Recipes - Lasagna, Cookies, and chip dip

When I was growing up cooking was something we just did. It wasn't something to love. Then I married Brandon. He LOVES to cook. I've learned to enjoy it too. Here are three recipes that we have used this week.

Brandon's 4 Cheese Lasagna

1 box Uncooked Lasagna Noodles

¾ pound Mozzarella Cheese

½ pound Cheddar Cheese

1 large container Cottage Cheese

Sauce

½ lb Ground hamburger

Two 8 oz cans of Tomato sauce and 4 can-fulls of water

1 tsp Sugar

Spice Options (season to your own personal taste)

Oregano

Italian Seasoning

Parsley

Chopped Onions (fresh and/or dried)

Garlic or Garlic Powder

Paprika

Celery Seed

Parmesan Cheese

1. Make the sauce by first browning the hamburger. Drain off any fat. Add the tomato sauce, water, sugar, and spices. Simmer until hot.

2. Shred the mozzarella and cheddar cheese and mix with the cottage cheese in a medium size bowl.

3. Layer the ingredients in the casserole dish. Start with the sauce to prevent sticking. Then layer the uncooked noodles and the cheese with more sauce until all ingredients are used. Make sure cheese is the top layer. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

½ cup (on stick) Butter

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ cup flour

½ cup rolled oats

1 ¼ cups chocolate chips (you can use semisweet, milk, white, or a combination of all three)

Optional add ins

Grated Orange Peal, Raisins, Cranberry Sauce (more about this one at the bottom)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease two baking sheets.

2. Combine the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Beat with a fork or electric mixer until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3. Mix in the salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the flour. Stir in the oats and the chocolate chips.

4. Spoon tablespoonfuls of dough onto the baking sheets. Space them about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies until lightly browned 8-10 minutes. Let cookies cool for 1 minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

Adding Cranberry Sauce

1. Substitute about 3 tablespoons of cranberry sauce for ¼ cup of the butter.

2. After you add the chocolate chips add about 3 tablespoonfuls of cranberry sauce to the cookie dough. Lightly mix in the sauce until it breaks up into chunks about the size of the chocolate chips.

3. Spoon on to baking sheets and bake as normal.

7 (or more) Layer Dip

Order of layers

1. One can of refried beans (mix with taco seasoning or the following spices cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, chilli powder)

2. Sour Cream

3. One smashedup avocado

4. Finely cut lettuce

5. Two chopped tomatoes

6. One can of sliced olives

7. Chopped green onion

8. One to Two cups of grated cheddar cheese