White Lasagna

I adore lasagna.  Could eat it every day if I had to.  What's not to love?  Pasta, sauce, and cheese and cheese, and more cheese!  Growing up, my mom made the best lasagna and I of course carry on that same recipe, but seriously, no one ever makes it as good as mom does.  But I like to think I hold a small flame to her, she did teach me after all.  I don't get red-sauce dishes very much in my house.  Neither my oldest child or my husband likes tomato sauce.  Though, husband has been known to enjoy the family lasagna recipe.  I was so craving this a few weeks back however that I had to adapt the recipe.  I figured, if my daughter doesn't eat red sauce, then I'll make it with white sauce.

I have to say, it turned out pretty darn good!  Only change is that next time I will use MORE sauce, and perhaps if time allows, I will make my own white sauce.  But when you're a full time working mom of two, with a busy household, making your own Alfredo sauce is a luxury you can't always have time to afford.  So, this recipe is truly "semi-homemade" and so simple!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Ground beef (or turkey)
• 1 pkg mushrooms, sliced
• 2 jars Alfredo sauce (or homemade)
• 1 box lasagna noodles
• 1 pkg chopped spinach (defrosted and drained)
• Salt/Pepper
• 16oz Ricotta cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• 2 pkgs shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Boil your lasagna noodles according to directions on the box, to al dente
2. In a large skillet, cook up the ground beef and sliced mushrooms.  
3. Drain off any excess fat.
4. Pour in the Alfredo sauce and bring to light simmer.  Set aside.

 

1. In a large 13x9 lasagna pan, spread some of the sauce on the bottom, this prevents the noodles from sticking.
2. Then lay your noodles over the bottom of the pan, in one layer, covering the entire bottom of the pan, one layer of noodles only..
3. On top of the noodles, spread ricotta.  Honestly, just use your fingers to press it in and around, makes it much easier.  Just enough to cover the noodles, as shown.
4. On top of the ricotta, sprinkle on the chopped spinach.  Just a bit, maybe 1/3 of what you have in the package.
5. On top of the spinach, sprinkle on your mozzarella cheese, then on top of that, shake on the Parmesan cheese.
6. At this layer, you will now pour on more sauce/meat, get it wet, but dont' use it all, you need to have enough for at least one more layer.

Repeat steps 2 through 5 until you've reached the top of the pan.

The final layer should end with Mozzarella cheese and just a smattering of spinach for color.

Place dish into a 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes until the tops are golden brown and sauce is bubbling.

Cut into squares, serve and enjoy!

Vegetable Soupy Stew

So, I've got this event tomorrow night that requires several people to bring a dish.  It's not exactly pot-luck since we all know basically who's bringing what.  And since I wasn't sure if I'd have an oven or not, my pot had to be stove top or crock pot.  I decided to make soup.  What kind of soup, well, I'd determine that later once the date got closer.  Now it's tomorrow and I'm not sure what to do.  I have a few "fancy" soups like I like to make like Leek and Potato, or Cream of Wild Mushroom (usually has at least 5 different mushrooms), a recent addition is a Spicy Pumpkin Soup, and of course the classic Chicken Noodle, which I tend to make more like a chowder.  (I'll put that one up some day.)  But then I found out that one of the people attending is a vegetarian.  I've cooked all veggie before and have not found it to be an issue, so I took this on as saying my dish would be the one true veggie dish they can have.  Heck, I think it's even Vegan.

Now, I tend to cook meals so that they have sustenance to them.  When you leave my table, you won't go away hungry.  So when I play, I play hard.  My meals are not usually for the meek.  I like big bites.  I like big flavors.  And I always incorporate something I learned from the last time, into the next big meal.

So tonight, we play with Vegetable Soup, and I say if it can't have meat in it, go big or go home. (Am I allowed to use that?  Didn't someone copyright it?)  So, here's my hearty Vegetable Soup with bites big enough for Stew.  Let's play.  Get everything ready and prepped ahead of time, I move fast.



