Oh, how we love our porch. There is nothing more satisfying than ending a busy, productive day out here. A half hour or so so enjoy the quiet. A little chat on the porch swing. A little vino.
And watching the day melt away into evening.
The winding down of a spring day
Posted in photos, Seasons
11 Comments
Baked Ziti
This is sort of an un-recipe. I will tell you the amounts I used, because for this post, I did measure. I understand that not everyone is comfortable with cooking a meal by the “little of this, little of that” method. Normally, I don’t measure any of it. Casseroles like this are pretty forgiving when it comes to measurements, and with a bit of experience, you can leave the measuring cups in the cupboard. So- feel free to change things to suit your own taste and what you have on hand, or follow along exactly. It will be good either way.
To begin, get a big [like 3 quart] saucepan of water going for the pasta – throw a teaspoon of salt in there. When it comes to a boil, cook 12 ounces of ziti or penne according to the package directions, but pull it out and drain it about 3 minutes earlier than the time given. It is going to cook more in the oven, and you don’t want it to be mushy.
In a large saute pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil and add
1 lb of Italian sausage, removed from the casings
[for locals this is Lupo’s Hot Chicken Sausage – yum!] Saute the sausage, breaking it into big crumbles as it cooks. When it’s about half done, add
1 medium onion, cut in a large dice
1/2 large green pepper, cut in a large dice
1/2 large red pepper, cut in a large dice
8 ounces of button mushrooms, cut in thick slices
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
few grinds pepper
Oil the bottom and sides of a large baking pan. Mine is about 10×14 inches. When the pasta is done, drain it and mix with
the sauteed veggies and sausage
4 large garlic cloves, smashed and minced
8 ounces of mozzarela cheese, cut in cubes
15 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Mix together
24 ounce carton of ricotta cheese
1 beaten egg
2 tablespoons parsely [dried or fresh]
1/2 cup grated romano or parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
few grinds pepper
Mix well and spread evenly over the the top of the pasta/veggie mixture in the pan
Over top of that, spread either
4 cups prepared spaghetti sauce
or
4 cups thick tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
a couple smashed and minced garlic cloves
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon each thyme and basil
Prepared sauce is fine for this – I used my own spaghetti sauce from last fall. Spread over the ricotta layer, being careful to cover the entire surface, without mixing the sauce and cheese together too much.
Bake at 350º for about and hour to 90 minutes, until it is all bubbly. You can sprinkle the top with some grate parmesan or romano cheese for the last half hour. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes and then serve with a green salad and some crusty Italian bread.
The leftovers – if there are any – are even better the next day. Tonight, or tomorrow – it will make you feel good right down to your toes.
Another post you might enjoy:
Fresh Tomato Sauce
The sparrows are glad
That spring is really here now.
Hope it’s a beautiful spring day where you are too!
Coming back to add that the top photo is of a Chipping Sparrow and the bottom is a White-Throated Sparrow. Just two of the roughly 8-10 kinds of sparrows we have in our yard this time of year.
Posted in photos, Seasons
8 Comments
Rope the Frog
Meet the frog formerly known as “Frank”. At least that was his name last weekend, when we were up north, visiting. “Frank” was in the Easter basket we gave Mark & Anna, and as soon as Mark took him out of the basket, he told us that the frog’s name was “Frank”. At some point during the week though, the frog’s name got changed to “Rope”. “Rope the Frog” to be exact. [the abrupt changing of toy’s name is not an uncommon event in Mark’s world – I hope he gets over it by the time he’s an adult with kids of his own – could get confusing]
Anyway – as you can see, “Rope the Frog” is a fine companion, chummy and a good listener, for those times when one needs that in a friend.
But Rope the Frog has a little problem.
When Mark got up from his nap the other day, he told us about it.
Mark: Rope is kind of bad.
Nearby Adult: Really? Why do you say that?
Mark: He likes potty talk.
Nearby Adult: Your frog likes potty talk?
Mark: Yes. He says fart.
Nearby Adult: Does he now?
Mark: Yes. I told him not to say it but he does it anyway.
Nearby Adult: Hmmmmmmm.
You would certainly never know it too look at him – he seems so polite.
Posted in family, grandchildren
15 Comments
A Beautiful Saturday – and a Winner!
I’m in Grandmaland this weekend. Or rather my grandkids have come to Grandmaland. Is it Grandmaland if there are no grandchildren here? Isn’t that like the question “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear, does it make a sound?” If there are no grandchildren here…. oh never mind.
Anyway – I tore myself away long enough to draw a winner for the Soap Nuts Giveaway and here is the result:
Sarah Eliza is a fairly new visitor here & she has a lovely blog with tons of great information and some really fun stuff too. So, go give her blog a look! Congrats Sarah – if you shoot me an email at dlynk at htva dot net, and tell me which product you choose, along with your address, I will forward that info to Dariel and he will get your prize sent out to you. If you decide to blog about Saop Nuts, please come and tell me, so I don’t miss the post, ok?
Thanks for entering everyone, and remember you can try small sizes of the nuts and/or the liquid pretty inexpensively – the link to the site will stay in my sidebar & I do make a little money if you order through my link. And thanks to Dariel and Maggie for donating the prize!
Have a great day everyone!
Posted in contests
3 Comments
