A broke woman's blog.

This night here my dad waited until 6 o'clock to decide what he wanted to eat. Oh gosh my wheels were spinning lol. I hate it when somebody decides when it's almost time for bed to want me to cook. Well anyway, I went a head and played the polite hostess and fixed him spaghetti and garlic bread like he wanted. If you are ready I am ready!

Mise En Place

Hamburger meat
Spaghetti sauce
Onions
Bell peppers
Mushrooms
Spaghetti
Butter
Garlic powder
Bread
Shredded cheese
Seasoning


1. Put hamburger meat in skillet and let it brown.
2. Cut onion and bell pepper in half. Clean the seeds out of bell pepper. Wash off onion and bell pepper, dice them up and put them in the hamburger meat.
3. Add seasoning and mushrooms.
4. While the hamburger meat is cooking boil some water for the spaghetti. Once it starts to boil add the spaghetti and cook it for about 12 - 15 minutes. You don't want you spaghetti mushy.
5. Once the spaghetti and meat is done strain them both. Leave just a little bit of water at the bottom of the pot so the spaghetti won't get dry. Or put in a little bit of oil. Now preheat the oven to 350.
6. Open the spaghetti sauce and pour it over the meat and let it simmer.
7. Get some butter and sprinkle some garlic powder in it.
8. Get your bread and paint the butter sauce on it. Add some cheese!
9. Put it in the oven until the cheese melts.
10. Serve it up and eat!

Ha ha! It's my day to cook.....Let me see. Today I made some lasagna, cheesy garlic bread and a spinach and tomato basil salad. I haven't cooked lasagna in about a year. We had went to Detroit and my little cousin wanted me to cook her some. So I cooked her some but I had used rotini pasta. I try to do things different at times. But today I just used the regular lasagna noodles. My girls and I went to the store and got everything we needed the night before and I forgot the french bread. So I had to use what I had to make the garlic bread......hot dog buns lol. Well it worked! You learn to improvise. After everything was cooked and we dug in lol. My lasagna fell apart on me but it's okay. It was still good! Okay are you ready? Well here we go. Remember, cook according to your needs.

Spinach and tomato basil salad

4 large tomatoes
1/2 purple onion (to your liking)
1/2 bunch fresh basil (to your liking)
1/2 teaspoon of salt (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon of pepper (to taste)
2 oz. red wine vinegar
hand full of spinach

1. Rinse off tomatoes, spinach and basil.
2. Let basil and spinach dry while you slice the tomatoes.
3. Slice the ends of and cut the tomatoes a 1/4 inch thick from side to side.
4 Lay the slices flat and cut into 1/2 inch medium dice.
5. Put them in a mixing bowl.
6. Cut your onion in 1/4 inch small dice.
7. Put onion in the bowl also.
8. Chop up the basil to YOUR liking and sprinkle it over the mixture.
9. Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste.
10. Add spinach.
11. Add about 2 oz. of the red wine vinegar.
12. Stir it and let it marinate.
13. Taste it and if you need to add something more, do so.


Lasagna Bree's way!!!!!

Hamburger
Sausage
Medium onion
Medium bell pepper
Minced garlic
Tomato sauce
Sour cream (optional)
Cottage cheese (optional)
Corn (optional)
Shredded cheese (any kind)
Lasagna
Seasoning (optional because of the sausage)


1. Cut the ends and hull off onion. Diced onion very small.
2. Cut ends and top off bell pepper. Rinse off and dice it very small.
3. Mince garlic.
4. Saute the onions, garlic and bell pepper for about 2 minutes then add hamburger and sausage.
5. While that is cooking, boil your water for the lasagna.
6. Once meat is done drain all the fat off.
7. Add lasagna to the water. Stir it around a little bit so it won't stick. Cook it for about 12-15 minutes. The reason is you want your noodles al dente (half done because when you bake the lasagna your noodles won't be mushy).
8. After the fat has drained off put the meat back in the pot and add your tomato sauce.
9. Add some sour cream to the mixture and let it cook down.
10. After your 12-15 minutes turn your pot off on your lasagna and quickly pull them out and layer them on the bottom of your pan.
11. Layer your meat mixture, cottage cheese, corn, cheese and lasagna until you run out.
12. Put in oven on 350 for about 15 minutes.


Cheesy garlic bread

Hot dog buns
Garlic powder
Butter
Shredded cheese

1. Spoon out how much butter out you think you will need in a bowl and put it in the microwave until it starts to melt.
2. Add some garlic powder to taste.
3. Drizzle over hot dog buns.
4. Sprinkle cheese over buns and bake for about 5 minutes so they won't get hard.

Source: Bree

Hellur, this is my other homemade pizza I promised. This is made with a fool proof crust that you CAN'T mess up. If you do then hang up your apron! I always wanted to make my crust homemade and I found a site that had a recipe for homemade crust for dummies like me........well not dummies but those of us who um, try but don't succeed well in homemade dough or crust. Well here it is like a promised.


Crust

2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 c. water


Toppings

1 onion
1 bell pepper
Hamburger meat (browned)
Cajun turkey
Mesquite turkey
Canadian bacon
Shredded cheese
2 tablespoons of butter
Garlic salt or powder
Tomato sauce


1. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and water.
2. Knead on floured counter just until workable and spreadable, about 2 minutes.
3. Roll out your dough, put it in a pan and spread it out evenly. I used a 15x9 cookie sheet.
4. Melt butter and put garlic salt or powder in it to taste. Spread over your crust. If more is needed add it.
5. Cut up onions and bell peppers finely.
6. Cover crust with tomato sauce then layer it with meat, onions, and cheese.
7. Pop it in the oven on 425 for 20 minutes.
8. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
9. Now you can eat!


Source: Cooks.com (crust) and Bree