World's Best Lasagna

I tend to be leery of recipes that proclaim to be "world's best" because given how diverse the world is, I can't imagine anything being declared the best. However this recipe was very highly rated on allrecipes.com by nearly 3000 reviewers so I figured it was definitely worth a shot.

My Sicilian Grandmother was coming down to visit for the weekend and was getting into town on Friday as well as my parents. I wanted to make something that I knew they would like that would also easily feed 5 adults. I knew it had to be lasagna. I have made baked ziti before and lasagna rolls here and here, but never have I actually made a lasagna.

I served the lasagna alonside a strawberry spinach salad. It was a very delicious meal.

World's Best Lasagna

1 lb sweet Italian Sausage, casings removed and crumbled
3/4 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 oz) cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp coarse ground black pepper
4 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, divided
18 lasagna noodles
16 oz ricotta cheese
Dash nutmeg
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 lb mozzerella cheese, shredded
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a large stockpot, 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, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and 2 Tbsp parsley. Simmer, covered for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. The longer you simmer the better the flavor.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8-10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse in cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, nutmeg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 tsp salt.
3. Preheat oven to 375F.
4. Layer as follows: Spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in a 9x13 inch baking dish (I used a disposable 9x13 pan since it is deeper and it worked better. I think it would have gone over my glass 9x13 pan). Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with 1/2 of ricotta cheese mixture. Top with 1/3 of mozzerella and sprinkle 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers. Top with last 6 noodles and remaining mozzerella and Parmesan. (Next time I make this, and there WILL be a next time, I will top the top layer of noodles with meat sauce and then the remaining cheeses).
5. Cover with foil sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

Source: adapted from allrecipes.com

Sausage, Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna Rolls

As with most things cooking, once you learn the method you can substitute in pretty much whatever you want and voila - a new meal. Last month I made these lasagna rolls and both my husband and I really enjoyed them. I wanted to make something similar but this time with some meat in them.

I keep seeing people posting about chicken sausages in their food blogs and I couldn't find them at either our Food City or Kroger here so I headed out to Earth Fare (no Trader Joe's here) to see if they had them. Much to my delight they did so I bought them and decided to make lasagna rolls. I had leftover mushrooms and spinach from another meal so those got added as well. Oh my goodness ... can you say yummy!

Sausage, Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna

6 lasagna noodles, cooked to package directions
1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, diced
2 links chicken sausage, casings removed and crumbled
2 cups primavera sauce
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. combine ricotta, 1/4 cup mozzerella, Parmesan, egg white, parsley, basil, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
3. Heat skillet on medium-high. Add olive oil and saute mushrooms and sausage for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute another minute or so until fragrant. Add spinach and stir until it wilts. Remove from heat and let mixture cool slightly.
4. Combine sausage mixture with ricotta mixture. Spread the cheese mixture over noodles in a thin layer. Roll up noodle and place in baking dish seam side down. Repeat process with remaining lasagna noodles.
5. Spoon primavera sauce over each and cover with foil. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with remaining mozzerella and bake uncovered for 5-10 minutes.

Source: adapted from bakin and eggs

Veggie Lasagna Rolls

My husband is probably the world's biggest meat eater. Anyway, so he was out of town a couple of days last week and I decided to make this. He had asked me earlier in the day what I was planning on doing for dinner so I told him. Then I said, "I'd make it for you, but I know you like to have meat with dinner and this is only veggies." To which I received this reply: "That sounds good, I'd eat it." So I decided to delay making it until he got home. It was worth the wait. So yummy. Even my carnivore hubby loved it and said he'd eat it again. It was very flavorful and made my kitchen smell fabulous.

