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Favorite Lasagna Recipe

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This lasagna is a classic and wins us over every time we have it. It’s quick, easy, and can easily feed a crowd!

I never used to be much of a lasagna lover. I think it was mainly because I could do without the lasagna noodles and just preferred the meat and sauce. This recipe has changed my thoughts on lasagna. It’s so delicious!!

It’s such a great recipe to make around the holidays when family and friends are around and you are needing food on the table and quick!

Favorite Lasagna Recipe

It has great flavor! I also prefer using cottage cheese in my lasagna rather than ricotta but that’s just me.

Serve this lasagna with a great salad on the side for some extra veggies rather than serving it with bread. You will feel much better afterwards too!

Favorite Lasagna Recipe

This recipe takes about 40 minute of prep time and then bakes for an hour at 375℉. It can also be prepped ahead of time and refrigerated until it’s time to bake it, which is a great way to get dinner on the table sooner after a long day at work.

The winter time is always when we like to eat a variety of Italian dishes because they are super yummy and comforting with the cold weather. I just make a point to always serve them with a delicious salad so our plates aren’t filled up with only lasagna and we have some nutrient dense greens on the side. My husband is always amazed at the salads I make, and I know he’s being honest because he always gets seconds (of the salad)!

Favorite Lasagna Recipe

So, if you’re looking for a go-to recipe for the day after Christmas when friends and family are still around give this one a try!!!

Favorite Lasagna Recipe

Favorite Lasagna Recipe

Favorite Lasagna Recipe

Megan
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 each small onion chopped
  • 2 tbsp ground oregano divided
  • 1/4 tsp coarse salt
  • 3/4 tsp ground pepper divided
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 jar marinara sauce 24 oz
  • 2 1/2 cups cottage cheese low-fat
  • 9 each lasagna noodles oven ready
  • 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
  • 2 each eggs

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375℉. 
    In a large skillet, cook ground beef. Drain grease. Add onion, 1 tbsp oregano, salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper. Mix together well. 
    Add marinara sauce and water to skillet. Stir in and increase heat to bring contents to a boil. Remove from heat. 
    In a medium-large bowl, add cottage cheese, 1 tbsp oregano, 2 eggs, Parmesan, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Mix well. 
    In about a 9x13 baking dish, begin layering. Start with a a thin layer of the ground beef mixture. Place 3 lasagna noodles on top of the beef mixture. Add cottage cheese mixture on top of the noodles and then 1/2 cup of the Mozzarella cheese. Add another 3 noodles, beef mixture on top of the noodles followed by cottage cheese mixture and another 1/2 cup of Mozzarella. Place 3 more lasagna noodles, remaining beef mixture, and the rest of the Mozzarella cheese. 
    Bake for 1 hour. Start with baking the lasagna uncovered and cover with foil for the last 20 minutes. 

Notes

Recipe may be prepped ahead of time up to 1 day, refrigerated, and then baked for 1 hour when ready. 
Adapted from Jo Cooks

 

 

Favorite Lasagna Recipe

 

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Best Oven Baked Round Steak

Best Oven Baked Round Stead

 

Favorite Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Favorite Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

 

Fall Kale & Walnut Salad

Fall Kale & Walnut Salad

Best Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

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Let your slow cooker do the work today and try out these amazing Beef Barbacoa bowls alongside quinoa, black beans, avocado, cilantro, and lime wedges. They’re the best!

Best Beef Barbacoa Bowls

 

Welcome to 3 Scoops of Sugar!

I hope you all are having a great Monday. I can hardly believe it’s almost Christmas because school just started like yesterday. Anyway, I have been cooking up a storm in our kitchen lately and have been doing an insane amount of dishes to go along with all the cooking.

I think you are going to love this beef barbacoa! It’s one of those recipes you keep around for special occasions for a couple reasons: 1) The taste is out of this world! 2) It comes together so nicely in the slow cooker and what better way to prepare the main dish when several people are coming over. 3) You can serve it a number of different ways including beef barbacoa bowls, enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas, or in a soup.

Best Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

I’ll admit I love working in the kitchen but not everyone can say that. So for those of you looking for a great recipe that is quick to prep and stick in the slow cooker, this one’s for you!

The prep involves cutting your chuck roast (4-5lb) into about 10 chunks of meat. Then you will sear it with olive oil over medium high heat on all sides and transfer it to the slow cooker. The final step in prepping this beef barbacoa involves adding the chiles in adobo, beef broth, lime juice, cider vinegar, and seasonings to a blender until smooth and pouring the sauce over the meat. Cook the meat on low for 8-10 hours and that’s the plain and simple truth.

Best Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

 

You can certainly choose a number of ways to serve this beef barbacoa but I personally love bowls lately. The best part of a taco, burrito, etc is usually what’s inside so why not cut down to the chase ya know!

Based on what you like/dislike you could create your own custom bowl. Or make it into more of a salad with everything over chopped lettuce. We only had spinach and kale in the fridge so beef barbacoa bowls made the most sense for us at the time. And there was no regret whatsoever!

Our bowls consisted of quinoa, black beans, avocado slices, the beef barbacoa, a lime wedge, and chopped cilantro on top with a sprinkle of coarse salt. And that’s how these beautiful beef barbacoa bowls came to be!!

