Easy Pie Crust

*Note* - I like to use Butter Crisco, but you can use regular white shortening if you want too.

Also:  the colder your water, the easier the crust is to work with - use ice water preferrably.

You need to poke holes in the crust after you get it into the pie dish with a fork before you bake it if you are baking it by itself.  You don't need to poke holes in it if you are cooking the filling in with the crust like a fruit pie.

The baked crust:

 I like to sprinkle cinnamon/sugar on the leftover ends and bake on the rack just below the pie crust at the same time.

Easy Lasagna

This recipe is a good, easy lasagna recipe that is kid friendly.

What you need for a 9x13 glass baking dish:

10-12 lasagna noodles

1 bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I use a 10 oz. Ragu Traditional because my kids are picky.)

1/2 to 1 pound sausage or hamburger

1 pound shredded mozzarella or monterey jack cheese - (you may not use the whole pound, but it will be close.)

cooking spray

The first thing you want to do is get your water boiling for your noodles.  After you get your water heating, brown your sausage or hamburger (I prefer sausage).  As soon as your water starts to simmer you can put the noodles in to start softening them.  You don't need to cook them all the way.  If they are only half cooked that is ok - they will finish cooking in the oven.

Drain the grease from your meat and then add the spaghetti sauce to the meat.  You don't need to warm the sauce up since it will cook in the oven. 

Spray your glass baking pan with cooking spray.  Then put a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan.  This helps keep the noodles from sticking to the bottom.  Then add your first layer of noodles. 

After your first layer of noodles, add about 1/3 of your sauce and spread over the noodles.  Then generously sprinkle cheese on top of the sauce.  Add noodles again.  The picture below is my second layer of noodles.  If your family likes cottage cheese in their lasagna you can add that here.  My kids don't like cottage cheese so I don't add it.

Below is my second layer of sauce.  This is to show you about how much I put on each layer. 

You should end up with 3 layers total.  You don't want to go any higher than that unless you have a deeper dish.  3 layers is just right and won't overflow your pan.  After your 3rd layer of noodles, sauce, and cheese cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.  

You can also freeze the uncooked lasagna and cook later.  Just make sure to cook it until the center is bubbly.  My family of 5 will eat about 1/2 of the pan.  So a full pan should serve 10 if you have bread and a vegetable to go with it.