White Bean and Spinach Lasagna

Ohmygoodness, this stuff was delicious! It's one of the first times I've cooked since the hurricane, so maybe that might have had something to do with it's tasty-ness. I adapted this recipe from "What Can I Bring Cookbook?" by Anne Byrn. I modified it to be more heart friendly and healthy for my uncle. I added leftover turkey because it's what we had. You can use ground turkey, or you might not even need meat at all. It would taste good without any meat, I can promise you wouldn't even miss it. Below is my version:

White Bean and Spinach Lasagna

32oz. pasta sauce (I used one full jar of Pasta/Alfredo Sauce and half a Sun-Dried Tomato Alfredo Sauce)
1 clove garlic
1 can chickpeas, drained
leftover turkey

15oz. fat-free ricotta cheese
2 c. fat-free mozzarella cheese
1/2 c/ egg beaters

1 pkg. frozen spinach
1 pkg egg roll wrappers
2c. fat-free mozzarella cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bring the pasta sauce, garlic, beans and turkey to a simmer in a saucepan. Meanwhile, combine the ricotta and mozzarella cheeses and egg beaters in a bowl. In a 9x13 pan, layer the following:
sauce on the bottom,
layer of egg roll wrappers,
cheese,
spinach,
sauce,
noodles,
cheese,
sauce,
noodles,
cheese,
spinach,
noodles,
sauce
and sprinkle the last 2c. cheese on top. (I find that it's easier to guesstimate the measurements rather than try and measure them. It just gets messy and you have to way too many measuring cups, so sorry there's no measurements.) The original recipe called for it to bake 40 mins and rest 20. I found that it needed longer to bake and didn't need to rest that long.

What I would do different next time...I would use garbanzo beans and mash them into the cheese mixture. They were too lumpy in the tomato sauce mixture. I would also mix the spinach into the tomato sauce mixture. There is no need to keep it separate, it is just too time consuming to keep it separate. I think I would also add a can of crushed tomatoes to the sauce mixture because the lasagna was a little dry. Not dry as in dry, but I like my lasagnas creamy and this wasn't. I ended up having to heat a can of crushed tomatoes and add some seasoning to make it a little more saucy. Even though, it was sooo tasty. It really hit the spot. Serve this with some good Italian bread and woo, it will be a hit!

Menu Planning!

Since the hurricane, I've been staying with my Aunt Connie and Uncle Cliff. We've come to terms that I'll be the designated chef for the household and my Aunt Connie will be the cleaner (which is totally my ideal situation!). So here's what I'm planning:


Greek/Antipasto Pasta Salad: I don't know why but I loooove Greek food, so I'm planning to combine two recipes.

Taco Salad: My Aunt cooked a turkey on Sunday, so instead of grilled chicken, we're using leftover turkey and I'm making a homemade vinaigrette.

White Bean and Spinach Lasagna: This recipe seemed too interesting to pass up. Instead of noodles, this calls for egg rolls wrappers. Also, since we're into healthy eating, a vegetarian meal seemed like a plus.

Sweet Potato Turkey Meatloaf: Again, a healthy recipe with turkey and the sweet potatoes add a "fall-y" element that I am ready to explore.

Pumpkin Polenta w/ Italian Sausage, Tuscan Cauliflower (side dish):I've been wanting to experiment with polenta for a while now, so with a recipe like this, how could I resist?

I don't know yet when or what side I'll cook with most of them, but we'll see. I'm planning on going to a farmer's market tomorrow too as well, so that will probably give me some new ideas! I'm REALLY excited about the farmer's market because I haven't been to one in forever. I'll *hopefully* make posts this week as I go along.

If any of the three people that read this have any ideas for healthy "fall-y" meals, I'd more than welcome them!

Updates

Just FYI, I updated my January post with pictures of my meatball minestrone soup. I took some leftovers out of my freezer earlier this month and had it when we had a brief cold spell. The presentation isn't that great, but the some is awesome. Go check it out!

Also, I finally posted pictures from my first attempt at a full fancy meal. Check out the June post. I didn't post recipes because I wrote my notes down in my recipe book, which I currently can't find. As soon as I do, I'll post it and then make another update post. Woo Hoo for updating!

