4 Cheese Lasagna

I have never tried to make lasagna before even though it is one of my all time favorite things to eat. When I was a kid my mom would by the Stouffer's frozen lasagna and it was like heaven for me. On nights when the rest of the family was having pot pies, I would get the single serve size just for me. Heaven.
I have tried a few that were named "easy" or "quick" or "skillet" but there wasn't enough cheese or the noodles were dry and hard or some other problem. When I got my issue of "Kraft Food & Family" this month and saw the lasagna recipe I thought I would give it a whirl. I am very happy I did!
The Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 (8 oz) pkg Neufchatel cheese, softened
1 cup cottage cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 egg, beaten
1 (24 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
12 lasagna noodles, cooked

Perhaps the most important ingredient for almost any meal though is:

Moving on! Brown the meat and onion in a large skillet.

While that cooks, mix together the Neufchatel, cottage cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan and the egg until well blended.

When the meat is browned, drain any fat and stir in the sauce, tomatoes and oregano. Confession time: I was out of oregano so I used basil. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Spoon 1 cup of the meat sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

Lay 3 noodles on top of sauce.

Spread 1 cup of the cheese mixture on top of the noodles.

Spread 1 cup of the meat sauce on top of the cheese layer.

Repeat layers twice more and end with a layer of noodles topped with the last of the sauce, remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Spray the underside of a large piece of foil with cooking spray and place it on top of the lasagna.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, then remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes. I used my counter-top oven which I had set up on my washing machine in the laundry room. It was a very hot day and the thought of my oven on for over an hour was not a happy one. This way, my house stayed as cool as possible.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving. We dug in before I snapped a picture but you can get the idea here.

It was cheesy and delicious!

More wine?

Menu 8/28 - 9/3--2011

Well, here we go again with me apologizing for how long it has been since I posted anything. Now that school has started up I will be busier but meal are more important so I should be able to post more often. We will see! Here is what we are eating this week in Chaosville:
Sunday: Raley Goulash
Monday: French Dip Roast
Tuesday: Happy 14th Anniversary to us! I am making a new Lasagna recipe that you will see here in the future if we like it.
Wednesday: Poached Tilapia and pasta
Thursday: Happy 4th Birthday to Pattie Lynn! I am making her favorite meal, "french fries and ketchup and water and chicken nuggets" It's what she always orders when we go out so we are making it at home.
Friday: We may or may not have a houseful in town so I need to know how many we are serving before I decide. We may end up going out or ordering in.
Saturday: Triple Threat Birthday Bash!! We are having Triple Tacos: regular, Tilapia and Chicken Ranch varieties

GrapeNuts Peanut Butter Bars

I found this recipe in a cookbook of my sister-in-law's and made it several times last school year. They are a great little treat for after school or in a lunchbox. I kind of forgot about them for a while and recently came across the recipe again and decided to make them today. Since I hadn't blogged them yet, here they are!
The Ingredients:

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

4 cups Grape Nuts (or a reasonable facsimile!)

Mix together the peanut butter, corn syrup and sugar in a microwavable bowl.

Microwave for 2 minutes or just before boiling and smooth. Stir after each minute.





Add cereal and mix well.

Press cereal mixture firmly into bottom of a 13 x 9 dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Cool completely. I like to sprinkle some chocolate chips on the top too. They will melt and then I spread them all over the top before cutting into squares.

Cut into pieces. They don't need to be big. This is a rich little treat and good work for your jaws. A little goes a long way!

YUM!!



Burrito Bake

I bet you thought I was never coming back, huh? It HAS been a long time since I posted anything new here. I haven't been trying out new recipes every week like I thought I would be this summer. I have been sticking to the known. Last night I was making an old recipe of ours and I realized I had never blogged it! So here it is.
The Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey

1/2 diced onion

1 pkg taco seasoning

3/4 cup water

12 tortillas

1 can refried beans

1 cup shredded colby jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown meat and onion in a skillet.



Drain any fat and add taco seasoning and water.

Heat to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in beans.

In a pie pan sprayed with cooking spray, place 4 tortillas overlapping edges to cover the bottom completely.

Top with half the meat mixture.

And half the cheese.



Repeat layers once and finish with the last 4 tortillas on the top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes to heat through.

Cut into wedges and serve.

You can top this with anything you would put on a taco or burrito. It's really tasty!

Menu 6/12 - 6/18--2011

Wow,  it has been a long time since I did a menu post! Here is what I hope to make this week and we will see how that turns out.
Sunday– Roast Au Jus


Monday–Chicken Fried Rice

Tuesday–Double Decker Tacos

Wednesday–Pork and Noodle Skillet

Thursday– Chicken Spaghetti

Friday–Beef Stroganoff

Saturday–Might have to be a leftover night!!

Jambalaya Skillet

Although my mother is from Louisiana, she is from Shreveport, way up in the northwestern corner. That means I did not grow up with any cajun cooking. Now Mom does make some seriously delicious shrimp gumbo, but that's about it. And please don't ask me what the difference is between gumbo, jambalaya and etouffee. I know there's a difference but I haven't the foggiest idea what it is. They are all delicious though! In any case, I came across this recipe in a daily e-mail from a local grocery store. It looked easy, so I gave it a shot with a couple minor modifications. Here it is:
The Ingredients

1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 Tbsp oil
1 lb chicken breast, cut into strips
2 Tbsp Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, divided
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 pound cleaned shrimp
2 cups brown rice

Saute your trinity vegetables in hot oil until crisp-tender.

Toss the chicken with 1 Tbsp of the seasoning, then add the chicken to the skillet and cook until done.

I put the seasoning and chicken in a ziploc and mashed it around

Add remaining ingredients, except for the rice, and bring to a boil.

Add in the rice, cover and simmer for 5 minutes until heated through.

Remove from heat, let stand for another 5 minutes. Serve with bread.

The original recipe said to use instant brown rice but I used some cooked brown rice I made. It was a little soupier than I think it was supposed to be but it tasted great. Enjoy!

Berry Delicious Freezer Jam

As I wandered around Tractor Supply recently I found the canning aisle. Now I would love to can my own homegrown veggies for us to eat all year, but A.) I'm lazy B.) I don't have the equipment and C.) It's too stinkin' hard not to just eat them! We don't have enough yet really in any case. But that doesn't stop me from looking!!
Anyhoo, I have been wanting to make some freezer jam and I even bought some frozen mixed berries for that purpose. So I got some fancy plastic canning jars and a package of freezer jam pectin. Then I got down to business.
The Ingredients:

4 cups crushed fruit
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 package Mrs Wares Freezer Jam Pectin

Allow frozen fruit to thaw and then crush using a potato masher.

I didn't have quite 4 cups from my frozen berries so I added in some fresh strawberries.

Add the sugar and pectin.

Mix well and continue to stir for 3 minutes.

Pour into prepared jars and allow to set for 30 minutes.

What you will use right away, put into the fridge. It will last about 3 weeks. Put the rest in the freezer and it will keep for about a year. This jam is very tasty! It tastes like cobbler filling to me. I have used it in sandwiches and on toast. Next time I think I will make peach but according to the package of pectin, peach jam has a different direction set which you can find here.