Lasagna 2 ways

So this is my 1st entry!!! Yeah me...Anyhow, I absolutely love lasagna and just happened to making some so this challenge was right up my ally.

My "recipe" - 1 box of lasgna noodles, 1 lb groung turkey, 1lb ground beef, fresh mozzarella balls, 1 16 oz container ricotta, 1 egg, 1 cup shredded italian cheese blend, fresh veggies ( I used cherry tomatoes (from my own garden), mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash & spinach).

My own fresh herbs - basil, sage, rosemary & garlic chives, 1/2 of a small yellow onion, 1 tbsp crushed garlic, salt, pepper & a spoon full of sugar. I love to make my own sauce but the husband prefers Prego (go figure) so that's what I used....I added a 1/2 can of stewed italian tomatoes to this. First, I prepped the veggies, chopped the onion & herbs. Then I roasted my veggies (drizzeled with olive oil), sauteed the onion then added the meat seasoning with salt, pepper, garlic & sugar when nearly brown I added 1/2 of my chopped herbs. Reserving the other 1/2 of the herbs for my ricotta which I mixed up with 1 egg to bind and about a 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese. While the meat & veggies settled I par-boiled my noodles in a deep sautee pan as they "loosen" I then placed in cooking sheet of cool water.

As my title says this is lasgana 2 ways here we go -

I used a 7 x 9 glass baking dish for hubby & an 8 x 8 dish for myself...DH, dislikes my veggies & ricotta so his dish is layered with sauce, noodles, cheese & meat. While mine has all the good stuff!

Bake at 350 for about 45 mins, then enjoy the goodness!

As you can see in the photos I had 2 adorable assistants - mini chefs in the making.

Lasagna 2 ways

So this is my 1st entry!!! Yeah me...Anyhow, I absolutely love lasagna and just happened to making some so this challenge was right up my ally.

My "recipe" - 1 box of lasgna noodles, 1 lb groung turkey, 1lb ground beef, fresh mozzarella balls, 1 16 oz container ricotta, 1 egg, 1 cup shredded italian cheese blend, fresh veggies ( I used cherry tomatoes (from my own garden), mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash & spinach).

My own fresh herbs - basil, sage, rosemary & garlic chives, 1/2 of a small yellow onion, 1 tbsp crushed garlic, salt, pepper & a spoon full of sugar. I love to make my own sauce but the husband prefers Prego (go figure) so that's what I used....I added a 1/2 can of stewed italian tomatoes to this. First, I prepped the veggies, chopped the onion & herbs. Then I roasted my veggies (drizzeled with olive oil), sauteed the onion then added the meat seasoning with salt, pepper, garlic & sugar when nearly brown I added 1/2 of my chopped herbs. Reserving the other 1/2 of the herbs for my ricotta which I mixed up with 1 egg to bind and about a 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese. While the meat & veggies settled I par-boiled my noodles in a deep sautee pan as they "loosen" I then placed in cooking sheet of cool water.

As my title says this is lasgana 2 ways here we go -

I used a 7 x 9 glass baking dish for hubby & an 8 x 8 dish for myself...DH, dislikes my veggies & ricotta so his dish is layered with sauce, noodles, cheese & meat. While mine has all the good stuff!

Bake at 350 for about 45 mins, then enjoy the goodness!

As you can see in the photos I had 2 adorable assistants - mini chefs in the making.

LASAGNA- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Recently a debate has been raging in our community.  Should lasagna have ricotta or cottage cheese?  Everyone likes it their own way.  Show us how you cook lasagna. You don’t even have to use cheese.

LASAGNA- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Recently a debate has been raging in our community.  Should lasagna have ricotta or cottage cheese?  Everyone likes it their own way.  Show us how you cook lasagna. You don’t even have to use cheese.

Spicy Meatball? - Fictional Food - July/August 2010

I have been absolutely inspired by the entries so far for this month’s challenge. The posts have been awesome, inventive, and mouth watering. I knew I had to bring my A-game. So, I chose that old classic of western culture…the television commercial. I went with Magdalini’s Meatballs from the Alka-Seltzer commercial. You know, “That’s a-spicy meatball-a!!”
I adapted a Madhur Jaffrey recipe for kebabs as follows:

1 pound of ground beef
1 pound of ground pork
1TBSP coriander seed (whole)
1 TBSP cumin seed (whole)
2tsp fresh black ground pepper
2tsp dried crushed jalapenos
2TBSP chickpea flour (toasted)
2 eggs
Bunch of fresh cilantro, de-stemmed

The recipe calls for the meat to be very finely ground. So, I figured what better chance to use my Kitchenaid meat great attachment. There were a few missteps along the way, though. Well, the video below is short and you can see for yourself:

Luckily, my crème brulee torch cauterized the wound long enough for me to complete the challenge. AND I was able to get most of the bits of me out of the mixture. I added the meat and all the ingredients into the bowl and used the safer flat blade attachment to complete the mixture.

