Week 9--More or Less--Easy Lasagna

This started out as a Kraft Foods recipe but we've adapted it to be our own. We love lasagna so much that I make 2 pans of it every time and freeze it. When we want to give a friend a meal or just have an easy night, I just make a trip down to the freezer.

Easy Lasagna

15 Oz. Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
2-1/2 C. Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/2 C. Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/4 C. chopped fresh parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 lb. Pork Sausage, browned, drained
1 Green Pepper, coarsely chopped
1 Onion, coarsely chopped
Diced garlic to taste
26 Oz. Spaghetti sauce
1 to 2 C. water
1 tsp. Basil
12+ lasagna noodles, uncooked
Spinach leaves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix ricotta cheese, 1-1/4 cups of the mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, parsley and egg until well blended; set aside.

Brown meat in skillet. Drain meat by placing it on a plate with paper towels. Remove all fat from the skillet. Add green pepper and saute until bright green. Add onion and garlic and continue to saute until onion is translucent. Pour spaghetti sauce into meat in skillet. Pour water into empty sauce jar or can; cover and shake well. Pour into skillet; stir until well mixed. Add basil and simmer for 10 minutes. (This will yield about 5 cups sauce.)

Place 1 cup meat sauce on bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish. (This way the noodles won't stick to the pan.) Layer 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup meat sauce. Add a layer of spinach leaves if desired. Repeat layers 2 more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles and sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1-1/4 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Cover tightly with lightly greased foil. (This keeps you from pulling off the cheese when you remove the foil.) Bake 45 min. or until cooked through. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 min. or until bubbling. Let stand 15 min. before cutting for easier serving.

If you want to freeze, wait until the lasagna has completely cooled before removing it from the pan. Wrap tightly in foil.

NOTE: I use canned spaghetti sauce, the least expensive I can find. No reason to pay extra since they work so well!

by kate

I loved the shrimp. It is the Best food in world.

Week 8--Finally--Grilled Shrimp

This is a Rachel Ray recipe that we just cooked at Babler Park for our Memorial Day celebration. Of course we changed it around a little, but it's simplicity appealed for a picnic and it certainly was delicious!

Grilled Shrimp

4 to 6 jumbo shrimp per person, deveined in shell, raw

1/2 C. Extra-virgin olive oil

Coarse salt

Lemons, halved, enough for each person to have a half

While coals are heating, devein shrimp and arrange in a grill basket. Drizzle with oil.

Grill shrimp 2 to 5 minutes, until pink and opaque on first side. Flip over. Place lemons on top of basket, lemon side down. (Heating the lemons releases the juices.) Grill another 2 to 5 minutes until this side is also pink and opaque.

Serve immediately. After shrimp is shelled, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with lemon juice.

Yeah, this has grown a little stale

Yeah, yeah, I know, we're not quite keeping up with 52 in 52. There's a good reason though.

Ken and I aren't eating.

That sounds odd, but it's essentially true. Starting in early November Ken started on a liquid fasting diet. I started in early February. It's a little tough to be serving the kids good meals, but it is working. Ken's lost over 90 pounds and I've lost over 35.

So we're coming off in June and then Kate and I will restart this.

Week 7: Buffalo Chicken Wraps--a restaurant favorite brought home

This is one of my favorites to order at Buffalo Wild Wings and other restaurants. I found the original recipe in the Kraft Foods magazine, but true to form I adjusted the recipe even as I made it the first time. So now I consider it mine!!

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

8 frozen breaded Chicken breast strips
1/4 C. low-fat or fat-free Mayonnaise
2 Tbs. Hot Pepper Sauce
2 C. Spinach leaves
4 large flour Tortillas
1 large Tomato, chopped
1 C. shredded Cheddar Cheese

Prepare chicken breasts according to package directions. Meanwhile mix mayonnaise and hot sauce. If you don't want it too spicy, start with 1/2 Tbs. of hot sauce and taste as you add more.

When chicken is done, place spinach leaves down center of the tortillas. Top with chicken, then tomatoes and then cheese. Drizzle with mayo mixture and roll up. Secure with toothpicks if necessary.

Week 6: FoodTV's Potato-Bacon Torte

This sounded so wonderful when I saw it on TV that I suggested to Kate that we try it. After all, any recipe that has cheese and bacon is worth trying!!

Potato-Bacon Torte

2 Pie Crusts, recipe follows

4 strips bacon
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2/3 C. heavy cream
3 medium baking potatoes, peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 C. grated Gruyere cheese
1 egg yolk, whisked with a splash of water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare the pie crusts, recipe follows.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until just crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Crumble the bacon when cool to the touch.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the thyme and cream over low heat to a bare simmer. Turn off the heat and let steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.

Remove the pie pan from the refrigerator. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and then finely slice the potatoes. Working in circles, arrange the potato slices in the pie crust, stopping to season each layer with salt, pepper, and about 1/4 of the crumbled bacon. Continue layering until the pie pan is nearly full. Top with an even layer of the cheese and gently pour cream around and over the entire pie, allowing it to seep down between the potato slices. (You may not use all the cream.)

Roll out the remaining disk of refrigerated dough. Cover the pie with the dough and crimp the edges closed. Brush the top and edges of the crust with egg wash. Make a few slits in the center of the top crust, for the steam to escape, and put the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake the torte until the crust is browned and crispy and the potatoes are cooked through, about 50 to 60 minutes. If the crust edges get too brown, cover them with some strips of aluminum foil. Remove the pie from the oven and let rest at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

2 Pie Crusts

1 C. butter, cubed and chilled
2.25 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
8 To 10 Tbs. ice water

Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps.

Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 re-sealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the torte ingredients.

Catch up to Week 5--Wings!

With the holiday weekend, Kate and I decided to double-dip (so to speak) for our recipes. Long holiday weekends in the summer seem to require BBQ Wings.

BBQ Wings

3 or 5 Lb. bag frozen disjointed chicken wings
1.5 Tbsp. onion powder
1.5 Tbsp. ground chili powder
1.5 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. seasoning salt (or table salt)
1 C. honey
0.25 C. Kansas City or St. Louis BBQ sauce (Kansas City makes them sweeter; St. Louis spicier)

For the grill:
3 C. wood chips of your choice (apple, pecan, cherry or hickory)

Soak wood chips in water so they will smoke instead of burn. Remove the bag of chicken wings from the freezer. Prepare rub by combining onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, black pepper and seasoning salt. Rub the surface of the wings (still in the bag) and let the rub dry for at least 30 minutes while your coals are burning to white. (Closing the bag and shaking it will coat the wings even better.)

Remove the wings from the bag and place them in a (13 ½” x 9 ½”) disposable all-purpose foil pan. In small bowl, combine honey and BBQ sauce. Pour the sauce over the wings in the pan until all wings are evenly coated. Add wood smoking chips to coals. Place the wings on your BBQ grill/smoker grid using indirect heat and smoke.

Smoke wings for 20 minutes. Stir and recoat wings with sauce. When the wings are done, the sugar in sauce should caramelize and turn dark. Continue smoking and checking every 20 minutes. The amount of time it takes will depend on how many wings, how thawed they are and how hot the grill is. Once the sauce begins to darken, place pan on grid over direct heat. Wings are ready after about 20 minutes.