Lasagna

I've given you all the sauce options you need to make lasagna -- now it's simply time to assemble one. Don't fear -- it's easy!

For a lasagna that will feed 8 people, here's what you need.

Any of the tomato sauces I've previously posted.
1 box of Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles
32 ounces of ricotta cheese -- part skim is fine!
16-32 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese. You can use the pre-shredded cheese in a bag, but it's not as good as shredding it yourself from the block. If you do use the bagged cheese, don't get the finely shredded -- just the regular shredded. And don't waste the money on fresh mozzarella -- it won't taste any different and will leave the lasagna too watery.
2 eggs
1 tbsp Minced Italian flat leaf parsely -- fresh is best, but you can use dried.
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parmigiano cheese
Optional -- chopped spinach, broccoli flowers, thinly sliced zucchini or eggplant

Take your baking dish and spray it thoroughly with non-stick cooking spray.

Spread a generous layer of sauce on the bottom and line the pan with a layer of lasagna noodles.

Mix the ricotta cheese, 3/4 of the mozzarella cheese, the parmigiano, eggs, salt, pepper and parsley together.

Spread 1/3 of this mixture on the noodles, cover with another layer of noodles, and push it down to spreadout the cheese mixture. Add another thin layer of sauce, and repeat twice. The last layer of sauce should be generous. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top of the dish.

Bake this in a 300 degree oven for 1 hour. Keep covered with foil for the first 45 minutes.

When it's done, take out, cover with foil again, and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

If you want to add layers of any of the veggies mentioned above, especially if you're using marinara sauce and want a really rich veggie lasagna, go ahead -- add any or all of them to each layer and cook the same as above.

This can be prepared as far as 3 days ahead of time and put into the over whenever ready. Just be sure to take it out of the fridge an hour in advance so it comes up to room temperature a bit. If it's still cold when you put it in the oven, make sure it's bubbling around the edges and very hot in the middle -- if you try to stick your finger into the middle and instantly recoil, it's done!

Bolognese sauce

This is my recipe for meat sauce --it may not be the most authentic version of a Bolognese sauce, but those who have eaten it have raved, so hopefully you'll like it too!

1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb Italian sweet sausage
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion diced
6-8 large garlic cloves, minced
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup of dry red wine
3 large cans of Italian crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp. of salt

Brown the beef and sausage (which you should remove from the casings) in olive oil, breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon as you cook it. When it's fully cooked, add the onion, garlic, and all the spices, and continue to saute until the onions and garlic become translucent, but not browned.

At this point, you can drain off the extra fat from the oil and sausage if you want to save some calories. Leaving it in will make the sauce a bit richer, but it will still be delicious without it.

Add the red win and simmer until it's just about fully absorbed by the meat and veggies. Then add the tomato paste, and stir thoroughly through the mixture. Cook this for 2-3 minutes.

Then add the crushed tomatoes, stir through thoroughly, cover the pot, set the flame or burner as low as it will go, and simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Toward the end of the cooking time, taste the sauce and see if you think it needs more of any seasonings -- add to taste. If for some reason, the sauce is a bit bitter or "sharp" add a tablespoon of honey and stir throughout.

NOTE -- if you're REALLY calorie conscious, you could use turkey Italian sweet sausage instead of the other meats -- it'll still be good, but not as good :)

Sausage, Peppers and Potatoes

Another really easy dish -- about 10 minutes to assemble, 40 minutes to cook, and can be served for a week-night or for company.

Take one pound of sweet or hot Italian sausage and brown them up in a frying pan until the casings get nicely crisp.

While this is happening, cut 2 yellow or red (or a combo of both) onions into chunks, cut some small red potatoes in half or into quarters (big bite sized pieces), and chop up either either 4 frying peppers (the long, sweet, light green ones), or some combo of bell peppers, also into chunks roughly the size of the onions.

Toss 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tbsp. of salt, 1 tsp. of pepper, and 1 tbsp. of fennel seeds with the potatoes, onions and peppers, and place in a baking dish.

When the sausages are done, cut them into large bite sized pieces, and scatter thoughout the veggies in the baking dish.

Put in a 400 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes, stirring once or twice while cooking so that everything browns nicely. If you want it even crisper, put it under the broiler for 3 or 4 minutes before serving.

