Free-Form Lasagna

I enjoy eating lasagna but it can take some time to make.  Without some prep work, it's usually not a weeknight meal.  This recipe takes the ingredients of a  lasagna without a lot of the work. However, I definitely prefer the taste of a traditional lasagna.....hard work and all!  While this was easier to make, it definitely wasn't a favorite.

Free-Form Lasagna
recipe from all*you, July 2012

Ingredients:
Salt
8 ounces sweet or hot Italian sausage, removed from casing
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups ricotta (not nonfat)
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
12 lasagna noodles, each broken in half

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

2. Cook sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up large pieces, until it loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, oregano and 1/2 tsp. salt, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thick, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

3. Combine ricotta, Parmesan and basil in a medium microwave-safe bowl.

4. Add noodles to boiling water; cook until just tender, 10 minutes or as package label directs. Just before noodles are done, microwave ricotta mixture on high for 30 seconds, stirring once. Drain noodles well.

5. Spread 1 1/2 Tbsp. sauce on each of 4 dinner plates. Place a noodle on top and spread with 1 1/2 Tbsp. cheese mixture. Top with 1 1/2 Tbsp. sauce. Repeat with noodles, cheese mixture and sauce, ending with a layer of sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan on top. Serve, passing additional Parmesan.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.  

Chicken and Apple Curry

We normally take an annual trip to our local apple orchard and go apple and pumpkin picking with the kids.  This year though my son's preschool is going pumpkin picking and my daughter is going apple and pumpkin picking with her class.  After spending all of the money on their trips we didn't think it was necessary for us to take another trip as a family.  However, that isn't stopping me from trying all of the apple recipes that I've been saving and waiting to try. This recipe I found in all*you magazine.  Not only was it featured in "Dinner Under $10" but it didn't have a gazillion ingredients.  Unfortunately, after it was made none of us really enjoyed it.  The kids ate all of the apple pieces.  For me though, it was definitely lacking in flavor.  There are lots of easy curry recipes out there, this just wasn't a favorite.

Chicken and Apple Curry
recipe from all*you, May 2012, recipe courtesy of Cheryl Dorsey

Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk
2 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. cornstarch
2 cups shredded skinless rotisserie chicken, dark and white meat
1 sweet apple, like Gala or Honeycrisp, peeled, cored, and chopped
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Boil 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan.  Stir in rice, return to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low; simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.

2.  Whisk lime juice, coconut milk and curry together in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low; simmer 3 minutes.  In a small bowl, stir cornstarch and 2 Tbsp. of water until smooth, then whisk into a skillet. Continue whisking for 2 minutes.  Mix in chicken and apple; season with salt and pepper.  Cook stirring occasionally, until apple is tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

3.  Divide rice among 4 plates and spoon chicken on top.  Sprinkle with zest.

Family Rating: So-so.

Meatless Monday: Baked Caramel French Toast

Here's another breakfast recipe.  Of course in our house, dishes like this are made for dinner and then any leftovers are eaten for breakfast the next day.  The kids are huge breakfast eaters and breakfast for dinner is an almost guaranteed hit with them.  The kids really like french toast but for some reason I don't make it very often.  I should because french toast casseroles like this one are made ahead of time and are supposed to be refrigerated overnight.  These make for great busy weeknight dinners since you take it out, put it in the oven to cook, and you're done.  The prep has been done the night before.  Unfortunately, this wasn't one of our favorite french toast dishes.  For some reason this had a weird texture to it which we didn't like.  The flavors were okay....the kids love bananas and they loved the sweet homemade caramel sauce.  It was maybe too mushy.....not sure but we liked it but didn't LOVE it, which we normally do with breakfast for dinner type dishes.

Baked Caramel French Toast
recipe from All You, May 2012

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum, (optional - I did not use)
2 medium ripe bananas, sliced
1 loaf challah or white bread (about 20 oz.), cut or torn into 1/2-inch pieces
8 large eggs
2 cups half and half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
 1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add brown sugar and rum, if desired; stir until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in bananas.

 2. Scatter half of bread in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Spoon caramel-banana mixture evenly over bread. Top with remaining bread. In a large bowl, whisk eggs until blended. Whisk in half and half, vanilla and salt. Pour over bread mixture, pressing down on bread to make sure it's all coated. Cover with foil and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Let baking dish stand at room temperature while the oven preheats. Remove foil and bake until puffed and golden and a thin knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Blue-Cheese Burgers

I cannot believe that today is the first day of September!  We are enjoying these last few days of summer and the kids are excited to be heading to 1st grade and preschool! 

Recently, I've made and eaten some pretty tasty burgers!  I'm not a huge burger eater, but every now I'm really in the mood for a good one.  I know my daughter doesn't like blue cheese but I've seen different variations on a blue-cheese burger and decided it was about time that I made one.  All I did with this recipe was omit the blue cheese from her burger.  I posted the original recipe serving amounts, which makes 8 burgers.  I just halved it to make 4. We all really enjoyed this burger and sauce.  I was happy to get my blue cheese burger fix! 

Blue-Cheese Burgers
recipe slightly adapted from all*you, May 2012

Ingredients:

Burgers:
2 pounds ground beef
1 shallot, finely minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 ounces blue cheese
8 hamburger buns
8 slices of tomato

Sauce:
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup ranch dressing
2 tablespoons chopped pickle
1 teaspoon hot sauce

Directions:
1. Make burgers: In a large bowl, combine beef, shallot, salt, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Using your fingers, mix gently but thoroughly. Divide meat mixture into 16 disks. Portion cheese into 8 small disks and place in the center of 8 hamburger disks. Top with remaining hamburger disks, pressing to seal.

