Meat Lasagna

I found this Lasagna recipe on AllRecipes. I made a couple tweaks but nothing major. I omit the parsley and used oregano instead of basil. I used spicy sausage and ground turkey. I reduced the sugar from 2 tbsp to 1 tbsp and I think the sauce was still very sweet. Next time I will omit the sugar completely and add some red pepper flakes.

Served with my Italian Bread recipe!

Update 9/2015: I've made it again, yummy! I will say it is better if you keep it covered while cooking for almost the entire time as it doesn't dry out as much. Instead of making one large pan I split it into two 9x9 pans and froze the other. To reheat - defrost overnight in the fridge and bake covered for 1-2 hours.

Meat Lasagna

Makes a heaping 9 x 13 baking dish

1 pound Italian sausage (sweet or spicy)
3/4 pound lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves (or oregano)
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1 box lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large pot, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned.

Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange noodles over meat sauce. Spread with one third of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with handful of the mozzarella. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella and repeat the layers.

Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Crustless Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

I was going to contribute to a work brunch! My original plan was to make cinnamon rolls, however I soon realized I had no flour, no vanilla, and no butter. I needed a new plan (and to go grocery shopping!). I also figured a better option would to bring something savory since I knew there would be bagels and other tasty but not as healthy options. Eggs are a great protein hearty meal!

Since I procrastinated, it was late and I didn't have time to run to the store for additional ingredients. I researched many different quiche recipes and combinations and this was the brain child!

I assembled this and cooked it before going into work. It took about 10 minutes to cook the veggies, while they were cooking I made the eggs.  It takes about 40 minutes to cook and I was able to get ready during that time! I transported this to work in a 9x13 glass baking dish lined with towels to keep it warm and so I didn't burn myself.

We ate this too fast for me to remember to take a picture. But try it! You won't regret it!

Here are some quiche tips: you make a quiche with crust, be sure you pre-cook the crust or you might have some soggy not quite cooked bits of dough at the bottom. Or you can put the crust on top which my mother does! This ensures it stays nice and crispy. Bacon is another funny issue, if you bake it in the quiche it gets soggy.

Happy eating!

Crustless Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche
Serves 6-8

7 eggs (used only 3-4 of the yolks)
1/4 cup Ricotta cheese
Approx 1/2 -3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4-1/2 cup milk
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, rough chopped (seasoned w/ garlic and oregano)
Splash of water
Salt/Pepper to taste
1/4-1/2 tsp dried oregano/basil/thyme

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a pie plate.

Saute the broccoli and tomatoes in the tomato oil with salt and pepper and herbs. Add a splash of water to the frying pan if it seems to dry. Cook until broccoli is tender/firm.

Meanwhile, scramble the eggs and combine in the cheeses and milk.

Pour out the broccoli and tomatoes into pie plate. Pour eggs over the top. Put in oven at 350F for 35-40 minutes. If you cook it at 375F it will be more golden on the top.

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna

Wow! Life can sure get hectic! Kind of dropped the ball on my 100th post and celebrating the blog's 1 year! Hope you enjoy post # 99 and stay tuned for 100!

Here is a veggie lasagna which used the Hearty Vegetable Lasagna recipe for inspiration. I added in extra veggies and followed some of the reviews ideas for flavors. This was very filling and straightforward to make. Easy make ahead meal as well. Be cautious when freezing veggie based lasagnas because they produce a lot of liquid and can get soggy. If anyone has any tips for making them freeze better, please let me know!

Previous Vegetable Lasagna using zucchini, squash, eggplant, and spinach.

Veg!

Spread some sauce/veg in the bottom

Layers of noodles, ricotta, veg, and sauce

Continue and top with cheese

Golden bubbly goodness!

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna 
makes 12 slices

 1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles

2 tablespoons oil

1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

¾ cup chopped green bell pepper

½ cup carrots (or whatever is left over in your fridge)

¾ cup chopped onion

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

Salt and pepper

½ zucchini, sliced

½ bag baby spinach

2 (26 ounce) jars pasta sauce

1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes, or until al dente. Rinse with cold water, and drain. (OR use no cook lasagna noodles)

In a large saucepan heat oil. Cook and stir mushrooms, green peppers, carrots, onion, garlic, and oregano, season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened. Add in zuchini and Wilt several handfuls of spinach over the warm veggies, stir to combine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread 1 cup tomato sauce and some of the veggie mix into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer on top of that: noodles, veggies, sauce, and ricotta until nothing remains. There will be approx 2-4 layers. 

Top with the mozzarella cheese.

Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes (but keep an eye on it, if it starts to get too brown cover with foil and let it continue to cook). Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Vegetable Lasagna

Girls night! And I'm still on a zucchini kick, so I decided to make a hearty vegetable lasagna and talked Kelly into it. It is full of zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, and spinach and then layered with ricotta and mozzarella cheese and a tomato basil sauce.

Fairly fast dinner, takes about an hour with 20 minutes waiting for eggplant prep, 20 in the oven and 20 actively cooking and assembling.

You can also sub in other veggies or add in more veg. Others could include mushrooms, peppers, onions....

 

Chop up the veggies to about the same size and thickness. They will be sauteed and baked so about 1/4 inch.

I also salted the eggplant and let it sit in the strainer for about half hour to let the bitter out of it.

Heat oil and spices (oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder) for a minute. When pan is hot add in veggies. Toss around in the oil. After about 4-5 minutes, when veggies are still al dente, wilt in spinach and chopped fresh basil.

Layering begins! I put down some sauce in the bottom of the pan, then some veggie mix, then pasta sheets. Not really sure why I put the veggies on the bottom, a little sauce would have been good... but it didn't really make a difference with the veggies. Anyways, a dollop of ricotta cheese, some tomato sauce, more veggies, a handful of mozzarella cheese, then more pasta sheets!

Layering in action!

 Cover dish with foil and cook at 350 for 20 minutes. I cook it for a shorter time because the veggies are already hot. Take foil off and broil for another 5 minutes. Keep an eye on it though, it gets brown fast!

Golden cheesey topping!!

 

 Let it cool a minute or two, then cut and serve. Tender veggies in every bite!

 It was soo tasty. Highly recommend this and will make again!

Vegetable Lasagna
Makes 4 servings

olive oil
1/2 tsp each of oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder
1/2 a zucchini, a squash, a eggplant; sliced and quartered (approx 1 cup or a little more of each)
1/2 of a 6 oz bag of spinach (could add more though)
1/4 cup basil leaves
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
12 oz jar of tomato sauce (I used tomato basil flavor)

Slice veggies
Salt eggplant and let sit for about half hour, then rinse

In frying pan add a tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Add zucchini, squash and eggplant, cook about 5 minutes
Wilt in spinach and basil leaves

Put some sauce in the bottom of the pan
Add some of the cooked veggie mix
Put down the pasta sheet... then Ricotta cheese, Sauce, Veggies, Mozzarella cheese then another sheet of pasta. Continue another 2-3 times ending with mozzarella cheese.

Cover with foil, cook 20 minutes at 350 degrees
Cook additional 5 minutes under broiler - but keep an eye on it!

Turkey and Spinach Stuffed Shells

I was making dinner last night and decided to attempt my cousin's Stuffed Shell Recipe. It had been a while since I've made this, so I made it up as I went along. I decided to stuff it with turkey, spinach, and ricotta. I used mushroom pepper jar sauce and covered it in mozzarella.

From start to finish this recipe took about an hour to prepare and cook, but makes about 30+ stuffed shells. Depends on how much filling you put in each one, mine were fairly hardy. We ate about 6 each. The filling could be used for Lasagna or Raviolis as well.

I used my food processor (still awesome!) to dice/chop up the onion and the garlic. Put it in a hot frying pan and let it get soft. I added in some seasonings here. Oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. I stirred this around for about a minute. Then I added the meat. I used ground chicken but turkey or beef would be fine too.

Once it cooked through there was a lot of liquid in the pan. I drained it then added in the spinach leaves. I was rushing around the grocery store and just grabbed a bag of spinach. Not all bags of spinach are created equal. This bag had spinach with stems and I had to pick through it. Next time I'll make sure I get baby spinach leaves just for making this dish a little easier. However it made no difference to the taste. I wilted the spinach in the meat mixture. The meat was very chunky and not the texture I was looking for so I dumped it all in the food processor and pulsed it a few times until it was coarse sand texture.

Next I added in the container of ricotta cheese. YUM!

Meanwhile, I cooked the jumbo shells and had them drained and waiting to be filled. I under cook them a two minutes because I am against soggy pasta and it is going to bake in the oven more too.

I put some sauce in the bottom of the pan and started to stuff the shells and place them in the baking dish. I used a jar of Mushroom and Pepper sauce. Nothing super fancy.

Next I covered it with the rest of the sauce and then a bag of mozzarella cheese. Baked it uncovered at 375 for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to get a little golden.

Changes for next time? Well, we didn't think it had enough flavor. I think I might try it with chicken sausage (out of the casings), or double/triple the herbs when cooking the meat. And for those who don't like ground turkey, it didn't taste like there was any meat in it, and because I pulsed it in the food processor there wasn't any meat texture either.

