Turkey and Spinach Lasagna

I have to admit, I have never really loved lasagna...sorry but it's true. I always knew it could be good. Well with this twist on the traditional dish I believe it is good. Forget ricotta and mozzarella. I want flavor! I have gotten nothing but rave reviews on this one. I promise you will fall in love with this recipe. It's easy and pretty quick.

Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs ground turkey
4 small 8 ounce cans tomato sauce (I use Hunts brand; two regular, two garlic flavored.)
8 ounces lasagna noodles
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces sour cream
2 cups shredded extra sharp white cheddar
1 bag of spinach

Instruction:
Boil lasagna noodles and drain.
Saute spinach in olive oil. Drain excess juice and oil.
Brown turkey.

Combine spinach and turkey in a large bowl. Add tomato sauce and mix together.

In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese and sour cream.

Layer in 9x13 baking dish:
layer all of the noodles on the bottom of the casserole dish
½ turkey/spinach/tomato sauce mixture
cream cheese/sour cream mixture
½ turkey/spinach/tomato sauce mixture
sprinkle cheese on top

Bake uncovered at 350 degree for 30 minutes.

Let sit 5-10 minutes after removing from oven before serving.

Gouda Mac N Cheese

A spin on the Barefoot Contessa classic. Mac and Cheese is a staple in my home-- but we don't use the blue box around here. Thats like saying a bad word. (And it really is easy to make-- it just seems like a long recipe, but really its just because I am long winded...)


I like to make my mac n cheese from scratch-- so much better and soooo worth it! Originally I started experimenting with it when I tried Ina Garten's gruyere and cheddar macaroni and cheese, but now I toss in different cheese and try out texture changes with different noodles. Its really fun to come up with concoctions that really seem to work. I just finished making a gouda and white sharp cheddar mac and cheese and I have never been more pleased with the outcome. The great thing is that most of this stuff you always have around the house, with the exception of the gouda. Bear with me as I usually do everything to taste (measuring just means more dishes)! Also, this recipe is how much I make for just Adam and I and maybe one guest, double it for a bigger crowd.

A few tablespoons of flour (maybe 2 or 3 )
A few tablespoons of butter (equal to the amount of flour plus another 1 or 2 for breadcrumbs)
about 1 c. hot milk
1 c. white sharp cheddar (thats a really rough guess-- just keep adding until it tastes amazing-- same with the gouda)
1/2 c. to 1 c. gouda (and if you aren't a gouda person, try something else like gruyere or just double the cheddar)
a few cups of noodles (often I do macaroni, but if we have guests I use cavatappi because its so pretty, but sometimes hard to find at the store-- but use what you like! Penne, rotini, whatever)
about 1 c. bread crumbs (can use panko or make your own in the food processor from white bread)
2 roma tomatoes (optional)
salt

Throw the noodles in a pot of boiling water and cook according to directions on box. While noodles are cooking I work on the cheese sauce:

I start by making a roux and which I turn into a bechamel. This sounds really exciting because its fun french cooking terms, but its pretty basic-- mix one part fat with one part thickening agent over heat= a roux, and once you add the hot milk its a bechamel sauce. I like to use a couple tablespoons of butter and a couple tablespoons of flour. Cook over heat for about a minute. You want them to mix together and still be a little loose-- if they clump together add a little more butter, if it's super runny add a little more flour. After the minute, add the hot milk. Keep stirring over heat until you see the very cool transformation of runny milk to a beautiful rich and creamy milk substance. At this point you can remove from the heat and throw in the grated cheeses. Mix them well-- the hot milky sauce should melt the cheese pretty easily. Salt to taste.

Drain noodles and immediately add them to the cheese sauce. For my lunch-- I usually just stop here and toss a couple sliced tomatoes on top and call it a day (I like mine gooey and cheesy but baking it, which Adam prefers, will firm that up a little). For guests, I put it in a baking dish. If I have tomato eaters, I slice a roma tomato really really thin and do a single layer of that over the top with a tiny bit more salt to bring out the flavor of the tomatoes--if not I skip it. I mix bread crumbs with enough melted butter to moisten them (1 or 2 tblspns) and then evenly distribute over the macaroni and tomatoes. I bake it on 400 for about 20 minutes or until the breadcrumbs get all golden and crunchy.

Make sure you eat it hot otherwise the breadcrumbs will turn from an awesome crunch to a soggy mess. This dish is a crowd pleaser for sure and I am loving the discovery of the gouda addition. You will never be sad about making this deliciousness.

Enjoy!

Cheese

This is just a quick tip:
Since relocating to Arizona I have noticed my cheese has been going bad faster than usual. Maybe the cheese in California is fresh and we import cheese in Arizona, which would limit the shelf life (my assumption). Our refrigerator is definitely cold enough; ask the frozen carrots and the slushy water, they’ll tell you. What I have been doing to prevent this unwanted mold is I keep my cheese in the freezer. Shredded cheese breaks apart very easily as does sliced cheddar. My cheese now keeps for a very long time and I don’t have to throw cheese away, which can get expensive.

Chicken and Broccoli Cheese Soup

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 cooked chicken breasts

4 c chicken broth

4 c broccoli (chopped into small pieces)

¾ c butter

¾ c flour

1 quart half and half

1 c shredded cheddar cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook 2-3 chicken breasts and chop into small pieces (boiled chicken might work well)

2. Bring 4 cups chicken broth to a boil.  Add broccoli, simmer 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

3. White Sauce:  Melt butter in a sauce pan.  Whisk in flour until smooth over medium heat.  Pour in half and half.  Stir until it thickens, then gradually add cheese.  Stir until cheese is melted.

