Meaty manicotti

My first post from my phone! I am kind of excited to see how this looks. 

Last night I made meaty manicotti was really good. This is one where I made the filling and froze it. 

14 manicotti shells

1 pound bulk Italian sausage

3/4 pound ground beef

2 garlic cloves minced

2 cups mozzarella cheese 

1 package (3oz)  cream cheese 

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 cups meatless spaghetti sauce 

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook noodles according to package 

Meanwhile in a large skillet cook sausage, beef over medium heat. Add garlic cook 1 min. Drain. 

Cool for 10 min. 

Drain shells in cool water. Stir mozeralla cheese, cream cheese, and salt into meat mixture. Spread 2 cups sauce into greased pan. 

Stuff each shell with about 1/4 cupful meat. Pour remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle with parmasean cheese. 

Cover and bake at 350 for 40 min covered. 10 minutes uncovered. I also added more mozeralla cheese on the top for the last 10 minutes. 

Chocolate Cannoli Cake Roll! So good!

So I don't know about you but when I bake or cook something it almost never turns out exactly like the picture! My husband always says it doesn't matter because it tastes great but it can be frustrating. Sometimes I go for taste and a different look because I know I won't get the look in the magazine. Once again I tried something new today and again not so much like the picture but oh my so tasty! 

My husband and I were having a romantic picnic in the back yard tonight and I wanted a special dessert something sweet and different. Looked through my taste of home magazine and found the perfect thing. Chocolate cannoli cake!

Prep 20 min + chilling

Bake 15 min + cooling

Makes 12 servings depending on how wide you cut it

cake

1 3/4 cups chocolate cake mix

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

3 eggs

filling

1 package 8oz cream cheese

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Line a 15in-10in-1in baking pan with greases wax paper; set aside

In a large bowl mix the cake ingredients together 30 seconds on low and 2 minutes high. Pour into prepared pan.

(I forgot to take a picture before it went in the oven but did get one after :)

 Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes or until cake springs back when touched. Cool for 5 minutes. Invert onto a kitchen towel dusted with confectioners sugar. 

 Gently peel off the wax paper. Roll up the cake jelly roll style. Starting with a short end. 

 Cool completely on a wire rack

 Side view of mine you can see where I started to roll it broke! Of course :P

 In a small bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy, add in ricotta cheese, confectioners sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, beat until smooth. Stir in mini chips. 

 Unroll cake; spread filling over the cake leaving 1/2 inch from edge of the cake. 

 Roll up again. Place seam side down on serving tray, refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting and serving. 

 Side view you can see where mine cracked and broke where the roll started but it tasted awesome! 

Was the perfect dessert for our picnic and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. It has become a fast favorite and will be added to my cake folder :) 

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday was this week. Was a wonderful day. Myhusband spoiled me, as always. 

I got fruit delivered, cards, dinner, new flash for my camera. 

I spent the day with 2 of my favorite little people, skyped with my oldest. All in all it was a wonderful day! 

He even brought me home a piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. I am not really a cake fan so this was perfect for me, especially with all that fruit I got earlier in the day :) I am a luck woman. 

We also went to a mystery dinner theater show a few days later for my birthday as well. Was a great show! If you are a military family and have a chance to go to see the mystery dinner theater production put on by a traveling organization for military personal GO! They did a great job, and they got us we were clueless as to who had done it :) 

handmade rug from old sheet set

Well I got food poisoning last week! Oh my, I have never had it before and it was so horrible. I am so grateful that a few guys my husband works with were able to cover for him for a day so he could help with the kids that first day of it. I still don't feel overly hungry and its been a week. I had no idea the effects lingered so long!

Anyway That gave me some time to look around online for some new fun craft ideas I wanted to make.  I came across a beautiful braided rug with sweet little butterflies on it. Butterflies is the main theme in our youngest bed room so I decided I wanted to make her one because I wasn't spending over $100 on a tiny little rug for an infants room! So this was my first attempt at making a rug :) I think it came out pretty well all things considered. 

My oldest had a sheet set that was in the scrap material pile that was white with little bright colored butterflies on it! Perfect! I cut the sheet into 1.5 inch strips. I started out with slightly smaller strips which didn't work as well as the 1.5-2 inch strips. 

I than tied each strip together, you could sew them together but I think tying works as well and adds a little character to the finished product. I did one very long crocheted chain that I than coiled and sewed the coils together. You could put some type of backing on the rug but for the look and purpose I had I didn't feel it was really needed. 

So this is my finished product my daughter seems to like it, well attacking it mostly :) I have not been able to get a good picture of her on it yet. 

Like I said its not perfect but I think its pretty good for a first try. I plan to make one for my oldest next. 

Gift for my husband

As I have said because we are a military family, we have a wedding anniversary and a marriage anniversary. We recently celebrated the wedding anniversary. This is the gift a I made my husband. It went with the theme from the wedding and some things that are special to us. 

 pop corn box is actually from our wedding, it held fans that day :)

(A couple pads for work as a joke or course and a personal one for us, mostly for fun as well)

 Of course there had to be some popcorn! 80's candy because we are both 80's babies. The fortune cookies because our first date was to a Chinese restaurant and has become thee place to eat for special occasions. The rasinets were a last minute add in, he had bought a box and as soon as I saw them I had to have them, so he bought him self a replacement box, same thing happened :) 

 The bacon book has been a joke with us since the very first time we met. I do not like bacon or pork, he LOVES it. He had made a joke about all things being better with bacon, at which time I had to break the news. Ever since for every holiday I have given him something pig or bacon related. 

 In this picture you can see note cards held together with rings. They say I love you on the front over, inside are over 200 reasons and things I love about my husband. He got a little choked up reading them,  while not the intent was nice to see it meant so much to him.

All together ready to give. Was a HUGE hit, got laughs, smiles, a few tears. Can not ask for more than that. All in all I think it was the perfect gift. Now I just have to try to top it for next year! 

Coolest Mosaic!

So I found the coolest site to make a mosaic. You upload at least 250 pictures unto 500 and they make it into a picture you choose. You can download a lower resolution free or spend $5.95 to get a hi-resolution picture you can have printed off. This is one I made.

What a great gift idea! I have already make a couple and the possibilities are just endless :) Thinking I will do one for my oldest with all her pictures from her florida trip. A great gift for grandparents or friends that won't break the bank :) 

This is the website site I used; http://www.easymoza.com I know there are probably many others but I used this one and is the only one I can speak on for the quality.