All and all a tasty meal and not too intensive. It can be changed easily for your food preferences or whatever ingredients you have in the house.

I made Molten Lava Cakes for dessert!

Turkey and Spinach Stuffed Shells

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Jumbo Shells

1 med/small vidalia Onion

5 cloves Garlic

1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1 tsp Oregano

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 lb ground turkey 

16 oz (ish) of fresh spinach

16 oz part skim ricotta cheese

1 jar of sauce (or homemade sauce)

2 cups of mozzarella cheese (it is 1 package)

Directions

1. Heat pan with some olive oil and add chopped onion and garlic.
2. Add red pepper flakes, pepper, oregano. Stir.
3. Add meat and continue to stir.
4. When mostly done cooking add in spinach until it wilts (about 30 seconds).
5. Pulse in food processor until everything is about the same size.
6. Let mixture cool.
7. Boil water and cook shells a few minutes shorter than the recommended package directions.
8. Add in ricotta, salt, pepper, any more seasonings, and then egg to the cooled meat mixture.
9. Put some sauce in the bottom of the baking dish, stuff shells, top with rest of sauce and mozzarella.
10. Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Pasta, Leeks, Peas, and Lemon

I found this recipe in Martha Stewart Living, April 2012. This a great light tasting dish that can be prepared in less than a half hour.

What is a leek? A leek is a type of onion. Similar to a scallion that has many layers and that you have to peel. You need to wash leeks carefully, there can be a lot of dirt stuck between the leaves. To wash them I sliced the bottom of the stalk off (like celery) and then peeled all the layers. I washed each piece then cut them into small slices.

Snow peas. Are. Amazing. Crisp and crunchy and sweet, they are probably one of my favorite veggies. They are very versatile and are a great addition to salads and pasta dishes. Peas can be blanched (cooked in a boiling water for 2 minutes), raw, or stir fried. I generally nosh on them raw.

Egg noodles are pasta but it has a little bit of a different texture. Most times they are flat and similar to a fettuccine or linguine, just short. If you don't have egg noodles on hand regular pasta would work just fine.

Leeks in the pan

I melted some butter over med heat in a big frying pan, when it was melted I tossed the sliced leeks into it. I continued to stir them around to ensure the cooked and didn't start to brown. The recipe calls for lemon zest. I didn't have any lemons on hand so I put in 1/4 tsp of lemon extract. (I have made this with lemon and without lemon, I think the lemon was nice but its not necessary if you don't have it on hand). This took about 5-6 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

Meanwhile I started to boil some water in a medium size pot. When the water was boiling I blanched the snow peas for about 2 minutes. I tossed the peas into the frying pan with the leeks and then put the egg noodles into the boiling water. The noodles only took about 5 minutes to cook. I strained the noodles out of the water and into the frying pan with the snow peas and leeks. You want to save the pasta water for when add the ricotta cheese. This combination creates a sauce for the veggies and pasta.

I omitted the Pecorino Romano cheese because I don't care for too much cheese. I think next time I make this I would include dice chicken or grilled chicken.You can also sub for whatever fresh veggies you have on hand (e.g. asparagus or broccoli) and onion or scallion for onions. This will change the cooking times though, so be aware. :)

Snow peas and leeks in the pan

Also, If making this for 4 people and this is the main dish without any other sides, I would use the whole pound of pasta.

Egg noodles, Leeks, Snow peas, and Lemon

Serves approx 4  

• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 tbs unsalted butter
• 2 medium leeks (white and pale-green parts only), cut into thin half-moons and rinsed well
• 2 lemons
• 1/2 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half crosswise (optional)
• 3/4 pound dried pappardelle or other flat egg noodles
• 1/2 cup fresh ricotta cheese
• 2 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (3/4 cup)

1. Bring large pot of salted water to boil. 
2. Melt butter in big frying pan over med heat. Add leeks and some salt to the frying pan. Cook until leeks are soft and begin to become soft and tender (7-9 minutes). Remove from heat. Add the lemon zest (or lemon extract) to the leeks with some pepper.
3. When the water is boiling add the peas to the water and blanch about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate or into the frying pan.
4. In the water the peas just blanched in add the pasta and cook until al dente (4-5 minutes). Don’t drain the water but add pasta to the frying pan. If you haven’t added the peas to the frying pan do this now. Stir in pasta water ½ cup at a time and alternate with the ricotta and cheese until the pasta is covered in the creamy sauce.

Enjoy!