As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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1 lb hamburger meat (I prefer 97/3)
1 lb Italian sausage
1 box Lasagna noodles (I refuse to use the no boil kind because they don’t cook right in the oven)
2 cups cheddar cheese (shredded)
2 cups Mozzarella (shredded)
2 cups Colby jack cheese (shredded)
1 small container small curd, low fat cottage cheese
1 med jar (32 oz, I think) spaghetti sauce (I prefer the Rag Traditional Meat flavor)
Cumin
Oregano
Garlic Salt
Preheat oven to 375. While you boil the noodles, brown the meat all together. (I like to cook the hamburger and sausage together so that the flavors mix and marry well.) Add the spices about halfway through browning. (I didn’t say how much to add, because I just shake it in until it smells good to me.)
Once the noodles are done, drain them and then add cold water them. (I find them easier to handle when I leave them in cold water while I build the lasagna.) I add a thin layer of sauce to the bottom of the pan just to keep the bottom noodles moist. Then I lay the layers in the following order:
Noodles (My pan takes 3 noodles side by side to cover it.)
Meat
Sauce & cottage cheese mixed together and spread out
A handful of each of the three shredded cheeses.
I repeat these layers until I reach the top of the pan (for me it is about 3 layer sets). After the last full set I top it with a layer of noodles then cover that with whatever cheese is left. Bake at 375 for about 15 – 20 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted. Let sit for about 10 minutes, then enjoy!
I also find that my lasagna tends to taste even better the next day when I microwave some leftovers.
I tend to go the really easy (read: cheating ) way and mine is pretty much the "off the box/jar" version.
A box of lasagna noodles
A jar of spaghetti sauce
1 lb. of hamburger meat (although I have used ground italian sausage before instead)
A small carton of ricotta cheese
A bag of mozzarella cheese
Make the noodles according to the box.
Brown the hamburger and mix it with the sauce.
Layer in the pan (first a little sauce then noodles, sauce and ricotta - spoon it on in little bits here and there - in that order).
Top with mozzarella.
Bake for 35-40 minutes @ 350 degrees (I usually cover it win foil for the first 30 minutes then take it off for the last 5-10)
I make mine simular to Sarah's. I use those no cook noodles (work out great) and when mixing up the cheeses, I use the Italian seasonings and a couple of eggs.
Also, if you are home and don't have Ricotta cheese, you can sub with cottage cheese.
I use the recipe on the back of the barilla no cook
noodles except I use jimmy dean Italian sausage instead of the hamburger it says to use. I also use almost twice as much sauce as they say b/c the no cook noodles suck it up
I make my own sauce and noodles for lasagna...a LOT more time consuming, but it is gorgeous. I use ricotta, provolone, mozarella, cheddar and parmesan cheese and italian sausage, pepperoni and hamburger for meats. I also stir in spinach into the ricotta. (Kids never know its there and they love it!) Needless to say, as much as we love the lasagna...considering the fat content we don't have this one often. Dh does one with chicken, and alfredo sauce (we buy store bought for that...I have not yet mastered Nonna's alfredo). It is yummy scrummy (to quote DD).
I hated making lasagna until I started making it the Rachael Ray way -- and now it is a staple at our house!!
It's really more of a technique than a recipe, but it works really well!! (Of course, RR has a recipe for the sauce and stuff, but I just doctor up a sauce from a jar.)
You use two loaf pans instead of a traditional lasagna pan. Line them well with aluminum foil (leave lots of extra on the sides because they will become handles later) and put some of your favorite sauce at the bottom. Use no-cook noodles (you will probably have to break them to fit into your loaf pan -- I just break off about 1" to get them to fit) and make your layers in the loaf pans....meat sauce, noodles, ricotta & mozza cheese, repeat until it's to the top of the pan. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for about 40 minutes or until the cheese is all melted and gooey.
When they're done, let them sit for about 5-10 minutes to set up, then you can just use the aluminum foil to lift them out of the loaf pans and slice them. The lasagna is super tall, very gooey and yummy and so easy!!! And because everything was lined with foil, cleanup is very easy. I love it!!! We find that our family of four big eaters can usually eat one pan the first night and save the second for another day.
I make it from scratch using the recipe in my Betty Crocker book. It's the same recipe my mom always uses. I change some things depending on my mood and often make extra sauce because we love a good saucy lasagna. I always make two at a time and freeze one for later.
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Tip: When I make it I make two. One for dinner and I freeze the other. I just toss it into the over when I need a quick dinner and it still tastes "homemade" much better than a store bought frozen one.
I also use only Bob Evan's Italian sausage, not ground beef. I also use Ricotta cheese and only mozzarella cheese.
I use the Ronzoni No Boil Noodles and make meat sauce from hamburger or ground turkey and sweet italian sausgae cooked with onion and garlic. Mix with Ragu Meat flavor. I mix Ricotta Cheese with 2 eggs, some oregano or italian seasonings and 1 cup of fresh grated Parmesan. Then I layer: Sauce, Noodles, Cheese Mixture, Sauce, Mozzarella, Noodles, Cheese, Sauce, Mozz, etc. When I get to the top I top with extra sauce to make sure everything is completely covered (not using enough sauce is usually what cause the no boil noodles to not cook properly) and then top with a TON of cheese.
I make mine the same way as Sara (Belle*), but I don't use sausage, onion or fresh garlic. I found that adding a little extra sauce makes the difference, when using the no boil noodles.
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Heather
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Pixie Dust
) way and mine is pretty much the "off the box/jar" version.
Danielle Harmon
I am so spoiled!!!
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