Lasagne with a Surprise!

Nights have been cold! So I wanted to make a hearty filling dish for dinner that will give us leftovers for Sunday night.

Without further ado…this is my typical recipe. Read to the end to find out what I did differently this time that is totally yummy!

Ingredients
1/2 # hot Italian sausage
1 1/2 # ground beef
1/2 large onion, chopped
8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
44 oz. of tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
1 cup of Zinfandel or Sangiovese
1 bay leaf
1 TBS + 1 tsp. dried basil
1 TBS + 1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 # sliced mushrooms
9 lasagne noodles cooked
1 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 1/2# Mozzarella (or you can substitute with Jack cheese which is less salty), sliced thinly
16 oz. cottage cheese, rinsed

First a note about cooking anything with tomatoes of tomato sauce: Do not use aluminum. The acids in the tomatoes eat away at aluminum and you will get unwanted “stuff” in your dish. Please use glass for this recipe and any other that contains tomatoes or any acidic food.

Start the sauce ahead of time so the flavors have a chance to meld. The first thing I do for the sauce is precook the sausage. Crumble the sausage in a pan and cook until it is done. Drain on paper towel.

Hot Italian sausage is cooked and ready to use

Set aside.

Next in a soup kettle add the ground beef, onion and garlic.

Burger, onions and garlic are ready to cook

Cook until the beef is browned. Drain the pot of fat. Then add in the cooked sausage, tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine, bay leaf, basil and oregano.

Sauce is ready to cook and the bay leaf is added

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Stir periodically for the next hour taking care not to burn the sauce. Turn the sauce off and let this cool down a bit.

Next cook the noodles according to the package directions. When done, rinse the noodles. Keep the noodles in water so that they do not stick together. Heat your oven to 350 degrees (176 degrees Celsius). Use a 9×13″ baking pan. Add 1 1/2 cups of sauce to the bottom of the pan,

1st layer is sauce

and lay 3 noodles over the sauce.

2nd layer are the noodles

Add the same amount of sauce over the noodles.

3rd layer is more sauce

Sprinkle with the cottage cheese,

4th layer is the cottage cheese

and 1/3 of the Parmesan.

5th layer is Parmesan

Lay slices of the mozzarella over this.

6th layer is mozarella or jack cheese

Normally I would repeat the layers again, but tonight I used the leftover manicotti spinach mixture for this layer.

Repeat layers 2 and 3, then I added the leftover manicotti filling

For the flavors in the mouth, that is part of the surprise, the other is the hot Italian sausage. Then I added a layer of cheese. Next, use the last of the noodles and this time cover with sauce, remaining mozzarella and the last of the Parmesan.

Place the baking pan on a cookie sheet to avoid any possible overflow from burning up on the floor of the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes until the cheese on the top is just browning and bubbly! Remove this from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes before cutting into the lasagne.

Lasagne right out of the oven

Make some garlic bread while the lasagne is cooling.

I serve this up with garlic cheese bread

When the bread is done, cut the lasagne, pour out a glass of the red wine used in cooking and dinner is served!

Dinner is served!

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Kabobs de Carne de Vaca

If you saw the tease, or not, tonight’s fare are Kabobs with a twist! What could be better than a bit of tequila, cilantro and beef, to name a few? Start the night before to get the meat marinating. While the ingredients might seem a bit potent, the combination becomes a subtle dance on your tongue as you savor the mild flavors. Cooking time is about 35 minutes.

Ingredients
2 big limes, juiced
1/4 cup of pineapple juice
2 TBS Cointreau
2 TBS Herradura Tequila
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 bunch of Italian parsley, chopped
1 large jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 good glug of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to your liking
1 1/4#’s petite tender steaks
Tomatoes, cut into chunks
Onions, cut into chunks
Garlic, skins removed

Marinade ingredients

Using the first nine ingredients, place all in a blender and puree until smooth.

Marinade ingredients liquified

Then take the petite tenders and cut them into cubes.

Steak cut into cubes

Place the marinade into a ziplock bag and add the beef. Give it a good shake so that the marinade grabs all sides of the meat.

Steak is marinating!

Let this sit in the refrigerator, and turn it frequently during the day.

One hour before you are ready to start cooking, remove the meat from the refrigerator to warm up. It is at this point I get the tomatoes, onions and garlic ready. After the hour, place the meat, tomatoes, onion and garlic on the skewers.

Kabobs are ready for the rotisserie

Tonight I am using my Showtime Rotisserie to cook these babies as it is too cold to BBQ. Cooking time on a rotisserie is about 35 minutes. If you choose to grill them, turn them frequently.

Kabobs midway in cooking and boy does it smell good!

If you do BBQ, and you use wooden skewers, remember to soak the skewers for a good half hour so that they do not burn on the grill.

Well, the timer just went off, and dinner is served!

Kabobs are done and dinner is served!

Hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as my husband and I did!

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Chili on a Chilly Day

I woke up this morning hoping for a bit of snow; alas, it did not happen. But it sure is a cold 38.3 degrees. So for dinner tonight I am getting out the crock pot again, and this time I will be preparing Chili!

