Pumpkin Potato Soup

This pumpkin potato soup is another one of those dishes where I've made so many times that I've lost count. I've been making it for almost two years now, so I've tried plenty of substitutions and fixins. This recipe is for the basic soup, but I have some substitution and fixins ideas (and some to avoid) at the bottom.

This soup is incredibly easy to make. The hardest part is trying not to cry while chopping the onion up. It takes about 30-45 minutes to make from start to finish and will make 6-10 bowls depending on how hungry everyone is.

(as always, click on the pictures to view them larger)


INGREDIENTS
1/2-1 yellow onion
1 small spoonful of butter
6 cups chicken broth or stock
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree (make sure you get plain puree and not pie filling)
3 large russet potatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste

TOOLS
2 pots (one for the soup and one to boil potatoes in)
1 cutting board
1 knife
1 colander or slotted spoon
1 wooden or metal spoon for stirring

DIRECTIONS

Start by filling the potato pot about halfway with salted water and setting it on high to boil.

While waiting for the water to boil, finely dice the onion and cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces. I use a whole onion because they're one of my favorite foods, but you can opt for half an onion if you'd like.

Turn your soup pot on to a medium heat and completely melt the butter. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and stir in completely before adding the onions in. Take your time to make sure the onions are completely caramelized. Trust me, it's worth it to take your time building the layers of flavor in this soup.

Once the water in the other pot is boiling, add the potatoes in. I keep the skins on my potatoes, but you can peel them if you'd like. You need to cook them separately or else your soup will be too starchy.

After the onions are completely caramelized, add the chicken broth, pumpkin puree, and salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Bring the soup to a boil while stirring to make the the pumpkin puree is completely incorporated into the broth and then turn the heat down to a simmer.

When the potatoes are done cooking, transfer them to the soup using a colander or slotted spoon. Add your heavy cream, stir to make sure everything is combined, and taste to see if you need to add any more spices.

Put a lid on your pot and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes before serving.

SUBSTITUTIONS AND FIXIN IDEAS

Since I've made this soup so many times, I've tried experimenting with it and have a few ideas for what you could add (and what you shouldn't) to pump it up a little more.

So far I've discovered that trying to substitute the heavy cream for milk or greek yogurt didn't end very well. The milk just wasn't creamy enough and the greek yogurt made it so sour it was inedible.

I also tried using olive oil and vegetable oil instead of butter and the soup turned out all right, but the butter does taste a lot better.

I only use Libby's brand of pumpkin puree because I've tried some different brands and they all taste "off."

As for the onion, white works fine, but purple is too overpowering.

You can substitute vegetable broth/stock for chicken broth/stock to make it vegetarian and it tastes just as good.

For fixins, I've added different cheeses on top as a garnish and they've all tasted good. My personal favorite was some grated parmesan.

You can also add in some meat to make it even heartier. My mom made carnitas for dinner last night, so crisped some up in a pan and topped the soup off with it today. My boyfriend and I were both fans of this fixin.

I hope you all enjoyed this post! If you end up making this soup, let me know how it turned out and any experiences you have with substitutions or fixins of your own and until next time...

Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

Mini Frittatas

I'm a big fan of anything that I can make ahead and freeze for busy days and these mini breakfast frittatas are perfect to pop in the microwave on a busy morning.

One of the things I love about making these is that you can essentially add anything you want to them, which makes them great for using up stuff that's nearing it's expiration date. I chose to keep this batch very basic, but by all means, substitute stuff to your liking and add in any extras that you'd normally have inside an omelette, because these are basically little omelette muffins.

INGREDIENTS
1 dozen large eggs
8 oz cheddar cheese
1 lb ground breakfast sausage
1/2-1 onion (depending on how much you like onion)
1 green pepper
1 bunch chives
milk
salt, pepper, and any other spices you like


Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and preparing your muffin tins. I used silicon baking cups, but if you don't have those you can spray some nonstick spray in the tins. I haven't done this with paper liners before, so I'm not sure how they'd hold up in the freezer to be honest.

Brown the sausage (or your choice of meat) in a skillet with salt, pepper, and any other spices you like. While the meat is cooking, dice up 1/2-1 onion, a green pepper, and any other veggies you want to add in. Once it's done, drain the majority of the fat and set the meat aside in a bowl to slightly cool because you don't want it to be screaming hot when you add it to the eggs. Toss the veggies into the skillet and caramelize.

