I’ve been trying to figure out the perfect lasagna ever since trying different recipes and adapting them to what both Ben and I like. There never seems to be enough sauce/beef mixture whenever I used only a pound. 2 pounds of ground beef/turkey is just perfect. We don’t like runny sauce either, so I only use 1 jar of pasta sauce.  I prefer using Trader Joe’s roasted garlic marinara sauce. For something different shred up 1 cup of zucchini to get some more veggies in, you won’t even taste them in the sauce. I’m not very good at eating the recommended amount of veggies that we’re supposed to have in a day. Is any one good at that? You could also use carrots a long with more onions a long with your zucchini. I plan on trying that next.

Add some parmesan cheese in with the mozzarella and cottage cheese mixture and I think I have the perfect lasagna that both Ben and I like. I also used some cheddar cheese . The orginally recipe came from my aunt Carol, and I slightly adapted it to what Ben and I both like. Hope you like it too.

Quick Lasagna

1 package of Lasagna noodles
2 pounds of ground beef or turkey
1 package spaghetti sauce mix (I didn’t use this just a jar of sauce)
1 16 oz carton of low fat cottage cheese
1 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 1b.  sliced mozzarella cheese (I used shredded)
1 16 oz Can of your favorite tomato sauce
1 cup of shredded zucchini

1. Brown meat add spaghetti sauce mix, zucchini, and sauce. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

2. Cook noodles as directed on package. Arrange lasagna noodles in 9  X 13 baking dish, alternating with layers of meat sauce, cottage cheese & mozzarella cheese.
Bake at 30 minutes @ 350. I layered the shredded cheddar cheese on the very top, only.

I never knew how easy it was to make your own enchilada sauce. Alton Brown really nailed this one I think. It’s better than the stuff you get in the can. From now on, I’ll be making my own enchilada sauce.

I found dried chipotle peppers in the produce section and not in the Ethnic aisle. Thought that was really weird.The peppers were with some spices, garlic, and shallots. You could probably use the canned chipotle peppers for this too. Just mince them up really fine. The dried peppers were really hard to dice and you have to fish them out of the sauce if you don’t want to bite down into the pepper.

I’m not sure if I like soggy corn tortillas. I actually prefer my enchiladas rolled up into a burrito so that they can get crispy on the outside. You could just as well use lasagna noodles if you don’t want to use corn tortillas for this dish. I think that’s what I’d do next time when I make it again.

Ingredients form Alton Brown

For sauce:

2 dried chipotle chiles, stems and seeds removed, diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted cumin seeds, freshly ground
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For filling:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cubed
1 1/2 cups diced onion
Pinch kosher salt
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
3 cups shredded queso fresco or Monterey Jack
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

Combine the chiles, garlic, chili powder, cumin, chicken broth, tomato sauce, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or until the chiles are soft. Set aside until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the chicken until cooked through, approximately 7 to 9 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and place in a medium bowl. Add the onions to the same pan along with a generous pinch of salt, decrease the heat to medium-low and sweat for 4 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and cook until the onions are tender, 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the chicken back to the pan and remove from the heat.

Spray a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with non-stick spray. Place 1/2 cup of the sauce into the bottom of the dish. Dip 4 tortillas into the remaining sauce and lay them into the bottom of the dish. Cut 1 of the tortillas in half to evenly cover the bottom of the dish. Top this with half of the chicken mixture and 1 cup of the cheese. Starting with 4 more tortillas, repeat the layers, ending with the last 4 tortillas on top. Pour remaining sauce over the dish and top with remaining 1 cup of cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven on the middle rack for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese on top is bubbly.

I don’t know what I should talk about other than grilling. I like to watch Bobby Fley’s show called Grill It, and I didn’t know you could grill so many things. He had a marathon on Monday and I was wondering where he had been because I haven’t seen any of his shows on lately. Guess he has a new one coming out called Addicted to BBQ or something like that?