Veggie Lasagna Rolls

7-8 lasagna noodles, cooked to package directions
1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup red pepper, diced
1/2 cup zucchini, diced
1/2 cup mushrooms, diced
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
Cooking spray
2 cups marinara (I used primavera sauce)
2 cloves minced garlic

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Combine ricotta, 1/4 cup mozzarella, Parmesan, egg white, parsley, basil, salt and pepper and set aside.
3. Heat skillet on medium-high. Add olive oil and saute red pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add spinach and stir until it wilts. Remove from heat and let mixture cool.
4. Combine veggie mixture with ricotta mixture. Spread the cheese mixture over noodles in a thin layer. Roll up and place in baking dish, seam side down. Spoon marinara over each and cover with foil.
5. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with remaining mozzerella and bake uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes.

Source: bakin and eggs

See how delicious this looked with all the veggies cooking in the pan! So colorful and fragrant!


And here is the finished product. Please forgive the really ugly plates. My husband cannot throw anything that is still functional out. Would you believe these plates were his aunt and uncle's wedding china? It's like 40 years old.

Chicken Florentine Pasta Bake

I saw this recipe pop up in my Google Reader a couple of different times and it looked so delicious to me that I marked it down to try at some point. Well that time arrived and I was not disappointed. This was delicious!

Chicken Florentine Pasta Bake
adapted from Crista's Kitchen Creations via Jenn and Food, Perfect Together
Makes 6-8 servings

12 ounces farfalle pasta
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of basil, oregano, parsley
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
kosher salt and coarse ground pepper, to taste
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese, divided
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs (I used italian flavored breadcrumbs)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 3-quart baking dish with cooking spray. (Or, use this method to make two separate dishes.)

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and cook pasta as directed, to al dente. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-heat. Add the onions and cook 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add the chicken and herbs and red pepper flakes and cook until heated through. Remove from heat, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt and pepper. Stir in the chicken mixture, Monterey Jack cheese, artichokes, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, half of the Parmesan, and cooked pasta.

Transfer to prepared baking dish(es). Bake, covered with foil, for 20 minutes. In small bowl, combine remaining Parmesan, bread crumbs, paprika, and melted butter. Sprinkle mixture over pasta and continue baking, uncovered, 10 minutes more or until golden.

Penne alla Betsy

I have seen this recipe in several blogs I follow in my Google Reader and it looked really yummy so I decided to make it (with a few changes).

Penne alla Betsy

Olive Oil
Butter
1 lb shrimp, peeled & deveined (I substituted diced chicken breasts because I don't like shrimp)
3/4 lb penne or other short pasta
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine (I substituted chicken broth since I am still nursing my son)
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and Pepper (I accidentally omitted because Carson started crying heavily at this point and I got distracted. Would be better with the salt and pepper)
Parsley
Basil (My store didn't have fresh basil so I just used extra parsley)

1. Put water on to boil for the pasta.
2. Heat a large frying pan and melt 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil in pan. Saute shrimp (chicken) until opague (cooked) and then remove to a plate.
3. Melt anotehr 2 Tbsp butter and olive oil in same pan and cook garlic until slightly browning. Add onion and cook until translucent.
4. Add pasta to boiling water and cook per package directions.
5. Add 1/2 cup wine (broth) and allow to cook down for approximately 1 minute. Then add tomato sauce, stirring to combine, and cream.
6. Chop parsley and basil and add to sauce to taste. Add salt and pepper (whoops to me on this part).
7. Remove shrimp tails and chop shrimp into bite-size pieces (Obviously I omitted this step since chicken was already in bite size pieces). Return to sauce and stir to combine.
8. When pasta is cooked, drain, and then add to sauce, tossing to cover.

Source: The Pioneer Woman

I enjoyed it a lot. My husband thought it was a little bland, but then again I did unintentionally leave out the salt and pepper. He reheated leftovers the next night and he added garlic salt, seasoned salt, and pepper to his and he did like it that time.

I'm also sure there would have been more flavor to it had I used white wine in the sauce instead of the chicken broth so I'll have to make this again once I have weaned Carson.

