Ma's Veggie Lasagna

Evening fellow food lovers, your blog mistress here to bring your more yuminess to fill your tummy's with. <---hey that rhymed ;D. We're bringing you a recipe tonight that's on the vegetarian side. Hey, no groans it's good to change it up every once in a while. We aim to please everyone at some point. So this was Ma's brain child and as always I was huffing and puffing because she has the "think on your toes make up a recipe without writing it down syndrome". Which means yours truly has to figure out how this yummy thing came to be but no worries I think I got it unraveled and it's easy to follow along with. So let's get to it, here's what you'll need:



Ma's Veggie Lasagna

Ingredients:
9 lasagna noodles
1 (12 ounce) bag of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and dry. Meaning squeeze all the liquid from the spinach once thawed)
1 (12 ounce) bag of frozen chopped carrot, celery, and onion blend
1 cup of frozen pepper blend (such as green, red, and yellow)
1 (8 ounce) bag of mozzarella cheese
2 cups of Parmesan cheese
1 container (16 ounce) of ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 cup heavy whipping cream


Directions:

*Cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions. In the meantime take the ricotta cheese and place it in a bowl with your heavy whipping cream. Whisk until smooth and add your Italian seasoning and nutmeg. Set aside.

*In a skillet with some butter add spinach, peppers, and carrot/celery/onion blend. Saute until tender then set aside. Spray your casserole dish generously and set aside. Once noodles are done drain and prepare to assemble lasagna.

*Lay 3 cooked lasagna noodles on the bottom of your casserole dish. Ladle in 2 scoops of ricotta cheese mixture and then follow it up with 2 scoops of the veggie mixture and spread evenly. Sprinkle half of a cup of the Parmesan cheese and a small handful of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat for 2 more layers ending with the remainder of the cheeses.



*Bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Once out of oven let lasagna cool for 10 to 15 minutes and serve.








How did this pan out? It was sooooooooooooo good! Seriously, this is one not to be missed. I'm a bit of a veggie hater and this dish made me clean my plate. Okie, I didn't mean "hater" as in veggies are evil little foods but in the bleh I'd rather eat something sweet kind of way. Didn't make it sound better that way did it? You get what I mean lol.



Tid Bits:

*With a dish like this one you can play up or down the cheeses listed. It's up to you on how much you want in the dish.

*If you don't do all veggies you can put turkey (or any meat you'd like) into the dish.



Ma's Spot: I love lasagna's in any form so when I came up with this dish I just thought "Wow, let's do something totally different". I have to give Dinah credit for introducing me to heavy cream. In all my years of cooking I never really used it but she uses it a lot so I took her tip and used it in this dish. I ended up really enjoying it in sauces. So please make this for your family with some garlic bread. It's perfect for a great family dinner.


We have an announcement tonight, the holidays are just around the corner so here at Tuesdays with Dinah and Ma we're always looking to change this up. So from here on out until after New Years we're hanging up snack corner and moving onto baking corner. What does that mean? Every Tuesday we'll be bringing you our favorite baking recipes you can make with your family or for your family for the holidays. We also have a mega baking post coming this winter so as always stick around it's going to be fabulous!

BAKING CORNER: Kinda Sort Smores On A Stick

Yeah, the name needs work haha but fear not the recipe is super yummy! Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients:

Bag of thin pretzel sticks
Bag of milk chocolate chips
Bag of Kraft cinnamon bun jet puffed marshmallows
Sprinkles/Jimmies

So there is not exact amount because you can make whatever amount you'd like but here's how you do it.

Directions:

*Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or in your microwave.

*Take a marshmallow and push it onto one of the pretzel sticks until you see the tip of the pretzel at the top of the marshmallow.

*Take your pretzel marshmallow (which should resemble marshmallow on a stick) and dip the marshmallow part into the melted chocolate. Shake off excess chocolate and roll the marshmallow into the sprinkles/jimmies.

*Place onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and repeat until you have your desired amount of treats. Place tray into freezer for at least 10 minutes then take out and enjoy!






Dinah: Love these! Super cute and something fun to make with the kiddies. Oh and they are yummy. ;D.

Ma: The best thing about camping for me (besides spending time with my daughter) was making smores every night. These are my versions of home smores. You have your marshmallow, chocolate, and pretzel (which is a nice graham cracker substitute). These are fun to make with your kids and they don't have to worry about hot marshmallows burning them. Feel free to use any toppings you'd like: nuts, shredded coconut, etc... So grab your kids and make these with them and enjoy!


Alrighty guys that's it. We'll be back here same time, same channel next Tuesday for more food goodness. What's on the menu for next week? My pick is something spicy and has bacon. WHAT! Nuts right? Wanna know more? Come back in 7 days. Have a great week guys!



