The BEST Lasagna

I love pasta. If I could, I'd eat nothing but pasta for the rest of my life (and any kind of cake or cookie or cupcake...yes, I am a junk food lover!). Heck, I run because it lets me eat pasta. Carbo-loading anyone?

Lasagna is one of those always awesome dishes. I've had about seven gazillion different versions, but come back to this one as my favorite. It's Giada DeLaurentis's recipe (and let me just say that life is totally unfair when someone can cook and eat like this, and stay as tiny as she is). I've taken what I like about her recipe and then added my own little spin.

I'm not wild about spinach or ground beef in my lasagna--so I take those out and substitute sausage instead. I keep everything else pretty much the same. This is one of those dishes that takes a lot of time, more than even your normal lasagna, so plan ahead. The bechamel sauce and fresh tomato sauce need to be made earlier in the day, so account for that when you plan for this (total time for this dish, complete with cooling of the sauces, is about 2 to 2 1/2 hours). It's not a throw-it-together kind of meal. Then again, eating lasagna is one of those things that SHOULD take time, not to mention the carbo-nap you'll need afterwards ;-)

Giada's Classic Lasagna--Shirley's Version

Bechamel Sauce:

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups whole milk at room temperature
• Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, recipe follows 

Simple Tomato Sauce:

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 dried bay leaves

Lasagna Assembly Ingredients

• 1 pound ground Italian sausage
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 1 pound lasagna sheets, cooked al dente
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

 First, make the Bechamel sauce. Melt the butter in a large saucepan, then whisk in the flour (I add a bit of salt and pepper here too). Add the milk, whisking as you add it, then cook over medium heat, whisking, until it comes to a boil and thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. That takes about 10 minutes, so just keep whisking. Add a dash of nutmeg (you should always add nutmeg to a white sauce; it helps bring out the flavor). I actually grate the nutmeg in--a little nutmeg nut lasts forever, so it's a good investment and tastes way better than the canned stuff.

To make the tomato sauce, heat the oil, then add the vegetables and cook until softened. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves. Simmer for 15 minutes. Cool. Then use either an immersion blender or a regular blender, and blend the sauce until smooth.

Mix 1 1/2 cups of the tomato sauce into the bechamel. You'll have extra tomato sauce, so save that for another dinner. It freezes well, and also lasts several days in the fridge.

Brown the sausage and cool. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta cheese and eggs. Set aside. Now you're ready to assemble. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place 1/3 of the bechamel sauce in the bottom of the lasagna pan. Layer on noodles. Add the sausage, and the ricotta mixture, more noodles, bechamel, rest of the ricottta (and sausage if you have more) and half the mozzarella. Another layer of pasta, then top with bechamel and remaining mozzarella, and Parmesan. Giada has you put the lasagna pan on top of a cookie sheet lined with foil. A good idea if your lasagna might boil over out of the pan.

Bake, covered, for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. I found, however, that I needed to cook it longer than this--45 minutes with foil on, then 20 minutes with it off. Might have been my grumpy oven that day, which every once in a while doesn't cooperate with me. Anyway, this is DELISH, and yeah, it's fattening, but not every day is a diet ;-) Speaking of fattening, I have made it both with the extra butter she recommends, and without, and saw no difference, so I took the butter out here. I'd rather eat more cheese ;-)

Enjoy!

Shirley

Quick and Easy Spaghetti Pie

Quick and Easy Spaghetti Pie

I'm all for a dinner that's quick and easy, especially when it's hot outside and I don't feel like being in the kitchen. I made this spaghetti pie the other night, and the entire family loved it. Quick, easy, one pot on the stove, one dish in the oven:

1 pound spaghetti, cooked
3/4 jar spaghetti sauce or equivalent of fresh sauce (I made fresh)
1 container Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cooking Cream Italian Herb flavor
8 ounces fresh baby spinach
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook the spaghetti, drain it, and return it to the pot. Add the spaghetti sauce and Philadelphia Cream Cheese sauce, stir, then add in spinach and stir until it's wilted. Pour the spaghetti mixture into a greased pie plate. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes. Done! :-)

FYI, I used the reduced fat PCCC, and it tasted the same as the regular. Saved a few calories there :-)

Shirley

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce and Eggplant Parmigiana

My mom made the best spaghetti sauce ever, at least to me :-). I've made lots of different kinds over the years (Ina Garten's Marinara, Giada's tomato sauce, Mario's quick one) but when I want real, thick, homemade goodness, I turn to Mom's. I do just a couple things different--my own little touches--but more or less, this is Mom's.