Ingredients

• 1 Sweet Vidallia onion (1/4 finely chopped set aside, 3/4 sliced)
• 2 short stalks celery (1/2 of one finely chopped, the rest bite size)
• 8 carrots (2 finely chopped, the rest bite size)
• 1 small cabbage (1/2 sliced to 4 by .5 inch strips)
• 1 package baby portabella mushrooms (quartered)
• 2 yellow summer squash (drawn and quartered)
• 2 zucchini  (drawn and quartered)
• 3 cloves garlic (smashed and finely diced)
• Olive Oil
• Sweet Vermouth
• 4oz tomato puree
• 2 boxes vegetable stock

Spices (I don't measure, just pour 'till it looks "right")

• 2 bay leaves
• oregano
• basil
• salt
• pepper
• red pepper flakes (5 gentle taps on the back of plastic bottle)
• thyme

And Here we Go

1. Cover bottom of LARGE pot with olive oil
2. Toss in your finely diced onion, carrots and celery (this is the standard mirapoix), generously salt and pepper here.
3. Saute this on Med-Low, keep it moving.  Sweat it out and get it brown and good.  If food starts to stick to the bottom keep it moving, but don't scrape it off.
4. When things looks dark and melted away and beyond soft (but NOT burned), pour in about 3 splashes of sweet vermouth.  And stir it up and scrape off the brown on the bottom.  This is called "fond." which I have talked about in strangely enough another Vegetarian post (Veggie Chili) - We're de-glazing the pan.
5. Alright, everything happy in the pan?  Let those veggies soak up that vermouth for a few minutes (keep them moving)
6. Toss in your bite size carrots, your bit size celery and your sliced onion.
7. Bring your pan to High and get them hot and keep them moving.
8. While these are starting to sweat start dumping in your spices.
• In go 2 bay leaves
• shake, shake, shake that oregano
• boogy woogy your basil
• more salt
• more peppa
• 5 taps on the bottom of your red pepper jar
• and "probably" about 1T of thyme
9. Med-High heat and keep moving.  You're now getting the flavors of those spices into the veggies
10. When they start to glisten (yes, they actually somewhat shine when they start to get tender), add your summer squash and zucchini
11. Add your garlic
12. Stir and keep things moving
13. Is the squash starting to shine?  Do they look like they're starting to get tender?  Alright, then add your mushrooms!
14. Hit the heat to high, keep things moving and wait for stuff to sizzle.  Get the flavors of all that spice into those veggies.  They want it.
15. When the mushrooms look like they're about to start shrinking, add your stock.  Add your can of tomato sauce.  Add enough water to all this to get the veggies floating.
16. Cover it.  Keep it on High.
17. Bring it to a boil.
18. Let it simmer on Low-Med for about 10 minutes.
19. Add your cabbage after 10 minutes.  Turn off your heat.
20. Let it sit another 10 minutes.

It should be approximately 1 hour later than when you started.  Yes?  Less?  That's OK.  More?   That's OK too.

Now, one optional component to this I MIGHT add tomorrow when I put it in the crock pot would be pasta, that small round hole pasta, looks like it's made for kids, often found in minestrone.  I haven't decided.  ALSO, I considered adding beans.  I would choose Cannelloni beans if I did.  Both may be a bit much, not sure yet.  I plan on having this at lunch tomorrow to test out and see what's missing.  I will then alter or add to it once it makes it into my crock pot tomorrow night.

Spring into Spring Rolls

A while back we hosted a party at our house.  I know, right, me, throw a party... could you imagine. <yes I'm being sarcastic)  And I said "a while back" meaning it was more than just this past month.  Most people will tell you that I entertain a lot.  Well, I do.  I like it.  No, I love it.  I entertain, a LOT.  If something isn't going on at my house that month, I go stir crazy.  Heck, it's a reason just to keep my house clean!  I thrive on having a house full of guests, laughing, drinking, having a good time, and eating.  I like the feeling of slaving over a hot stove all day creating a well deserved master piece, whether it's a recipe I've done before or something new.  And then presenting it to them to enjoy, all the while soaking in the ooooos and aaahhhs and oh yummmms.  So when I entertain, I always whip up something I know I can do well and has been done in the past, but I also like to toss in something new, never tried.  Sometimes they go well, sometimes they flop.