Crowd Pleasing Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese

We had a Memorial Day potluck celebration at work today and I decided to make macaroni and cheese. Why mac & cheese? Well because the main course of the lunch was hotdogs which I think are the most foul of things ever so I wanted to bring something that worked as both a side dish for hot dogs and a main dish for me.

But since it wouldn't need to be done until lunchtime I didn't want to make anything too fancy that needed to use an oven since I would be at work all morning. So I decided to cook up the noodles, pack up the ingredients, bring my crock pot and cook it at my desk.

Unfortunately I left my camera at home so no picture (I know I know).

Here are the ingredients I used for this creamy mac & cheese:

16 oz cooked and drained noodles
3 cups whole milk
2 (12 oz) cans evaporated milk
1 stick melted butter
8 oz shredded mild cheddar cheese
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 16 oz loaf Velveeta, diced
a couple of handfuls shredded Monterey Jack cheese*

*I just threw this in as an aftersight. I probably used 2 oz of it.

Grease a crockpot with shortening or cooking spray (I used a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner). Put the noodles in first and then stir in all the above ingredients. Cook on low for 4 hours.

Creamy Mac & Cheese

This was a complete Julie's original. I did look through a bunch of mac & cheese recipes online for inspiration but made this up on my own.

Creamy Mac & Cheese

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup whole milk
1 1-inch thick slice from velveeta loaf
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Breadcrumbs

Cook pasta to al dente, about 5 minutes. Since you are baking this you don't want the noodles fully cooked. Drain pasta. In same pot melt butter and cheeses. Add in milk. Then sprinkle in nutmeg and mustard and thoroughly combine. Add drained pasta back to pot and be sure to fully coat noodles with sauce. Pour mixture into baking dish. (I used a 9x13 glass dish, but thought the layer was too small. Next time I'll use a 9x9 or a casserole dish.) Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 30 minutes.

This was both Greg's and my favorite part of the Easter spread this year. I will definitely be making this again.

Baked Ziti

Back in November (right before my due date) my Mom and I had a cooking day where we made several dishes to freeze to use after my son was born. One of them was my baked ziti recipe. I froze them in single serving size dishes to make it even easier. Anyway I don't have a picture because reheated thawed baked ziti just doesn't look as nice as freshly made baked ziti, but trust me, this dish is delicious. I got it several years ago on the Married Life board of the nest from a user named weeirishlass. I'm not sure where she got it though.

Baked Ziti

1 lb dry ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 lb lean ground beef
2 (26 oz) jars spaghetti sauce
6 oz provolone cheese (I use sliced deli provolone)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 oz mozzarella cheeese, shredded
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Drain off fat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, all the provolone cheese, all the sour cream, 1/2 sauce/meat mixture, remaining ziti, all the mozzarella cheese, and remaining sauce/meat mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheeese. Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven or until cheeses are melted.

Reheating note: I thawed in the fridge overnight and then heated at 350F for about 30 minutes. It is not as tasty reheated as fresh so I would add some appropriare herbs to add flavor.

Comfort Food

One of my favorite comfort foods my Mom would make when I was little was this Chicken Pasta Salad. Since this is my first full week back at work after maternity leave I decided to make a big batch of this salad to help me through the lunches when I'm missing my son. There are no real concrete measurements as it is really a "to taste" combination but I will put approximate measurements after each ingredient.

Chicken Pasta Salad

Chicken - I used 2 large cans of chicken, you could also use rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken or turkey, etc.

Peas - I used 2 cans drained

Celery - I used 3 stalks, diced

Pasta - I used one bag of whole wheat egg noodles

Hard-boiled egg - I used the whites only of 3 hard boiled eggs

Other desired veggies, if any - I diced about 10 baby carrots

Mayonnaise or Salad Dressing - I used Miracle Whip

Combine all together in a large bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Whenever I use canned chicken it looks too pink for my taste so this time I put some extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and cooked the canned chicken until no longer pink. I also seasoned it with garlic powder, black pepper, and basil.

I had some for lunch today and soooo yummy!