Cooking with Kristy: Farmhouse Lasagna

This post was written by Guest Blogger: Kristy Stiers

When you’re hungry for lasagna you don't think about the history of the dish, you might think about the traditional layers of saucy meat creamy cheese and that top crunchy stringy cheese layer. That always has your mouth watering. Did you know that lasagna originated in Greece? Or that the first recorded recipe of lasagna from before the 1400's was written in Great Britain. It was Italy who ended up perfecting lasagna, and this is why most people commonly refer to lasagna as an Italian dish.

A quick stop on Pinterest or Google or any other search engine for and lasagna recipe, you'll find many different types from Mexican, vegetarian, even dessert lasagna. 

Most common ingredients of lasagna call for Italian sausage or marinara sauce that has been flavored with traditional Italian seasonings ricotta and mozzarella cheeses. Layered with a nice flat lasagna noodles. Around my house we love our lasagna with the right ratio of sauce too meat. The cheese has to be creamy and the noodles can't be gummy. It all has to be that perfect consistency. 

We call my recipe farmhouse lasagna because of the ingredients. We like to start off with our own canned tomatoes simmer it with the seasonings so it can cook down and before it can be assembled. We also use our own sausage that we make by hand and we make the creamy cheese layer out of cottage cheese and we use our homegrown eggs from our farm to make the best creamy consistency. 

Ingredients:

Two jars of whole tomatoes

6 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

About half an onion diced thin

1/2 tablespoon of fennel seed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound ground sausage

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

A little garlic salt

Pound cottage cheese

Three eggs

2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 box no boil lasagna noodles. 

In a blender add one jar of the tomatoes and blend till they become juicy. Add that to a sauce pan that's on medium-low heat.  Repeat with the other jar, add onion, garlic, Italian seasonings and a tablespoon olive oil stir and let simmer for at least 40 minutes. 

In another skillet, Brown sausage in olive oil, fennel seed and sprinkle a little garlic salt on it. When the sausage is cooked add that to the sauce and stir lightly.

In the blender add cottage cheese, eggs and Parmesan cheese then sprinkle a little garlic salt blend till it becomes a creamy texture. 

In a baking dish pour a little of the marinara to the bottom. Add one layer of noodles or sauce on top of it drizzle the cottage cheese mixture and repeat till you get to the top and then you add the delicious mozzarella cheese and bake for about an hour till you see the sauces bubbly in the cheese is melted in a little bit crunchy on the top enjoy!

 

Set it & Forget it: Quick and Easy Crock Pot Meal

Pot Roast for Days!

      Crock Pot meals are my favorite because the prep time is minimal and the end result pays off with enough food for a day or two. You also have meat that is extremely tender and in some cases, falls right off the bone. Meal planning is not my strong suit, but I noticed that crock pot meals do make meal planning slightly easier. Once the meal is done it can be divvied up into containers and set in the fridge or freezer for a later date. So far my favorite thing to cook in my crock pot are roasts and stews. Here is the recipe for my latest hearty crock pot meal!

Ingredients:

Pot Roast 

Mushrooms

Onions

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

 Minced Garlic

Olive Oil

Beef Bullion

 

Directions:

Chop all veggies. 

Smother meat in olive oil. 

Poke holes in meat with knife and insert garlic in holes. 

Place meat in crock pot.

Surround meat by veggies.

Cook on HIGH for 8 hours.

     Of course, normal potatoes can be substituted for the sweet potatoes. I used what I had in the fridge in this case. One of my favorite things to do while cooking is throwing together meals based on what weird ingredients I might have in the fridge. I don't really shop for food with a plan laid out for each day of the week and I usually just poke around my kitchen until creativity strikes. Most of the time I get lucky and it turns out delicious as this dish!