My husband and I both agreed we are going to be keeping this recipe around for a very long time!

Best Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

I found this recipe in the HyVee magazine awhile ago and I’m so glad I pulled it out and kept in around because I have been wanting to make beef barbacoa and it was time a recipe like this made it to my blog.

I really hope you like it just as much as we do! It’s more on the spicy side but to offset that you could always do half as many chipotle peppers. 

 

Best Beef Barbacoa Bowls

Best Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

3 Scoops of Sugar
Let your slow cooker do the work today and try out these amazing Beef Barbacoa bowls alongside quinoa, black beans, avocado, cilantro, and lime wedges. They're the best!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 30 minutes
Course Beef
Cuisine Gluten Free

Ingredients
  

Beef Barbacoa

  • 4-5 lb Chuck Roast boneless
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 5 each chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
  • 3/4 cup beef broth low sodium
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Remaining ingredients for bowls

  • 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 1 each avocado pitted and sliced
  • 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
  • 1 dash coarse salt
  • 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
  • 2 each lime wedges

Instructions
 

Prep Meat

  • Trim excess fat around chuck roast. Cut meat into about 6-10 separate chunks. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add half of the meat. Sear for about 30 seconds on both sides. Transfer meat to slow cooker.

Prep Sauce

  • Place chipotle peppers, broth, lime juice, vinegar, cumin, garlic, oregano, black pepper, and cloves to a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour sauce over meat. Cover meat and cook on low 8-10 hours.

Serve in Bowls

  • When beef is finished, transfer meat to a cutting board and shred meat, reserve juices. Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Add quinoa to bowls followed by black beans and avocado slices or guacamole. Add shredded beef to bowls along with a lime wedge, chopped cilantro, and a sprinkle of coarse salt. Serve.

Notes

Adapted from HyVee
If you prefer your food less spicy, recommend using about 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. 

 

Best Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

More Great Beef Recipes

Best Oven Baked Round Steak

Best Oven Baked Round Stead

Easy Beef and Bean Quesadillas

Easy Beef Quesadillas with Avocado Sauce

Best Blueberry Waffles (with frozen blueberries)

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Celebrate the holidays with family and friends and show them you care with these easy to make blueberry waffles!

Best Blueberry Waffles

 

Hi there!

December is here and so are the short, cold, wintery days. I made the mistake (but one I’m ok with) of making a fantastic brunch a few weeks ago with waffles, eggs, and sausage and now when Sunday rolls around, everyone is like are we having eggs, sausage, and waffles like you made last week? Umm, yeah okay sure!

I love these waffles for a lot of reasons but especially because they are so great to freeze and toast at a moment’s notice when you need a quick breakfast during the week.

As much as I love a good waffle, I can easily pass up a so-so one. My waffles are best when they are crisp! If you are like most people you make the entire batch of waffles and then sit down to eat one. I often stack them up and by the time they are ready to eat, they are kind of soggy. My trick- stick them in the toaster and crisp them up! I do it every time whether they are frozen or freshly made.

Best Blueberry Waffles

The kids are so excited for Christmas this year! I think they are more excited now than ever. Parker, our 5-year old asks me daily if he can get a toy at Target and I have been reminding him for the past month that Christmas is coming. It’s a daily struggle. He replies with “Oh yeah, how many days till Christmas mommy? I’m just so excited!”

One thing I can’t get my kids excited about is Elf on the Shelf. They don’t really care. I mean they get excited when they find him the first time but I’m pretty sure they don’t believe he moves on his own because 1) they touch him all the time when I’m not looking as I find him on the floor and 2) they are confused if he is so real why he doesn’t talk back to them! I think they are on to something there.

Best Blueberry Waffles

Reasons I love this Blueberry Waffle Recipe:

  1. It doesn’t require buttermilk, which I rarely have on hand. I have made waffles using buttermilk and they taste great but a lot of times we don’t plan for making waffles and rather decide at the last minute and want a recipe we can use with ingredients I usually have on hand.
  2. As I mentioned before these waffles are great to freeze and use on a later date just by popping in the toaster.
  3. Kids love these waffles!

 

Best Blueberry Waffles

Best Blueberry Waffles

Best Blueberry Waffles (with frozen blueberries)

Megan
Celebrate the holidays with family and friends and show them you care with these easy to make blueberry waffles!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Breakfast
Servings 10 -12 waffles

Ingredients
  

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries rinsed and drained

Instructions
 

  • Add eggs to a large bowl and beat with a hand beater or wire whisk until fluffy. Add flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla and almond extract. Mix until just combined.
  • Preheat waffle iron, and spray with olive oil spray prior to use. Add heaping 1/4 cup of batter to waffle iron and cook until golden brown.
  • Serve immediately or freeze for later use.

Notes

I like toasting my waffles just prior to eating to get the crispy waffle effect I love whether they are made fresh or are frozen.
Adapted from AllRecipes

 

Best Blueberry Waffles

 

More Great Holiday Breakfast Ideas

 

Strawberry Twisted Snowflake Bread

Strawberry Twisted Snowflake Bread

 

Sensational Raspberry Banana Bread

Sensational Raspberry Bread (with coconut sugar)