Lazy Lasagna

You can find my favorite full lasagna recipe in the post - but if you're looking for a fast an easy meal you should try my cousin's delicious Lazy Lasagna recipe. Making lasagna this way DOES NOT mean you're lazy. In fact, I should re-title the recipe either Genius Lasagna Recipe or Look, Do You Want Clean Underwear or A Full On Homemade Lasagna-Lasagna? For now we'll stick to Lazy Lasagna.

I could add guesstimate quanties but what's the fun in that? Like they say in Fubar, Just Give'r. Maybe another recipe re-title for Lazy Lasagna could be Fubar Lasagna. Uh. Nope, sounds gross, like it would have beer and bits of cigarettes in it. 

 I've adapted my cousin's recipe slightly so I'll list her original recipe and put (my notes in brackets):

• Large pan - heat olive oil (Saute garlic, onion and any other veggies you want to hide from your kids and husband)
• Start pasta in separate pot (I like Yolk Free Egg Noodles)
• Back to large pan - add ground beef, ground chicken or ground turkey and brown (Drain it)*
• Add tomato sauce (or it could be paste. you'll have to figure it out) + one can tomato soup (I use 1 big can of low sodium crushed tomatoes instead)
• Add a package of taco seasoning (Instead I use: garlic and onion salt**, a palm full of basil, some oregano/italian seasoning, black pepper)
• Combine (Let sauce reduce a bit, or until it thickens)
• Remove from heat
• Dump cooked noodles on top***
• Add grated cheese to top of noodles
• Cover pan so cheese melts & holler DINNER TIME!
• Serve with crusty garlic bread**** and side salad

* I buy bulk ground meat, cook it, drain it, put it in ziplock bags, squish them flat, freeze them and then stack them up and down like books (saves space in freezer and time in the kitchen later)

** I mix my garlic salt and onion salt 50-50 & in a spice container because I use them both together, all the time. They are best friends

*** You can also put sauce mixture into tupperware or glassware, then add noodles and cheese - cover with lid until cheese melts, remove lid, let cool and put directly in fridge.

**** I make my own garlic bread by putting a bulb of garlic in the oven & cooking it (at maybe 400˚) until the house starts smelling good and the inside of the bulbs are soft. Squeeze out the garlic mush and stir it up with some butter or margarine, spread on bread. Yum.

I have a couple more Lazy Recipes up my sleeve, so stay tuned ;)

Would you trust these guys to make your lasagna?

What are your favorite colours?

Do you have a favorite colour, or favorite series of colours? Someone asked me what some of my favorite colours were today and it made me smile. Here they are:

Blue Dancers, c1890
Oil on canvas by Edgar Degas

Teal, Aqua, Gold, White, Expresso and Raspberry Red. Yes, The Raspberry Red is missing from this Degas, but that's ok. I imagine these girls have raspberry red lips and that will do.

I'm a big fan of colour in the home. Inspiration can come from anywhere: a painting, your favorite jewellery set, a holiday photograph, a pet (seriously, some cats and dogs have beautiful colour combos) and last but not least - Mother Nature. There are even some cool websites that take photos and profile their colour pallets: Design Seeds or Photo Card Boutique. Fun to browse.

There's a TV show our daughter loves about a sister and brother called Stella and Sam. In one episode 4 year old Sam asks his older sister Stella why the sky is so colourful...she tells him a story about the Sky Painter. The Sky Painter is fairy like woman who paints the sky beautiful colours. Isn't that sweet?

Image linked from Grade ONEderful - a Canadian Primary Teacher's Blog

You can find inspiration everywhere and anywhere. I once asked my gorgeous hairstylist cousin what colours I should be wearing. She said we are attracted to colours that suit us. And I sighed a sigh of relief. Of course.

The colours we are attracted to can also make us happy when we look at them. Fill your home and your heart up with these colours. Forget the latest trends, what your neighbour has in their house or what you may see in magazines for a while and colour outside the lines. Why not?

Kale Chips...

Is it just me, or are Kale Chips like, ehhh, whateves (?)

I made some Kale Chips and I'm not sure if/why I was expecting more. Maybe I overcooked them, maybe I should have added a block of butter to the recipe...maybe not. I'm still eating them so they can't be that bad.

Here's the recipe I tried. Do you have winning recipe or some kale chips tips (sounds cute, right?)? If you do please let me know. I'm willing to give them another shot.

I'll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.

Mae West