Holy shit! Screw you blog! I just wrote a whole damn blog and somehow managed to delete it and save the deleted version. That is more frustrating than you can possibly imagine. I’ll be banging my head against the table for the remainder of the day if you need me. There will be no cooking involved. I will also be screaming expletives in between bouts of crying. Temper tantrum launch in 3…2…1. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Ok, dramatic outburst over. Seriously, though, f@&*!!!!!!!!!!

Back to the subject at hand, I sincerely hope you are not keeping up with the Jones’s as we have been plagued with sickness. First I had the stomach bug, then Jack had the stomach bug, Colt had a diarrhea bug and now Colt has had a random fever for 4 days. 4 days people. No other symptoms – just a fever that can be controlled with Motrin but always comes back. I finally called the doctor this morning (I should be a shoe-in for mother of the year) and they are going to check him out this afternoon.

Having said all that, the cooking has been scarce around here. I did manage to crank out dinner last night that was pretty tasty – Lasagna rollups be what it was called, mateys (in my best pirate voice – why? I don’t know). Italian cooking is some of my favorite for a few reasons – it’s generally, easy, tasty, can be prepared during nap time and usually makes enough to freeze at least 2 other meals (in our family anyway). And, again folks, winning! Fo rizzle! (We’ve gone from pirates to Snoop Dogg (or is it Snoop Lion still???) – my brain is an interesting place to hang out!)

Without further ado (ie distraction, random dribbling for the mind of Mrs. Jones), here be the recipe (back to pirate talk – cue Jake and the Neverland Pirates theme song):

Ingredients:

Cooked lasagna noodles (did you guess that?!) – I usually do 5-6 coz that’s what works for  my family of 4 – you do your own thang, chicken wang (what?!)

1 lb ground Italian sausage (you could substitute beef if you’d rather)

1 tsp minced garlic

1 15 oz container ricotta cheese

2 packages of cream cheese (did I mention this is not diet friendly but it is taste bud friendly!)

1 package of that fancy shredded parmesan

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tbsp. dried parsley flakes

1 tsp Italian seasoning

salt & pepper to taste

shredded mozzarella

1 jar/can spaghetti sauce (I like Hunt’s 4 cheese if you care)

Directions:

Cook noodles and sausage. Combine sausage, garlic, ricotta, cream cheese, parmesan, egg, parsley, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Stir in 1 cup of mozzarella. Spread onto lasagna noodles and roll up (you can use a toothpick to hold together but I find the cheese holds it well enough). Put spaghetti sauce in bottom of greased baking dish. Arrange rollups in pan and top with additional sauce. Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes at 350. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and bake until cheese is melted.

I generally pair this with a Caesar salad and garlic bread. Last night I had no lettuce (which, if you don’t know, is pretty instrumental in a salad) so we had cut up carrots and cucumbers with ranch. Improvisation folks! Often necessary when cooking with Kellie!! But we did have bread, so ha! Score for me! (My 6 year old ate 4 pieces of bread last night! And he’s skinny as a damn rail – did not inherit that from me!!!!)

Tonight’s dinner is coming from the crock pot. I love crock pot cooking! I don’t always love what comes out of it but the cooking portion is right up my alley!! It’s a pork tenderloin with some interesting ingredients (yellow mustard and maple syrup being mind boggling to me)! I’ll give you all the specs on it tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn’t suck!! xoxo

 

PS – In case you didn’t figure it out, that filling makes a shit ton! I generally freeze the remainder in 2 separate freezer bags for easy meal time in the future. The mix also works well in jumbo shells!