Strawberry cupcakes

..so, a few weeks ago, my schedule was too busy to find a night to cook supper, but i did find time to bake. when i was with my cousin,

 (Jo is my twin cousin because

we were born on the exact same day! crazy, right?) 

she had made these amazing strawberry cupcakes. so i of course asked her for the recipe.  i was surprised how easy it was to do. thanks for the recipe, Jo!

Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients: 

1 box mix of strawberry cake and the ingredients needed to make it.
strawberry jam
6oz. of strawberry yogurt
8oz. of frozen cool whip thawed
strawberries

Follow the instructions on the back of the box, but before you bake them...

 



Put a spoonful of jam into the center of each cupcake. Then bake as instructed.

Cool cupcakes.

After the cupcakes have cooled, fold the yogurt into the cool whip and then ice the cupcakes.

top with some strawberries and keep the cupcakes refrigerated.

spinach & sausage soup

... a few tuesday nights ago, i was in the mood for soup! i work at a bakery/cafe in a small little town and they make this delicious spinach & sausage soup. it is soo good! anyway, i was really craving that soup so i decided i was going to make it myself. but, i had a problem. i didn't have the recipe for it and i had only made it a few times at work. i figured it would be hard to mess up soup, so i knew i would be pretty safe doing it without a recipe.  i chopped up some red potatoes. and boiled them in a pot with chicken broth and some spices until the potatoes were soft. i then dumped the sausage into the soup that i had fried while the soup was cooking. then i chopped up some spinach and dumped it in. and tada! i had my soup! and it was actually really good! not quite as good as the one at the cafe where i work, but still really good! i also served a baguette with it, which was quite tasty with the soup.

Manicotti

i made manicotti a few tuesday nights ago, and boy was it an adventure! i thought stuffing manicotti noodles would be fairly easy, but it's not. after cooking the pasta i discovered the insides of the noodles were stuck together, (maybe i didn't put enough oil in?) anyways, i filled up a plastic bag with the cheese mixture and cut a hole in the end of it. it was quite difficult to squeeze the cheese mixture into the noodles without splitting the sides of the pasta and/or the cheese mixture falling out.  i had quite a mess. the manicotti turned out to be very good and was definitely worth the mess.

 the manicotti

green beans that i served on the side with it.

Recipe:

Manicotti

1 (8oz.) pkg. manicotti

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 (15oz.) ctn. Ricotta cheese

1 (16oz.) ctn. cottage cheese

1 c. grated Mozzarella cheese

1/3c. Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. salt

1/4tsp. pepper

1 tsp. dried parsley

2 eggs

Sauce:

29 oz. tomato sauce

1 Tbsp. dried, minced onion

1 1/2tsp. basil

1 1/2 tsp. parsley flakes

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions:

  Boil manicotti according to package directions, adding oil to water so they won't stick together. Meanwhile, mix cheeses, salt, pepper, parsley, and egg. Drain manicotti; run cold water over it. Stuff each manicotti with cheese mixture. Place them in a 9x13 inch pan. (Use decorating bags to fill easier.) 

  Mix all sauce ingredients together. You can also mix in 1 pound browned ground beef. Pour sauce over manicotti. Bake, covered at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes more. Makes 8 servings.

  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top of sauce if desired.