So, this party.  It was a pot luck.  And although the pot luck means everyone should be bringing one dish, I of course still worry that there won't be enough food.  So I cook more than I should.  Also, it's just so hard to choose only one recipe.  I had recently been craving spring rolls.  I didn't want to go for the pre-frozen, and I didn't want to order them from the local Chinese restaurant.  It's obvious, it was going to be a homemade attempt.  I don't have a deep fryer.  Shock, I know.  So, this could go well, or it could go poorly since I can't fry them, they will have to be baked.  But whatever, it's about playing.  After compiling a subset of several different recipes and things to try, I gathered my ingredients, or what I thought should go inside spring rolls and started to wing it.  Here are those results.





Ingredients:
 - Spring rolls are loaded with veggies.  Crunchy ones and soft ones.  Here's what I chose.

Shredded Carrots	Sprouts!  (who doesn't love sprouts?)
Mushrooms	Broccoli Slaw

- (but not just ANY mushrooms, I found the most awesomist mushrooms ever "Enoki Mushrooms!") 
- You're going to want to rinse off and trim your mushrooms


       - Spring Rolls rice paper wrappers, not to be confused with Won-ton wrappers.  The Spring roll rice papers can be found int eh international aisle of your grocery store.  I found them with the special Chinese noodles.
       - Salt, Pepper
       - Soy Sauce
       - Sesame Oil

Let's Play!

 - Use a wok if you have one.  If not, just use your stainless steel and get it as hot as you can.
 - Drizzle sesame oil to taste and add all your shredded veggies
 - Salt and Pepper and soy sauce to taste
     - Don't over do the soy sauce, as it will make stuffing your wrappers very messy
 - Cook until the veggies are at the tenderness you like
     - I do mine al dente so they still have crunch, but are not raw
     - Make it a habit to take a piece out and taste it, test it.  Not just for tenderness, but flavor.  More salt?  More pepper?  More sesame oil?  More soy?



Get Rolling!

 - Let your veggies cool down a bit, since you'll be handling them with your fingers.
 - Locate your baking dish or cookie sheet and spray generously with cooking spray.  If not, they WILL stick.
 - Get a saute/frying/pot big enough to fit your rice paper flat.  Fill with just about 1 inch of water and get it hot, but not boiling.  You're putting your fingers into it.  If found hot water from my sink was good enough, no need to turn on a boiler.
 - Place one rice paper into the hot water and let it soak for 2-3 seconds until it softens.  Don't let it dissolve.
 - Put the now soft wrapper on your work area.  Grab a small amount of veggies and place in the center of the wrapper.
 - Fold the sides in over the veggies.  Fold the bottom up over the veggies.  Roll.
 - Repeat and repeat and repeat.
 - If you see rips and tears int he wrapper, try to start with those so that they wrap on the inside.
 - Line your rolls up on your dish/sheet
 - Oven at 375, into to bake, until they "look good"
 - Pull them out and serve

I served mine with a pre-made, store bought sauce and of course doctored it up with scallions and ginger.


You can also attempt to deep fry these, but I'm not sure how well that would go over, as they could fall apart.  My brother in law and I attempted to deep fry them the next day (yes, they SAVE) and they fell apart.  So he battered them, and then deep fried them, and Holy they were yummy.  So that's an option too!

Roasted Veggies a Go-Go

Apparently, I have a problem.  An addiction really.  Some might just call it an obsession.  A need to always be doing something.  A need to always be planning something.  A requirement to provide food, drink and good company to a crowd.  That's right, I LOVE to throw parties!  If something's not on the horizon, I feel empty.

At work, I am the lead planner for a Halloween party we have for the employee kids; it's called Trunk or Treat.  (ToT)  At the ToT event I provide pizza, salad, chicken nuggets, drinks and desserts for about 850 people, plus activities and trick or treating.  I am also on the holiday party planning committee for the employees that sit in my building, it's called Festivus.  This party serves up 350 people, we have it catered, it's potluck dessert, and oh yeah, there's a 40+ participant Yankee Swap and a 9 hole mini golf course setup by departments in the building.

