3/4 cup butter. I let the chocolate mixture cool just a tiny bit, so it stay on the cookie better.

 I like using a cookie/ ice cream scoop to pour the ganache on the cookies, then I use the back of the scoop to spread it on the cookies.

I made little tiny cookie, because I was taking them on the women's retreat for my church, and I thought it would make people feel less guilty about eating them if they were smaller ;) The recipe for the ganache made enough to do 2 batches. The left over can be stored in the fridge, then re melted when you want to use it again (Which will probably be soon after the last cookie from the first batch is gone!)

Cupcake Fun!

I got this idea from where else, but Pinterest.... It looked super fun and super easy!!! (and it is!!) I guess these are called flower cupcakes.

I used a box cake mix to make the cupcakes, because I tried using a from scratch recipe, and it didnt turn out to good for me.

 While the cupcakes were baking I made the butter cream frosting using 1 stick softened butter, 2 Tbsp milk, and 2-3 cups powdered sugar (depends if you want a stiffer or creamier frosting) I made green frosting to make it look like grass, or green leaves.
                                     

Once you have frosted your cupcakes, get out mini marshmallows, and cut them diagonally, like shown below.... The you dip the cut side of the marshmallow into the colored  sprinkles, then place them on the cupcake, with the round end of the marshmallow sticking onto the frosting.

 Stick the marshmallows around the outside, then make another ring, just inside, then another.....Or whatever design you want... 

 The picture above is a big marshmallow.... To make the cupcakes with bigger petals, cut the marshmallow lengthwise (above) 5 times, and when you cut it, the marshmallow with kind of look like a taco shell, so you dip the "inside of the taco" into the sprinkles, then place them on the cupcake.

On the second Thursday of every month I help out with the Proverbs 31 Training Club, with the young girls at our church, and This month we decided to teach the girls how to do these cupcakes :) Here are some pictures from the evening.....

I think they all had a blast making these, they were simple, cute and FUN! Such a fun and energetic group of girls. I love helping out!!

Alcohol and Guns.......

I know I said I was going to post about my family's favorite recipes, this is not one of them, but maybe it will be. I heard that you can make your own vanilla extract, I got curious and googled it, it sounded so easy, and everyone was saying how much more better it is than even the purest highest quality you can buy in the store! The ingredients shocked me, vodka, and vanilla beans!!! That's ALL!!!!! O and a bit of time..... I was told that costco has vanilla beans, but I went there and they said it is only a seasonal thing, then I went to Market of choice, and they had them, FOR $8 FOR 2 SHRIVELED UP BEANS!!!!!!!! So I ordered 25 vanilla beans online at topvanilla.com The type of beans to get are apparently the Madagascar beans, because they are plumper. 

The beans came in the mail today, and I hadn't bought the vodka yet, and I was not planning on going to town today either, but I was so excited, I wanted to make it NOW!! :) I called Bill and asked if he was going to town and he had said he was already been there and was back at the shop again, then I remembered there was an liquor store in Harrisburg, so I asked him if her would get some for me, and he did :) I was all sorts of excited (I have been wanting to make this stuff for weeks!!) When Leon came in, he had his rifle in 1 hand, and a bottle of vodka in the other...hence the name of this blog :) 

He had the gun because he had been wanting to get a certain scope for a long time, and has been patiently waiting, and checking out prices everywhere, and he finally found it yesterday, at a local pawn shop for $100. He told the guy to hold it, until he could bring his gun in and make sure it would fit, and that is what he did today, so tonight was a very exciting knight for both of us!! 

 I had looked up a lot of different vodka to bean ratios on how to make the extract, and I have come to the conclusion that there is not 1 right way, the one I was mostly following said use 18 beans for 750 ml of 80 proof vodka. My beans came in a pack of 25, and I didn't know what to do with the extra 7 beans , so I just used them all.

 First pour out like 1/4 cup of the alcohol first, we had to do this periodically because we didn't think the beans would make the bottle over flow, but it did, and I watched precious tiny little vanilla flakes go down the drain :(  

Slice the bean length wise, then scrape out the pulp, and put the pulp and the whole bean into the bottle. Repeat 25 times :)

 This is a bad picture of the bottle before we shook it up...and below is what it looks like after you shake it up.

 I am going to shake it once a day for 2 weeks, then maybe like 3 times a week for 4 weeks-ish. I really have no plan, but to taste it after week 5 and see how it tastes.I'll keep you up dated :)

 Here is Leon with his rifle, and new scope, trying to get the dogs to all listen and sit pretty so I can take a picture.....

And here is how the picture ended up, 2 dogs playing, and the little black puppy went over to the right and took a nap :)

While writing this Leon discovered some thing with his scope, and said all sorts of wows, and holy cows, he wanted me to see what he saw....I saw really pretty bright red sights, and he clicked a little nob on top, and I said, "oooo, does it change colors?" No it doesn't, he was excited about something else that happens when he clicks the nob, that I don't understand, but it must be something cool :)