While the onions are cooking, crack the eggs into a mixer (or a bowl if you don't have a mixer) and mix with some milk. I never measure, but if I had to guess I use about half a cup. Just add it until the eggs are a pale yellow without looking too milky.

Chop up your chives while the onions are caramelizing and the eggs and milk are mixing. Spice the egg and milk mixture and add in the cheese. Once the cheese is fully incorporated, add in the meat and all of the veggies.

When the mixture is ready, fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full with the mixture. Make sure to get egg in every tin, because it will try and sink to the bottom of the bowl. You will more than likely have to bake multiple rounds of the frittatas.

Bake each tin until the tops are golden brown and bubbly-about 20-25 minutes. If you are choosing to store them in the freezer, a freezer safe gallon bag with the date you made them written on it is the easiest way to go.

When you take them out of the freezer to reheat, place them on a plate with a paper towel on top to keep the moisture in. It should only take about 30 seconds for each frittata.

And that's it! The last time I made these, they didn't even make it to the freezer and were gone within 24 hours because the people I live with couldn't stop popping them into their mouth. I took that as a sign that they had to be shared with the world.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and until next time...
Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

Hearty Beef, Corn, & Potato Soup

The first time I made this soup, I was low on cash and needed to make something that would fill my boyfriend up and actually taste good. I rummaged through the kitchen, pulled out hearty ingredients and decided I wanted to turn it all into a soup. The only thing I needed was chicken broth, so I had sent my boyfriend to the store to get that while I got the rest of the soup ready. Needless to say, it was a hit as I'm still making it a year later.

This soup is perfect for these chilly months, because it's like a hug in a bowl that leaves you feeling satisfied and all of the ingredients are easy to find year-round.

(click to view the picture larger)

I never said it was a pretty soup, but it tastes pretty good if that counts!

Did I mention this is super inexpensive to make? I made a pot that made about ten bowls for less than $15! Let's get on with the instructions, shall we?

INGREDIENTS
1 lb ground beef
1/2 an onion
3-4 russet potatoes
2 boxes chicken broth or stock
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 large can of corn
salt, pepper, & any other spices you like

Start by getting a large pot of water (with some salt) on the stove over high heat. Next, brown the ground beef in a skillet with salt, pepper, and any other spices you have on hand. I used an herb blend from a local spice shop, but anything that you normally like with these flavor profiles will work just fine.

While the water is boiling and the beef is browning, dice up half an onion and cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces. You can choose to peel the potatoes if you'd like, but I always keep them on.

Once the water is boiling, place the potatoes in. When the ground beef is browned, put it to the side in a bowl and drain the majority of the fat out of the skillet. After this, caramelize the onions in the same skillet.

When the potatoes are about 1/2-3/4 done, drain the water and replace with the chicken broth and crushed tomatoes. Add in the ground beef, onion, and season to taste. Cook until the potatoes are fully cooked through. Once the potatoes are cooked thouroughly, add the corn and cook and additional five minutes. This will ensure that the corn does not because mushy, which has happened to me before when I've added canned corn into a soup too early.

That's literally it! The hardest part of making this soup is trying not to cry while cutting the onions ;)

I hope you all enjoyed this recipe and until next time...
Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

Off With Their Heads, Pippi the Pumpkin Patch Princess, & National Dessert Day

I went to Portland again last weekend to do makeup for my cousin's homecoming dance and of course hang out with her, my aunt, and their dog.

On the way up, Bart and I stopped at the shelter we adopted Pippi from to drop off some blankets and treats since the weather is getting colder out here and they asked for donations. Seeing all of the doggies who need homes makes me so sad and I wish that I could bring all of them home with me but realistically the best thing for me to do right now is just drop off donations whenever we're in the area (it's an hour away from where we live).

When we arrived in Portland, we went to a McMenamins because we haven't been even though there's one in town. I got this amazing veggie wrap that was so filling I could only eat half of it and was completely stuffed. After that, we went back to Aunt Teri's and hung out watching Netflix and catching up on the last month while we waited for Elise to get home from her water polo tournament that was out of town. Of course I also took this opportunity to get in as many Libby (their dog) cuddles as possible.

Saturday was homecoming, and Aunt Teri and I made card corsages (which I forgot to get a picture of) for some of Elise's friends and finished up her awesome crown while Elise was getting her hair and nails done. The dance was Disney themed, and her and her friends decided to do a group costume based off of Alice in Wonderland. Elise was the best Queen of Hearts ever of course.