This reheats beautifully the next day, or if you chop it up into small pieces and mix with some well beaten eggs, it makes for a delicious breakfast scramble.

Baked chicken

While this dish will take about 45 minutes to cook, it takes about 4 minutes to assemble and is a crowd pleaser any night of the week, and also a great company dish.

Drizzle a little bit of olive oil on the bottom of a baking dish, no more than to VERY lightly coat the bottom. Line the bottom of the dish with a slices of lemon and slices of onion. Put a pinch of salt over this to draw out the moisture.

Cover with the parts of a full chicken (including the neck, which you can then save for the next time you make broth). Put the wings and the legs in the center and the bigger pieces on the outside. If the breasts are REALLY large, split them in half. Sprinkle a little olive oil and fresh lemon juice on the chicken, some salt, and some herbs de provence.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Once or twice after the half way point, baste the chicken with the juices in the pan.

When the chicken is done, put it on a platter and cover with foil -- let it rest for about 5 minutes.

Take the juices and drippings in the pan, put them through a sieve, and heat them over a high flame for about 5 minutes to reduce and thicken. Put that into a gravy boat, strain the fat off the top, and serve as a quick and easy gravy.

Bread pudding/French toast casserole

Remember when I said I hate to bake, so I do desserts that are more about assembly, than actual baking? Here's a good one. And the best part is that it doubles as what I call French Toast Casserole for brunch (in fact, I first made this as a brunch dish, and only recently started serving it as dessert).

1 loaf of bread -- Challah is great; Italian bread too, or something similar, but nothing that's too crusty. A GREAT bread to use is one of Tasetfully Simple's beer breads --either white or whole wheat.
4 eggs (you could substitute egg beaters if you're watching your cholesterol -- you'll barely notice the difference)
2/3 cup milk (whole is best, but any kind will do)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp real vanilla extract
1/2 cup blueberries (or any berry you like, cut up into blueberry size pieces)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter (optional)
1 bag frozen berries (mixed, or any one kind of berry is fine)
2 tbsp. honey

Cut up the loaf of bread into bit sized cubes.

Mix the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla extract and add the bread cubes. Toss thoroughly, until the bread absorbs all the liquid.

Put this into a greased baking dish, and toss the berries on top, spreading them around. If fresh berried aren't in season, frozen ones will do fine, but defrost them first and let them drain a little so the pudding doesn't get watery.

Cover with a thin layer of brown sugar. If you want, dot butter over the top for some extra richness, but this is purely optional -- trust me, it's delicious and rich enough without it!

Cover with foil and put in the oven at 350 degrees, and bake for 35-40 minutes, until it's hot all the way through. Take off the foil for the last 10 minutes so the top gets a little crunchy, but the middle doesn't dry out.

While it's baking, put the berries into a sauce pan with the honey. (Don't waste your money on fresh berries -- you really won't notice a difference for the sauce). Simmer this on low until the berries totally break down. Stir frequently, and you can use a potato masher to help spead the process. Put the mixture into a fine, mesh strainer, and push out as much syrup as you can with a spatula or spoon.

Pour a few spoons-ful of this over each serving of the pudding.

Enjoy!!!!!

Broths

So as I posted my soup recipes yesterday, I realized I should have started with broths first. There are wonderful broths you can buy in any store, but if you really want to go home-made, there's nothing like a broth from scratch. And they're easy to make. I'll start with the basic veggie broth, and then give directions for how to add various meats or seafoods. These can be made in huge batches and frozen for long periods of time so you'll always have some ready when you need it.

Basic Vegetable Broth

1 pound of whole, unpeeled carrots
1 pound of celery
1 large yellow onion
1 head of garlic
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper
Bouquet garnee (details below) of rosemary, thyme and sage

Wash the carrots, slice the bottoms off, cut them in half, and then into chunks.
Slice off the bottom of the celery, wash it, and cut into chunks.
Slice the onion into quarters -- don't bother peeling it
Slice the garlic in half, exposing the middle of as many cloves as possible.

Put all of this into a large soup pot, with the olive oil in the bottom. Saute it on medium heat for about 20 minutes, until everything gets a little browned around the edges.

Cover it with cold water -- the water should just barely cover the veggies -- no more than 1/2 inch over them.

Add the salt and pepper.

To make a bouquet garnee, take fresh or dried thyme, sage and rosemary, and tie them up in a piece of cheesecloth. Add the cheesecloth to the pot.

