Service Meals--The Worlds Best Lasagna Recipe

Yesterday, I spent several hours in the kitchen cooking dinner for 3 different families.  They were my neighbors (a huge family of 11, who just had a baby), my husband's sister and her family (who recently moved), and my family, too.  I love cooking for other people and I love serving others with food.  Don't get me wrong, cooking for that many people is stressful and not easy.  But it gets easier the more you do it.
I love taking dinner to sick friends, or taking dinner to new moms!  This time, I decided to cook Lasagna.  I have been making "The Worlds Best Lasagna" from allrecipes.com for several years now and it is my go-to Lasagna recipe.  I've tried many others but this is BY FAR my favorite. Here are a few tips and tricks...

1.  I omit the fennel--I am not a big fan plus most Italian sausage already has plenty, why add more?
2. Splurge on a good Sausage--mine was still only $2.99/lb at Harmon's, a local grocer who makes over 20 different kinds of sausage
3. Try a Hot Italian sausage for a little SPICE and HEAT
4.  Doubling the sauce recipe makes 3 generous Lasagnas-- I made four out of this but ran out before I could completely make the 4th Lasagna(ours) but lucky for me nobody noticed
5. I substitute Sour cream for the Ricotta Cheese + Egg mixture.  I hate the texture of Ricotta, you can also substitute with Cottage Cheese but I like the creaminess and slightly tangy flavor of sour cream.  This is a secret from my Aunt Becky, who always made mouth watering Lasagnas.
6. If you are not using fresh mozzarella cheese--Costco has the best price for pre-shredded mozzarella cheese, Sams Club is less expensive for Parmesan Cheese.
7. This Lasagna can be made in advance, make a day ahead and store in the fridge or freeze it for another day.

In addition to the lasagna, I made a huge green salad with tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, and pepperoncini peppers and cheese, served with Olive Garden Salad Dressing ($6.98 for two bottles at Sams Club.) I also bought Several loaves of  French Bread, and Ice cream cookie sandwiches from Costco.  If I had more time I would have made the French Bread into Garlic Bread and made homemade cookies.  But who has time for all that on a weeknight?

So try making yourself some mouth watering Lasagna or better yet make 2 and take one to a family who needs it!  It really is easy, a little time consuming, but worth it! and SO much better than the store-bought versions!

What do you make when taking dinner to someone else's family?

"Until we meet again."

 

Sherwin Williams 40% off Sale

Hey all!  It is National Painting Week, and Sherwin Williams 40% off sale starts tomorrow April 19-21, 2013.  If you will be spending over $50 be sure to print off the $10 off $50 coupon that is available on the Sherwin Williams website, you CAN use this in addition to the sales price.  Also all painting supplies are 30% off.

This is my favorite way to buy new colors of paint.  I am always trying new colors but hate spending a ton of money only to find that the color is not quite right!  Sherwin Williams sells sample quarts and with the 40% off they are super cheap at $4-$5 a piece.  This is not the best quality paint but for projects that you will be priming and then sealing it is an inexpensive way to try a bold color at a smaller investment.  Also I always wait for this sale to buy certain painting supplies like, tack cloth and foam rollers.

This is a GREAT sale to jump on if you need paint!

 

Happy National Painting Week!

 



Semi-Homemade Minky Blankets

Last year I made several minky blankets for babies.  The first one was for my niece.  This blanket actually was not semi-homemade but SO easy.  I bought about 1 1/4 yards minky fabric and 1 1/4 yards of a cute pink cotton fabric.  I wanted it to be a little larger than your average baby blanket so I used the full 1 1/4 yards, cleaning up the cut edges so that they were straight. 

Pin the fabric right sides together, surge or zigzag around the perimeter, pulling out the pins as you go and leaving a small opening.  Pull the fabric inside out through opening.

 

 

Tuck the openings raw edges under to match the rest of the sewn edges and pin shut.  Sew again using sewing machine single stitch around perimeter again about 1/4 or 1/2 inch from edge.  And you are done.  That is about as easy as it gets.

The next blankets I made in a hurry I was invited to a baby shower for a friend having twins, and  didn't want to spend the time and money buying the minky so I ran to Ross to pick up some inexpensive baby blankets $4.99--which is a steal for minky and the blanket binding. Her nursery colors are blue and green.  I found two matching bright blue blankets, ran to hobby lobby next to pick up some green fabric and thread and went to work.

 

First I unpicked the blanket binding from the Ross blanket.

 

 

Next I cut my fabric to the same size as the minky blanket and pinned them to gether this time wrondg sides together, because the binding covers the raw edges.  Here you can stitch or surge  the fabric and blanket together for a stronger hold.

 

 

Next wrap the binding back around the blanket as before and pinning in place on one side.

 

 

Next flip the blanket over and pin again.  The goal is to make sure that the binding does not move and is fitted evenly to both sides.

 

 

Next topstitch carefully along the same lines as the binding was sewn on before. I ending up using blue thread and not the green pictured, I am not the best at sewing straight and my lines did not show up as much using the matching thread.

 

 

Then I folded the blanket and put it back on its original hanger, and it is now gorgeous and one of a kind, well in this case,  two of a kind.

 

Happy Sewing!