I did her makeup before we went to her friend's house, where I set up a little makeup studio in one of the bathrooms and did makeup for four of her friends. I forgot to ask them for pictures too because I was so worried about getting them all done in time, but three of them wanted silver and black smokey eyes and one wanted natural makeup with false eyelashes, so it wasn't anything too crazy exciting. Here's a picture of Elise being perfect though!

After I finished doing makeup on the girls, Aunt Teri took us out to her favorite Thai place and we got these Thai teas that tasted so good it should be illegal. I had yellow curry, Bart had a curry that tasted like Chai Tea (in all the right ways) and Aunt Teri had a mango chicken plate. She also ordered two appetizers because her goal is to send us home fifty pounds heavier every time we visit obviously...not that I'm complaining because FOOD.

Elise got me this absolutely perfect train case to thank me for helping out with homecoming stuff. No more lugging my stuff around in random boxes and bags when I travel!

On Sunday we went to Multnomah Falls, which was breathtaking. Aunt Teri and I went up about halfway and decided we wanted to go back to the bottom and get coffee while Bart decided to try and go all the way to the top. It was really crowded and the bridge you had to cross to continue on the path was so crowded it was essentially at a stop, which is why Aunt Teri and I decided to chill instead.

While we were sitting on a bench, every kid that passed by exclaimed "Mom! That lady has purple hair!" which my Aunt thought was a hoot, but I'm used to by now because I get it everyday at work and it never gets old.

After that, Bart and I went home and were greeted by a very happy Pippi who had clearly missed us. She turned six months old on Sunday and my mom brought her to the pumpkin patch with my little sister and her friend to celebrate. I got a text from my mom that said "Pippi got a pumpkin because she licked it and said 'I want this one' so I had to buy it for her." She also sent me some adorable pictures of Pippi having an awesome half-birthday (or should I say un-birthday to keep with the Alice in Wonderland theme?). This one is my favorite.

In honor of National Dessert Day on Tuesday, I baked cream puffs and sugar cookie sticks dipped in frosting. The cream puffs had a thin layer of boysenberry preserves (because they're pretty strong) and chocolate expertly globbed on top by my little sister. I'm really happy with how they came out.

That's basically how my week has been! I wanted to share it with all of you since it's been such a crazy but awesome week! I'm baking viking cupcakes tomorrow for my friend's daughter's third birthday which is How to Train Your Dragon themed and I'm really excited about it. Until next time...
Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

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Fresh Tomato Garlic Sauce

Today is my day off and my mom suggested I make a sauce for myself using the tomatoes she just picked from her garden. I wanted to make a sauce that was chunkier than my normal tomato sauce and would take less time to cook. This is what I came up with.

click to view picture larger


INGREDIENTS
(keep in mind this is one serving, so if you're cooking for more than one person be sure to multiply everything by the number of people you'e cooking for)

*4 small or two large tomatoes
*2 cloves of garlic
*2 tbs olive oil
*2 tbs butter
*1/8 cup+ low sodium chicken broth
*salt & pepper
*basil
*oregano

Start by cutting the tomatoes into pieces about the size of your thumbnail. For this sauce, you only want the outer chunks of the tomato, because you don't want a ton of mushy pieces and seeds that can come with the center of the tomato. You should have about 1/2-2 cups of tomato chunks when you're done. Add them to a bowl, add a little salt and pepper, mix, and let them marinate while you get the rest of the sauce ready.

For the garlic, you can choose to finely mince the cloves or just dice them up a bit. I love chunky garlic, so I chose the latter.

Turn a saucepan on medium heat and melt the butter and olive oil together. Add the garlic, a little salt and pepper, and basil and oregano all to taste. I used about a tsp of basil and oregano to start. I continuously mixed at this point to avoid burning the garlic.

Once you can start to smell the garlic and spices, add the chicken broth and tomatoes and bring the heat up to high. Bring it to a boil, return to medium heat, and cover. After about five minutes, remove the lid and mix. You'll know it's done when the tomatoes have completely burst and the sauce has turned red. Taste to make sure you're happy with the flavors, and if you are-get ready

If your sauce is looking a little too thick, feel free to add some more chicken broth.

Once your sauce is finished, spoon it over some gnocchi, noodles, chicken, etc. and enjoy!
Stay Stellar,
Paige

Garlic Pinto Beans

When I was in 7th grade my dad married my now-stepmom who is half Mexican and half Native American. I remember being really excited about the possibility of her teaching me authentic recipes from both sides of her family only to find out that the only thing she could really cook was garlic pinto beans. But if you're only going to be good at cooking one thing, you're probably really good at it, right? Right.