Tonight, I served it with Eggplant Parmigiana, which my kids refuse to touch, but I love. So I'll freeze the leftover and have it whenever I'm in the mood for a multi-step dinner :-)

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 pound button mushrooms, sliced

1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (San Marzanno are the best but tough to find)

2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 tablespoon fresh)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or about 1 tablespoon fresh)
salt (I use about a teaspoon)

pepper (to taste)

1 tablespoon brown sugar (that's my addition; Mom didn't use the sugar. I think it cuts the acidity of the tomatoes)

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven. Add peppers, onion and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are softened. Add whole tomatoes, crushing each one in your hand as you put it in (this yields chunkier tomato bits (and tastier, because they've been processed less) than if you use diced), and all other ingredients except sugar. Simmer for up to an hour, tasting and adjusting seasoning as necessary. Add sugar and simmer another 10 minutes.

Eggplant Parmigiana

olive oil

1 eggplant, peeled and sliced thin

3 eggs

1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

dash ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (I use seasoned)

6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups spaghetti sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat about 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet (enough to coat the bottom thickly). Mix the eggs, Parmesan, garlic powder and pepper in a pie plate or bowl. Put bread crumbs in another. Dredge the eggplant first in eggs, then in bread crumbs, then fry in the olive oil until golden brown on each side. Remove eggplant and let drain on paper towels. I refresh the olive oil after each batch, to keep the frying even.

Spread 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 13 by 9 baking pan. Lay eggplant in pan, in one layer. Top with more sauce, and sprinkle with mozzarella. Layer another layer of eggplant, sauce and cheese (one eggplant made just two layers for me). Bake at 350 until cheese is golden brown and bubbly--about 20 to 25 minutes.

This was so darn good, I had THREE (!!) servings of the eggplant parm. I couldn't keep myself away from it, LOL. DH is on his second helping. I'm thinking he'll end up having three too :-)



Shirley

Penne with Zucchini and Marinara Sauce

The other day, my daughter told me she had a newfound love for zucchini. She's already a huge fan of pasta and marinara sauce, so I thought...hmmm...why not combine the three? The result is a pretty darn good Penne with Zucchini and Marinara Sauce. I served it with fresh-from-the-farmer's market green beans that I put in a foil packet to cook at the same time. It all worked out great :-)

Penne with Zucchini and Marinara Sauce

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 ounce pancetta or bacon, chopped (my store was out of pancetta so I substituted bacon)

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 medium zucchinis, chopped (I cut them in quarters, then made 1/2 inch slices)

16 ounces penne, cooked and drained

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup shredded Swiss (or provolone...whatever you have)

1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray cooking spray on a 9 x 13 pan. In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Cook the bacon until crisp, add the onions and garlic and cook 5-7 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up any brown bits. Add basil, oregano, red pepper, canned tomatoes and diced zucchini. Cook about 10 minutes, until zucchini is slightly soft (not all the way...it'll cook the rest of the way in the oven).

Mix the penne and tomato mixture, then spread in 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle with mix of mozarella and Swiss. In a small bowl, mix the grated parmesan and Panko bread crumbs, then sprinkle evenly on top of the casserole.

(see below for green bean directions if you want to cook those at the same time).

Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is browned and crisp. Remove and let stand for five minutes before serving.

Foil Packet Green Beans

Take two pieces of heavy duty aluminum foil and lay them in opposite directions over each other (creating a cross shape). Put green beans in center, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder and kosher salt. Seal the foil packet, then put in the oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

This meal was a hit with the kids, which made me happy since it's loaded with veggies :-)

Shirley

Meatball Stroganoff

Since Beef Stroganoff is a big hit in my house, I thought I'd try a variation on the dish with this Meatball Stroganoff recipe. I've been watching Sam the Cooking Guy lately, and he makes dinner look impossibly easy. So I picked up one of his books (Awesome Recipes and Kitchen Shortcuts) and saw this recipe for Meatball Stroganoff. I had nearly all the ingredients on hand, and when I got to the end of the day today and had that panicked "what am I going to make for dinner" moment at 4:00, I turned to this recipe.

It was good. I had good reviews from all family members. The youngest said he likes this better than my Beef Stroganoff (I think it's because my BS has mushrooms in it and he hates those). I personally like BS better, but this is a great in-a-pinch dish, that was quite delicious. Sort of like Swedish Meatballs on noodles.