At home, I have a Luau every year in my back yard.  Fully decked out and themed, I provide most of the food, people bring sides, we've had a live band a few years now; a guest list of 40-150 depending on the year.  I've been known to throw a "Last Holiday Party of the Year" party the end of January and open my house to 100 people.  Oh yeah, and one more, my husband has lots of 1st cousins, so we open our doors to a potluck that hosts 30 people in February.  And I love it.  I don't typically stress about it.  Key word there being "typically" because there's always something to stress about.  And not to mention the occasional family birthday or anniversary party I get to dig into from time to time.

 
But anyhow, I threw yet another party this past weekend.  Menu included pulled pork, baked macaroni & cheese.... and.... yep, you guessed it, roasted veggies.  Now, roasted veggies can come in all shapes, sizes and varieties.  Everyone has their own mantra on how they should be roasted, and what they should be roasted with.  I've roasted veggies on the grill, in the oven, on the stove-top.  Inside tin-foil, on the broiler pan, over a hot fire, on the grill.  And I always experiment with different flavors, oils and spices.  But this weekend, yeah, this weekend, I hit the mark.  These veggies were awesome!  And I loved my variety.  They were so colorful.  So let's play.
 


Select Your Veggies:


I went with the following:

• Carrots, shaved, rough chop into same sizes
• Turnip, shaved, rough chop into same sizes
• Baby Redskin Potatoes, diced to match the carrot sizes
• Baby Portabella Mushrooms, diced to match the carrot sized
• Broccoli, chopped to match the carot size, roughly
• 1 Red Onion, nice big pieces
• 8 gloves whole garlic, peeled

Place in baking dish.  Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees

Now your flavorings:

• Olive Oil, very generous drizzle
• Basil, even sprinkle
• Oregano, even sprinkle
• Salt, generous
• Pepper, generous

Put on center rack in your oven, roast for 30 minutes.  Toss veggies around, return to oven for another 15 minutes.  Remove, cover with tin foil and let sit for another 10 minutes.

Voila!

My Goodness, My Greenbeans!

Somehow I made it through Thanksgiving weekend without having to really cook anything.  I did make homemade cranberry sauce, but that's super simple.  And I was left on Monday after the holiday with not a single left-over.  No "Gobbler" sandwich for me!  That just wouldn't do.  I must have turkey leftovers.

So that Sunday I bought myself a turkey.  Hey, they were on sale!  W00t!  But.... after doing the math, a 20lb turkey would not cook in enough time for the day that I had left myself.  Booooo.... Yes, you read that correctly, a 20lb turkey... for 2.5 of us.  It was the smallest Market Basket had...  So... into the freezer the bird went for a few days to be cooked the following Sunday, this past Sunday.

To go with it?  Mashed Yukon Gold potatoes cooked in 50/50 water/chicken stock.  Mashed butternut squash.  Stuffing, inside the bird.  And green beans.  But not just ANY green beans.  Recently, at a holiday meal at work, they had made Green Beans with sliced almonds.  They were awesome!  And during that same week, my mother-in-law made a similar recipe.  They were awesome!  So, now, I must make green beans, with almonds.  Oh no, but I don't stop there.... let's add bacon, and cook them in the bacon grease, with garlic.  Yep, I used bacon grease again!  Does life get any better?  Let's play!

Ingredients:

• Several Handfuls of fresh green beans.  Washed and trimmed.
• 3-4 slices of crispy MAPLE bacon, roughly chopped into bits, you want to be able to see and bite them, not disappear so chop accordingly.
• Small handful of salted, roasted almonds.  I just chopped mine.  Pre-sliced cost more.
• 1 medium clove of garlic, smashed and finally chopped

Time to Cook:

• Have a nice big breakfast that morning, eggs and maple bacon, go head, cook a whole pound.  Set 3 or 4 slices aside and pour out most, but not all of the bacon grease.  You'll want to leave a small slurry on the bottom of the pan.  Keep it as is, set the pan aside until you're ready later that day to make the beans.
• Ready?  Heat your large skillet with the bacon grease still in it on med-high and add the green beans.  Cover.  Adjust temp as necessary.  Cook and toss occasionally until they are at just under your desired firmness.  I like mine to still be crunchy and bright green (more nutrients retained that way)
• Toss in your chopped bacon, garlic and almonds.
• Continue to cook and move around until green beans are at your desired firmness.

