Stop...Hammer time!

First of all, apparently MC Hammer will be on Oprah today.  If you are in Boise, you can catch the replay at 9:00 PM on 24/7.   I wonder if he'll be wearing "the pants"?  I totally had some; a glorious mustard colored pair of MC Hammer pants.  And I was awesome.

Can't find them at your local store?  Make your own!

Fast forward 20 years.  I am completely out of the loop when it comes to current music, unless you want to know about the top artists on Kid's Place Live radio.  However, I wanted to share a music video with you.  I had forgotten about this until a friend posted it on facebook today; I've since watched it three times.  I think it's mesmerizing.  Tyler's coworker made the video and he is obviously very talented and very patient.   The band is Finn Riggins and they are from Idaho.  Watch and enjoy!

That's a lot of pom-poms!  I wonder what kind of stop motion video I could have made out of the scene in my house last night.  

Silly me, thinking the splash mat would contain the mess.  Even though it looks like a bug infestation worthy of the some major extermination, it's just a bunch of dry black beans.  The kids made a mess, but they were happy and busy, which allowed me to make two pans of artichoke spinach lasagna.  This recipe is a winner in our house, as the kids both gobbled it up.  Tyler said, "for lasagna, it's pretty good." Apparently he doesn't like lasagna.  Weirdo.  

I adapted the recipe from allrecipes.com.  We gave one pan to some friends, and kept the others for ourselves.  We get 12 portions out of one pan; one piece for each adult and one for the kids to share.  This means a total of 4 meals from one pan.  It freezes well, just make sure that you wrap it in parchment paper before wrapping it in foil so the tomato sauce doesn't react with the foil.  

Image via allrecipes.com

Artichoke Spinach Lasagna

adapted from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

cooking spray

9 uncooked no-boil lasagna noodles

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (the original recipe called for 1 TBSP fresh rosemary instead, but I found this added a strange flavor)

1 (14 ounce) can marinated artichoke

hearts, drained and chopped

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped

spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed

dry, or several handfuls of fresh baby spinach (the more the better!). 

1 (28 ounce) jar tomato pasta sauce

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese,

divided

8 ounces ricotta cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

salt and pepper

1 (4 ounce) package herb and garlic feta,

crumbled

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium-high. Saute onion and garlic for 3 minutes, or until onion is tender-crisp. Stir in broth and basil; bring to a boil. Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta sauce.

3. Mix together ricotta, egg and a dash of salt and pepper (I also add some dried parsley).  Add 1 cup of mozzarella.  

4.

Spread 1/4 of the artichoke mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish; top with 3 cooked noodles. Spread one third of ricotta mixture over noodles.  Sprinkle 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese over noodles. Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with artichoke mixture and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top.

5.

Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, and bake 15 minutes more, or until hot and bubbly.  Broil for a few minutes if you like the cheese brown and crispy (mmm...) Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.