Bring this all to a low boil and then turn onto low heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Strain everything through a fine sieve and adjust the salt and pepper as desired.

If you want to make meat broths, follow the variations below:

Chicken -- brown 4-6 chicken thighs in the olive oil and then add the veggies to brown some more. Then follow directions above. You could also simply add a chicken carcass from your latest roast chicken. If you're not ready to make broth when you have the roast chicken, you can put it in a ziploc baggie and freeze it for at least amonth or two until you're ready.

Beef -- get a half-pound of beef bones from the butcher or your supermarket, or save them when you buy bone-in steaks. Brown them in the oven for 30 minutes on 400 degree heat before you add them to the stock, and then follow directions above, but omit the sage from the broth.

Fish/Seafood -- add fish carcasses, shrimp shells, crab shells, or lobster shells to the veggie broth recipe, and omit the sage and rosemary. Use parsely instead.

When making any of the broths that are not veggie broth, you'll likely have some fat in the broth. If you want to remove it, wait for the broth to cool and it will all float to the top so you can skim it off. If you boil these broths too fast, you might also get some "scum" in the broth from the marrow in the bones. You can do a second straining, lining your sieve with cheesecloth and most of this will be removed.

Enjoy!

Potato Leek Soup

Another really easy soup recipe -- this one can be ready in 30 minutes -- Rachel Ray, eat your heart out!!!

48 ounces of low-sodium chicken broth (Swanson's is my favorite)
6 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
6 large cloves of garlic, peeled
2 large leeks, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Tastefully Simple Seasoning Salt
1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
1/4 cup cream (optional)
Crumbled bacon and/or shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Add the potatoes and garlic cloves to the broth, along with the seasoning salt and pepper, and boil gently for about 15 minutes. While that's cooking, dice the leeks and clean and dry them thoroughly ( they can often be sandy and gritty - -a salad spinner works really well), and saute them in the olive oil until they are tender. Once the potatoes are fully cooked, add 1/2 of the leeks and puree the soup. An immersion mixer works perfectly, though you can also use a blender. If you use a blender, only fill it half way, open up the hole in the top, and cover with a towel so steam can escape, but the soup won't. Alternatively, you can use a potato masher if you'd like your soup to be chunkier. Once it's blended, add the rest of the leeks, and the cream if you so desire.

As a final garnish, you can add some crumbled bacon and/or shredded cheese if you want to add a few more flavors.

If you don't have the Tastefully Simple seasoning salt, just use regular salt to taste, but it won't be as good :)

Split Pea with Ham soup

Fall is here and that always puts me in the mood to make big pots of soup. Nothing is more comforting to make and eat. I'll add other soup recipes as the months go on, but let me start with this one.

1/3 pound of smoked ham
1 tablespoon each of Tastefully Simple Onion, Onion and Garlic, Garlic seasonings
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper
1 bag of dried split peas
48 ounces of low-sodium chicken broth (Swanson's is my favorite but use whichever one you like best)
1/4 cup of cream (optional)

Heat up the olive oil over medium heat and when it's warm, add the ham, which should be chopped into fairly small pieces. Let it cook for a while -- till it starts to toast and brown, and leave some yummy brown bits on the bottom of your pan. Once it becomes nicely browned, add the Tastefully Simple seasonings and toast them for a minute (try a taste of them too -- it's delicious!!!), and then add the peas, stirring to coat them all with the oil. Then add the broth and pepper, bring it up to a low boil, cover the pot, and turn it down to a very low simmer. Cook for at least 90 minutes and every half hour, stir the soup until it reaches the texture you like best. If you cook it for 3+ hours, it'll be very smooth, but some folks like it with the peas a bit more in tact. If the soup gets too thick, just add water until it reaches the desired texture. You can also add water when reheating if you need to thin it out. If you'd like the soup to be extra rich, add the cream just before serving, but you won't miss the extra calories if you don't take this last step.

If you don't have the TS spices, see my previous blog post about how to order them. In this soup, the really are better than using real onion and garlic -- trust me, I've done it both ways! BUT, if you want to be a purist, then dice one small onion and 4 cloves of garlic and add them to the ham once it's browned up. Cook until they are also slightly brown and soft, but don't let the garlic get too brown, or it will get bitter.

Enjoy!