Hot Punch

2 quarts orange juice
2 quarts apple juice
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks and a little bunch of cloves and allspice in a cheese cloth.

Simmer all together for a hour or two.

French Chocolate

3 *unsweetened baking chocolate squares.  
1/2 cup water

Mix together in pot and simmer 3 minutes while stirring.

Add:
1 cup sugar. Cook 3 minutes and cool

Whip 1 cup whipping cream that's been sweeten with a little powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla

Fold two mixtures together.

Use about 1 TBS + chocolate mixture per cup of hot milk. Chocolate mixture can be frozen.

This is my favorite hot chocolate recipe . When my mom's friends gave her a baby shower when she was pregnant with my youngest brother, they served this drink. (He was born in November). When it's cold outside, this is the drink to serve. I always make at least one batch of this during the Christmas holiday season.

(If you don't have unsweetened baking chocolate squares you  can do this for a substitution.  I used butter instead of shortening)

Lasagna Spinach Roll-Ups (Vegetarian dish)

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles

2 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup chopped red bell pepper

2/3 cup chopped fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cups small curd cottage cheese

2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach

2 eggs, lightly beaten

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried marjoram

1 teaspoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add lasagna pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and pat dry.

In a large skillet saute in butter the red bell pepper, mushrooms and onion until tender. In a bowl combine the sauteed vegetable mixture, cottage cheese, spinach, eggs, 4 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese and pepper; mix well.

In a large skillet, heat tomato sauce, marjoram, sugar and garlic powder for 5 minutes.

Spread 1/3 cup filling on each noodle. Roll up and place in greased 9x13 baking dish. Pour tomato sauce mixture over lasagna rolls. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese. Cover and bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes.

I got this recipe off of allrecipies.com. I served it for dinner last night because we had someone for dinner who is a vegetarian. It was delicious! The only downside to this recipe is that it was very labor intensive to make. Luckily, I allowed plenty of prep time and so it turned out fine.

I didn't use the frozen chopped spinach. I used a package of fresh spinach. Before I added it to the cottage cheese mixture, I cooked it in the microwave for 1 minute. Then I chopped it up.

I also always like to use Knudsen cottage cheese. It's not runny like the cheap store brands and it has a good flavor.

Winter gardens are one of the blessing of living in So. California.

Winter gardens are the best!

There's nothing like a fresh lettuce salad for dinner.

For the lettuce, you just pick the outer leaves and they grow all season long until the plants start to go to seed. If you have home grown lettuce a salad spinner is a must. You can pick a spinner up at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Target or Walmart might also carry salad spinners.

In the front row are carrots, then lettuce and then peas. (The peas are growing up a wooden frame with fishing line going from the top to bottom for the peas to climb up.) I also wanted to plant broccoli, onions, and cilantro but I just didn't get around to planting them this year. ...maybe they will make it into my spring garden.