Here's what I used for this:

Meatball Stroganoff

1 tsp. olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 pound frozen meatballs (just plain old frozen meatballs, no fancy flavoring), defrosted

1 12-ounce jar beef gravy

1 cup light sour cream

2 tablespoons horseradish sauce (he said to use regular horseradish, and I had forgotten that when I went to the store, so I used that sauce you buy near the mayonnaise)

1 tablespoon dried dill

1/2 package wide egg noodles, cooked (I used the wheat ones)

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onions and cook until translucent and soft. Add meatballs, gravy, sour cream, horseradish and dill and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked thru. Toss with cooked noodles and serve.

Now, if you want my regular Beef Stroganoff recipe (which is always a huge hit in my house), it's on the blog. I definitely enjoyed Sam the Cooking Guy's take on this recipe, and it'll go in my "what the heck am I going to make for dinner" file. We all have those OMG, it's 4pm and there's nothing to eat moments--use this recipe to get something warm and yummy on the table in like 15 minutes total.

Shirley

Hosting a Crowd

This weekend, I had a bunch of friends over, from Thursday till mid-Sunday (with people arriving at varying times), which meant lots of cooking for me (I TRULY enjoyed it). I wanted a menu that would appeal to lots of people, work for large crowds (at the height of everything, we had 20 people here total between adults and kids), and not be too much work. I think it all worked out (even my friend who eats gluten-free was able to enjoy a few things, though I wished I had more on the menu for her).

I planned my menu about a week ahead of time, choosing things I have cooked more than once (several of which are on this blog) and made a pretty extensive grocery list (though I still ended up running out for a few forgotten things). I also tried to create menus that were flexible--meaning if I didn't feel like making one dish one day, I could substitute it with another from the next day.

I also gratefully accepted all offered help. My friends were FABULOUS and cut vegetables, boiled water, shredded cheese...all kinds of helpful jobs (including helping me keep up with the mountain of dishes!!). It became a truly fun event to cook, with everyone standing around in the kitchen enjoying munchies like mango salsa and homemade hummus in between preparing a meal.

Here are some of the recipes I made:

For snacks, we had Hummus (I only used 1/2 cup of the Tahini, more of a to-taste thing) and Samantha Hunter's Mango Salsa. This is SOOO yummy and easy. Use the fresh ingredients for sure.

Samantha Hunter's Mango Salsa

2-3 mangoes, peeled and diced

2-3 cups chopped and seeded tomatoes

2 shallots, minced

1/2 big bunch cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1 T. ginger, minced (I use a micrograter to get it tiny)

2-3 T lime juice (about 2 limes)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and let sit for a couple hours before serving

Here are some of the other recipes I had:

Giada's Lasagna (pictured here). With this one, I substituted cooked Italian sausage and mushrooms for the ground beef. This was an AMAZING lasagna, if I say so myself. Simply delicious.

Served with: Roasted Pears with Blue Cheese (yummy and pretty easy). For dessert, we had Fruit Pavlova (pictured above).

For breakfast the next day, I did baked apple pancakes (basically, you layer apples on the bottom of a pie plate, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, then top with pancake batter. Bake at 350 until done; about 10-15 minutes).

We went out for lunch, then for dinner, prepared Giada's Baked Fettuccini, Insalata Rustica (read my notes here for the changes I've made to the recipe), Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts with Chausser Sauce, and for dessert, DH's favorite dessert, Ina Garten's Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars.

On the last day, I made an egg bake for breakfast, then had burgers and homemade potato salad. I tried to make the last day's dishes far lighter in prep work because we'd all been staying up WAY too late talking and laughing :-)

All in all, I think everyone had a great time, and I know they left with full bellies! One of my friends brought along these AMAZING peanut butter truffles. Loved them. I think spending time in the kitchen with good friends is one of the best things in life :-)

Shirley

An Easy Dinner

I wasn't feeling well today so I needed an easy, quick dinner. Yesterday we had some phenomenal steaks that we made on the grill, along with baked potatoes and a warm spinach salad with a bacon vinaigrette (which is easy--cook the bacon, reserve three tablespoons of fat, then cook some onions and garlic in it (I did one onion, chopped and one clove of garlic). When that's done, add 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Add the spinach and cook until wilted.)