Serve.  Sorry there is no picture of this one, but I wasn't sure how it was going to come out.  And voila, who knew, it's amazing!!!  I find that mixing the bacon and almonds into my stuffing if they are sitting next to one another on the plate was very delicious too.

Enjoy!

Your Mom Made WHAT for Dinner?

Today's meal is good "5 ingredient fix" and great for leftovers.  I can take absolutely no credit for this dinner, whatsoever.  This one comes straight from my mother in law. 

Back in the 90's when dating my husband, then boyfriend obviously, we came home to his house one night to his mom cooking this in the kitchen.  Now, my own mom is a great cook and experiments a good amount and I grew up with a decent variety of food.  But when you're introduced to another family, you're introduced to a whole new culinary experience too.  I was also brought up on the philosophy that you eat what is placed in front of you, all of it.  And if you are a guest in the house, you choke it down and compliment it like its the best thing you ever tasted.  Thankfully, I do have a pretty varietal palette and have yet to really come across something I can't choke down.  Example:  I had asparagus the first time ever with my husband's family.  Smothered them in ketchup of course, but ate them nonetheless.  Today, they are a regular vegetable in our house, and I have my mother in law to thank for that.  But this isn't about asparagus.  This particular meal is simply referred to as "that ham, egg and pea thing."

The "ham, egg and pea thing" was boiling away that fateful night when we came home and I wondered just what I was in for.  Chopped up pieces of what appeared to be left over ham, peas (oh God), hard-boiled eggs (hrm) and... some kind of white sauce.... poured over spiral noodles.  Everyone seemed pretty excited they were having this meal, particularly my husband, while my mother in law just matter of factly placed the mixture on the table and we all dug in. 

I proceeded with caution.  Noodles, check.  And this mixure of ham, egg, peas (?!) and sauce over it.  How, on earth, was this going to come together in my mouth and taste good?  If you've ever watched me eat; I'm known to eat the contents of my plate from smallest to largest, one item at a time, and I twist my plate towards what I'm currently consuming.  Yeah, not really an obsessive compulsive, just a quirk.  My sister gets a kick out of it.  Anyhow... I like my foods separate.  Prime example, Thanksgiving dinner.  Each food group gets a corner of the plate all to its own.  And certain foods are actually required to be next to one another. Stuffing must be placed next to potatoes, which must be placed next to turkey, and so on.  As a child I watched my great-grandfather put it all on the plate and then scoop it all into a pile and mix it up.  I think it was this horrifying experience at the tender age of 8, that I now must eat things separate, but equal.  But I digress.  So here are these ingredients which typically would be served scooped on the plate separately, being served to me all on one spoon.  Sitting down, hoping no one sees my trepidation, I take my first bite, and voila, who knew... it's awesome!  I ask, what do you call this?  The answer is just "the ham, egg and pea thing."

I have yet to really play with this recipe, since I find it's pretty perfect.  The combination really needs no added flavor or changes.  While I've often thought about what I could do with it, I hesitate in fear of truly ruining it some night and finding I have a pot full of it, and a husband who won't eat it.  Why mess with something that works?

There is no measuring in this.  Just eyeball how much you need for how many you need to feed and make.

• Leftover cooked ham.  Cut into 1 inch chunks.
• Pasta
• Frozen or leftover peas
• Hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• White Sauce - Milk/Butter/Flower/White Pepper/Mustard Powder

1. Boil water, pour in pasta, about 1/2 way through cooking, add your peas to cook them if frozen, and cook until pasta is just al dente
2. Strain into colander, let sit, return pot to burner on med-high
3. Melt ~6T of butter, sprinkle in white pepper to taste (later you can add more), add ~1/4c flour and a good shake of the mustard powder - keep stirring, don't let it sit, you'll burn it.  cook for a minute or two to make the flour taste go away.. this is a rue
4. Add to the rue, 2 to 2.5 c milk, whisk and keep whisking until it comes to a slight boil and starts to thicken -> White Sauce
5. Turn down to low, keep a watch and stir often
6. Fry up your ham so it's warm
7. Cut your boiled eggs (about 4).  slice and dice, so the pieces are large enough to find, but not giant
8. Put the eggs into the white sauce and whisk up well until all the yolk is dissovled and mixed in
9. Add the ham to the pot
10. Add the pasta/peas to the pot
11. Mix until all items are coated in white sauce
12. Serve

I like mine with a sprinkle of black pepper over the top.
This is something that even my 4 year old picky eating daughter will consume with glee.

