Pasta Maker Gush & A Lasagna Recipe to Die For

Wayyy back in September I turned the ripe old age of 22....
Don't worry, I'm kidding. Not about the birthday- but about being old, I know I'm a spring chicken! 
To celebrate we went mushroom hunting and enjoyed some time in the great outdoors together. 

My mother-in-law and her mom got together and gave me a pasta maker and all the accessories as a birthday gift. Talk about exciting! My husband was actually even more excited than I was, he dropped so many hints I figured out what it was way before the package showed up. I love my honey but he is really bad at keeping a secret!

Here it is in all its stainless steel glory.


 



































We made linguini and stuffed ourselves. Sadly, soon after that our chickens stopped laying for the year so we haven't been able to use it since. If you haven't yet had homemade pasta I highly encourage you to make some. The packaged stuff is not even comparable with pasta made at home with rich pastured eggs. Just be warned, eating homemade pasta might ruin you on store bought, there may be no going back!!!

This pasta maker and all the accessories can be found here. There are also different colors so you can find something that matches your kitchen and style. This brand is really high quality. You can feel how heavy it is and see that it's made to last, we are talking "pass it down to the grandkids" kind of quality.

Here are links for the drying rack, ravioli press and spaghetti attachment. The attachment you see pictured with the wide and narrow pasta cutter in one came with my pasta maker, I can't seem to find it for sale singularly but here's the Linguini Attachment and Angel Hair Attachment, which are the equivalent as far as I can tell.


Now, onto the lasagna. I made this before I knew I was getting a pasta maker for my birthday, all by hand.  It really isn't hard to do you just have to be careful not to break the noodles when rolling the dough out. This particular recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen. It is the best lasagna I have ever eaten. No comparison. This is coming from someone who has eaten Italian food cooked by someone who is only two generations from the mother land. It uses a bechamel sauce instead of ricotta and that, and the homemade pasta, are what makes this awesome.  Trust me, once you try it you will understand why.

The chickens are finally laying enough eggs again to make pasta; I am so excited I could do a happy dance!
That's all folks: now you have an awesome recipe to try and a reason to eat lots of pasta (pasta maker + awesome eggs), if you will excuse me, I'm going to go make some pasta, maybe even lasagna!
This post is participating in the Homestead Barn Hop and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways blog Hop, check them out to find other great blogs like ours!