No pics today -- I didn't feel well enough to mess with that--but for dinner tonight, I did a marinade (I was in the mood for one after watching them do marinades on Worst Cooks in America). The marinade was awesome--made the chicken very tender:

1 shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tangelo, juiced (you can use an orange, but I had tangelos on hand)
a dash of salt and pepper
4 chicken breasts

I mixed the marinade, then added it and the chicken breasts to a Zip-Loc bag, threw it in the fridge for a few hours. Later, I had DH grill the chicken. Very good stuff!

To go along with that, I made a white sauce, added fresh grated Parmesan cheese and a pinch of nutmeg, then tossed it with spaghetti noodles (was all out of cool, funky noodles like bowties), some blanched asparagus and some peas. Very good stuff there, too!

So an easy, quick dinner, and not much cleanup. My favorite kind ;-)

Shirley

Roasted Tomato and Sausage Tortellini

I was on deadline last week (turned the book in today, yeah!) so that meant dinners were pretty quick and easy affairs (for the most part...I got a little wild with a Butternut Squash Bisque that I'll post later in the week). Anyway, this was a recipe I'd seen in a magazine that was a tad more complicated than I wanted it to be, so I made things easier--and they were just as delicious. I made two batches, intending to freeze one. Uh, the family ate both ;-)

Roasted Tomato and Sausage Tortellini


6 Roma tomatoes, sliced
Olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
1 pound Italian sausage (either links or ground)
1 pound dry tortellini with cheese filling, cooked (I got mine at Trader Joe's (have I mentioned lately how much I WISH TRADER JOE'S WOULD OPEN A STORE IN MY CITY?)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground black and red pepper blend
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup grated Italian blend cheese

Turn the broiler on High, and put the rack in the center of the oven. Put the sliced tomatoes in a bowl with the oil, garlic and salt and pepper and toss to coat. Then lay them on a foil-lined cookie sheet, trying not to overlap, and broil until tomatoes are just starting to crisp around the edges. Then turn the oven down to 350 degrees.

Cook and drain the tortellini. In a saute pan, cook the sausage (if you're using Italian sausage links, then chop them into 1-inch chunks), then add the tortellini, the seasonings and the tomatoes. Dump the whole mixture into a casserole dish, then top with grated cheese and cook at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

That's it! Very easy and quick. And yummy :-)

Shirley

Quick and Easy and Yummy: Soup

Last night, I wanted something quick and easy and good for my daughter's cold. I love soup, particularly nice hearty soups, and opted to make the Tomato Tortellini I have made before. DD really wanted chicken noodle, but homemade chicken noodle isn't exactly a speedy soup, LOL. So I promised that for next week.

With the Tomato Tortellini Soup, I didn't have any fresh basil on hand, but did have these cool frozen chopped basil cubes I bought at Trader Joe's (I LOVE THAT STORE. Why won't they bring one to my city? And while they're at it, a Whole Foods. SIGH). They worked out great.

So if you're looking for something quick and easy, try this soup. One tip--if you want the soup to look red and tomato-y at the end, reserve the tomato sauce and cream until after you have blended the soup, then add them. It'll add that extra boost of red that gets blended in when you whirr up the spinach.

Enjoy!

Shirley

Baked Fettuccini

The first thing I unpacked in my new house was...of course, my kitchen. Followed by my shoes, LOL.

We had a new gas cooktop installed, and the new house comes with a double oven, which means I can cook up a storm. And I've definitely been doing that! I've got all these recipes that have been stacked up, just waiting for me to be settled enough to have time to cook. For weeks, we ate lots of takeout, as we were running between two houses, packing and unpacking, both DH and I too exhausted to do much more than grab a burger and fries for us and the kids.

But now, in my own house every night, I can cook every day :-)

I've also been overindulging in watching the Food Network, and this week I saw Giada cooking baked fettuccini. Considering Fettuccini Alfredo is like my all-time favorite thing in the universe, I thought this sounded like a very good thing.

The problem with the recipe is that it called for creme fraiche. You all know my issues with my local grocery store. The place doesn't always carry shallots, for Pete's sake. You think they're going to have something like creme fraiche?

Yeah. Same answer I got.

So I had to substitute. I read all the comments for the recipe, and made some adjustments to account for the lack of creme fraiche (substituting a mix of heavy cream and sour cream). So here's my version of Giada's Baked Fettuccini...and let me tell you, this was the BOMB. Very good, and the kind of thing you can serve to dinner party guests.