Spoons & Spatula's
~Dinah & Ma

Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta (and my beef with Mrs. Rachel Ray)

Greetings blog readers, tonight's recipe is a doozy and not really doozy in a good way. Let's get started, now I have been known to pull recipes out of left field. This time may have been too far out for our liking. I had a recipe for a while now from Rachel Ray. It seemed promising with the whole idea of putting pumpkin and pasta together. Now, before I say my food peace I'll show you what you need for this dish: (I may pour on the hatorade tonight but we always say give it a try. Who knows you may like it.)


Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta


Total Time: 30 min
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 10 min
Yield: 6 servings


Ingredients

* Salt
* 1 pound whole-wheat penne
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 3 shallots, finely chopped
* 3 to 4 cloves garlic, grated
* 2 cups chicken stock
* 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
* 1/2 cup cream
* 1 teaspoon hot sauce, to taste
* Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
* 2 pinches ground cinnamon
* Salt and black pepper
* 7 to 8 leaves fresh sage, thinly sliced plus more, for garnish
* Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:

Heat water for pasta, salt it and cook penne to al dente.

Heat the oil, 2 turns of the pan, over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic to the pan, saute 3 minutes. Stir in chicken stock and combine with pumpkin, stir in cream then season sauce with hot sauce, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 5 to 6 minutes more to thicken. Stir in sage, toss with pasta with grated cheese, to taste.




Oh Mrs. Rachel Ray. I have a many bones to pick with you. First off, I like you, I think you're swell. This recipe though is completely awful. Yeah, I am talking no flavor and just unappealing. I couldn't even make it to a 5th bite before I threw in the food towel on this one. I wish it would've of been more of an enjoyable experience because the picture left me having hope. I was sadly crushed on the actual product. I've decided that pumpkin can never be made into a savory dish if it wants to find it's way into my tummy.

OH and I have one more thing to pick away at. You say in the magazine I got this from that its "wallet friendly", pardon thy french but what in the hell is she thinking? Here at Tuesday's with Dinah and Ma we split the price of the ingredients down the middle (to make things fair) and this recipe cost us $30 to make. No joke, I don't know many people who would spend that much on one dish and then for it to turn out crappy makes it a double whammy of suckiness. $30 for one dinner is supposedly "wallet friendly"? I think not.



Tid Bits:
Oy, is there really any? Not much can be done to save this dish.



Ma's Spot: I have to admit when Dinah said we were making pumpkin pasta I was a little leery. I gotta say I ended up liking it. Although I wouldn't make it again. I thought the sauce was way creamy. I do think it lacked some kind of spice. What exactly? I don't really know. I've never really worked with a pumpkin sauce. It stumped me on what spice to put in the sauce to enhance it. My family didn't like the whole wheat pasta but I love it. In my experience regular pasta wouldn't hold up with this kind of sauce. So if you don't care for wheat pasta then maybe you won't like this. So if you're looking for something different give it a try and if you can find a spice that fits into it to give it something special then go for it.




Ladies and Gents no snack corner tonight. Hey, no pouting it'll be back next week lol. I just wanted to spice things up a bit. Besides, who doesn't love a yummy dessert?


Chocolate Napoleons

* 12 Servings
* Prep: 30 min. Bake: 10 min.

Ingredients

* 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
* 2 cups cold milk
* 2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
* 2 packages (3.9 ounces each) instant chocolate pudding mix


TOPPING:
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Directions:

* On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry into a 12-in. square. Cut into twelve 4-in. x 3-in. rectangles. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 400° for 9-12 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.
* In a small bowl, whisk milk and sour cream until smooth. Add pudding mix; whisk for 2 minutes or until blended. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.
* To assemble, split each pastry in half. Spoon pudding mixture over bottom halves and replace tops. Combine confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth; drizzle over top. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Serve immediately. Yield: 12 servings.



Dinah: Now this was a redemption winning treat. Aunt Jane and Geoff were not feeling the pumpkin pasta and had the whole angry bears vibe with me but this they liked. Chocolate always saves the day :D. This was super creamy and the pastry made it. My only thing was I went back later this evening for the left over pudding mixture and I now know why they said to serve it immediately. It became this tangy, gross, congealed glob. Not good. Seriously though, give these a shot. They are quite yum!


Ma: People, people, people what can I say about this dessert? Well, nothing bad. I have to say I was a little leery about the sour cream but wow it made the dish fluffy and good! I'm not too keen on the square pieces of semi-sweet chocolate but when you put it on top of the glaze it makes it amazing. The combination of the pastry, pudding, and glaze worked wonderful together and made it delicious. It's a great dish to put together with your kids and enjoy.



Alrighty kiddies, that's it tonight. We'll be back here next Tuesday with a veggie dish that shouldn't disappoint. Wanna know more? Come back in 7 days to check it out. Have a great week guys!



