Hi All – I’m trying something new and would love your feedback.  I’ve reset the blog to view only one post at a time.  Previously 10 posts were brought up on the front page.  Since my posts tend to be long and obviously full of photos I thought this might streamline the experience for you.  Let me know if you love/hate, would rather see 2 posts, etc…  I’m really curious to see what you think!

Thanks!! – Jennie

Valentines Day was huge for The UnKichen Diva.  That day she not only tackled lasagna but also in a fit of madness decided to make homemade marshmallows!  I kid you not.

I saw homemade heart shaped marshmallows somewhere on etsy in the weeks leading up to Valentines Day and I KNEW that I wanted to use something similar for my “Love Is…” project over on Strawberry Road.  I thought how hard can this be?  I was sure I could do it and went off to hunt through my mother’s cookie cutters looking for heart shapes.  Actually, it really isn’t that hard at all but very, very messy and sticky!!  Here’s the link to the recipe – recipe I used. They explain it far better than I can – plus they have photos for each step – gotta love that!  I made mine vanilla flavored and used red and blue food coloring to get the pink color I liked.  Then I cut the marshmallow slab into all different size hearts and odd shaped square bits…

So now I have two containers of homemade marshmallows – what do you do with that?!?  Make hot chocolate of course.  Not just any hot chocolate but Ghirardelli Cocoa hot chocolate!  I have to admit I’ve never made this before – I am traditionally a Swiss Miss girl through and through.  But pink homemade marshmallows deserve something a little higher class.  I just followed the  recipe on the container and WOW this was some mighty yummy hot chocolate!!  Between the hot chocolate and marshmallows I think I put myself into a sugar coma that lasted several hours!!  As for the rest of the marshmallows – I packaged them up and sent them to the two ladies I knew would most appreciate them – my 2 and 4 year old nieces.  And to think, this all started because I had this fabulous idea for a photo….

This is what happens when you tell the world you have 8 cups of shredded mozzarella and ask what can you possibly do with 8 cups of shredded cheese!  The overall consensus came back as – “Make a lasagna of course!”.  I have to admit The UnKitchen Diva had her misgivings about this.  How on earth was I going to get a tray – A TRAY! – of lasagna to fit rule #1 (it must be able to broken down into single servings and frozen)?!?  I researched the subject and found that yes there is a way to do it.  By the way the whole cook it in glass vs metal – wow – you people are passionate!!

Ground beef / Italian Sausage Lasagna

1 package Rozoni curly edge lasagna                     1+ lbs of  ground beef

1 32oz of ricotta cheese                                                1 egg

4 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese                    6 sweet italian sausages

2 jars of spaghetti sauce (my friend Lisa will be horrified I didn’t make my own sauce – but hey give a girl a break!)

1) Heat oven to 375˚.  My oven takes foreeeeverrr to heat up so this is really important to not forget or it could be next week before dinner is ready – just saying…

2) Find a pot that you think can hold the meat and 2 jars of sauce – then get the next largest pot.  I always misjudge how much a container can hold.

3) Put all the ground beef into the pot.  Then squeeze all the sausage meat out of the casings into the pot.  You can slice the casing and peel them off but it’s much more fun to squeeze and squish the meat out (yes I am a 3 year old in the kitchen).  Brown all the meat together.  When all the pink is gone pour in the two jars of sauce and simmer!

4) Cook the noodles according to the package directions.

5) Put all the  ricotta into a bowl.  Add an egg and mix it all together.  My Mom always does this and says it make the ricotta smoother and easier to spread – so I did it.

6) Ok I admit it I used an aluminum deep dish pan that I bought at the food store.  It was just so much easier clean up wise!  So, take said pan and put down a layer of sauce.  Then put down 4 pieces of pasta overlapping – this is important to the structure of the whole thing apparently – don’t forget to overlap!!  Put down a layer of ricotta and then a layer of mozzarella.  Repeat until your almost to the top of the pan ending with noodles on top.  I spread the last of the sauce and mozzarella on top here to make it pretty.

Ok so I have a confession here.  I didn’t put the second jar of sauce in the beginning and ran out.  So my top two layers didn’t have any meat and just sauce out of the jar.  Note to self use TWO jars of sauce in the beginning!!

7) Cover with tin foil and place in the oven.  Now my directions said for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly – well it took 1 hour for my lasagna to get hot and bubbly – talk about a slow cooker!!  Then take the foil off and cook for 5 more minutes.

8.) Take out of the oven and let stand for 5- 10 minutes.  Without the wait it is awfully messy – not that I would know of course….

9) Serve with bread – mmmm yummy lasagna!!

Ok so here’s how I got it to abide by rule #1.  I put the lasagna in the fridge to really get it to set – in fact I left it there over night and then had some for lunch the next day.  I cut the lasagna into individual servings, wrapped the serving in saran wrap and then tinfoil.  Apparently saran wrap then tinfoil is a very important rule – having to do with taste and all that.  I then actually put all the pieces into a freezer bag – labeled and froze away.  Not sure exactly how many servings one would normally get with this – I ate 2, gave away some to a friend for his and his families dinner and froze 6.  So I’m guessing 10-12.  Viola – dinner for one, dinner for all!