No Boiling Baked Penne Pasta

No Boiling Baked Penne Pasta
32-ounce jar spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups water
15-ounce container cottage cheese
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
12-ounce box whole wheat penne pasta
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine sauce and water. Stir in cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and pasta. Spoon mixture into a 9x13 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake 55 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake uncovered 5 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Homemade Vanilla Yogurt

The kids and I really like vanilla yogurt and eat quite a bit of it. So I was excited to learn how to make my own homemade yogurt in the Crock Pot (no special machine required). I found basic directions at A Year of Slow Cooking and experimented to find the combination of flavors our family liked best. This is great topped with fruit and granola for breakfast or lunch.

Vanilla Yogurt in the Crock Pot
8 cups (half-gallon) of whole milk
½ cup natural, live/active culture plain or vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup powdered milk (more if using a lower fat milk)
½ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
Plug in your Crock Pot and turn to low. Add eight cups (half gallon) whole milk. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. Unplug your Crock Pot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours. When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warm milk and put it in a bowl. Stir in yogurt, powdered milk (to help thicken your yogurt), sugar, and vanilla. Then dump the bowl contents back into the Crock Pot. Stir to combine. Put the lid back on your Crock Pot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation. Let it sit for 8 hours or overnight. In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened. Chill in container(s) in the refrigerator. This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of yogurt. Your fresh yogurt will last 7-10 days. Save 1/2 cup as a starter to make a new batch. Of course, you can make plain yogurt by omitting the sugar and vanilla. The powdered milk can be omitted as well, but the finished product will not be as thick. This can also be made with lower fat milks, but it will not be as thick.

Tomato Soup

I've been looking for a homemade tomato soup recipe that tastes similar to the smooth (no tomato chunks) canned variety. This is my adaptation of several recipes I've tried. I like to serve it with grilled cheese and apple slices.


Tomato Soup
6 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
46-ounce can tomato juice
1 1/2 cups water
3 Tablespoons sugar
3/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground celery seed
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour, and stir to form a smooth paste. Add tomato juice and water, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar and seasonings. Simmer until heated through.