A Homemaker's Journal

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Monday, December 31, 2007

I made cookies today with my big girls! It was SO easy... here's the recipe:

1 cake mix
1 stick of butter (melted)
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips (melted)- optional
2 Tablespoons of water (if needed)
I added some mint chocolate baking peices.
It was minimally messy and very very easy so it was easy to let the girls help!

Monday, October 29, 2007

The girl's room

Today I came home from my post-partum check-up and to "celebrate" my sucessful recovery I cleaned Beth & Emma's room. Yay, now it's clean!

The only problem is that now I have a huge pile of toys etc. to go through.

Yuck. It's all in the basement right now waiting it's fate.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

photography inspiration on flickr

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Lasagnia

I don't know about you, but I have never made a good Lasagnia. My mom did, but somehow I missed it. But I wanted to try out the recipe in the "Authentic Italian" cookbook and I really liked it - although next time I'll cook the noodles longer - and I'll share with you the "secret". I think it's the layering.
Here's how you make it:
Step 1 - Make a meat & tomatoe sauce
Step 2 - Make a cheese sauce or cream sauce. (To make cream sauce melt 3 T Butter, add 3T flour and 2 cups hot milk. Wisk constantly until it thickens)
Step 3 - Boil noodles
Greese your casserole dish, layer with noodles. Top with meat sauce. Make a second layer of noodles, top with cheese sauce. Repeat until there are three layers of meat sauce and two layers of cheese sauce. You should end with the meat sauce on top.
Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, increase heat to 500 and bake for 5 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven, let it set for 10 minutes. Serve!!
I'll try to post a photo soon.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Thoughts about food

I've been reading a book which I checked out from the Library called "Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian" and it's made me think...
As Americans we tend to get it all wrong about food! We will eat an amazing variety of grossness because it's quick or low-fat or low-carb. Breakfast is something we eat on our way out the door, lunch is something we eat standing up in the kitchen or a sandwich we eat in the car. Dinner is something thrown together because we're starving and we snack on whatever we can rip open and consume in 30 seconds. There is something just plain wrong about that.
It's amazing to see these round, Italian, wrinkly women with grey hair and worn hands, forming pasta and risotto. I read one recipe that called for letting a soup-ish type dish simmer for four hours!!!! I can not imagine making anything that takes longer than 30-40 minutes of prep-time.
I've been inspired. Totally and completely.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Happiness is a shiny sink

I found this cleaning tip on the Real Simple website:

1. Fill sink to the rim with very hot water; add one cup regular bleach. Soak for one hour.
2. Drain and rinse thoroughly.
3. Scrub with Ajax, Bon Ami, or baking soda.
4. Be sure to rinse thoroughly.
5. Shine with Windex or another glass-cleaning spray. Dry thoroughly.