Rural Recipe

One thing about living in a rural area is that you have more time then somebody living in an urban area. One recipe that I love is cheese stuffed shells. This is a recipe that we use at my work and even though it's a little bit more time consuming, if you have the time it is worth it.

Ingredients:
12 oz. shells
1 1/2 lbs. cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
1 (8 oz.) package of mozzarella cheese
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chopped parsley
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
3 c. tomato sauce or meat sauce
1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:
Cook shells in boiling salted water for 12 to 15 minutes. Drain well. Combine ricotta and Mozzarella cheeses with eggs and blend with salt, pepper and parsley. Fill the shells with the cheese mixture. Spread a thin layer of sauce in a baking dish. Place the stuffed shells, 1 deep, in the baking dish and top with balance of sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheese and cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

This recipe usually takes me about an hour to make from start to finish but like I said before it is worth the work. Another nice thing about this recipe is that you have lots of options to make it different. You can add meat into the cheese mixture for cheese and meat stuffed shells or add more cheese or more sauce to it. One of my coworkers even chopped up some vegetables to add to the cheese mixture before she baked it and that was very well also. Have fun experimenting with this recipe!

*RS*

Daily time saving tips

If you are like me it feels like your to do list is getting longer and your days are getting shorter. While looking online I found a list of some ways to help save time during the day. These ideas are really helpful, especially if you are living in a urban area and really need all the time you can get.

One thing that is always a problem in my house is when somebody gets a glass, uses it, and sits it down. By the time that person goes to get their glass it's in the dishwasher because somebody else didn't know if it was being used or not. A great tip to help this is to designate a spot for cups that are being used on one of your counters. This way nobody will be trying to guess whether or not the cup is being used.

Another tip I like is that when you are cooking save all of your trash in one area and then take it to the trash can in one trip that way you are not making frequent trips to the trash can. This tip can also be used for other times when you are not cooking but have lots of trash that you need to throw away.

A couple months ago I wrote down a date that was a couple weeks ahead. When I went back and looked at my note I didn't know what the date meant. It turned out that the date was my grandma's birthday, that is why keeping your your important dates on one calendar is also helpful so that you are not forgetting why the date is important.

One thing that I really dislike other then forgetting why a date is important is when I get home from the grocery store and realize I forgot to get something I really needed and have to go to the store again just to get that one thing. One way I have learned to avoid this is to keep one shopping list somewhere that you can write everything you need as you realize you need it. I have found that it is easy just to make a note about the stuff you need in the notebook tool of your cell phone if you have one.

Hopefully these tips will help you to save time so that your days feel longer then your to do list!

*RS*