Lasagna Roll-ups

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to share another recipe that I made over break for the family, lasagna roll-ups!  You can print the recipe here.  The roll-ups were really good and I remembered a salad this time so it was a great meal!

So there is a funny story behind the roll-ups that I want to share.  I actually made them in high school in Home Ec class but I could never find a good recipe that I liked.  Since my brother is in Home Ec now, I found that the recipes are put online so I went and found it on the school's website!  Wonderful!

Here are the ingredients that you need:

• 12 lasagna noodles
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 15 oz. ricotta cheese 
• 2 egg whites
• 6 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 cup spaghetti sauce
• 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Cook lasagna noodles 10-12 minutes, or until noodles are tender; drain.

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 8x8 pan with cooking spray.  Mix ricotta cheese with egg and parsley.  The original used a whole egg instead of two egg whites so that is your choice.

Spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of pan

After the lasagna noodles are done cooking, drain the water.  When lasagna noodles are cool, spread them out on a tray.  Spread ricotta cheese mixture on each of the noodles.

Beginning at one end, loosely roll up each noodle.

Transfer each lasagna roll, seam side down, to pan, lining them up in a row.

Spread sauce on the lasagna roll-ups; sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.  Bake 30 – 35 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly and roll-ups are heated through.

When it is all done, give it a few minutes to cool down and enjoy!

It is a great recipe and not hard to make.  It is great for easy to serve pieces.  I hate when my lasagna falls apart, so this is perfect for it all staying together too!

Enjoy,

Alyssa

Braided Spaghetti

Today I thought I would expand my horizons beyond crafting and share a recipe that I found on Pinterest, Braided Spaghetti!

Yum!

I found the recipe on the Rhodes website!  The family really enjoyed it except for the fact that I forgot to make a salad to go with it, oops!

The recipe is actually very simple!  It feeds about six people (five if no one likes the ends like us).  What you need is:

• 1 Loaf Rhodes Bread Dough
• 6 oz. spaghetti
• Spaghetti sauce
• 8 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
• 1 egg white
• Parmesan cheese
• Parsley Flakes

When you start preparing, make sure you set aside the Bread Dough for 3-4 hours so that it can thaw.

When the dough is thawed, roll it into a 12" x 16" rectangle or as close as you can get.  If you can't make 12", the strips will stretch a little when you fold them over so its okay.

Next, cook the spaghetti according to the package's instructions minus a few minutes.  Mix the sauce and the spaghetti together.  I left a little bit of sauce in the pan to use overtop later.  

Cut the cheese into cubes and place the spaghetti down the middle of the bread with the cheese on top.

I then layered the rest of the sauce on top of the cheese.

Next cut the sides into strips so we can fold them over the bread.

Start braiding the bread by folding in the ends of both sides.  Since I had the sauce on top, my dough wasn't staying on the ends so I used toothpicks to hold it in place! Braid the strips, right over left and then left over right and so on until you get to the end.

If your bread isn't already on your baking sheet, perfect time to transfer it!  I had mine on already so that it would't fall apart when I was transferring it though.

Spread an egg white along the top of the bread and sprinkle garlic powder and parsley!

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 mins or until the bread is golden brown.

This was quite a success and very good!  I hope your family and/or friends enjoy it too!

Enjoy,

Alyssa

Dates for a Year

So I must start this post with mentioning that it is not the most successful Christmas gift but we will see how it goes for the rest of 2013.

I gave this to my fiance because he didn't want anything for Christmas.  I figured what better way to spend my money then paying in advance for some of the things we would do!

I apologize because I forgot to take a picture before I wrapped the gift!  Since I got the idea from Find Joy In The Journey, I will use their picture and explain it.

Here is the Christmas gift:

The basic concept is for every month there is an envelope with a pre-paid date idea inside.  The hardest part about making the gift was that I had to come up with 12 quality date ideas that don't break the bank.

I decided on this gift because Eric didn't really want anything for Christmas and this is a great way for us to still go on dates together even though we will be saving money for all of our new bills!

All you have to do is put a note explaining the date and the money needed in a sealed envelope with the month labeling it.  In the blog that I read, she bought gift cards for each place but Eric hates gift cards so instead I just put the actual cash in the envelopes.  It is also nice in case we don't spend everything so we can keep what is leftover or spend it on other dates!