Baked Asiago Fettuccini

1 pound fettuccini pasta
2 cups grated Asiago cheese, plus 1/4 cup reserved
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 cup grated Parmesan (use fresh, it's worth it)
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water. Reserve one cup of the pasta water, and mix that with the 2 cups Asiago cheese, cream, Parmesan, thyme, garlic and salt and pepper. Toss with fettuccini and put in a buttered 9 by 13 casserole. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 Asiago cheese. Bake for 25 minutes, then let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

If you like Fettuccini Alfredo, try this one :-)

I'll be back with more recipes very soon!

Shirley

Mom's Quick & Easy Ziti Dinner & an airline rant

Here's a quick and easy ziti dinner that's a favorite with my kids, maybe because my mom always used to make it, and eating it brings up memories of dinners with her. Or maybe just because it's loaded with cheese, and my kids love cheese ;-)

I need a quick-and-easy dinner this week (in fact, I need a whole LOT of them) because I'm on deadline and Thanksgiving is coming, which means Christmas shopping is coming, and my life is INSANE. Ten million things going on at once, and only one me, who has to be writing all day long.

If I have time, I'll post all about the Crimebake conference later this week (and my apologies for missing the Writing Advice Monday post, but I was on a plane traveling back from Boston and just didn't get time between flights to post. Plus I had to get up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 to make my flight out of Boston. I'm an early riser, but NOT THAT EARLY, not anymore, LOL).

One quick story that really told me a lot about the awfulness of people. While I was at the airport, this elderly lady ahead of me (I was way back in the snake line, and she was up at the ticket counter), fainted and fell over, right on top of her luggage. Just...bam, dropped to the floor. There were, no lie, THREE American Airlines ticket agents standing there.

Not one helped her. Not one.

The first, the closest to her (and I mean, within inches), went right on entering the next customer's ticket info into the self-serve computer. Yes, the ticket agent saw the woman fall. She just looked down at her, and went right back to the computer. The other two were behind the desk, and they went on with their jobs. As if this woman was a piece of paper that had fluttered to the floor. No security people sprang forward, no airport staff. None of the people you expect to be in charge in an emergency did a thing. I had no idea what to do. I have all the emergency training of a houseplant, and didn't want to make the situation worse. I wished my husband was with me--he's the former Navy guy with all the knowledge about CPR and bandaging and stuff. My Go To guy in an emergency.

Anyway, a passenger who was a couple feet away from the woman, did rush to her aid. I think the rest of us thought she was a nurse, but after a minute of seeing her with the woman, I don't think she was. I think she was just a nice person. I was way back, in that snaked off line, and there were a good thirty people ahead of me. None of them moved. But this woman get out a tissue, cleaned up the cut on the other woman's head (did I mention she was BLEEDING?) and soothed her until her daughter came over.

The airline staff never did anything. Never. All the people in front of me were moved forward, AROUND the woman's legs (by that first ticket agent, who seemed completely annoyed by this mess on her floor in the way of all her ticket computers). We were all shuffled through the line. The daughter tended to her mother, who was still sitting on the floor when I was done. The airline people never called a doctor or the EMS people or anything.

Then I watch the news this morning when the attorney general collapses and wham, there's a whole slew of people helping him. You could argue he's the AG of the US, but that woman in the airport was just as important to her family as the AG is to the government or to his family.

I didn't fly on American Airlines for 10 years after a really horrible incident when I moved to Indiana. I wrote them a long letter, and got no response. I'll be writing a letter about this incident, too, and will once again not fly AA, not that my one protest will make a huge difference in their bottom line, but it will make me feel better.

Okay, I'm done ranting. I don't do a lot of that on my blog, so my apologies for those who came here just for a recipe. :-)

And now on to that recipe I promised.

Mom's Quick and Easy Ziti

1 pound ziti or penne, cooked and drained

16 ounces American cheese slices

1 stick butter or margarine

salt and pepper

28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray non-stick cooking spray on a 9 by 13 pan. Layer one-third of ziti on pan, then top with 1/3 of tomatoes, 1/3 of cheese slices, 1/3 of butter (cut into little pats) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat layers, ending with cheese and butter. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

That's all there is to it. It's not exactly diet friendly, LOL, but it's really good with veggies. Pictured there are green beans I sauteed in a little olive oil, then added some Kraft Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing to, tossed in the pan until heated and cooked through. That was easy and tangy. A quick dinner -- the best of all worlds ;-)


Shirley

Quick and Easy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

For a long time, I was of two camps when it came to spaghetti sauce. Mom's recipe (which is awesome and really thick, just the way you imagine a spaghetti sauce to be) and the quick, no work jar stuff.

