Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Sunday

Celebrity Cook-Along - Rachel Ray

I’ve never been big a fan of Rachel Ray (I don’t like her raspy voice) and haven’t tried any of her recipes, so I had to find one to try so I could to Lynn’s Celebrity Cook Along! Click on her name for lots more of Rachel's recipes.

(Note just added: someone told me Rachel had a medical problem with her voicebox and that's why she talked that way. I apologize!)

I found her recipe for Sloppy Lasagna on her website and thought this might be something we would enjoy. I was a little worried about the cream sauce, not sure I would like it.

Some of the ingredients for Sloppy Lasagna

This is definitely not one of Rachel's 30-minute meals!!

Maybe it was just me, but it took me foreeeeveeer to make this recipe! I was worn out when we finally sat down to eat!

Meat sauce in the skillet, cream sauce in the pan.

The whole time I was making this I was thinking “is it going to be worth it??” all this work and time spent? Some of the ingredients are so expensive!

The veal mixture was expensive and the San Marzano tomatoes were over $3! Lasagna is always expensive to make though and it does make a lot. Actually it makes a ton, I ended up using another dish for a second casserole! I froze the excess. We had several meals from this recipe, so that helped with the expense of the ingredients.

I must admit, we were delighted with the outcome, it is very good!

My husband and I do recommend this recipe after all! Maybe I'll become a RR fan! She is a cute gal!

It made one 9x13 tray and one 8x11 tray.

The cream sauce was very good and it helped cut down on the usual red sauce used in lasagna.

Want to try it?

The recipe is below!

Sloppy Lasagna

Ingredients

2 pounds curly edge lasagna noodles
Salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground beef, pork and veal mix
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, grated or finely chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
2 fresh bay leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pinches ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup white wine
1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes
A handful basil leaves, torn
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 to 2 1/2 cups milk, eyeball the amount
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 cups fresh ricotta cheese

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium heat. Break all of the pasta sheets into irregular, larger than single bite-sized pieces. Salt the water, then add the pasta and cook to a little shy of al dente. Drain and set aside in a large bowl.

Heat the extra-virgin olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot or large skillet over medium heat. Add the meat, press it into an even layer and brown it for 3 to 4 minutes before moving. Turn the meat and add the onions and grated carrot. Stir and cook a few minutes to soften, then add the garlic, bay leaves, salt and pepper, to taste, and the cinnamon. Cook for a couple of minutes, then stir in the tomato paste, wait for 1 minute then add the wine. Reduce for a minute more, then add the tomatoes, breaking them up as you stir. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the basil.

While the sauce simmers, in a medium sauce pot, melt the butter over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, then whisk in the milk and nutmeg, and season with salt, pepper, to taste. Let cook for a couple of minutes to thicken, then stir in 1/2 cup of the grated cheese and turn off the heat.

Heat a broiler.

Add the meat sauce to the bowl with the pasta and toss. Layer half of the pasta into a lasagna pan and scatter with dollops of fresh ricotta cheese. Top with remaining pasta. Pour the white sauce over the pasta and scatter the remaining 1 cup of the grated cheese over the top.

Put under the broiler to brown and bubble. Remove from the broiler and serve.

NOTE: I didn't do the broiler thing above. I baked it in a 350 degree oven just like any other lasagna, mainly because I took so long making it, the pasta was too cold.

Maybe you'll be faster than I was. This will be great for company, I wished I had invited someone over to share it with. Next time I will!

Monday

Another new recipe!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Veggies

This weekend I found a new meatless recipe in the newspaper that I tried. I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, so I improvised. The results turned out to be another new recipe and it was very good! My husband has to eat whole wheat pasta and I'm trying to learn to like it as well as the white pasta.

Here is the recipe I came up with, and at the end I'll tell you the changes I made.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Veggies

2 large tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 onion, 2 ribs celery, 1 green pepper, 4 cloves garlic minced.

Chop all the veggies into chunks. Saute in olive oil starting with the celery, then add the onion, then the green pepper. Keep them a little crunchy. Let cool.