What isn't posted in the other blog is that no one wants to wait to open a gift for every month.  Well at least my fiance didn't!  Eric told me I was crazy for thinking he would wait until that month to open it so he opened them all right there but oh well!  He opened every single one right in front of me.  I was so disappointed but hopefully your significant others won't do that too!

Since he opened them all, I thought I would share our future dates!  Even if you need a regular date idea, check them out!  Keep in mind we are geting married in August and are currently engaged and getting ready for the married life.

• January - Recreating our engagement with dinner!
• February - Ice skating and money for hot chocolate
• March - Order in dinner and Bride and Groom Challenge.  If you are married, they have one for Husband and Wife as well!
• April - Make a craft for our apartment (Look forward to this blog post!)
• May - Going for a hike or bike ride and taking a picnic with us
• June - Free cooking class at William-Sonoma
• July - Drive-in movie
• August - We are getting married and have our honeymoon so just a simple relaxing night making dinner together and watching a movie.  Since this will probably be our first weekend married at home, it might be the best date!
• September - Simple spa night of his choice.
• October - Buy a carving book with patterns and carve pumpkins.  Since this can take all day, money for ordering dinner as well so I don't have to cook!
• November - Inviting a couple over and hosting our friends for probably our first event!  I am sure we will be busy and won't get to see many people.
• December - Bake Christmas cookies and watch a Christmas movie!

I am excited for our first date in January!  Let me know how your basket goes if you make one!

Happy Crafting,

Alyssa

Handmade Coasters

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a great time last night counting down to 2013!

I am so excited for this year because I have many things to look forward too!  I am graduating college, getting married, going on my honeymoon, finding a place to live, starting a new job, and lastly beginning my masters program.  So many exciting things that I can't wait.

Have you made any New Year resolutions?  I normally don't make any but I hope you are all able to accomplish your own!

Even though it is the New Year, I still have more Christmas presents to show you!

Today, I want to share how to make coasters.  They are probably my favorite gift that I made this season!  They are extremely cute, customizable, inexpensive, and easy.

Last night my mother actually hinted that she needs new coasters because hers are old so I will definitely be doing this again.

I got the idea from Pinterest of course!  The actual tutorial is at Blueprint Crafts.  It is a great tutorial but I show you how to make them as well.

I want to point out that I made 8 coasters for less than $20.  Besides the actual tiles which were 16 cents each, I have supplies to make 28 more tiles!!  In total, I could have made 36 coasters for less than $20...amazing!

Items you need to make a set of 4 coasters:

• 4 - 4" x 4" pictures, pieces of paper, and/or fabric
• 4 - 4.25" x 4.25" tiles
• Modge Podge Gloss
• Rustoleum Crystal Clear Enamel
• Foam Brush
• Felt pads / felt sticker sheet

I also suggest:

• White paint pen

When I bought the tiles, I noticed that some of the edges were not painted white or at least completely white which was really upsetting for me (yes I am a little anal about stuff like that).  I took my white paint pen and painted all of the edges so that the entire tile was white.

After letting the paint dry, spread a moderate amount of Modge Podge onto the tile and press the paper onto the tile being sure to get all of the corners and edges.  Be sure to get out all of the air bubbles.  You may not see them all but pretend like they are everywhere just to make sure you got them all.  They won't show up until the next layer.

I did find that with the solid color sheets, the bubbles were noticeable.  Also, the music notes sheet was thicker and it actually worked better because it is harder to get bubbles.  Therefore for paper with less going on, do your best to not have bubbles.

Wait 15 mins to let it dry.

Next put three layers of Modge Podge over the entire tile and paper waiting 15 mins between each layer.  Make sure you get the corners and edges very well.  After a few minutes, you will notice if there are bubbles.  They are difficult to eliminate buy you can try your best to press them out and recovering your finger marks.

Finally, take the tiles outside and spray them twice with the Rustoleum but only wait a minute or two between each layer.

Make sure you let them dry, I suggest at least overnight.  I got to excited so I brought them in after 2 hours and I sort of ruined the spray so I had to respray them.

Lastly, cut up your felt sticker sheet and put four corners on the tiles.  If you really want to do them well, you can layer the entire bottom with felt.

When I do this again, I will cover the entire bottom with felt.

You are done, and that is it!

If you are giving them as a gift like I did, wrap ribbon around it and it is ready!

Let me know if you have any suggestions or questions!  Have a great start of the year!

Happy Crafting,

Alyssa