4. Bring broccoli and broth to a simmer again and slowly pour in the white cheese sauce.  Continue to stir until thickens.  Add some coarse black pepper.

5. Add cooked chicken, and heat until chicken is warm again.

Sunday Afternoon

It seems like Sunday afternoons once we get home from church we are hungry and need something delicious and easy! As I do my grocery shopping on Mondays, we are usually low on fresh stuff by Sunday-- so we have a few reliable things we always fall back on, Adams favorite it naan pizza.


I would pick up some naan bread (regular is amazing, but usually I opt for whole wheat) from Whole Foods or Trader Joes (and now I feel like most grocery stores have it too). I like the Trader Joes the best because of the shape-- perfect for individual and easily eatable pizzas!

Also I either stew some tomatoes or more often I buy a jar of good pasta sauce (Archer Farms from Target or Trader Joes brand are both great, and I prefer pasta sauce to pizza sauce for this) and pour a little one top of each piece of naan. After the sauce, I layer on some mozzarella cheese (and I would tell you amounts but its is much more effective to use your judgement than dirty a bunch of measuring cups).

Once the staples are taken care of the fun part starts. Usually Adam is happy with cheese (or maybe salami/pepperoni on top) but I try something different each time. Occasionally I crumble goat cheese with fresh basil on top, or sauté squash and zucchini and layer that on there. I have also done cooked spinach, fresh tomato slices (has to be a really good ripe tomato), mushrooms, and garlic. Yum. The bottom line is-- the options are endless.

After it is topped with all of this deliciousness, I pop it in the oven on broil. It doesn't take more than 5 minutes to cook and watch it (I check on it about every minute) because it cooks really fast! You just want the cheese to be totally melted together and maybe a little bubbly.

The naan is a great base because it is such a tender bread. Its really doughy and delicious, and the extra bonus on top of the awesome flavor is how easy and fast it is to make! I usually have all of these ingredients on hand, and I buy naan and keep it in the freezer till I am ready to use it. This takes about 5-10 minutes total to make.

Enjoy!

Make Any Italian Feast More Exciting With These...

Parmesan Crisps

The way you want it is crispy on the outside and a little chewy in the middle. Practice before you go serving this to a house full of guests-- but would be so cute in a little basket as an appetizer for a dinner party. Yum.

TIME: 5 minutes

• 1 cup coarsely grated parmesan cheese (use the biggest holes on a box grater)

Preheat the oven to 400°F

Evenly space tablespoonfuls of parmesan on a large nonstick or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Using a small spoon or your fingers, spread the parmesan so that each small pile becomes a thin circle roughly 3" in diameter. Bake for exactly five minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and bubbling and light golden brown. Be sure not to brown them too much or they will taste bitter. Let the crisps cool a minute, then slip a thin spatula or dinner knife underneath each one and remove to a rack to cool completely before serving.

1 Cup should yield about 4 servings.

Enjoy.

basil burgers

So before I became a vegetarian I ate my weight in hamburgers while living in New York. We found several burger places we loved, The best being Westville, yum! and the runner up would definitely be Shake Shack, I thought their veggie burgers were to die for. We also loved the burgers at Lovin' Cup in Williamsburg, Brookyln. Shake Shack is actually so popular there is a camera set up on their website for people to check the line before you go, and the new phenomenon this summer is people stand in line and sell their spots when they get close to the front! Kind of worth it when the wait is an hour long, which is not uncommon. Anyway, sadly I grew a little burger obsession just before I kicked the beef for good. Now I dream about them (a little creepy but true). The other night I dreamed of a burger recipe and I will need one of my meat eating friends to try it out and tell me if my suspicions are correct.

Take the ground meat and mix in some freshly chopped basil (or even homemade pesto if you're really ambitious)
Make two thin patties, and lay a chunk of goat cheese (I'm telling you, I'm obsessed with this stuff) on one patty and lay the other patty on top. Press the sides of the patties together until it is one large patty with the cheese inside.
Grill the burger
Use a Portuguese muffin as the bun.
(I'm thinking there are no necessary condiments for this yummy thing, but sautéed onions or sun-dried tomatoes would be delicious too:-)

I dream up recipes, and I dream about this place daily. I miss living 100 yards away from this delicious and fun little neighborhood gem! Girls trip to NY anyone?!

Goat Cheese Please

A current obsession:

Goat Cheese.

I want it on everything and this has led to a recent lunch creation that I have craved each day since the first day I made it. The total time it takes to make it is as long as it takes your noodles to boil (8 min?).

Barilla Multigrain Plus Thin Spaghetti (don't know why, it really does taste better in this dish than regular white flour pasta)
handful of grape or cherry tomatoes
garlic
fresh basil
olive oil
goat cheese

First I boil water and cook the pasta (and I always add salt to the water). While the pasta is boiling, I heat up some olive oil in a pan and put a little goat cheese on the bottom of the bowl I will serve in. Once the oil in the pan is hot, I add in the tomatoes (which I halved) with a little salt. After they get good and hot, I add a little crushed garlic and my basil and toss it around. After another thirty seconds or so, its ready. I drain my noodles and put them in my goat cheesey bowl, throw my tomato basil concoction on top of the pasta and then fork a few (or a lot...) of goat cheese crumbles on top. Salt to taste. Its amazing (and healthy/super filling).