In a large bowl, place the sautéed veggies, then add the tomato chunks. Add: ¼ cup EVOO, ¼ cup balsamic vinegar, 1 cup fresh mozzarella, cut into small cubes and fresh basil leaves (about 4) Toss all together, let flavors marry 15 to 30 minutes.

Cook whole wheat pasta in boiling salted water, (I add a few drops of olive oil to the water) When done, drain, then add to the veggie mixture and toss together. Serve either warm or cold. You may also add fresh shredded parmesan if desired.

Other optional additions could be: toasted pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, broccoli, zuchinni, squash, or eggplant. Next time I may add broccoli florets (sauteed) and sun-dried tomatoes. My husband loved it the way I made it. The balsamic vinegar just has a wonderful flavor!

I used the recipe below and made changes. I decided to slightly saute' the veggies instead of leaving them raw.

Below is the recipe from the newspaper. It is more like a pasta salad, the veggies are raw.

Mediterranean Whole Grain Rotini with No-Cook Tomato Sauce

3 ½ cups diced and seeded ripe tomatoes

1 bunch scallions, whites and pale greens only, thinly sliced.

2 Tbsp. capers, rinsed

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

¼ cup EEVO

¾ cup diced fresh mozzarella

Salt and ground pepper, to taste

12 ounces whole-grain rotini pasta

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, scallions, capers, basil, oregano and garlic. Toss well, then add the vinegar, oil and mozzarella.

Toss again to mix, Season with salt and pepper, then let sit for 30 minutes.

When ready to serve, cook pasta in boiling salted water. According to package directions. Drain the pasta and add to the veggie sauce. Toss well. Serve warm, or cold. Six servings, 370 calories (Note: EVOO is Extra Virgin Olive Oil.)

There you go, two recipes for the price of one! Let me know if you try them!

I took these pictures today, so this is really a leftover! Keep in mind this is whole wheat pasta (purchased at Target) and the balsamic vinegar is brown, so it has a brown toned appearance!

We enjoyed Southern Sweet Tea with it (sweetened with Nu-Stevia instead of sugar.)

Have a happy day!
God Bless.

Katherine

Go ahead, have a taste!

Food Favorites

This past Saturday I had planned to share the recipe for one of my favorite meals, but I was very surprised to see somebody else had the same thing on her blog! I let this keep me from posting, but after thinking about it I decided to go ahead and post mine since I'm sure I have readers that probably don't follow her blog. Actually, I've even forgotten which blog it was!

The picture above was taken a few months ago and I've been waiting to share the recipe which is Lemon Garlic Broccoli Bow Tie Pasta. I have just started making this recipe this year since I'm making a lot of meatless meals these days. My stomach doesn't tolerate meat very well anymore, and my husband is a cancer survivor and shouldn't eat a lot of meat (although he loves it!) I found this recipe on the net and we have it often, sometimes I add chicken breast to the recipe. I will share the recipe at the end of this post, but first I want to share some of my favorite kitchen utensils.

Do you have most of these utensils? I use them a lot, several times a week.

I have all sizes of whisks, including a large one not shown here. I use them for everything such as mixing jello. The green one is nylon and won't scratch Teflon pans when making gravies or sauces.

Left to right: small spatula, lemon juicer, melon baller, grater, toast tongs. I use the melon baller for cookie dough. I love the grater and use it with the recipe above. The toast tongs I use daily to get toast from our toaster over and not burn myself!

I love lemon zest in a lot of foods, baked as well as vegetables, this tool makes it easy!

I have several orange and lemon juicers, but prefer this one above.

Here's the recipe, I hope you will try it and enjoy it as much as we do!

