Happy Easter and Yummy Lasagna

Well a Happy Easter to everybody, and be very careful on the roads.

As Miss Fish and I are off to visit my parents for Easter, Mr CLI is working over Easter. So he will be batching for himself. Being a good wife I am making him some supplies that are easy to heat and eat. I am making home made pizzas for tea tonight, so I will make extra pizzas for him. This morning I made him a lasagna.It is a very easy recipe.

Lasagna

Meat Sauce

500 gm - 1 kg mince beef (depending on how meaty you want the sauce) 1 bottle of tomato passata, 2 cups water, 1/2 stalk celery, 1 medium carrot, 1/4-1/2 onion all finely diced, 1 sachet/1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, grated, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 tsp dried oregano or marjoram,

In a large frypan saute for 2-3 minutes carrot, onion and celery in 2 tablespoons of oil. Push to one side add tomato paste stir 30 seconds, then stir into the vegetables. Remove the vegetables add the mince, saute until it changes color. Return the vegetables and stir in, add remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Make sure that the sauce has more liquid than normal, as we are using non cook lasagna sheets you need the sauce with more liquid to cook the sheets.

Cheese Bechamel Sauce

50 gms butter, 1/4 cup plain flour, salt and Pepper to taste, 1 cup grated cheese, 2 cups milk

Now I make this in a pyrex jug in the microwave, so that you don't have to worry about it burning.

Melt the butter on high 30 - 40 seconds. Add flour, whisk, cook on high 40 seconds. Add milk, salt and pepper. Cook on high 2 minutes, whisk. Cook for further 1 - 3 minutes until sauce thickens add the cheese, whisk until the cheese has melted.

1 - 2 packets of no cook lasagna sheets, depending on the amount of layers use wish to make and the size of the dish you are using.

To construct: cover the base with a thi

n layer of the tomato sauce liquid, place lasagna sheets over, spread some meat sauce then drizzle a little of the cheese sauce over. You don't need a lot of the cheese sauce as it spreads during cooking. Continue creating layers, making the last layer lasagna sheets, making sure that you leave enough cheese sauce to cover the lasagna sheets. Cover the sheets, bake in a 180.c 30 - 40 minutes until a the lasagna sheets are cooked when you insert a knife into them.

Getting ready for Easter

Well Easter is nearly upon us. I have been busy making cards for the family. Miss Fish bought everyone a present, including herself ! As we aren't a large family it isn't too many presents. She then wrapped them and we made little cards using Easter stickers, which she wrote on and stuck to the presents.

So she is organised, BUT the Easter Bunny isn't. Due to her disability we still have the Easter Bunny and Santa. I tried to stop the santa sacks needing to go out a couple of Christmas's ago, but her older sister La Coiffure insisted that they are still needed !

We don't give a lot of chocolate at Easter, just perhaps one small egg but we do give a little present. This is the way it was done when I was a child, I was the child who pulled out of my cupboard the easter eggs to put my christmas presents away.

As much as I like chocolate when I was a child a lot of the Easter egg chocolate left a lot to be desired in the flavour and taste department. Nowadays it is much better.

Miss Fish loves an Easter egg hunt, but if this is held at her Nana's, we need to count the eggs before the hunt, because we have on occasion missed some and found chewed up tinfoil wrappers in the garden.

Do you have any family traditions for Easter, that are being passed down the generations !

Do you remember when ...

Well one of my other strings to my bow is sewing/craft. This is one of the cushions I have made. I am trying to get all the cushions and quilts finished so I can sell them on the internet.

I have been sewing and into craft since I was about 7 or 8 years old. My Mum would rule the lines on the garment we where making and I would sew it.

Then I learnt to knit and crochet, as my Mum is a leftie, she bought me a book to teach me and she would oversee my knitting and crocheting. My Nana who knitted, crochered and sewed used to help me when I was little. My Pa actually took a pair of metal knitting needles and shortened them so that I had needles short enough to knit with when I was little.