Chicken Noodle Soup

*I'm pre-dating this entry to the date I actually made it.

When I was sick, all I wanted was a big of bowl of chicken noodle soup. Except I can't stand all the salt in canned varieties and to be honest, I really don't care for chicken in my soup (not just chicken noodle soup but also chicken and dumplings, I'd just rather have the dumplings to be quite honest). So even though I was almost dying, I decided I could make my own chicken noodle soup (or just noodle soup technically). This makes a LOT of soup to begin with but if you don't eat it all in one setting (or sitting as the case may be), the noodles happen to soak up a lot of the broth, so you'll need to re-add some chicken broth. Also, next time, I think I would add just carrots (and possibly a larger amount) instead of peas AND carrots. I would have used all real stock if I had had it, but I didn't, so I used bouillon in a pinch; however use whatever combination of what you have on hand, you can use all chicken stock or a little more vegetable, whatever you have, it will turn out stellar. Don't just save this for when your sick, it's pretty dang good.

Chicken Noodle Soup (without the real chicken)

1 sm. pkg frozen seasoning mix (onions, celery, parsley, bell peppers)
16 oz. chicken stock
16 oz. vegetable stock
4 chicken bouillion cubes
4 cups water
1 sm. can peas and carrots, drained
1 package egg noodles (I used the "healthier" version with no whites)

In a large soup pot, saute the package of seasoning mix in a few tablespoons of olive oil. When onions are translucent and veggies are soft, add stock (and bouillon and water) and peas and carrots. When broth is at a rolling boil, add egg noodles and cook as directed. Serve warm with saltine crackers.

Pesto Eggplant Pizza

I have been seriously jonesing for pizza the past few weeks. Not just any Pizza Hut or CiCi's pizza, but the real deal. I got home to my house finally and remembered I had a pizza crust in the freezer (Thank goodness for me being frugal and freezing EVERYTHING so it doesn't go bad!). I pulled one out to defrost and turns out not only was it a pizza crust, but it was healthy (honey wheat!), go me! I've told you before that the closest decent grocery store is an hour away, so instead, I decided to raid the pantry. I wasn't in a meat mood so I decided to go vegetarian. I found marinated eggplant which was my main star of the pizza, and didn't want a heavy tomato sauce, so I went with alfredo mixed with a hint of pesto. I didn't have any mozarella cheese to top it, so I used what I had and really didn't miss it! I think the feta and the hint of melty cheese that I used was perfect' I think mozarella would have been overpowering. The only thing I would change is that I would drain my eggplant and oven-roasted tomatoes throughly so there's less grease on the pizza. This pizza turned out better than I could have ever planned! Everything compliments each other, the pesto and the marinated eggplant have similar flavors. The sweetness of the fresh tomatoes and the intenseness and the robust flavor of the oven-roasted tomatoes are juxtaposing, but taste like a match in heaven! The lightness of the alfredo sauce rounds everything out perfectly and bring it all together. The recipe follows and it is simply fabulous! (I hardly ever measure, so the measurements are a guestimate, if it doesn't look right, change it to what looks good to you, and let me know so I can change it on here!

p.s. I'm adding lots of pictures because I loved it so much. The pics don't really do it justice. I need to find a better place for lighting in my house. I'll keep working, promise!

Pesto Eggplant Pizza

1 honey wheat pizza crust
3/4c. Alfredo sauce
4T. pesto sauce
1/2 jar marinated eggplant
2 roma tomatoes, seeded, sliced
5 oven-roasted tomatoes, sliced (I used homemade oven-roasted tomatoes, but you can also sub. sun-dried; also to "slice" them, I used kitchen shears to snip off strips.)
1c. feta cheese (I used garlic and herb)
1/4 c/ easy melt shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Mix alfredo sauce and pesto. Spoon a thin layer onto unbaked pizza crust. Don't go too heavy, the pesto makes it really intense, so less is more. Make sure marinated eggplant is free of oil and put a single layer on pizza. Add tomatoes, and finally sprinkle on both types of cheeses. Turn oven down to 450 degrees, place pizza directly on rack and back for 8-9 minutes on shredded cheese melts and crust is brown. Remove and eat!

