Food & Recipes Archives - Page 48 of 58

Mom’s Homemade Lasagna Recipe

July 14, 2012 by Stefani Tolson 32 Comments

For years I bought the big family sized frozen lasagna to bake at home when the family requested lasagna. Before I learned to make my own, I thought that homemade lasagna was something complicated and probably had to many instructions to even bother trying. Once I made homemade lasagna for the first time, I have been hooked on making it myself and probably won’t ever buy it frozen again.

Tonight I made homemade lasagna featuring a couple products from one of my favorite stores, Smart & Final. This is one of those stores that you can buy things in bulk or large sizes that I enjoy shopping at since I have a family of six. I have always made my lasagna with ground beef and of course pasta sauce and decided to use a couple of the First Street products in my lasagna recipe you will find below.

Smart & Final carries the First Street Ground Beef which happens to be on sale next week starting July 18th for only $1.99 per lb and sold in a 5 lb. chub for $9.95. Since I use quite a bit of sauce when I make my lasagna, the 2lb jar of First Street Traditional Pasta Sauce was perfect for my recipe with a little to spare.

Want to make your own homemade lasagna instead of buying frozen too? Check out my Homemade Lasagna below:

Homemade Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound First Street Ground Beef
3 1/2 cups First Street Traditional Pasta Sauce
2 cups Ricotta Cheese
9-12 lasagna noodles
1/4 cup spinach – drained
2 cups shredded cheese mix (Mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano)
1 tsp garlic pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 egg

Directions:

Step One: Cook lasagna noodles according to package. Once done, drain with cold water and set aside.

Step Two: While the noodles are cooking, use a skillet and add ground beef, garlic powder and onion powder. Mix meat and seasonings and cook until meat is done and no longer pink and drain excess fat.

Step Three: Add 2 cups of the First Street Traditional Pasta Sauce in skillet and stir until blended.

Step Four: Next make cheese mixture by combining spinach, Ricotta cheese, 1 cup of shredded cheese and egg in a bowl. Stir to blend well.

Step Five: In a 11×7 or 13×9 baking dish, add 1/2 cup of the First Street Traditional Pasta Sauce to bottom of dish and spread to cover bottom of dish with sauce. Then add 3 Lasagna noodles side by side. Add layer of beef mixture. Then add layer of cheese mixture.

Step Six: Repeat process above adding another layer of noodles, remaining meat mixture and then cheese mixture.

Step Seven: Add one more layer of noodles and top with 1 cup of the pasta sauce. Use spatula and spread sauce evenly over top layer.

Step Eight: Cover dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Step Nine: Remove lasagna from oven and top with remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese. Place dish back in oven uncovered and bake an additional 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted.

Step Ten: Remove from oven and let lasagna cool for at least 10 minutes.

Step Eleven: Slice, serve and enjoy!

Not only is this lasagna delicious, it is a great way to get your family to eat their spinach!

If you have a Smart & Final near, be sure to advantage of their weekly sales. Next week starting on July 18th through the 25th, you will find Knudsen Sour Cream on sale along with Kraft American Singles, Yuban Coffee, Ritz Crackers, Chips Ahoy, Kraft Mac & Cheese, the First Street Ground beef like I mentioned previously and more!

Disclosure – I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smart and Final #SFSmarties #CBias #SocialFabric.

Homemade Bread Recipe + Photos

July 2, 2012 by Stefani Tolson 26 Comments

One kitchen appliance I don’t have is a breadmaker. While my family goes through at least one or two loaves of bread a week, I still have yet to splurge for a machine to make it for me. Last month I decided I was going to try to make my own basic bread. I didn’t realize just how easy it is.

In my first attempt, I made to long loaves that I made into garlic bread after they were done.

Slice each loaf in half and add some butter and garlic salt and pop it back in the oven…

Since I am a fan of eating soup in a bread bowl, my second attempt was creating two ball shaped loaves.

Just cut off the tops and take out the inside and turn these into a bread bowl.

Let me not forget to mention that my 7 Quart KitchenAid Stand Mixer works AWESOME for making the dough. You can do it by hand by why would I when I have this beauty in my kitchen to help.

Ready for the recipe?