The jar stuff, though, just never quite comes close to being Mom's. Now, I've seen that Sandra Lee on the Food Network jazz up the jar stuff with some spices and a can of tomato sauce, sometimes some fresh tomatoes. I've tried that. It's still not Mom's.

I'd been looking for a quick and easy spaghetti sauce recipe that would be good, healthy and easy to make, using stuff I had in my fridge. It didn't have to be Mom's (because I already knew how to make that) but it did need to be something I could throw together and adapt to a variety of recipes.

This one is it. I've made it several times, and hands down, love it. I've frozen it, reheated -- still great.

Fresh Spaghetti Sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup carrots, minced

3 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced (or 1 tablespoon dried)

2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon fresh, minced)

salt

pepper

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, cook until onions are translucent (about 8 to 10 minutes). Add carrots and thyme, cook another 5-6 minutes. Squish tomatoes either with potato masher or hands, then add with remaining ingredients to saucepan and reduce sauce to a simmer and cook for one hour.

I served this over linguini in the picture here because we were out of spaghetti :-) but I've served it with chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan, spaghetti, lasagna, you name it. Just double or reduce as needed for the recipe. Most people have all these ingredients on hand. You can keep the 28-ounce cans of tomatoes in your cabinet all the time, and make this whenever you need it. This is chunkier, and better than anything else you'll buy in a jar.

A tip: I hate chopping. I grind up the onions in the Braun hand blender (I swear, I don't know how I'd exist without that thing), then the garlic, then the carrots (not all together, because they aren't cooked together. And I do the garlic on its own because that has to be chopped finer than the onions). If your kids aren't fans of carrots, mince them SUPER fine and they'll never see them in this sauce.

Shirley
Reading: PJ Parrish: Island of Bones (awesome--love all the PJ Parrish books!)

& Brad Meltzer Book of Lies (also great!)

Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Two Rockin' Side Dishes

All I can say about this dinner is...

I wish my stomach was bigger. I'm not usually a huge fan of pork, because to me, it's just one of those blah meats. But I now have two recipes that really kick butt. One is the ever-popular Roast Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Ginger Sauce, the recipe that gets a hit every single day on this blog, and the second is this one.

I kind of stumbled on making this because I didn't have the right ingredients for another recipe, so I improvised. :-) And this I think turned out way better than the other might have (though I think I might still try the other...maybe.)

Glazed Pork Tenderloin

1 2-3 pound pork tenderloin
1/4 cup chili sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 1/2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix spices together, rub meat with half of dry ingredients and reserve other half to mix with honey. Set aside. Drizzle meat with chili sauce, then bake for 15-20 minutes. Baste with honey/spice mix, blending with the chili sauce as you do (otherwise, all that great baked chili sauce will just fall off the meat). Bake until meat is done and meat thermometer registers 160-degrees F. About 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit on a cutting board for 5 minutes before slicing.

This second recipe for penne rapini I got from the April 17th issue of Family Circle magazine. I didn't have any broccoli rabe, which is what the recipe calls for, but I found that buying the "premium" frozen broccoli gives you really tiny broccoli florets, and those seemed to work just fine. I also forgot to buy fresh mushrooms, and used canned instead, but they worked out fine. This was really good. Another one that everyone had seconds on, so I knew it was a hit :-). So click here for that one and see their much better picture, LOL.

Third is my yummier take on baked apples. I threw these in with the pork, for the last 30-40 minutes or so of the pork cooking time. I don't really remember exactly how long I cooked them, but it was around 30 minutes at 425 degrees F. I had the candied walnuts from another recipe for a salad that I haven't posted yet (I keep forgetting to take a picture because I'm always too hungry for lunch and end up eating it first!). FYI -- I usually quadruple the walnut recipe and make a ton of them so I have them for this kind of thing and for the apple-feta salad I've been eating for lunch.

Candied Walnut Baked Apples

6 tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup walnut pieces
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 Gala apples
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in small saucepan. Add walnuts, white sugar and butter. Stir until sugar is melted. Spread on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring every few minutes.

Meanwhile, core apples and scoop out centers. Set apples in small baking dish. Fill centers with half a pat of butter, evenly divided amounts of the brown sugar, then other half of pats of butter (basically dividing the butter and brown sugar between the four apples). Top with candied walnuts. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes, or until fork-tender.

