Quick and Yummy Lasagna — by Catherine Morgan

Okay. Making a yummy lasagna doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. As long as you remember to get these few things at you local supermarket…

What you need:

Two jars of your favorite tomato sauce.

Two boxes of any “no boil” lasagna noodles.

Two bags of shredded mozzarella cheese.

Two medium containers of Ricotta cheese.

Two pounds of lean ground beef.

Two eggs.

And, if you don’t want to have a baking dish to clean…pick-up a 9×13 inch disposable baking dish too.

Seasons: Some pepper, salt, parsley, and some parmesan cheese.

Now you are all set, here is what you do next…

Pre-heat over to 350 degrees (or whatever the box of noodles recommends).

1. Brown your ground beef, drain, and then add one of your jars of tomato sauce.

2. In a medium bowl mix your ricotta cheese and eggs. Then add a few shakes of salt, pepper, and parsley.

3. Pour a bit of tomato sauce from your second jar into the bottom of your 9×13 inch baking dish, then start to layer. Start with noodles (follow directions on box and don’t overlap noodles…they will expand), then ricotta cheese mixture, mozzarella cheese, and meat sauce). Continue to layer until you get to the top of your dish.

Use the extra tomato sauce from your second jar to fill the sides and top of your lasagna…when you use the “no-boil” noodles they will absorb a lot of sauce, so use a lot of it.

Your top layer should be noodles with meat sauce (at the end you will top with extra mozzarella cheese, so leave some on the side).

4. Cover with foil, and bake.

*Bake to the directions that are on the box of noodles (this will probably be something like…350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes).

5. Remove foil and add extra mozzarella cheese, then put back in the oven for a minute or two until it melts. Now remove and let stand for about ten minutes before you serve.

Serve with Parmesan cheese. Yum.

Catherine’s World Famous Easiest Homemade Macs and Cheese — by Catherine Morgan

Kraft makes it easy and pretty darn good. But when you want to kick-it-up a notch, try this…

What you need:

One Box of Pasta (I like to use elbows, shells, or spirals, but you can use almost any that you like)

One Bag of Shredded Cheddar Cheese (I like sharp, but use what ever you like)

One Stick of Butter

One Pint of Milk

Salt and Pepper

Start by cooking the pasta as directed, drain and put back into the pot you cooked it in.

Keep pot on low to medium heat.

Then add the stick of butter, stir until it is mostly melted.

Then add half of the pint of milk (save the other half for later).

Now add the bag of shredded cheese, and stir until cheese is mostly melted.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

O.k. almost done…

If the mac and cheese seems too stringy add a little more milk and stir, keep doing that until it is a creamy consistency.

Now you’re done! Yummy, serve and eat. See how easy that was? And the kids are going to love, love, love this. My daughter would eat it every day if she could. The grown-ups think it’s pretty darn good too.

CATHERINE & NICOLE’S WORLD FAMOUS (easy to make) TRIPLE-DECKER CHOCOLATE EXTRAVAGANZA BROWNIE CAKE RECIPE — by Catherine Morgan

Let me start off by saying; If you are not already familiar with “CATHERINE’S WORLD FAMOUS RECIPES”, it is probably because, up until now I have only posted one other, and that would be “CATHERINE’S WORLD FAMOUS FETTUCCINE ALFREDO RECIPE“. Since you probably are not familiar with my WORLD FAMOUS RECIPES, let me just tell you a few things up front.

1. My recipes are famous for being fabulously delicious, as well as, quick and easy to make. In the case of my Alfredo recipe; there is currently no “good” jarred Alfredo Sauce, so I needed to show you the quick and easy way to make it from “scratch”. What I am getting at is; If “they” already make it as close to perfect as it could be, there is no need for “you” to remake it. Examples: Spaghetti Sauce, Salsa, Ice Cream, Salad Dressings, to name a few.

