A Bowl of Lasagna

We had Lasagna soup for dinner tonight. I love lasagna in any form!

I slightly altered the recipe from Little Momma & Co.

Lasagna Soup

1 lb ground Italian sausage

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 t oregano

1/2 t red pepper flakes

2 T tomato paste

1 (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes

6 C chicken broth

8 oz corkscrew pasta (or whatever type that you prefer)

1/2 C chopped fresh basil

8 oz ricotta

1/2 C grated Parmesan

dash of salt

pinch of pepper

1 C shredded mozzarella

In a large pot, brown the the sausage, breaking it into small pieces, until the sausage is no longer pink. Drain, and rinse with hot water if desired, to remove excess fat. Return it to the pot, add onions and saute. Add the garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and saute for 1 minute.

Add the tomato paste and saute for a few minutes, mixing the past in with the sausage. Add the tomatoes, with their juice, and the broth. Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the pasta, and increase the heat to medium high and boil the soup until the pasta is tender. Stir in the basil, and season with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt and pepper.

To serve, put a dollop of ricotta cheese mixture on top of your soup. Sprinkle with a bit of mozzarella and enjoy!

RIP Davy Jones

Davy Jones, lead singer of The Monkees, passed away today, after suffering a heart attack. He was only 66. :(

Even though they were "before my time" I have always been a fan of The Monkees. Their music and the television show.

My Dirty Little Secret

I admit it, I have a dirty little secret.

It's not something that I'm really too ashamed to own up to, obviously. If I were a part of the foodie blogging community, I'd probably be an outcast, shunned for my ways. But I've never really fit in much anyway, so I will let you in on this secret...

There it is. I use boxed, store bought, cake mix.

Now, I don't always use cake mix, but more often than not, I do. And you know what? They taste good. I use them just as they are, usually there is no doctoring of the mix involved. I own it. If someone raves about my cake, I'll tell them it came from a box.

My icing, on the other hand, is only store bought if it's Rainbow Chip. Or, occasionally if I am using it for something other than cakes.

There you go, now you know my dirty little secret.

*Yes, that is black icing. My daughter requested pink and black cupcakes for her birthday. After all, sometimes a party just isn't a party unless your mouth turns colors from eating the cake! ;)

I'm not much of a blogger & Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

I don't think blogging is my thing. Really. I start out with a blog and realize that I'm not much of a writer, and it all goes downhill from there. Yet here I am, giving it another shot.

Not too long ago I made a chocolate strawberry shortcake and it was really good! I'm not a huge chocolate fan *gasp* I know, but I'm not. I like it, it's just not a favorite, at least not as far as baked goods, but hand me some chocolate candy and I'll be happy.

Anyway, back to the shortcake..

It was really good! I didn't finish all of the biscuit, though. I found the recipe through Pinterest, of course, because we all know that it's the place to go these days when you're looking for something tasty or crafty to make!

If you'd like to make the Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake for yourself, the recipe can be found at Rock Recipes.