HoneyBears & SydneyBeans: Valentine Sugar Cookies & Weekday Skillet Lasagna

Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it.

Marshall McLuhan

Today was busy.

SBean’s music class, grocery shopping for a nice dinner tomorrow, Hot lunch, make dinner, drop off Valentine’s, Sparks…

Sooooo, yeah…. Hey look we made cookies!

I got nothing J

This is my M-I-Law’s cookie recipe. It is basically how Ninja hooked me LOL That and her pumpkin pie J

I just made an icing sugar, butter, and milk icing, they are like cake cookies, mmmmm they are so good, I’m going to get 1 right now, to go with the cold coffee I haven’t had time to drink…

Since breakfast this morning LOL

Valentine Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Stir flour, baking powder and salt together.

Cream butter; add sugar gradually, beating between additions.

Add egg yolk; mix well. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk; add vanilla.

Chill dough thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 375

Roll 1/4" thick on lightly floured board; cut with fancy cookie cutters.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet 8 to 10 minutes.

For dinner we had lasagna! I love lasagna! I don’t like making lasagna for 3 hours though L This is easy. It takes 30 minutes. The perfect weeknight lasagna, Garfield would be bumping his head against my knee, I promise J

Weekday Skillet Lasagna

Adapted from Cooking Classy

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 lb ground beef

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, pressed

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

2/3 cup water

4 tablespoon fresh parsley, divided

2 teaspoons dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tsp granulated sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

12 dry lasagna noodles, each noodle broken crosswise into 2-inch pieces

1 1/2 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

1 cup ricotta cheese

10 basil leaves, chopped

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large and deep skillet over medium-high heat. Cook beef until browned, stirring occasionally and breaking up beef. Drain fat from beef and pour beef onto a plate, set aside.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in skillet, add onion and sauté until tender, about 3 minutes, adding in garlic during last 30 seconds.

Pour in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and water. Stir in 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley, the dried basil, oregano, sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bring just to a gentle boil then add lasagna pieces and cooked beef, stir and submerge noodles in liquid,

then reduce heat to a simmer, cover skillet with lid and allow to cook until noodles are tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 - 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together Mozzarella Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, 2 tablespoons of parsley and ricotta until evenly combined.

Once noodles are tender, shape half of the cheese mixture into about 1 1/2 tablespoon portions and add to lasagna, and gently stir to submerge under pasta.

Crumble remaining half of the cheese mixture into small pieces over top, cover with lid and cook over low heat, about 5 minutes longer until cheese has melted. Garnish top with remaining 1 tablespoon parsley and chopped fresh basil.