When I was at their house one time, she was making the beans for dinner (they're so good that we would just eat them with tortillas and call it a meal) and said she would teach me how. Let me start by saying this recipe is so easy that a monkey could do it. Once you do it once, it's stuck in your head forever, because it's literally THAT easy, which makes the result even more surprising. Let's do this thing!

All you need for this recipe is dry Pinto beans, fresh garlic, salt, and pepper. That's literally it. You can add peppers if you want, but they're just as amazing without.



The first thing you're going to do is soak the beans overnight. Get a bowl, pour the bag of beans in, and cover with water. Depending on how wide the bowl is, you're going to want at least an inch of after over the beans, but I usually just fill the bowl up most of the way to be safe. The beans will soak up some of the water and expand overnight, and if you don't add enough water they'll soak up different amounts and cook unevenly, so when in doubt-add more water.

You can either use a crockpot or a large pot to cook the beans in the next day. I prefer using a crockpot even though my stepmom uses a stove top pot because I don't have to worry about checking the beans as often. You're going to drain and rinse the beans and then place them in your cooking vessel followed by about twice as much water as beans. I was taught to just eyeball it and that once again more water is better than less, so that's what I do.

You're then going to peel and smash anywhere from a half a bulb to a full bulb of garlic depending on how much you like garlic and how big your bag of beans is. I almost always use the whole bulb no matter what, because garlic is one of my favorite kitchen smells and tastes.

Pop the garlic in with the beans and add salt and pepper to taste. I actually normally use garlic salt when making these because I'm a garlic freak, but you can use whichever salt you like best.

And that's really it! If you're using a crockpot, the beans should take about 6-8 hours on low and around 4 hours on high, but if you're using a stove top pot they should only take 2-3 hours. Make sure to keep the temperature on low if you're making them on the stove.

When the beans are done, they should be soft to the bite and have created their own sort of soup, which is why I like adding extra water. Everyone I know loves the soupy water with the beans, but you can use a slotted spoon to serve them if you just want regular beans. I chose to leave the garlic bulbs in because I like the way the bulbs taste when they're cooked, but you can take them out as well.

Like I said, this recipe is so easy a monkey could do it. I really only made this post because every time I make these beans for people they ask for the recipe, so I figured I'd share it with all of you too!




Until next time...


Stay Stellar,

Paige Elise

Roomspiration

I'm currently in the process of decorating my room. When I lived in Iowa, I never put much effort into decorating my room, because the first two years were spent in dorms where I would have to move out at the end of the school year, and it didn't seem worth it for me to put in the time and effort to decorate a room I'd only be in for 9-10 months. After that, I lived in an apartment and just never got the motivation to make my space uplifting and inspiring.

Since moving into this new house, I've been debating on whether or not I should put the effort in, because my boyfriend and I are trying to move out within the next year, but I figured I should still get my furniture painted and some decor made so that when we do move into our own place we have less work to do to make it feel like home.

I got lucky in that my boyfriend cares more about our future "office" room than the bedroom, and is giving me creative freedom in decorating our room. We currently have super depressing dark grey walls with furniture primed with grey primer and a black and white comforter on our bed...obviously very inspiring and uplifting. I've always loved rooms filled with bright colors and a mix of cute and tacky decorations, so that's the look I'm going for.

I've been saving pictures for inspiration and wanted to share some of them with all of you. As always, click on the picture for a larger view. Sources are underneath each photo.

I love when vanities have a bunch of decorations surrounding the mirror. I had some hanging up at my apartment in Iowa and it made getting ready more fun.

source

I definitely won't have a Ouija board anywhere in my room (because I'm not trying to get dead), but I love everything else about this picture.

source

I love how they mixed childlike toys with fancy perfume bottles. Definitely going to have to borrow this idea!

(source unknown-if you know the source, please let me know so I can properly credit them)

I love the mix of neon and dark colors in this room.

source

I'm always looking for cute ways to store stuff. A brightly painted wall cupboard is now on my list.

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I love that this bed is a mix of princess, grandma, and child.

(original source has been deactivated since I saved the picture)

I need my closet to look like this.

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I actually already use my dresser (and a shelving unit next to it) so store my craft supplies. Right now our tv and some random stuff are on top of it...I like the way this looks much better!