Lemon Garlic Broccoli Bowtie Pasta

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbls butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
Grated lemon rind of 1 lemon
freshly squeezed juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (8 ounce) package farfalle (bow tie) pasta
1 head broccoli, cut into florets (I use 1 bag frozen broccoli florets)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 small bag pine nuts, Toasted (¼ cup)

DIRECTIONS

Toast pine nuts, watch carefully as they burn easily (I set the timer to remind me)
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. About 5 minutes before pasta is done, drop broccoli into the pasta water. Continue to cook until pasta is cooked and broccoli is crisp-tender. Drain. (I use the 5 min microwave broccoli instead of this step.)
While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil and butter in a small frying pan over low heat. Slowly cook garlic in oil until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Be very careful not to burn garlic. Stir in lemon rind, and juice, season with salt and pepper.
Toss pasta, broccoli, and lemon sauce and pine nuts in a large bowl. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

We like this as a meatless pasta meal, but chicken chunks or strips can be added, sauté them in the butter/oil and garlic, till done. Shrimp may also be used instead. I have also started using whole wheat bow tie pasta (found at Target.)

Have a happy day!
God Bless.

Katherine

Sunday

Summer Salads

I had planned to continue on with sharing salad recipes on Saturdays, but Felicia invited me to join her Christmas in July Saturday (next post below) so I'm sharing two of our favorite salads today.

Apple Broccoli Slaw

Tomato and Tuna Salad

First I'll share the broccoli slaw. I have about five broccoli salad recipes and this is one of our favorite. It is made with a bag of broccoli slaw. I forgot to take a picture of the bag, but you get it at the bagged lettuce, etc. counter. To this bag of broccoli slaw you add chopped apples, cranberries, etc. (Recipe below.)

Here are a few of the ingredients to add to the broccoli slaw.
We really like dried cranberries and the apples together.
I always keep toasted sunflower seed kernels and almonds to use in lots of recipes.
The tuna salad also has sunflower seeds in it. (Recipe at the bottom.)

Apple Broccoli Slaw

1 bag broccoli slaw

2 cups shredded, chopped red cabbage

1 Granny Smith green apple, peeled, cored, and chopped

1 finely chopped red onion, or Vidalia onion

¼ cup finely chopped green pepper

2 cups shredded and chopped red cabbage

1 cup dried cranberries

½ cup toasted sliced almonds (watch carefully when toasting seeds and almonds (only takes about 3 minutes, I set the timer!)

1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1 or 2 packages Stevia powder (or Splenda)

About ½ cup balsamic vinegar

Mix all together and refrigerate. You may need to add more balsamic when serving. I just love the combination flavors of the broccoli, apple, nuts, seeds, and balsamic!

I don't "love" tuna salad, but my husband does so I add a lot to it to make it really good. I like to serve it with crackers instead of making a sandwich, to save on the calories of the bread. If I make a sandwich (to take in a bag lunch, I use pocket bread.

Crunchy Tuna Salad

2 cans tuna, drained

1 or 2 ribs celery, chopped

2 tablespoons Mayo

2 tablespoons Miracle whip

1/2 teaspoon Mustard

1 tablespoon Pickle relish

2 tablespoons Minced onion

1/4 cup Toasted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup Toasted slivered almonds (watch closely while toasting!)

Lettuce leaves

Mix mayo and Miracle Whip with mustard and

Pickle relish. Mix with tuna, celery, onion, relish, then add nuts and seeds.

Mix well and chill. (If needed add more ingredients to make it

more moist.

Another secret ingredient of my tuna salad

is to add a little 1000 Island dressing to it, about a tablespoon.

(I didn't have it this time.)

Sometimes I also chop up an apple and mix it into the tuna salad mixture, it's very good with the nuts.

This tuna salad is very quick and easy to put together quickly when expecting friends for lunch.

I posted the Broccoli Orange Salad shown below a few weeks ago. Click here for the recipe.

Let me know if you try these salads!
Have a happy day!
God Bless.

Katherine

Wednesday

Tablescape Thursday

I enjoy participating in Susan’s Thursday Tablescapes, go here to her blog for lots more inspiration.

I’m sharing a green and yellow tablescape I put together around a tablecloth I bought at Home Goods a few weeks ago. It is a very unusual color of green, sort of between a spring green and a bright avocado. The color doesn't show true in most of these pictures.

The centerpiece is made from a small wooden arbor I’ve had for many years. I added more flowers to it. The green silk zinnias were bought at Dollar Tree.