The kids saw this as dessert, so that was great. Everyone loved the apples, and wished I'd made more. :-)

Shirley

Some Carbolicious Side Dishes

Here are two side dishes that I tried in recent weeks, one that was a big hit, one not as much of a big hit, but I think that's because my family isn't huge on zucchini (but never fear, I have another recipe coming up later that did go over well with the big green veggie. I'm nothing if not determined to get those veggies into my kids ;-).

First, Pasta with Zucchini in a Lemon Cream Sauce. I got this recipe from the Planet Green site (I love Emeril Green and have tried several of his recipes with great success. This wasn't one of his recipes, but one that was listed beside one of his). My beef with this recipe was that it needed a thicker sauce. If I do it again, I'd start with a roux, and then thicken it like any white sauce. The kids weren't wild about this one, but then again, this isn't their favorite vegetable ;-).


Second, Roasted Red Potatoes with Bacon and Cheddar Cheese. This was VERY yummy. It's one of those Kraft Food and Family recipes, and was beyond easy to make. I made another red potato recipe this week (I actually made the roasted red potatoes a while ago, and am just now getting to posting about it ) that was just as easy and yummy; I'll be posting that one later too.

I'd give the second recipe four sets of thumbs-up, meaning the whole family voted to have them again ;-). So if you're a fan of the potato, you might want to try that one. If you're more a pasta person, try the first one. :-)

Shirley
PS: Don't forget to scroll down to yesterday's Monday Writing Advice post for a chance to win one of my books! And visit every Monday for more writing advice and more chances!

Lasagna and Losing Pounds

Down nine pounds so far. Kinda stuck there, but I think it's the no-gym thing. Too much time spent poring over the "Lost" puzzles. The kids and I got the first one done, glued it together, then started the second one. You have to have a black light to read what's on the back, which we don't possess (who owns a black light??) so DD is going to ask her science teacher if he has one we can borrow. I'm thinking it might be something we can buy at the store, so when we get the three puzzles done (the fourth isn't out yet), we might buy one.

Today is a day out of the office. I get to go out to lunch. For me this is a VERY BIG DEAL. Big caps, because I don't leave this place too often during the day, except to shop, write in a coffee shop, or grab the kids. That means I don't see other grown-ups too much during the day. Or I might see them, but not actually talk to them ;-). So, going out to lunch is a VBD. Having time off at all lately is a VBD. :-)

Of course, I didn't last long not writing. I try so hard to get busy with anything other than typing. But, my laptop came home, all repaired. I left it on the table, in the box mind you, trying really hard to pretend I didn't even see it. Kept working on my puzzle. Thought of the closets I should be cleaning out. Made a list of things I should be doing. Came back to just look at the laptop. Turned it on to make sure everything worked, even though I'd read the work order and the little checked off boxes of what had been repaired.

Then I had to see if Microsoft Word worked. Even though it wasn't part of the repair order (it was the power cord that had been fixed...but you never know if they messed with Word, right?). By the end of the day, I was writing something new.

My name is Shirley and I am a writing addict.

I did make a new dish this week. A low-calorie, low-fat lasagna. It's good. It's not the real thing, but it was okay. And hey, I'm losing some LBs here (pounds :-), so I can wait for the real thing.

Turkey-Spinach Lasagna

1 pound ground turkey

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon Basil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped pepper

10 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted

1 box whole wheat lasagna, cooked and drained

15 ounces low-fat Ricotta cheese

12 ounces fat-free cottage cheese

1/4 cup fresh Parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

1/2 cup fat-free mozarella cheese, grated

1 jar Light Ragu spagetti sauce (or make your own, if you want)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute garlic, onions and peppers. Add turkey and spices and brown. In a separate bowl, mix cheeses, parsley and egg. Layer Ragu, lasagna noodles, cheese and repeat (I ended up doing four layers, I think), with a layer of noodles and remaining sauce on top. Top with extra mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

It was, as I said, pretty good. I like spinach a lot, and this was a nice way to get some low-fat cheese in there. By mixing the low-fat with the fat-free, it didn't feel like it was missing anything. I think I might use turkey sausage next time, to get some more kick in it, and I'd add mushrooms, because I like mushrooms :-) My kids hate them, so I always get all theirs ;-)

Tomorrow, I'll share my Low-Fat Beef Stroghanoff.

Have a great day!

Shirley