Category Archives: Cooking & Food Storage

This mason jar lasagna is not a food storage or canning recipe.  It uses mason jars for meal prep convenience, NOT long term storage.  This is like my mason jar salad recipe, something easy to make ahead of time that you can eat in a hurry or at work.

Secondly, this is not a recipe.  It is a technique.  Neither this article, nor the attached video will show you how to make lasagna. If your ready to start experimenting with cooking in jars and such you should already have a favorite lasagna recipe. (if not here is a simple lasagna recipe from simply recipes.)

Like all lasagna recipes, start assembling by pouring a spoonful or two of sauce on the bottom of your jar to prevent the pasta noodles from burning and sticking.

Then use a ring from one of your jars to but 4 circles of noodle per jar of lasagna.

Assemble your lasagna recipe from the bottom up.  Sauce, noodle circle, mix, cheese, noodle…. You get the point.

Make sure to leave some space between the top of your pasta and the rim of the jar.  The lasagna will bubble and you don’t want any food to reach the lid while it is baking.

Safety

Even though this mason jar lasagna is not a canning recipe, follow all canning safety precautions.

Ensure all your jars, rings, and lids are clean and sterile before you start.

Whip the rims clean of food after assembling your pasta.

Tighten ring firmly on the jar and then back off just a bit to allow expansion.

Once you have finished, bake the jars at 350 °F for 35-45 minutes depending on size of jars and your preference.

To eat, simply remove the metal ring and lid and microwave for a minute or two.

Method #1

This is a simple way of making your own Baby Food.

We are only using rice, water, and either breast milk or formula depending on your preference.

I like this because it makes baby food for our boy without all the weird chemicals in commercial baby cereal.

By doing this we control exactly what WT eats.

Additionally, I know that I can make him food that he can eat even if he is not old enough to go on the rice and beans disaster diet.

This is a pretty easy recipe to make.

While learning how to make baby food we learned lots of other recipes and ways of doing things.

Ingredients

• Rice
• Water
• Formula/Breast Milk

Procedure

• Cook Rice
• Blend to a paste
• Add enough milk or formula to get to the consistency you feed your child.

Could not be easier.

Something else you can do with this is portion it into ice cube trays to store in freezer for 6 months or so (as long as you would keep frozen Breast milk)

This allows us to mix it with warm formula to feed the baby without a lot of trouble (not that making baby cereal is trouble)

At the age he is eating baby cereal the new hasn’t wore off…. LOL

Method #2

The way we are showing today is the easiest, and closest to the commercial cereal you buy in boxes at the store.

However you do have to grind the rice to make a flour.

Making our own baby food allows us to control exactly what goes into Williams body.

As parents, we want to ensure that he only gets the foods he needs without a lot of chemicals and sugars.

As parents we want him to have everything he needs to grow up strong, smart, and adaptable – and at this age the best thing we can do is to feed him well and give him lots of attention.

Ingredients

1/2 cup short grain brown rice (i like to use organic brown rice)

Preparation

• Place the brown rice in a spice grinder or blender for 45 seconds-1 minute or until finely ground.
• At this point you can store the rice powder in a sealed container in the refrigerator or in a cool dark place.
• To make 1 serving for a 4-6 month old baby
• Bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil and sprinkle in 2 tbsp of the ground brown rice.
• Whisk continuously for 30 seconds and then occasionally for 4-5 minutes or until the mixture is thick and creamy to prevent any lumps from forming.

Serve as is or with fruit or other additions as desired or recommended by your pediatrician