Homemade Bread Recipe

Author: Mom’s Blog @ Mommy Enterprises

Ingredients

3 3/4 cups of bread (or all-purpose) flour
1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water
1 packet of dry yeast
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1 TBS Oregano (for flavor)

Instructions

In bowl add yeast and warm water and stir to dissolve. Let mixture set about 5 minutes to allow yeast to start working.
In mixing bowl, add 1 1/2 cups of flour, salt, oil, oregano and yeast mixture. With pastry hook knead dough until dough is well blended and not sticky. Add small amounts of flour to reach desired texture. Shape dough into ball, place in bowl slightly coated in vegetable oil and cover with plastic wrap.
Let sit at least 1 hour to allow to rise.
When dough is ready, sprinkle a surface with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and add dough. Use hands to create your loaves in your desired shape.
Place on cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden.
Remove, cool and enjoy!

So my question to you is, do you make your own bread?

Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar Review + Caribbean Jerk Marinade Recipe

June 28, 2012 by Stefani Tolson 27 Comments

One thing I do like to do is experiment in the kitchen. I like to use different seasonings, spices and other condiments to make my own recipes and dishes that my family will ask for again. Tonight I made some yummy chicken using a Caribbean Jerk Marinade using the Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar.

I also made use of the George Forman Grill. Take a peek at my meat…

Tonight I used the Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar Original Flavor in my Caribbean Jerk Marinade. I also used some of the Nakano Seasoned Rice Roasted Garlic Flavor Vinegar with our green beans too!

I was really anxious to try both of the products that I received and both my dishes came out delicious. With the green beans, I cooked them using salt and butter and finished them off with a splash of the seasoned vinegar. Since our green beans are usually pretty plain, this gave them some flavor and I will definitely be making them again this way.

I have never tried a Caribbean Jerk Marinade until tonight. I don’t use packets anymore so I made my own. Checkout a simple Caribbean Jerk Marinade using the Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar:

Nakano Caribbean Jerk Marinade Recipe

Recipe Type: Condiment

Author: Mom’s Blog @ Mommy Enterprises

Ingredients

1/4 cup Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar Original Flavor
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp packed light brown sugar
2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in bowl.
Stir well to dissolve the brown sugar making sure there is no lumps.
Marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours prior to cooking. For best results, marinate at least 24 hours if making marinating chicken.

This marinade recipe was adapted from the Nakano recipes that can be found on their website. There are also quite a few more I would like to try as well as the other seasoned vinegar flavors. Find more recipes using the Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar at: https://mizkan.com/recipes/.

If you are wanting to eat more healthy, take a peek at the Nakano 60-Day SPLASH IT ON, STEP IT UP CHALLENGE on Facebook. Starting on June 25th, Nakano is encouraging people to make healthy lifestyle choices. This challenge encourages participants to eat more vegetables and also to be more active. The prizes for the challenge include:

First prize of a one-year free gym membership. If over 1 million steps are reached over the course of the 60 days, a second 1st prize will be awarded.
Second prize winner receives six personal training sessions.
Third prize winner will receive a Nakano workout bag.

For more information on Nakano and this challenge, visit: https://www.facebook.com/NakanoSplash

“I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Nakano and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.”

The zuuzs Grand Spring Recipe Challenge – Vote For My Recipe

May 14, 2012 by Stefani Tolson 2 Comments

Last month I submitted my Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Pizza recipe to the zuus Grand Spring Recipe Challenge. Voting is finally here and I need your votes. You can vote every 24 hours for the recipes you feel should make it to the final panel! There are three categories: Main Dish, Appetizer/Side Dish and Dessert. Voting Closes May 27, 2012 and then the final dishes will move to the panel of chefs, bloggers and zuuzs admin.

To vote for my recipe, visit: https://www.zuuzs.com/contest/2012/05/stefani-tolson-stuffed-crust-pepperoni-pizza/

Fun Egg Tools For National Egg Month

May 10, 2012 by Stefani Tolson 19 Comments

Did you know that this month is National Egg Month? Good thing that I like to eat eggs. Here are some fun egg kitchen tools that you might not know even existed.

Disney’s Mickey Mouse Teflon Egg Ring