Spoons & Spatula's
~Dinah & Ma

Chicken & Dumplings

Hey guys! Welcome back for another round of food goodness. This entry may be a bit slow on the jazz (I have mega bad allergies. I'm waiting for my shot tomorrow and while I wait my eyes are looking like itchy/puffy rivers) but fear not there is some jazz here to be displayed.

So this week's recipe has some sentimental value to it. Let me tell you a story. Once apon a time in the early 90's a feisty lady by the name of Ann came up to MI from Florida to spread cheer and make her ultra famous chicken and dumplings. These weren't average chicken and dumplings they were homemade and delish!
Sadly, later in the 90's Miss Ann passed away and so did the magic of her dumplings. So who was this lady? She was my wonderful great aunt and tonight we are paying homage to this sassy Italian lady by making a mock version of her recipe. We can't make the exact same but I like to think we would of made her smile a tad from our version.


Chicken & Dumplings
(Serves A LOT of people lol probably 6 to 8?)

Ingredients

(chicken part of recipe)
1 whole chicken
16 cups of water
1/2 bag baby carrots
4 celery stalks
salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
1 tablespoon of chicken seasoning
2 cups of chicken stock

(dumplings part of recipe)
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons oil


Directions:

First up how to make up the chicken part:

*In a large pot place 16 cups of water, celery, and carrots.

*Rinse off the whole chicken and clean out the inside. Place the chicken in the pot with the water, celery, and carrots.

*Boil until chicken is done ( 1 1/2 to 2 hours). Turn off burner, take chicken out and place it on a plate. Let chicken cool. Take a slotted spoon and remove carrots and celery and put on a plate.

*Once chicken has cooled remove all skin and fat. Cut up your chicken to bite size pieces. Return your bite size chicken pieces to the pot of broth and add two cups of chicken stock to the pot.

*Take the carrots and celery and with a potato masher (yes, forreal lol) and mash them. Once mashed add it to the pot with stock and chicken.

*Bring to a boil and add the salt, pepper, chicken seasoning, and garlic powder. While this is cooking start making your dumplings.


Second up is how to make the dumplings:

*In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, chopped parsley, and salt.

*In a separate bowl combine milk and oil.

*Add the wet mixture slowly to the dry mixture. Stir the mixture until it forms a dough ball.

*Flour the surface of your table, and roll out your dough. Take a pizza cutter and cut dough into little squares.

*Slowly drop in dumpling bites into your chicken stock mixture. Keep stirring as you slowly add each dumpling.

*Cook 10 to 15 minutes then serve and enjoy!





So this was a nice reminder of a grand memory from my childhood. Of course getting this done wasn't easy. Aunt Jane and I had to beg ma to make it for us lol. In the end I think my great aunt would approve. :].



Tid Bits:

*Please do not use chicken broth. You need to use stock for more flavor. So bottom line kiddies if it says broth, stay away but if it says stock, you're in business.

*If you are not into making the homemade dumplings get a can of biscuits. Roll them out and cut them into squares the same way you would the homemade dough.


Ma's Spot:
Chicken and dumplings is a wonderful comfort food. When I was little I would sit in a chair and watch every moment of my mom making chicken and dumplings. Waiting for her to give me a taste and her saying to me "When you grow up you can make your family chicken and dumplings". Here I am today doing what my mom said. I've always thought this recipe was hard to make but this is a pretty simple way to make it. It has the same familiar taste like my moms but with less of the work. So if you are looking for a wonderful family dinner on a cool fall night this is what you have to make. So create the warm memories with your family and enjoy.





*SNACK CORNER:*

It's time for snack corner! Where we take new snacks in the grocery store and break it down for you. We tell you which are hot and which are not. Let's get to this week's picks:



Dinah: We have Keebler Mint Creme Middles up on the menu this week. Normally I am not a cookie kind of gal. I mean sure I like a good chewy cookie every once in a while (oatmeal raisin is my poison) but it's one of those things I have to be in the mood for. These cookies? I could honestly eat at any time. The mint creme is pretty stellar and the cookie itself is chocolaty and soft. All in all a pretty stellar cookie.



Ma: Well what can you say when you have chocolate and mint? Delicious, creamy, and go to the store now and get some! PS. In case I didn't mention it, I loved these. :D.






That's it kiddies. I need to go place some ice on my face and get my allergy shot tomorrow. We'll be back next week with my pick and it has to do with yummy food (of course) and something out of left field. Don't be scared, I promise it's gonna be good. Have a great week guys!



Spoons & Spatula's
~Dinah & Ma

Cracker Barrel's Hash Brown Casserole & Marie Callender's Famous Golden Cornbread

Evening lovelies!
Time for another Tuesday with good food and good commentary brought to you by yours truly. This week's agenda comes from this chick right here. Now, while I am always on the food trail for something new, funky, and fun I kinda went down the path of comfort foods. Well, comfort foods in the sense they are knock off's of certain items on restaurant menu's. Yep, you read right. I know, I was kinda shocked too but don't even think about leaving just yet. Stick around, I promise this one is for the books.