I was having trouble forming the meatballs with one hand, so I pressed the mixture into a flan pan. Baked at 450 F for about 20 minutes.

Something weird happened during the cooking though. It turned green.

Then it dawns on me:

Soylent Green it’s not just people.
It’s ME!!
And I’m delicious.

Spicy Meatball? - Fictional Food - July/August 2010

I have been absolutely inspired by the entries so far for this month’s challenge. The posts have been awesome, inventive, and mouth watering. I knew I had to bring my A-game. So, I chose that old classic of western culture…the television commercial. I went with Magdalini’s Meatballs from the Alka-Seltzer commercial. You know, “That’s a-spicy meatball-a!!”
I adapted a Madhur Jaffrey recipe for kebabs as follows:

1 pound of ground beef
1 pound of ground pork
1TBSP coriander seed (whole)
1 TBSP cumin seed (whole)
2tsp fresh black ground pepper
2tsp dried crushed jalapenos
2TBSP chickpea flour (toasted)
2 eggs
Bunch of fresh cilantro, de-stemmed

The recipe calls for the meat to be very finely ground. So, I figured what better chance to use my Kitchenaid meat great attachment. There were a few missteps along the way, though. Well, the video below is short and you can see for yourself:

Luckily, my crème brulee torch cauterized the wound long enough for me to complete the challenge. AND I was able to get most of the bits of me out of the mixture. I added the meat and all the ingredients into the bowl and used the safer flat blade attachment to complete the mixture.

I was having trouble forming the meatballs with one hand, so I pressed the mixture into a flan pan. Baked at 450 F for about 20 minutes.

Something weird happened during the cooking though. It turned green.

Then it dawns on me:

Soylent Green it’s not just people.
It’s ME!!
And I’m delicious.

Cup O' Pizza

Marie: "You live here? Oh, it's nice. Did you decorate it?"
Navin R. Johnson: "Yeah, I got all this stuff from teh old Cup o' Pizza place before they tore it down.
Marie: "Godd pizza." (the two are eating pizza in a cup)
Navin R. Johnson: Oh, this is the best pizza in a cup ever. This guys is unbelievable. He ran the old Cup o' Pizza guy out of business. People come from all over to eat this."

My selection came down to two choices from classic comedies - Monty Python's "Crunchy Frog" and Steve Martin in The Jerk and his favorite food - Cup o' Pizza. Playing with chocolate and yummy crunchy stuff got nixed since I have just started a diet (Boooo.......Hiss.......). So we embarqed on the quest of taking a flat round food item and smooshing it all into cup form. First I tried to think like our good friend, Navin. But I came up blank......

So then we thought to build deep deep dish pizzas in a muffin pan.



To do this you will need:

Any kind of pizza dough - home made, frozen or refrigerated - I used the refrigerated kind in a can. Your favorite sauce, any variety of pizza toppings, and your favorite cheese.

We used home made spaghetti sauce, onions, veggie pepperoni, squash, and Anaheim chili peppers, and of course our veggie cheese.



Preheat the oven to 375. Then oil the muffin tin (we just hit it with some spray oil). Roll out your pizza dough and using a round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter cut the dough into individual rounds and lay these in the cups of the pan.

Top with a spoon full of sauce,



Then pile on any of your favorite toppings.



We had a great time with this and everyone got to make their own unique Cup o'Pizzas.



Top generously with cheese and then into the oven for about 15-20 minutes - you will see the edge of the crust start to brown and the cheese get all nice and melty.



Let cool, loosen with a knife, pop them out and start munching!!! The kids - big and small thought this was the bomb!!



Since doing this for the photos we have had it a couple more times (as I said it was an instant hit with the kids) and have tried all sorts of toppings - we did these with pesto instead of tomato sauce, and a round with refried beans rather than sauce. Next on my list is a white sauce and hide yucky stuff like spinach and artichokes in it.

Then, once perfected we are gonna put that muffin tin pizza guy down the road outa business!!!