Monday, June 29, 2009

Lasagna

I ripped this off of allrecipes.com


Ingredients:
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
3/4 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
12 lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


Directions:
1.In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

2.Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

3.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

4.To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

5.Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Easy Icecream Cake

1 (16 ounce) can chocolate syrup
3/4 cup peanut butter
19 ice cream sandwiches
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 cup salted peanuts


Pour the chocolate syrup into a medium microwave safe bowl and microwave 2 minutes on high. Do not allow to boil. Stir peanut butter into hot chocolate until smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Line the bottom of a 9x13 inch dish with a layer of ice cream sandwiches. Spread half the whipped topping over the sandwiches. Spoon half the chocolate mixture over that. Top with half the peanuts. Repeat layers. Freeze until firm, 1 hour. Cut into squares to serve.

Parisian Chicken Curry Sandwiches

Jared and I had some DELICIOUS chicken curry sandwiches in Paris while on vacation. We have both craved them ever since. Here's as close as I've gotten to duplicating them:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
6 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt
3 teaspoons red curry powder
1 tablespoon sriracha hot chilli sauce (omit if you don't want it hot)
3 cups finely diced chicken from 2 purchased roast chickens (1 pound total)
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 cups shredded hearts of romaine
1 tomato sliced
french bread

Whisk mayonnaise, yogurt, curry powder and sriracha in medium bowl. Mix in chicken and green onions. Season chicken salad to taste with salt and pepper. Divide chicken salad, tomato slices and lettuce into 4 portions. Place the chicken mixture, tomato slices and romaine on french bread. DELICIOUS!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Caesar pasta salad with chicken and homemade ciabatta croutons

This is so delicous...just thought I'd share with you all.

Prep:
For chicken:
1-2 chicken breasts
1 egg, yolk broken
1/2 c. AP flour
salt, pepper to taste
olive oil/Enova/canola oil for cooking in pan

Defrost and slice one or two chicken breasts into 2 inch chunks (or smaller). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip in egg and coat with AP flour.
Warm up oil over medium heat and place chicken pieces in one at a time. Cook on both sides until browned and cooked through. Remove to plate.

For croutons:
Cut into 1 inch chunks either ciabatta bread that has been thick sliced or ciabatta rolls (I used the Take N' Bake rolls from HyVee/Target).
Brush olive oil onto chunks generously and place on baking sheet.
Oven at 400, cook for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with a little garlic salt (or leave plain if you'd rather). Store in airtight container (trust me, these won't last long once you taste them...I was eating them plain all afternoon).

Cook farfalle pasta according to directions, drain and rinse with cold water.

Stop eating the croutons now or there won't be any left for the actual salad!

Assembly:
In large bowl, place cooked pasta, 1/2 cup Brianna's Asiago Caesar dressing (or your favorite kind), a couple spoonfuls of shredded parmesan (I got a little container at Hyvee pre-shredded) and chicken chunks. Stir to distribute dressing.

Cut up pieces of romaine lettuce and add to bowl. Cut croutons if they are too large and toss into bowl. Stir to combine. Sprinkle with extra cheese if you like and dig in!

Hope you like it!

PS: I made this just for me (Carter wouldn't eat this if I coated it in chocolate) since I'm by myself and ended up only using a few noodles, a half heart of romaine, 3 chunks of chicken, a teeny bit of cheese and a couple tablespoons of salad dressing. And tons of croutons. I'll just make up another salad with the leftover stuff tomorrow. You can do this for however many you like, just up the ingredient amounts for what you need.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Raspberry Limeade Cake

From Paula Dean - to a friend of my mom - to my mom

I made these up as cupcakes - delicious - but any way you make it would be great!

Not quick or easy.. but so worth it

3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar1 tablespoon lime zest
3/4 cup limeade concentrate
5 large eggs
3 -3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 -3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 - 1/2 cups whole buttermilk
raspberry filling (see below)
cream cheese icing (see below)
garnish of lime slices and whole raspberries


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray three 9 inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and lime zest at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the limeade concentrate, beating until combined (mixture will look curdled).Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a medium bowl combine flour and baking powder. Gradually add to butter mixture, alternately with buttermilk,beginning and ending with flour mixture.Pour batter evenly into prepared pans and bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until wooden skewer comes out clean from center. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes once finished bakingand then remove cakes from pans. Allow to cool completely on wire racks. Once cooled, spread raspberry filling evenly between layers and ice with cream cheese frosting.Garnish as desired.

Raspberry Filling
1 (10 oz.) package of frozen raspberries
1/2 cup sugar2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup butter cut in pieces

Blend raspberries until smooth in a food processor. Strain mixture and discard solids. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Add raspberry puree, egg yolks, and lemon juice, whisking to combine. Cook over medium heat whisking constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until very thick. Remove from heat, whisk in butter gradually until melted. Cool mixture slightly then cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Cream Cheese-Limeade Icing
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cups butter, softened
3 tablespoons. limeade concentrate
1 tablespoon lime zest5 cup confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add limeade concentrate and lime zest, beating at low speed until combined. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth.