My Favorite Crock-Pot Lasagna

Lasagna is a comfort food loved by just about everyone, but no one ever makes it because it's too much work and takes too much time. 

Now, the long cooking time is one of the things that makes lasagna taste amazing so there isn't much I can do about that, but we can fix the labor issue.

Bring out that trusty crock-pot!

Since this recipe is so easy, lets skip straight to it....

Ingredients: 

1 lb. ground beef

36 oz. spaghetti sauce

8 oz. cottage cheese

8 oz. ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

8 oz. grated mozzarella

Regular uncooked lasagna noodles

Brown the ground beef in a pan over medium heat.

Once completely cooked, drain off any excess fat and return to pan along with the spaghetti sauce and set aside. 

In a small bowl, beat one egg and then add the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and italian seasoning. Stir until completely combined. 

Spray the inside of the crock pot with non-stick cooking spray.

Pour in 1/3 of the beef and sauce mixture .

Lay a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles on top of the sauce mixture. Break them apart so that they will cover the whole surface. 

Use half of the cheese mixture and spread it over the noodles. 

Sprinkle on a layer mozzarella cheese. 

Pour on another 1/3 of the sauce mixture and repeat the noodle and cheese layers, using the other half of the cheese mixture. 

Finish it off by pouring on the rest of the sauce mixture. 

Cover, and cook on low for 5-6 hours. 

That's it people, a little bit of prep and then let it cook slow and low to get that great lasagna flavor.

When it is done cooking, remove the ceramic pot from the heating element so that it can cool.

The reason we want it to cool before eating is so that it has time to set.

This will make it a little easier to remove in pieces. 

The longer you let it sit, the easier the pieces will come out.

Well....I had men to feed soooooo I didn't have much time to let it set, which explains why I don't have a picture of it on a plate.

All you need to know is....it tasted great!

A Long Distance Baby Shower And All Things Blue

In a little over a month my baby nephew is due, and I will be an aunt for the first time!!

Unfortunately, my brother and sister-in-law live in a different state than most of their friends and family so having a baby shower in which everyone could physically attend would be pretty difficult.

Fortunately, my sister-in-law has some creative friends.

Enter....the virtual baby shower.

Now before yesterday, I had never heard of a virtual baby shower but when you combine excited friends and family members, a dedicated father-to-be, and a little bit of technology anything becomes possible. 

While the mommy-to-be was out to breakfast, my brother decorated their nursery and set out all of the gifts that we had sent over the past week. Using Google Hangouts, we were all able to video chat at the same time, and see the nursery all put together!

Since we couldn't all physically be with the future parents, I set up a bit of a "viewing party" at my house to celebrate with my mom and my sister.

I just wanted to share with you all some of the crafts, decorations, and recipes that went into my little celebration of the newest little family member! 

Of coarse everything must be blue.....even our outfits. 

For the table, I set out some flowers with blue hydrangeas and a fame with the word "boy" inside. 

To make the "boy" frame, I used a piece of burlap cut to the size of the glass and stencils to paint on the letters.

They have a woodland creature theme for their nursery which was also the theme of the baby shower, so I set out my little owls along with my blue plates, blue glasses, blue drink coasters, and a blue candle.

For a snack I made brie and apple crescents. 

They were so easy to make and everyone loved them!

Ingredients: 

1 tube of crescent dough for 8 crescents

Granny Smith apple

Brie 

Honey 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, lay out each triangle of dough.

Peel the apple, and cut into 1/2 inch slices.

Cut brie into pieces that are slightly smaller than your slices of apple. 

Onto the widest part of the triangle, place one piece of brie and then place one slice of apple on top.

Drizzle honey over the apple and then wrap the rest of the dough around.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes or until the crescents are browned. 

For the drink, I tried my hardest to think of something that would be blue, without having to add food coloring. What I got was not exactly blue....but it was close!! Haha. 

Ingredients:

Lemonade

Acai-Blueberry-Pomegranate Vitamin Water

Champagne

There is no science behind this one, I just added equal parts of each ingredient and stirred.   

There you have it, my little virtual baby shower viewing party!