Sweet of Heart

Happy Valentine's Day!

[these dandies are from my mom]

I hope everyone is having chocolate cake for breakfast.Betty & I baked this one -- the triple fudge was from a box, but here is the recipe for the luscious scratch cocoa frosting:

Chocolate Frosting
10 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup cocoa powder
6 tbsp boiling water
3 cups confectioner's sugar
Combine butter and cocoa powder 'til smooth, add boiling water, then confectioner's sugar until spreadable [or lickable from the beaters].

As expected, we had a dandy triple date last night. The valentines were endearing on both ladies and gents.The wine flowed, and the Better Homes & Gardens Lunches and Brunches (c)'63 lasagne was gobbled up. Even though it looked a little less than appetizing by today's standards.
Three-cheese Lasagne
6 ounces (about 3 1/2 cups) wide noodles
1 1/2-ounce envelope spaghetti sauce mix
1 6-ounce can (2/3 cup) tomato paste
1 beaten egg
1 1/2 cups large-curd, cream-style cottage cheese [yes, this is indeed one of the 3 cheeses*]
1 teaspoon salt
1 6- or 8-ounce package sliced Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook noodles in boiling salted water till tender; drain. Prepare spaghetti-sauce mix according to package directions, using the tomato paste. Combine egg, cottage cheese, and salt; mix well.
In greased 10x6x1 1/2-inch baking dish, alternate layers of half each of the noodles, sauce cottage cheese, Mozarella, and Parmesan. Repeat layers. Bake in moderate oven (375) 30 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings.

*I went by the book on this casserole, but in the future I would recommend sticking to a family recipe (especially if your family is Italian). The taste is less salty than canned spaghetti, but otherwise spot-on on flavor of chef boy-ar-dee. If you want to give this the old BH&G try, puree the cottage cheese to ricotta consistency and add some spinach, mushrooms and, meat. Lots of meat.

Have the sweetest of sweet days - I'm headed back to hugs & kisses from my fam!
kitschy-kitschy,
Heidi