George's Bar

I'm in Waco today for work. I always try to check out non-chain restaurants when I travel and the best way to find out what's good is to ask the locals. Immediately upon checking in at my hotel, I asked the friendly desk clerk what's the best place to eat around here and she told me that if I was in Waco I HAD to go to George's. Now, me being the Texas Country Music fan that I am, I know of George's Bar because of Pat Green (who had really good music back in the day). I decided that this trip, I would make it happen. Driving up to George's, if I hadn't have been looking for it, I never would have found. It's just off a road with no other businesses in sight. However, the parking lot was full and the parking lot across the street was starting to get full, so I knew it had to be a good local hang. The building is actually divided into different parts, there's a section just for dinning without smoking, a section to eat in the bar (which allows smoking), and then a patio-esque section which I didn't check out. Needless to say, it can hold a LOT of people. I opted to eat in the diner section since it was getting to be going out time. It had a classic diner in a small town feel.

I had a caesar salad and the chicken jack sandwich with broccoli salad. The caesar salad was more vinegar-y than creamy, which I myself like creamy. But it was still good. The croutons however were fabulous!!! They were buttery and crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside. I have a feeling they make them out of their leftover homemade rolls, which apparently are AWESOME, but I didn't catch onto that until AFTER I ordered. Most everyone around me had an order of rolls with ranch. Interesting, but probably very good. I went for the blackened chicken option which was good, but not spicy. The chicken was moist and the bread was homemade and awesome. The bread was thick and tender and on the sweet side but had jalepenos in it, so that made for a nice contrast. The broccoli salad was the standard with bacon, onions and cheese and miracle whip-based dressing. No raisins which made me sad, but for some reason the cheese tasted freshly grated, which I doubt, but it was still dang good.

Another interesting thing I saw and wished I had friends with me to spilt an order of was the crazy wings. Somehow it was chicken, cheese and jalepenos wrapped in bacon and deep fried. They looked awesome too. But my two upcoming weddngs are preventing me from consuming fried foods (or at least I'm trying!) Maybe next time...

Overall, it was good food, but on the expensive side. My total was 11.77 for all of that, which to me is a lot for one person. I didn't have "The Big O" because I had beer last night and just wasn't in the mood, but this would definitely be a nice hang for a group of friends to go and have some snacks and then stick around for a few beers. I really want to give this place four stars, but the price was just a little too high for me, so I'm gonna go 3.75/5.

51st Anniversary Four Course Meal

My grandparents celebrated their 51st anniversary this year (yay!). Instead of the ginamorous party we threw for them last year, I decided to put my skills to use and cook them a nice dinner for the two of them. I decided to go ultra swanky and attempt a four course meal. Honestly, it was my first time to try and get the out at the right time. It was going well until dessert, that was a little late. BUT it went over well and everything turned out great. My pork turned out a little dry, so I need to remember the carry over cooking time next go around, but all in all, it was pretty great! I'll list the recipes after each picture. OH! And the theme for dinner was fruit. Each course had fruit in it and was used in different ways. For a little bit I was worried that it might have been a too sweet meal, but I think I definitely managed to balance the savory with the sweet. I wrote all these recipes down in my food book which is currently somewhere in my house. I thought since I was in the updating mood, I'd at least post the pictures.

First Course: Strawberry Cheese Ball

Okay, I cheated and bought this from HEB. But it definitely could be made at home. It tasted like strawberry cream cheese and cheddar cheese mixed rolled in pecans and cinnamon sugar. Very good. This worked out perfect because it tasted like fruit AND looked like fruit.


Second Course: Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Figs and Apple Vinagrette

Specific recipe to follow once I find my book.


Third Course: Apple Stuffed Pork Chops with Cheddar Potatoes and Honey Kissed Carrots



Specific recipe to follow once I find my book.




Fourth Course: Fluffy Panckes with Bananas and Butterscotch Sauce

Specific recipe to follow once I find my book.