I’m off today, but you are welcome to browse my site and check out these links I’ve found for you to enjoy.

• Chili Cheese Potato Casserole - Cooking During Stolen Moments
• Watch Out for These Health Busters - Simple Mom (Guest post by Lisa who blogs at The WellGrounded Life)
  
• Homemade Frozen Waffles - Domestic Cents
• Canning: Getting Started - Cents To Get Debt-Free
  

Thanks for stopping by. I’m off to play!

Related posts:

1. Playday Thursday: Mommy Links I’m off today, but you are welcome to browse my site and check out these links for moms I've found...
2. Playday Thursday: Goin’ On a Trip I'm off today and tomorrow and the next day.... Well, okay, I'm going out of town and will not have...
3. Playday Thursday: Homemade Mother’s Day Gifts I’m off today, but you are welcome to browse my site and check out these links I've listed for you...

As my son came traipsing out of his preschool class for the last time a couple of weeks ago, he held under his arm the mat and pillow he had slept on for one and a half years of preschool.

I was reminded of the weekend I spent coming up with a solution to his preschool mat dilemma. It all started when I found out the preschool had an opening in the three year old class in the middle of the school year. My husband and I decided to go ahead get him started at the preschool so he would be guaranteed a spot the following year in the popular four year old class.

On a Thursday in February, I had spoken to the preschool director, and my son was to start school the following Tuesday. The problem was he needed a covered mat for nap-time.

Well, first of all, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to find a school mat in February, but they aren’t as readily available in stores at that time of year as they are at the beginning of the school year.

Since I had already called around to a few local stores, I knew it was not an option to buy a pre-covered mat. I wasn’t paying $40 or more for a mat with a fabric covering. My mom didn’t teach me how to sew for nothing.

Thankfully, I was able to find a basic vinyl sleep mat at a school supply store in a nearby town. I then made my way over to Wal-Mart, picked out this cute sports fabric, which was on clearance, and grabbed a package of iron-on velcro.

The Plan:

I cut the mat fabric a little larger than the mat, so I would have enough room for sewing the seams together. I sewed it into a pillow case shape and prayed real hard that it was going to fit right when I inserted the mat. It fit like a glove. Thank goodness it fit because I didn’t have a lot of time for re-dos.

On the open end, I used iron-on velcro so the mat would not slip out easily, but it still needed to come off when necessary for washing. A zipper would have been a great idea, but since I’d never sewn in a zipper before, I didn’t think it would be wise to experiment on this project.

After completing the mat, I had some fabric left over, so I thought a pillow would be a nice addition. I didn’t have any pillow filling, but I did have an old full-size pillow that was about ready to be chunked. The insides had started to clump together and it was going flat in spots.

The solution I came up with was to simply cut the large pillow down to about a third of the original size, re-sew around the edges to form a smaller pillow, fluff the old stuffing a little and re-stuff the small pillow. Voila! - a great little pillow.

I created a little pillow case for the pillow just like I had done for the sleep mat. The open end had velcro attached in the same manner as the mat.

To finish the project off, I sewed a little strap out of the remaining fabric to wrap around the mat and pillow to make it easier to keep them together. Again, I ironed on a couple of velcro pieces to attach the ends of the strap.

My son was extremely happy with the final results and so was I. It cost less than $15 and I had the opportunity to practice my sewing skills. Now, if all my sewing projects would just come out this good…

Have you ever been in a time-crunch for something and ended up having to come up with a creative homemade solution?

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Posted on June 10th, 2009 in Kids and Family | 2 Comments

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You know you’re going to have a long busy day tomorrow and the last thing you’re going to want is to slave in the kitchen fixing a meal that takes a while to prepare and cook.

Oh, but you just remembered you have frozen casseroles in the freezer. Shew! Boy that’s a relief. All you have to do is thaw and bake.

I don’t know about you, but I love the above scenario on a really busy day. On that note, lately, I’ve had a few requests to do a post with some of my favorite dishes that freeze well.

Below I’m sharing my recipes for a scrumptious lasagna, some mouth-watering enchiladas, and couple of other delicious dishes, all of which I have personally frozen, thawed and cooked to our satisfaction.

So, without further ado, the recipes you’ve been waiting for:

1. World’s Best Lasagna

(adapted slightly from All Recipes)

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 oz) cans tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbls white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tbls salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 24 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In a Dutch oven, cook ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned.
2. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water.
3. Season with sugar, basil, Italian seasoning, 1 tbls salt and pepper.
4. Simmer, covered for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water.
7. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, and 1/2 tsp salt.
8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
9. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch baking dish.
10. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce.
11. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture.
12. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese.
13. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
14. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
15. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
16. Bake covered in preheated over for 30 minutes.
17. Remove foil, and bake an additional 30 minutes.
18. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 10-12

2. African Casserole (Taglarina)

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• Small amount oil (or I use melted butter)
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• Dash worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper
• 1 (16 oz) can tomatoes
• 1 (16 oz) can cream corn
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (3 1/2 oz) can ripe olives and juice
• 6-8 oz shell macaroni, cooked
• 1/4 tsp. oregano
• Cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Saute’ chopped onion, bell pepper, and garlic in small amount of oil until clear.
2. Remove from pan, saute’ ground beef and add chili powder, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.
3. Add sauteed seasonings, tomatoes, corn and tomato sauce.
4. Add olives and olive juice.
5. Taste to adjust salt.
6. Add macaroni which has been cooked in salt water as directed on package.
7. Add oregano.
8. Place in 9X13 inch casserole.
9. Refrigerate 6-8 hours to allow flavors to blend.
10. One hour before serving, slice cheese on top.
11. Bake at 350˚ for 1 hour.

(If glass dish is used, remove from refrigeration sooner and bake at 325˚.)

Serves 8-10

3. Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Monterey jack cheese
• 2 large cans chicken
• 1 (16 oz) sour cream
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 10 flour tortillas
• 1/2 stick margarine
• 1/2 cup onions
• 1 small can chopped green chili peppers
• 2 large cream cheese blocks
• Garlic salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In skillet saute chicken & onions in margarine (season to taste w/ garlic salt & pepper).
2. Melt cream cheese in with chicken & onions after sauting.
3. In separate bowl mix soups, sour cream, & chili peppers together.
4. In large casserole put a small layer of soup on bottom of pan.
5. Then put chicken mixture in tortillas and place them in casserole.
6. Pour the rest of the soup mixture on top of tortillas and sprinke cheese on top.
7. Bake a 350 degrees for 30 min.

Serves 8-10

4. Santa Fe Soup

The only one of these recipes I cook before freezing is the Santa Fe Soup. All I do on the soup is thaw and re-warm it. I find by freezing the others prior to baking, they taste freshly cooked. Be sure to label your frozen dishes well to make cooking day quicker and easier also.

Well, there you have it, a few of my favorite recipes that freeze well. I hope you enjoy them.

If you have a link to a recipe you’ve found that freezes well, please leave the link in the comments section. I’d love to try yours also.

Posted on June 9th, 2009 in Food and Entertaining | 6 Comments

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