2. I’m not a professional recipe writer, and I write it the way I make it. Example: You may be use to following recipes that say, a “cup” of this, a “teaspoon” of that. What I may say is, a bag of this, a small container of that. But don’t worry……I think it is actually easier to follow my way.

3. I encourage anyone making one of my WORLD FAMOUS RECIPES to “make it their own”. Example: _(your name)_’s WORLD FAMOUS FETTUCCINE RECIPE. Or, like in the case of today’s recipe; __(your name)_ and _(your daughter’s name)_’s WORLD FAMOUS TRIPLE-DECKER CHOCOLATE EXTRAVAGANZA BROWNIE CAKE.

O.k. now I will get to the recipe. Well, not really, first I have to tell you how we came up with this particular WORLD FAMOUS RECIPE. Because, it happens to be a very good example of how something you make wrong, can be made into something deliciously right. A life lesson really.

I few years ago my daughter and I were getting ready for her Birthday Party. She wanted to have both brownies and chocolate cake. So, like any good mother, I took her to the super-market to buy the best boxed brownie mix, chocolate cake mix, and chocolate icing, we could find. Why make from “scratch” something that has already been perfected, right? Anyway, there is still a lot of work to be done, you need to follow the directions on the box, and make and bake it all correctly. And well, the “bake it” part is where I had a little problem on this particular occasion.

I’m sure some of you can relate. Did you ever bake brownies just a “little” too long, and the corners and edges get all hard? Normally that doesn’t bother me, I just cut off the hard parts and eat the yummy parts. But, since it was for my daughters Birthday Party, I got myself all upset because it didn’t turn out the way a wanted it to. Then my very understanding and compassionate daughter came into the kitchen and told me not to worry, she said to just cut around all the hard parts, and maybe we could put some icing on it to cover up the areas we had to cut. Brilliant idea! We all know where she gets her “baking sense” from.

Anyway, after cutting the brownie we both noticed that it was the same size as the two round chocolate cakes we had also just made for the party. Then it came to me! TRIPLE-DECKER CHOCOLATE BROWNIE CAKE. If it turned out horrible we would just run out and get a “pre-fab” cake from the store, but if it turned out good……we would tell everyone it is our World Famous Recipe. After all, most of my friends and family expect no less than for me to serve something WORLD FAMOUS. Well, you guessed it…..it turned out GREAT! So, now we have it; CATHERINE AND NICOLE’S WORLD FAMOUS CHOCOLATE TRIPLE-DECKER BROWNIE CAKE. Yum. Here is what you do to make it.

Go to the store and buy:

One box of your favorite chocolate cake mix (we like dark chocolate).

One box of your favorite brownie mix (we like double chocolate fudge).

Two containers of your favorite chocolate icing (we like dark or double chocolate).

Important Tip: Make sure you also buy or already have, all of the ingredients you will need for the cake and brownie mix.

Here is the fun part:

1. Make the chocolate cake using your chocolate cake mix. Bake in two round pans.

2. Use the brownie mix to make a brownie that is larger than the cake pan, (even if it is square that is o.k. since you will just be cutting it to size later).

3. Bake and Let cool.

4. Cut brownie to the size of the chocolate cakes.

5. Put icing on one of the chocolate cakes (top only), and then put the brownie on top of that.

6. Now put icing on top of the brownie, and put the second chocolate cake on top of that.

7. Now finish putting icing on the whole cake. Yum. Yum.

ALL DONE. You can serve room temperature or chilled. I also recommend “ala-mode”…..that means with ice cream….yum, yum.

CATHERINE’S WORLD FAMOUS FETTUCCINE ALFREDO RECIPE — by Catherine Morgan

I know this recipe goes against all the things I have been saying about eating healthy. Because, I think it is an actual fact, that Fettuccine Alfredo is the worst food you can eat, as far as, fat, carbs, cholesterol, calories, and that stuff goes. I’m only giving this “TOP-SECRET” recipe out because; with it being winter, the kids really like their “comfort foods”, and this is the one my kids LOVE. For us adults, not a good idea to eat as a meal, but it does make a nice side dish.

