Florentine Spaghetti Bake

• 8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
• 1 lb bulk Italian sausage
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce
• 1 can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups small curd cottage cheese
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. In a large skillet, cook the sausage, onion and garlic over medium heat until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce ad mushrooms. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15 minutes. Drain the pasta.

In a bowl, combine the egg, cottage cheese, spinach, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Spread 1 cup sausage mixture in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.

Top with spaghetti and remaining sausage mixture. Layer with spinach mixture and mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake at 375 F for 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer or until lightly browned and heated through. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting. Yield: 9 servings

Play Dough

With the cooler weather setting in, it's time to find some indoor things to keep the kiddos busy! Dillon has been hauling out his play dough stuff and has spent quite a bit of time with it. But the (bought) play dough was a little old, so I thought I'd whip him up some fresh play dough. I have many memories of my Mom making play dough for me and my two brothers as we were growing up.
By the looks of the photo I should have probably kneaded the food coloring in a bit more.

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp cream of tartar
• food coloring

Mix and warm first five ingredients in a pot on the stove. Keep stirring and working it (your arm will feel like it wants to fall off) for a few minutes. Once it no longer sticks to the side of the pot, it's done. Add food coloring to divided pieces. I kneaded the coloring in on a plate, as I didn't want to stain my counter count. Store in the fridge in a bag, to keep it fresh.

Layered Mocha Cheesecake

This is what Darren asked for to be his birthday cake. I wish I had found the chocolate covered coffee beans, the picture in my cook book looks a lot better than this one. But it sure tasted good, maybe too good!

• 1-1/2 cups cream filled chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

FILLING:

• 2 Tbsp plus 1-1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1 Tbsp boiling water
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

GLAZE:

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 Tbsp butter
• Chocolate covered coffee beans (optional)

1. Grease a 9-in. springform pan. Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press onto the bottom of prepared pan. Place on a double thickness of heavy duty foil (about 16 in. square); securely wrap foil around pan. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine the coffee granules, water and cinnamon; set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and flour until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in vanilla. Divide batter in half. Stir melted chocolate into one portion; pour over crust. Stir coffee mixture into the remaining batter; spoon over chocolate layer.
3. Place pan in a large baking pan; add 1 in. of hot water into larger pan. Bake at 325 F for 45-50 minutes or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Remove foil. Cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate over night.
4. In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and butter; stir until smooth. Spread over cheesecake. Remove sides of pan. Garnish with coffee beans if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

Banana Muffins

This recipe is no-fail. I tried a bunch of different recipes for banana loaf and/or muffins once upon a time, but they never worked for me until this one! Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1 egg


• 1 tsp soda


• 1/2 cup oil


• 1 cup bananas (2 bananas)


• 1.5 cups flour


• 1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

• Mix ingredients (I usually mix all but the flour first, and then add the flour. It mixes a little nicer that way). Scoop into muffin tins and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.


• Makes 12 muffins.

Strawberry-Coconut Tres Leches Trifle

• 1 lb fresh strawberries
• 3 pkg (3 oz each) soft ladyfingers ( I used an angel food cake)
• 1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1-14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk, divided
• 1- 250ml container sour cream
• 1-1lb container frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
• 1 pkg vanilla instant pudding
• 1 tsp cinnamon

1. Set aside one strawberry for garnish. Hull and slice remaining strawberries. Cut ladyfingers into 1 inch pieces; set aside

2. Whisk together 1/2 cup of the condensed milk, 2/3 cup of the coconut milk and sour cream in large bowl. Add ladyfingers and toss gently.

3. Combine pudding mix and remaining coconut milk; whisk until thickened. Add remaining condensed milk and cinnamon; whisk until incorporated. Set aside 1 cup whipped topping for decorating; fold remaining whipped topping into pudding mixture.

4. To assemble, place half of the ladyfinger mixture into trifle bowl; top with half of the strawberries. Spread half of the pudding mixture over strawberries. Repeat layers. Pipe whipped topping over top. Garnish with strawberry fan.

*The trifle bowl I used was a bit too large for the amount of trifle that it gave. This recipe comes from Pampered Chef. If I had their trifle bowl I am sure the picture would be a lot better :)