No Boil Lasagna

I love this lasagna, mainly because it's simple to put together and then throw in the oven for a quick dinner. You don't have to boil the noodles ahead of time. It's extremely cheesy, which is our favorite! I found this recipe in a church cookbook I purchased and cook this all the time, it's a big hit!

The cookbook is called The Fruit of the Spirit and was purchased from Bible Baptist Church in Savannah, GA. I love church cookbooks, something about church ladies and their cooking that is sooo good.

My picture is not the best, but believe me this is really good! I typically put the broiler on for about 5 minutes after I bake for that bubbly cheese effect. (picture taken before the broiler). 

Recipe for No Boil Lasagna

1 -15oz. container of Ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

2 -26oz. jars of pasta sauce

1 -1lb. pkg. of uncooked lasagna noodles (this is where the no boil comes in)

1 lb. ground Italian sausage or lean ground beef cooked & drained

4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine Ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and eggs in a bowl mix well. Grease a 15x9 baking dish and spread 1 c. of pasta sauce on the bottom. Top with half of the uncooked lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese mixture, cooked meat, pasta sauce, and mozarella cheese. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake 1 hour. I will broil mine on low for 5 minutes to get the bubbly cheese. 

Youth Fundraiser

If you have teenagers and you go to church then you know where I coming from in this post. You must have DOLLARS to send them to events, and programs. We are 4 strong at our small church but we're in the process of growing as we now have a new, full-time priest -YAY!
So on to the fundraising idea.... As a scrapbooker, I have tons of leftover paper, stamps, ink, ribbons, etc. So with little out of pocket money we decided to host a card making class. The youth charged 10.00 to make 4 cards. They raised over 200.00 for this event.

This is a picture of the cards we made. We found cute templates online and asked our church scrapbookers for their extra paper, inks, ribbons, etc. Not much out of pocket, and not a lot of extra work for a small church group. The pinwheel card was our favorite to make (a big hit with the kids). The die cut for the pinwheel can be found at LilInkers. http://shoplilinker.blogspot.com/p/pinwheels.html
Hope you enjoy the cards!

5K Here I Come!

I was posed a challenge by the women on my church board. Run the 5K in Indiana for our conference. Because I'm young they think that constitutes a runner - LOL - I'm not a runner. My personality however can not withstand a good challenge. So 2 months ago I started training to run a 5K using the Couch to 5K program - which is great and I had 2 great coaches - my kids! You start off alternating between walking and running the 3.1 miles. Which brings another thought why do they call it a 5K when it's only 3.1 miles (I'm sure there's a good mathematical kilometer answer to this question) - I'm not a mathematician either.
So after using the couch program I decided it was time to put my training to the test. I entered a local hometown race. I finished in 33 minutes and 32 seconds my best time to date. I won the 1st place trophy in my age division. Let me tell you though, there were only 2 of us running in that age division - SMILE!
It felt so good to finish and I'm looking forward to running that race in Indiana - bring on the 5K! It's never to late to start a new goal, the feeling of the moment may surprise you.

Link to couch to 5K program  http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Pinterest for the Weekend

Yes, I admit it... I'm addicted to Pinterest. I have found all kind of neat, cute, yummy ideas on Pinterest. Most of the time I wonder if I'll ever do any of them, however I did find time this weekend to try out taco bowls. As soon as I seen these little mini bowls I knew my kids would love them. So off to the store to purchase 6" tortillas. The picture below shows my finished creation along with ground turkey. chopped tomatoes, cheese, shredded lettuce and some sourcream. It was a fun novelty,  got the kids to eat veggies and the shell was yummy to eat afterwards! I made a few extra so they could have them at school for lunch the next day, it was obviously a hit with the other kids.

So as Pinterest says you take your 6" tortillas sprinkle with a little water, pop in the micro for a minute then spray each side with cooking spray. Take your muffin tins flip them upside down and place your tortillas in between the cups to create the bowl - 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes and poof - magic taco bowls!