I looked up the history of Chili and found conflicting information. Some say that the dish originated in San Antonio, Texas, while others say that the dish originated in Chihuahua or Ensenada, Mexico all in the 1800’s. Mexican history, however, makes claims that this dish did not originate in Mexico. The dish was inexpensive to make and primarily consisted of beans and peppers. Despite it origins this is a very popular meal in the U.S. today, with chili cook offs occurring all over the country.

I make several versions of chili and today’s version will be made with a coarse ground beef, the chili’s harvested from my garden, some tomatoes, onions and lots of spices. What I like about making this in the crock pot is that the kidney beans, that usually have a tough outer skin, really soften up when cooked in this way. Give yourself about a half hour for preparation and 10 hours in the crock pot.

Ingredients
3#’s coarsely ground beef
Medium onion, chopped
2 poblano chili peppers, seeded and chopped
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 30 oz. can of red kidney beans
1 28 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
1 15 oz. can of pinto beans
5 of the chili de arboles
bay leaf
healthy dose of cumin
2 shakes of cayenne pepper
1 tbs. oregano
1/2 spice jar of chili powder (adjust this to your taste)
1 cup of water
Lots of grated cheddar cheese

First take the beans and place in a colander and rinse well.

Rinse the beans

Add to your crock pot. Then add the beef to a fry pan, along with the onions, garlic and peppers.

Add meat, onion, garlic and chili's to pan

Brown the beef and drain.

The browned meat mixture

Add to the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the cheddar cheese, and stir well to combine.

Mix it up in the crock pot, and turn it on!

Set the crock pot to low and cook for 10 hours. Here is the finished product!

When done in the crock pot

Chili just has to be served in bowls. When the chili is ready, remove the chili de arboles. Add some of the grated cheddar to the bottom of your bowl. Then add a couple of healthy scoops of the chili, followed by more cheese, chili and then top with cheese.

Serve up the chili!

I like serving this with a really good sour dough garlic bread for dipping into the chili.

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Fall Bounty

I just had to share this photo I took of the unexpected pleasures I found cruising through the vegetable garden yesterday. We had temp’s down in the low 30’s yesterday morning, and I could see that the cold had taken its toll on some of the plants.

Imagine my surprise walking out of the garden with these beauties!

Unexpected Autumn Pleasures!

Zucchini, yellow squash, Mortgage Lifter, Mr. Stripey and Sun Gold tomatoes, and Poblano Chili’s! Sounds like a bit of fresh salsa or my famous zucchini, tomato and mozzarella side dish! Or maybe both!

BTW — we have a possibility of snow tonight! Wahoo!

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Taco Casserole

I had a hankering for tacos but wanted to do it in one dish. I like one dish meals. So, I faced the challenge of coming up with a Taco Casserole. First time made and it was a hit!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 #’s lean ground beef
1 small onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 cup of water
3/4 cup of medium taco sauce
7 oz. can diced green chili’s
1 3.8 oz. can sliced black olives
1 package of Schilling Taco Seasoning Mix
6 handfuls of tortilla chips
2 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese
1/2 cup fresh tomatoes chopped
2 green onions sliced
Avocado, sliced
Sour cream

Directions: Crumble beef into a large frying pan. Add the onion and garlic. Brown over medium high heat. While the meat is browning, combine the water and the taco sauce. When the meat is browned, drain, and add the water/taco sauce mixture, the green chili’s and 1/2 of the olives. Stir until blended and then add the taco seasoning. Stir until combined, and lower the heat to low. Cook for about 5 minutes. And at this point, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Simmering meat mixture

Stir frequently. While the sauce cooks over the low heat, take the tortilla chips and place them in a plastic zip lock bag. Using the side of your hand, break up the tortilla chips so that the pieces are between 1/4″ to 1/2″.
Using a casserole dish, spray it first with a non-stick spray, then add one half of the crushed tortilla chips. When the meat mixture has cooked for 5 minutes, spoon out one half over the crushed tortilla chips. Then scatter one half of the cheddar.

First layer with cheese

Then repeat the tortilla and meat layers. Sprinkle the tomatoes, remaining olives and green onion.

The final layer before the remaining cheese

Then cover with the remaining cheddar cheese and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

Finished bake dish

Serve in bowls, and add a couple of slices of avocado to each serving and a dollop of sour cream.

We had a small amount left over which I had for lunch today. It was tastier today! I hope that you enjoy this dish, and if you try this I would like to hear if you liked this too!

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Let’s Dance the Salsa!

Turn up the salsa music while you prepare this fabulous salsa! This is easy to make, sassy and spicy!

Ingredients

5 fresh tomatoes

2 jalapeno peppers
1 pasilla pepper
1 bunch of cilantro, wash well and chop
1 medium onion, chopped
3 limes, juiced
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Start with fresh tomatoes.

Start with home grown tomatoes

Slice the tomatoes and then cut into cubes. Place in a glass mixing bowl.

Tomatoes cubed and in a glass bowl

Cut the peppers from top to bottom and remove the seeds. I usually wear gloves when I do this as the oils from the peppers will burn if you touch your eyes, nose or mouth. Add to the tomatoes and stir to blend.

Tomatoes and the chopped peppers

Add the remaining ingredients. Let this sit in the refrigerator for a day or two before using. Stir this up occasionally. It will then look like this:

Salsa after sitting for a couple of days...

I use my salsa in other foods, like guacamole, burritos, quesadillas, soup, and I also use it with just plain tortilla chips. Enjoy!

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