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I can't wait to get started on everything! I'll be posting before and after pictures and project tutorials as I work through everything of course. Are any of you working on any fun projects right now?



Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

My First Trip to Portland

I went to Portland for the first time this past weekend. My main reason for going was to see my aunt and cousin because I haven't seen them in about ten years. I've lived in Oregon for about six months now and wanted to get completely settled in before taking any trips, but it was hard waiting to see them when I knew they were so close. The other reasons my boyfriend and I decided to take a trip to Portland were to see my suitemate from my first year of college (he hadn't met her before), and to explore the city in general.

We left Bend on Friday and got to my friend Christine's house around 12:30. She had lunch waiting for us, so we ate while catching up on things (Bart opted for playing with her housemate's new kitty while we had "girl time") before taking a bus downtown. We went to the Chinese Garden, which is absolutely stunning. These are some of the shots I took while we were there.

After that we went to this awesome ice cream shop called Salt & Straw that specializes in funky flavors. You can tell it was a really popular places, because there was a line out the door and about a 30-45 minute wait even with four people working the line, one person making fresh waffles cones, and one person on the cash register. SO WORTH THE WAIT THOUGH.

I got Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper, Christine got Freckled Woodblock Chocolate, and Bart got Apricot with Citra Hops. It was a magical experience.


After that we went back to Christine's and hung out some more (while Bart played with Ricky the cat some more) until it was time for us to go to my aunt's house. When we got to my aunt's we obviously were excited to see each other so we caught up in her living room and ate pizza before calling it a day. Also their dog, Libby, is basically my new best friend now and I regret not taking a picture of that majestic creature.

The next morning we went to breakfast at a place called Biscuits before heading to the maker's market in downtown. There were so many cool booths that it was hard not to spend an hour at each one. My favorite was definitely the one with nerd themed prints. We talked to the guy for awhile and definitely plan on buying more prints from him, but bought these two to start (pictures are from his website [outnerdme.com] btw because I couldn't get good pictures of ours without mad glare). I picked out the Big Bang Theory one and Bart picked out the Firefly one.

But if we went to Portland and didn't stop at Voodoo Doughnut, does the trip even count at all?

After that we went downtown, browsed through some shops, and then we went back to their house to relax for a little bit before going to the mall (Elise had a surprise party to go to, but the rest of us went). I replaced my foundation and eyeshadow primer at Sephora and bought a new nude eyeshadow palette because I'm down to 3 neutral shadows that are all almost gone which is how I justified buying the palette in my head. I DON'T FEEL BAD AND I EARNED IT OK

After the mall we went back to the house, watched Big Bang Theory with my aunt, and then went to bed.

On Sunday we went to the Rose Garden, followed by the Japanese Garden before eating lunch at a pub called The Public House and then saying good bye...for now.

Elise can't pass up an opportunity to study...

The pictures from the Japanese Garden didn't turn out as well as the others, but you can still get the idea of how gorgeous it was.

Overall it was an amazing trip and I'm so happy that I got to reconnect with family that I haven't seen in ages and a friend I haven't seen in years while exploring a new city. I can't wait to go back!


Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

Carrot Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I was one of those weird kids that LOVED carrot cake growing up. But I always picked the raisins out (seriously, who decided that putting raisins in baked goods was a good idea?). It wasn't until my mom's friend graduated from college and had a carrot cake with pecans in it that I had ever thought of the idea, which was apparently just as popular as raisins. My mom can't stand nuts aside from almonds, and definitely doesn't like them in her baked goods, so I came up with a basic carrot cake cupcake that can be kept as is or have raisins, nuts, or whatever else you want added to them. Bear in mind that this recipe only makes 12 cupcakes, so if you need more it's really easy to double, triple, etc.

As always, click on the pictures to view them larger!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED

*1 large egg (room temperature)

*1 cup golden brown/medium strength brown sugar (packed)

*1/2 cup of vegetable oil

*3 cups of shredded carrots

*1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

*1 tbsp ground cinnamon

*1/2 tsp baking powder

*1/4 tsp baking soda

(for the frosting-not pictured)

*4oz plain cream cheese (room temperature)

*1/2 stick butter (room temperature)

*1 tbsp ground cinnamon

*1/2 lb powdered sugar

*milk


LET'S DO THIS!

First off, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit and line a cupcake pan with liners.

You're going to whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.

In another bowl (or a mixer if you have one) beat the egg, oil, and brown sugar together. It should look almost like a gooey caramel.

