drying some snacks -

The oranges are still in the machine and it is over 12 hours later.  Am drying them as the book said for fruits at 135F.  Next time I will cut them thinner.  Am going to use a mandolin to give a more uniform slice.  They say, practice makes perfect.  Just tasted one though and they are sooo good!

Will Add These To My Perrier

My first time drying lemons in my Excalibur Food Dehydrator.   

This is the 9 Shelf Dryer

Salsa-Stuffed Muffin Meat Loaves recipe - Canadian Living

Salsa-Stuffed Muffin Meat Loaves recipe - Canadian Living

Potato With A Heart

This surprise came out of my bag of potatoes today!  smile

Tasty Split Pea And Ham Soup

Yesterday I cooked a ham with the bone in it so thought with out cold, icy, rainy day that some homemade soup would be nice.  Especially since my husband said he thought it could possibly cause a power failure.  I moved into cooking mode and voila a hearty soup for cold weather.

In a very large soup pot I added all the ingredients except the extra ham.

Ingredients

Ham bone with some meat on it
2 or 3 cups of split peas
1 litre of chicken broth, organic if possible
3 bay leaves, 3cloves fresh garlic put through garlic press, a little black pepper
Small bag of organic carrots as well as some regular ones (use whatever you have on hand)
3 onions chopped finely in my Cuisinart food processor

5 celery stocks chopped as above, small
3 large potatoes chopped in processor, small
Added water to cover the soup bone and put a lid on it for a good part of cooking time
A little olive oil

I wanted the soup to stay chunky and not mushed and it worked out well this way
Added some diced ham slices from yesterdays ham and let it cook maybe ten minutes longer

All in all it cooked for about two hours but I kept a close eye on the temp and when it
got bubbling turned it down and stirred it a few times too.

A hearty soup for a cold snowy Canadian day. Enjoy!

Homemade Lasagna

I am one of those cooks that uses a dash of this or that so my amounts will be approximate!  I used my own homemade spaghetti sauce!  So whatever you use will work too!

Putting this lasagna together was quiet simple so any beginner can do it. 


Ingredients



My own homemade sauce about ten cups or so
1 pound cottage cheese
1 egg
1 shaker of grated Parmesan cheese
1 box of uncooked lasagna noodles but you can use the precooked ones too. 
One long block of Kraft Mozarella Cheese, or used the already grated kind.   If block cheese slice it. I would use a whole long package of it.

Method

Mix together, cottage cheese, egg and grated Parmesan cheese from shaker in bowl
Boil lasagna noodles as per instructions on box.  The pre cooked ones are ready to layer in pan.
Lightly grease bottom of pan
Then start layering the lasagna as follows:

1 light layer of spaghetti sauce
1 layer lasagna noodles
1 layer of all the cottage cheese mixture, spread evenly
2nd layer of lasagna noodles
layer of mozarella cheese
layer of meat sauce,
3rd layer of noodles
Cover with spaghetti sauce
Top with a generous layer of mozzarella cheese I find sliced from the brick is best as it is a little richer.

If you get to the end before adding last layer of cheese and find out your sauce is too thick you can
take a jar of spaghetti sauce and add a little before adding the final layer of cheese.  Experiment with it because you cannot wreck it.

Cooking time will vary depending if you are using pre-cooked noodles.  I prefer cooking the noodles myself and then rinsing them in cold water.  Then if you want to cook it an hour or so there is no problem.  I find they taste better too! If you make it with the precooked lasagna you will only cook this lasagna about 40 minutes maximum.


Serving it with a Caesar salad and some garlic bread and ENJOY!