That said, the “WORLD FAMOUS” part…..not really, I just say that to make my kids laugh, you know, when you have kids you gotta “HYPE” it up a bit. Anyway, they do think it is good enough to be “WORLD FAMOUS”. You might think so too, once you try it. Also, feel free to take some creative liberty with this recipe, and call it your own (ie: CONNIE’S WORLD FAMOUS FETTUCCINE ALFREDO, or KELLY’S WORLD FAMOUS FETTUCCINE ALFREDO), you know what I mean. And, it’s not really “TOP SECRET”, but if you add “TOP SECRET” to the name of the recipe, it really makes the kids laugh. CATHERINE’S TOP SECRET WORLD FAMOUS FETTUCCINE ALFREDO…..the kids usually don’t seem to realize that the recipe really can’t be both “top secret” and “world famous”….but like I said….it’s all about the delivery, and the “HYPE”.

O.K. here it is. Call your cardiologist and schedule an appointment, because just talking about this recipe, could very well begin to clog your arteries.

O.K…..one more thing. I don’t normally use cookbooks….got it all in the old noggin. So, I apologize if this isn’t the “conventional” approach to writing a recipe. To me, the end result is what matters….and that’s….. YUM, YUM!

O.K. here it is now, for real.

CATHERINE’S WORLD FAMOUS FETTUCCINE ALFREDO

What you will need:

1 box of Fettuccine pasta
1 bag (two cups) Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 small container of Ricotta Cheese, (about the size of a jar of peanut butter.)
1 stick of Butter
1 pint of cream or half & half….(you can also use whole milk)

Seasons: Salt, pepper, garlic, parsley.

Toppings: Parmesan and/or Romano cheese

STEP ONE: Boil water in the largest pot you have. Add a dash of oil (so pasta doesn’t stick together), and a bunch of salt (cause it makes the pasta taste yummy) to the water. When the water is boiling add the Pasta. Cook as long as it tells you on the box.

STEP TWO: Drain water from pasta, and put back into the pot. Now, add the stick of butter and let it begin to melt (keep the heat off at this point, cause there is still a few more things to do, you don’t want the pasta to stick to the bottom of the pot).

STEP THREE: In a separate bowl, mix Ricotta Cheese, with the Cream (or milk). Then mix in salt (couple shakes), pepper (couple shakes), parsley (couple shakes), and garlic (I use the powder so, couple shakes) to your taste.

Step three is the step that you are “making it your own”….so you don’t have to feel bad about calling it “your” recipe.

STEP FOUR: Add your STEP THREE to your STEP TWO, and put it over low heat, while you gently stir it all together. Looking yummy already, but we haven’t even added the “piece de resistance” yet.

STEP FIVE: Gradually add the “piece de resistance”, the Mozzarella Cheese. While continuing to gently mix over low heat. Once everything is evenly distributed and the texture seems creamy (if not creamy or wet enough add more milk). Take a fork and scoop some out so you can test it and see if the seasoning is just right, if not add more of what ever it seems to be missing, if just right, maybe sneak another fork full.

STEP SIX: While continuing to gently stir, increase the heat until it is at the temperature you want to serve it. Then serve it. This is not the kind of thing you can make ahead of time, you really need to make it, serve it, eat it….yum!

Put your toppings (Parmigiana, and Romano) ,on the table and let people use to their liking.

For dessert check out my World Famous Chocolate Brownie Cake.

Then, a bit later you might want to check out my post on HEALTHY EATING or my friends over at The Diet Pulpit.

Tell me HERE (in comments) about one of YOUR World Famous Recipes.

Use the comment section of this page to add one of your own “famous” recipes to this blog.

I’ll feature one of my favorites of your recipes in a post, about once a week.