2. Make sauce: In a bowl, combine ketchup, dressing, pickle and hot sauce. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

3. Preheat grill to medium. Grill hamburgers for about 7 minutes (for medium-rare), turning once. Remove from heat and let rest for 2 minutes. Grill buns, cut sides down, for 30 seconds.

4.  Serve burger with desired amount of sauce on top.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Meatless Monday: Ricotta Banana Pancakes

We were due for another breakfast for dinner.  Lately, my go-to has been pancakes.  They're really easy to make and the kids love them.  I had ricotta for another recipe and a frozen, really ripe banana that was perfect for this recipe.  When my daughter found out that I was making "ricotta" pancakes she was quick to tell me that she doesn't like ricotta.  I told her to wait until she tried them before she told me that she didn't like them.  After eating them her response was, "Oh, I do like these!"  I think the ricotta is used to add moistness because you really don't taste it.  This recipe was in an issue of All You Magazine that I subscribe to.  It was listed as a dessert, but if you don't add caramel sauce it definitely works as a breakfast (or in this case dinner!) dish. 

Ricotta Banana Pancakes
recipe from All You, March, 2012

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small ripe banana

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 200ºF. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together ricotta, egg, milk, butter, vanilla and banana. Gently stir flour mixture into ricotta mixture until just blended.

2. Grease a large nonstick skillet over medium heat with cooking spray or melted butter. Drop tablespoonfuls of batter into skillet. Cook pancakes, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes total. Keep pancakes warm on a plate in oven while cooking remaining pancakes.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.

Meatless Monday: Spinach and Potato Pizza

In the past I have joined a couple of different gyms.  Due to moving and/or rare use I ended up ending those memberships.  For the past couple of months I have been trying to get in shape on my own via exercise DVDs.  However, I'm really not disciplined enough and lacked motivation to really see any improvements.  This past week I ended up joining a local gym.  It's not one of the nation-wide chains and I feel like we're paying a fortune for me to go.   However, it's really close to the house, they have a pool, tennis courts, and tons of exercise classes.  They even have a women's only room with weight and exercise machines. Even with the cost, my husband has been very supportive of my decision.  I'm not going to diet on a program but I'm hoping to cook a little healthier for the family. 

Pizza is pretty much a weekly dinner menu staple in our house.  I love finding new pizza recipes.  When I saw this one in All You magazine I thought it sounded like a good vegeterian pizza.  My husband ended making this one for us.  It was quick and easy and really tasty!  I liked getting the extra veggies into my diet!  Of course we made a plain pizza for the kids. 

Spinach and Potato Pizza
recipe slightly adapted from All You , November 2011
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 store bought pizza dough
8 ounces Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 ounces shredded Gruyère

Preparation:
1. Preheat pizza stone in oven to 475ºF.  Spread pizza dough out to desired shape/thickness.  Toss potatoes with 1 Tbsp. oil and scatter over dough. Sprinkle with salt. Scatter spinach over potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese.

2. Bake until underside of crust is golden and cheese is bubbling, about 12-15 minutes.

Mommy & Daddy rating:  1 1/2 thumbs up.

Shared with Makin' You Crave Monday

Overnight Peaches-and-Cream French Toast

Have I mentioned that my kids LOVE breakfast for dinner?!  What's great about this recipe is that it needs to be pre-made and refrigerated for at least 8 hours.  Last weekend we were going out for the day.  So, I got this together really quickly in the morning and let it sit in the fridge while we were out all day.  When we got home, I took it out until we were ready to cook it.  It was quick, easy, and delicious! And even nicer that we didn't have to come home and think about what we were going to cook for dinner.  I served it with some breakfast sausage and also added some canned whip cream to the top.  It was almost like a treat!

Overnight Peaches-and-Cream French Toast
All*You, October 2011

Ingredients:
1 8-oz. loaf French bread, sliced
8 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 15-oz. cans sliced peaches packed in juice, drained
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup heavy cream

 Preparation:
1. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange bread in a tight, flat layer in dish.

2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs with milk, sugar and vanilla until blended; pour over bread. Arrange peaches on top and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

3. Remove baking dish from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour cream into a small pan; bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Drizzle over peaches and bake, uncovered, until casserole is lightly browned on top and just cooked through, 45 to 55 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up!

Corn and Cheddar Waffles

Yeah, the computer is back up and running, virus-free, thanks to my awesome husband!  Catching you up on the recipes that I've made recently.

My husband had his office holiday party this past Wednesday night.  I wanted to make something quick and easy for dinner since it was just me and the kids.  Breakfast for dinner is always a hit, and I know that they will eat well.  I served these waffles with breakfast sausage and fruit.  It was super quick and easy to prepare.  We put maple syrup on our waffles, which sweetened them.  However, the recipe also recommends serving them with salsa for a Southwestern version.

Corn and Cheddar Waffles
All You Magazine, August 2011

Cook Time: 7 Minutes
Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 large egg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup fresh corn kernels (from 1 large ear) or 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 cup grated Cheddar


Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 200ºF and preheat waffle iron. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a glass measuring cup, whisk together milk, egg and butter. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in corn and cheese.

2. Mist waffle iron with cooking spray. Pour batter onto grates and spread to edges with a spatula. Cook until waffles are golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate, loosely cover with foil and keep warm in oven. Repeat with remaining batter, misting grates with cooking spray before each new batch.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.