Then along came the seventies, so it was macrame, we had many plants in pots hanging in macrame hangers. It is actually quite therapeutic once you have mastered the knots. I used to sit and watch a movie, while I was knotting away.

Then there was wool spinning . You spend days carding the wool, this is the process of dragging the wool through 2 metals brushes against each other to tease the fibres out so it can be spun into wool. Once spun it was onto knitting it into interesting items like scarves and jumpers. If you have ever spun wool you will know that after you have finished your foot still seems to bob up an down like it is working the pedal.

Then along came the eighties and patchwork. Well my Mum took this up and still to this day teaches a class of beginners how to patchwork. I must confess that I have 2 unfinished quilts from the late 80's early 90's. One is an applique quilt which only has to have the centre square finished, but as I am fussy about the stitching and I never quite like what I have done it is still sitting next to my chair waiting to be finished. The other one has 9 squares of crazy patchwork which are all completed, all I have to do is join them together with borders, back and quilt it.

Also during this time especially when my girls where little, there was doll making, teddies, small rabbits, and who can forget the tissue box covers using metres of synthetic lace. What about cover light shades, I made a few of those in my time, spending days with my fingers stuck together with craft glue.

I have tried to teach my eldest daughter La Coiffure (she is a hairdresser) she can crochet really well, but when it comes to sewing - we have had the sewing machine needle in the finger incident- a she literally gets into a tangle when trying to knit. As she is an excellent hairdresser, her talent with her fingers is being used there. Now Miss Fish if you want something cut from paper she is your girl, it took me 18 months to teach her to use scissors, and now 18 years later she is still cutting things out. Sometimes so quickly that I fear for her fingers. Over the years we have had the odd item of clothing snipped by mistake.

This cushion I have beaded some of the flowers and made the back different it is tied together with ribbon.

I wonder do you have any funny or interesting crafting memories while trying learn or even when you first started to cook ?

Apple Crumble

Now when Miss Fish wants to help me cook, I need easy recipes that she can stir or mix, or even turn on the mixer. Her cutting skills are limited but she can peel and cut the apples into cubes. I 1/4 the apple and remove the core.

Now I love apple pie, I also don't mind making it, but for a quick and warming apple dessert, this apple crumble appears regularly on our menu.

It is a very expandable dessert you can use as little a 3 large apples or as many a a dozen. It all depends on how large you want to make the crumble. I use a mixture of apples, if you only use granny smiths I would add extra sugar. If you are using all sweet apples, you can also add the grated rind of a lemon and 2 teaspoons of the juice, this gives it a slight tartness.

The topping can be altered too, I have in the past added shredded coconut or slivered almonds. You can alter the spices too, I always add cinnamon, but I also have added aniseed, star anise,

cardamom - my favourite. It is up to your personal taste and what you have in your cupboard.

Apple Crumble

Base

6 large apples, peeled 1/4 , cored and cut into 2-3 cm cubes, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of another spice - I used star anise for this one, 1 cup water

Mix apples with sugar and spices in a microwave proof bowl or jug. pour over water loosely cover with a lid or cling wrap. Cook in the microwave for 5 minutes stir, cook for a further 3 - 5 minutes or until apples are cooked through but not mush. Place it in your dish that you are going to cook it in, judge how much of the syrup you put with the apples. I usually put enough to cover the base. You need just enough so the it bubbles up around the edges when cooked.

Topping

1 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup plain flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 -

1/2 teaspoon of another spice, 2 tablespoons butter - softened

Mix together all ingredients except the butter. Add the butter and rub or I use a fork mix it in till some of the mixture forms clumps. Sprinkle over the apple mixture. Cook 180.c for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the is golden and the juices are bubbling. Serve with cream and/or ice cream.

You can make both the apple and the topping earlier in the day, and leave until you are ready to cook it. Don't place the topping on top of the apples until you are ready to cook as the apples will make the topping soggy.

So easy to make and even easier to eat. Also it heats up nicely in the microwave the next day.