Vegetarian Chili

It's Football Season!!!  Whohooo!!!  Nachos, Buffalo Wings, Chili, Dip, Chips, bar food gallore!
Patriot's opening night Monday Night Football was this week.

Now to be perfectly clear, since my husband will read this.. yes, I like football, I enjoy watching it.  However, I'm no stats guru.   I don't know all the rules, I don't know all the players.  I was in a fantasy football league once, that was fun.  I fall asleep by half-time.  But the concept of football, yeah I'm down with that.  Besides, I work in a department full of guys, I need something to talk about.
 
But this is a blog about food, so here we go.
Typical Menu, nachos, drowned in cheese, topped with taco meat, sliced jalepenos, gobs of sour cream and beer on the side.  In the mood for more spice, I'll toss a bag of frozen buffalo wings into the oven.  Hey, a working mom can't do it all.  Besides, I spend my time making the nachos, those are my favorite anyways.

But wait... people are coming over.  Someone's a vegetarian.   I can't make nachos without taco meat, that's just not right.  I'll skip the machos nachos. What to do... what to do?  Vegetarian chili, sounds good.  But how do you make chili without meat?  And what actually GOES INTO vegetarian chili?

So this is how I play it.  Ask around.  Who's got a good recipe?  No answers really.  Pulled up my favorite search engine, "vegetarian chili" -> the results are endless... how exciting.  I don't print a single one out.  Why?  Because it's chili, who needs a recipe for chili?  Just toss things into a pot and cook it!  But, I'm curious what others put in it.  So I take a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.  And voila!  Results below.

-    1 large yellow onion – chopped
-    Drizzle bottom of pot with olive oil to coat bottom, toss in onion, heavily salt/pepper
-    Saute over medium heat until onions are golden brown and there are crustys on the bottom of the pan.
-    Deglaze with liquid of choice.  I used water because I didn’t know my audience, but would have used perhaps a red wine or even a sherry

Jenn, stop.. what do you mean "deglaze" - well, pour the liquid in, use your WOODEN spoon to scrape the yummy crusty stuff off the bottom, that's not burning, that FLAVOR!  Professional cooks, I believe call this "fond" - well, if it's black and starting to smoke and smells bad, then it's burning.  But a good dark brown before that, that folks is yummy goodness.

-    (if you want to turn this into a meat lovers chili, add 1lb of ground beef or ground turkey at this point and sauté until no red left – deglaze pan when done)
-    1 large green bell pepper, 1 large red bell pepper, 4 stalks of celery – chopped, bite size pieces
-    Toss into pot and continue to sauté until there are crustys on the bottom of the pan
-    Deglaze with liquid of choice.
-    3 or 4 carrots, chopped to bit size pieces, toss into pan.
-    ½ to whole jalepeno pepper finely chopped (I take out the white veins, not so spicey that way, leave on if you want it spicier)
-    Continue to sauté until carrots are mildly soft.
-    Put in one 8oz can of tomato puree, deglaze pan if you got more crustys.
-    Put in one 16oz can of chopped tomoatoes
-    Fill ½ of the 8oz tomato can with water and put that in
-    Toss in one 8oz can of (rinsed) black eyed peas
-    Toss in one 8oz can of (rinsed) kidney beans
-    Toss in one 8oz can of (rinsed) cannellini beans
-    (optional) Toss in one 8oz can of (rinsed) black beans
-    Toss in a bunch of frozen corn
-    Chili Powder – to taste, I like just a little zing on the tongue when cooking for a crowd and this results in about 2T of powder, or the way I measure, cup your hand and fill the center.  Add more if you like it hot.
-    Turn heat up, bring to boil, turn heat to Med-Low simmer
-    Serve with shredded cheese of choice and a tab of sour cream in the middle
-    Serves 6-8 depending on your bowl size