So I picked up the book known as "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes" by a Mr. Todd Wilbur. I was going through it and BAM there it was in all of it's potato glory. Cracker Barrel's Hash Brown Casserole. I am beyond in love with this creamy but also crispy delight. It's even an on going inside joke between my Auntie Dee and myself. I knew this is the recipe for me to rock this week. Oh, and to balance this out (There are 4 people eating and they don't believe in having only hash browns for dinner. What planet are they from? Geez!) I also picked Marie Callender's Famous Golden Cornbread. Time to see what goes into all this:


Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole
Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish


1 26-ounce bag frozen country-style hash browns
2 cups shredded Colby cheese
1/4 cup minced onion
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup beef stock or canned broth
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Dash of garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper



Instructions:

*Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

*Combine the frozen hash browns, cheese, and onions in a large bowl.

*Combine the milk, beef stock, half the melted butter, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper in a bowl. Mix until well blended then pour the mixture over the hash browns and mix well.

*Heat the remaining butter in a large oven proof skillet over high heat.

*When the skillet is hot spoon in the hash brown mixture. Cook the hash browns; stirring occasionally until hot and all of the cheese is melted (about 7 minutes).

*Put the skillet into the oven and bake for 40 to 60 mins. or until the surface of the hash brown is dark brown.

(Side Note)
**If your skillet isn't oven proof (because it has a plastic handle for example) you can spoon the potatoes into a glass 9X9 inch baking dish and microwave the potatoes until they are hot and the cheese has melted. Then put the baking dish into the 425 degree oven until the surface of the hash browns have browned.






Marie Callenders Famous Golden Cornbread
Makes 9 pieces


1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg


Honey butter

1/2 cup of butter (one stick softened)
1/3 cup honey


Instructions

*Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

*Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.

*Add the milk, shortening, and egg. Mix only until the ingredients are well combined.

*Pour the batter into a greased 8X8 inch pan. Bake for 25 to 30 mins. or until the top is golden brown.

*Let the cornbread cool slightly before slicing it with a sharp knife into 9 pieces.

*For the honey butter use a mixer on high speed to whip the butter and honey together until smooth and fluffy.









So kiddies how did it turn out? It was a major home run. The cornbread was ridiculously good (that honey butter makes it) and the hash brown casserole is pretty epic. All in all a pretty damn good pick this week. THANK YOU, THANK YOU. Please send compliments this way. ;D.



Tid Bits:

*To go with the side dishes we made tonight I had chicken, Aunt Jane and Geoff had pork steak, and Ma had meatloaf but you can make whatever you like with these dishes.

*If you can't find Colby cheese then cheddar is a good substitute but Colby is preferred.



Ma's Spot: I first got to known Cracker Barrel's Hash Brown Casserole when we went on vacation when Dinah Jane was young. Everytime we stopped to eat we would go to Cracker Barrel and all she would eat is their hash brown casserole. I can't believe how much this version we made actually tasted like it. I like it alot even though it has cheese in it. I like it best because the cheese isn't overpowering. It's a great side dish to any meat or poultry you'd wanna fix. It's easy to make, so give it a try. Now the cornbread, it was delicious! It came out golden brown and fluffy. The honey butter was delicious on it. I have to say it's my 2nd favorite cornbread recipe. My favorite cornbread recipe goes to Dinah's recipe. It's unbelievably good.



*SNACK CORNER:*

It's time for snack corner! Where we take new snacks in the grocery store and break it down for you. We tell you which are hot and which are not. Let's get to this week's picks:




Dinah: Tonight we are showcasing another do-it-yourself baked good (hey, your gal is talented in this area lol). We decided on Pilsbury's New Funfetti Whoopie Pie Kit. I gotta say that these were really fun to make. I'm thinking next time my adorable 3 year old nephew is over I'm thinking he can help me make a batch of these. He'd get a kick out of the frosting and sprinkles. So the taste was good. I enjoyed them except for the icing. As you guys know this gal right here is not a fan of the taste of pure sugar and canned frosting seems like a canister of sugar cane. I loved the idea of the whoopie pie and the "cookie" part was really yummy. So next time I think I'll get it and swap out the icing for whipped cream or marshmallow fluff.



Ma: This product was delicious and easy to make. I think it would be great to make up this recipe with your children. I am a big advocate on teaching kids to cook early. Even when you're kids are grown it's fun to do. Look at Dinah and I. So grab your child (young or old) and make this recipe with them.




Alrighty guys, that's it for this week. We'll see you here next Tuesday for more recipes we have to send your way. Have a great week!


Spoons & Spatula's
~Dinah & Ma