Once those ingredients are mixed together well, add the carrots in.

After the carrots are incorporated, slowly mix in the dry ingredients. Scrape the sides at this point to make sure all of the ingredients are evenly mixed in.

Next, fill the cupcake liners up evenly.

Bake until you can pull a toothpick/knife out without anything coming off it-it should only take about 15-20 minutes.

When the cupcakes are cool, make the frosting by beating the cream cheese, butter, cinnamon, and a small splash of milk (about 2 tbsps) together. Slowly add the powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. If you add too much powdered sugar, simply add milk about a tbsp at a time. I knew I wanted the frosting on these to look more rustic, so I added less powdered sugar than I would if I were going to pipe the frosting on.

As soon as these came out of the oven my mom was asking every thirty seconds when she could eat one. The kitchen smelled like a Yankee Candle store in the middle of October, so I don't blame her.

These babies are so moist that I seriously don't understand how they hold together when the cupcake wrappers are taken off.

They got a thumbs up from everyone in the house, so hopefully you'll like them too if you make them!

Until next time...


Stay Stellar,

Paige Elise

My Lasagna!

I couldn't think of a cool name that didn't just list off every ingredient in this lasagna, so I'm just going to call it "my lasagna." It's not hard to make at all, but you'd better plan on staying home all day to put it together/check on it occasionally. The pictures aren't the best, because we're having a summer storm today, so the lighting was horrible, but I was determined to make this lasagna and share it with all of you. As usual, you can click on the photos to see them larger!

Anyways, here's how to make it!

INGREDIENTS:
*lasagna noodles
*Italian sausage
*stuff to make sauce (you can use premade sauce, but I prefer making it from scratch)
*ricotta cheese (large container)
*shredded mozzarella cheese (large bag)
*spinach/arugula mix

LET'S GET COOKIN!

First off, you're going to want to take your Italian sausage out of it's casings and brown it in a skillet. You can choose to use one of those sausage loafs instead, but I really like the way these sausages taste, so I decided it was worth the extra 30 seconds of cutting and squeezing.

While you're doing this, cook off your lasagna noodles according to the package directions. I didn't include a picture because I had them on the back burner and it didn't make for a good shot. After they're cooked, reserve about 1/2 a cup of pasta water for your sauce. Trust me, it makes it taste better.

After you've browned the sausage, take it out with a slotted spoon, but leave the "juice" in the skillet. Toss in some diced onion (I used about 2/3 of a sweet onion, but you can use less/more if you'd like) and caramelize them. This is going to make the onions (and your sauce) taste better. If you are opting to use premade sauce, obviously you can skip this step.

For the sauce, you're going to throw the onions into a large pot with some white wine (I forgot to include it in the picture since I already had it in my cupboard and all of the other ingredients were just purchased today) to your own liking-some people like the flavor to be more pronounced than others, I am one of those people-and about 1/3-1/2 a cup of the reserved water water. Now is the time to spice it. I used the token Italian grouping of salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, parsley, thyme, and basil, but again, it's all up to what you like. Give that a good stir and let it sit on low for about half and hour to an hour so the onions can really absorb the wine flavor.

Next, add your large cans of crushed and diced tomatoes and the sausage you set aside earlier and stir. Let this sit anywhere from 3-6 hours, depending on how much time you have to get dinner on the table, stirring here and there. Again, the burner should be on low.

Here's a quick breakdown of what we did for assembly. We forgot to take pictures of all of the steps since we had to wash our hands every time we touched the wet noodles or ricotta, but hopefully you get the idea!

*Preheat the oven to 375F

*Take a large, rectangular baking dish (we just used the biggest cake pan we had) and spread some of the sauce along the bottom. This prevents the noodles from sticking to the pan/burning.

*Lay your first row of noodles next to each other. If your pan is longer than the noodles, just have them overlap or slice off any excess noodle.

*Spread another layer of sauce, followed by general globs of the ricotta along the pan, then cover it completely with shredded mozzarella and a few heaping handfuls of the spinach/arugula mix.

*Top with another layer of noodles and repeat the process until you reach the top, but switch the cheese and greens so that you'll have a nice, gooey crust once it's finished cooking.

*Pop it in the oven for about 45 minutes or until the top starts to brown and bubble. Normally you should let it sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting, but my family was starving, so we dug right in and it basically exploded on our plates. It was delicious though and everyone loved it!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this post, and if you end up trying out this recipe, let me know how it was for you, and until next time...

Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise