Have Great Labor Day Weekend Everyone!

To start off your weekend I thought I'd share this beautiful picture I took of a the sun setting while I was at work. :)

Happy Birthday, Tina!

I did it! I completed all the amazing gifts I wanted to make my sister's 21st birthday truly special! Now all I have to do is figure out how I'm going to get this all to Red Lobster. :) 

If you want to learn how to make  this amazing sushi cake go to my post Sushi Birthday Cake. 

As well for the bouquet and the charms that are dangling from it. Those can be found at my  More Clay Creations post.

Of course I didn't make whatever what was in the Crate and Barrel box. It's sushi dishes. I made the sushi jewelry myself and you can find the tutorial for that at Easy DIY Clay Creations. I made them from dry clay not polymer. The box is an origami box and I just placed batting squares to protect the jewelry. You can find that tutorial here Paper Box by Instructables. It's very easy a very well explained here. Finally the cute bow on the top of the box was found at Milomade. Her's was out of paper, but I decided to make mine out of ribbon. What's great is you can even use this tutorial to make a bow for your hair!  

More clay creations!

Well I decided to be ambitious and make some charms to tie to my sister's birthday bouquet. I think they came out pretty good. :) If you want to find out to how to make these awesome charms go to my post about Easy DIY Clay Charms. It's mostly about sculpting to your hearts content! :)

Goodbye Phone

I'm writing this because I don't want anyone to go through what I did with my phone. Sadly Sunday my phone took a dive into the toilet. :( Which probably had been ok if I had know not to turn it on after the fact. Booooo! So long story short I had to get a new one. Just remember if this happens to you to keep it turned if for 12 to 24 hours and let it dry out completely. Rice also helps. In case your wondering why you shouldn't turn it on so quickly is becahse of the electric flow that happens when you turn it on. It's kind of like electric shocking your phone. :(

30 Minute Lasagna

I've decided after experiencing such great food and dessert this weekend that I'm going to try to be even more diverse with my food making skills then ever before. I even narrowed down which type of culinary school I would prefer to go to if I got the chance in the future, French Culinary School. When I say that I mean specifically for the pastries part. Anyway back to what I'm really going to talk about, Lasagna. Ha! Ha! Yeah I know it's Italian. This recipe is pretty darn awesome and so easy to make!  This recipe takes about 30 minutes to make.

You will need:

• 7 lasagna noodles
• 1 table spoon of olive oil
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 cup of tomato sauce
• 1 cup of pasta sauce ( I used leftover sauce that I had)
• 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
•  1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 6 tbsp. parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup basil

First start out by pre-heating your broiler. We started out by putting out on the low setting but ended up on the high. It all depends on what works for you and what your oven is capable. Then fill a pot three inches deep with water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then add lasagna noodles. Cook until al dente, about 11 minutes, drain and transfer to a cutting board to cut the noodles in half.  

Now heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook til browned. Add the tomato sauce, pasta sauce and red pepper flakes. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add ricotta cheese and simmer on low. Season with salt and remove from the heat. Take mozzarella and parmesan and place in a bowl, set aside. 

Cover bottom of your baking dish with a layer of noodle, meat and then cheese mixture. Repeat this step and the lay left over lasagna noodle on top. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and olive oil. Place in oven for 3 to 5 minutes until golden and bubbling. Top with basil. Enjoy!

                                                                 

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

Ha!Ha! I know everyone is still sleeping but I had to post this to start off the week. Does anybody remember this exercise show? It's Mousercise! I use to love this as a kid! :) Well have enjoy everyone and have a great week!

Beignet Mix

While we were out today I ran across this wonderful Beignet Mix! I remember tasting the one's in New Orleans from the exact place that this mix is made from and they were amazing! My next goal is to really learn how to make them though.

If you get this mix you won't be disappointed. It's really simple and they taste awesome! Make sure to make the square shape like it states. I thought I was being smart by using my candy corn cookie cutter because surprisingly I didn't have a square cookie cutter and for the second time this week I learned the reason why certain things have to be a certain way. They will not puff up very well if you don't do a square.

If you want to get this mix you can go to you local World Market or order it online.