Anyways… He made these steak fries on one of the episodes. I prefer russet potatoes over these red ones that we picked out at Wal-Mart. They took a little bit longer to parboil. What you do is boil the potatoes until they’re fork tender which takes anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. Season with oil, salt and pepper and whatever else you like. I added crushed red pepper flakes and lots of garlic. They turned out delicious. For the pork chop marinade, I used a bottle of Teriyaki sauce. Not the whole thing, just a couple of tablespoons. I’m supposed to be watching my sodium intake, and I’m using bottled terikyaki sauce. That wasn’t a very good idea, was it?

Ingredients

For Pork Chops

4 boneless pork chops

2 -3 tablespoons of Teriyaki sauce

Potatoes

4 russet potatoes cut into wedges

salt

pepper

2 teaspoons of olive oil

2 teaspoons of garlic

1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper.

Directions:
Heat up your charchoal grill. That’s what we prefer and so does Ina. Marinade pork chops in teriyaki sauce for an hour. When the grill is ready cook pork chops until done.

For the potatoes, cook in boiling water until fork tender. Drain. After the potatoes have cooled cut them into wedges. Season with salt, pepper, oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Place one side on the grill and cook for 2-3 or until brown. Flip wedges over and cook the other side for the same amount of time.

Serves 8

3 pounds boneless pork loin, tied at 2-inch intervals
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (from 1 large orange)
1/4 cup white-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pat pork dry with paper towels, rub all over with oil, and season with cumin, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. In a large skillet, cook pork over high until browned on all sides, 8 minutes total (reduce heat if it begins to overbrown). Transfer pork to a baking dish (pork should fit snugly). In a small bowl, whisk together orange juice, vinegar, and marmalade; drizzle over pork.

2. Roast pork, basting frequently with cooking juices, until cooked through (an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of pork should read 140 degrees), 45 to 50 minutes. Sprinkle pork with cilantro and let rest 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with pan juices.

From Everyday Food, December 2010 | Send Me a Free Preview Issue Now!
Helpful Hint

Kids will love measuring out and pouring the glaze ingredients. Cut your orange into wedges and let them squeeze the fresh juice.

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On Friday for dinner we went to Altony’s in Dilworth, MN. It’s not like a diner, and was rather small. The food was great and you get large portions. I ordered a half a plate of chicken alfredo and had enough for 3 servings. Ben got the lasagna and I took a bite of that too. Somebody I used to work with was raving about their marinara sauce there. I wish I had that recipe! It was very good good with the lasagna and dipped in some garlic cheese bread. One day, I’m going to come up with a really awesome marinara sauce recipe.

They had reasonable prices and they give you some soft serve ice cream at the end of your meal. I’d definitely go back there again. I like to go out and try new places in town to eat at every now in then, or whenever we get a new place in Fargo. Not a lot to chose from, that’s for sure. I’m almost kind of glad, that I don’t live in a very large city or else I’d want to go and try new places every weekend.

Now, back to the pork. I really liked the orange dressing that went with this. We cooked the pork just right too, and it was a little bit pink in the middle still. I don’t like it when it’s REALLY rare. I should have browned the pork on both sides, because I looked at the picture in the magazine that I found it in and that’s what it looked like they did. I admit that I didn’t read that part of the recipe and that’s probably why this picture didn’t turn out so good.OOPS! To go along with this we had some rosemary and garlic roasted potatoes and onion. They were best.

Ingredients

1 frozen bread dough loaf
1 cup of diced ham
1/2 cup Trader Joe’s roasted garlic marinara
8 oz part skim mozzarella
1 cup chunks canned pineapple
1 teas Parmesan cheese
1 teas Italian seasoning
1 teas garlic powder

Directions

1. Roll dough out.
2. Layer cheese, ham, and pineapple on dough. Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese, Italian Seasoning, and Garlic powder over bread. Use a teaspoon of Olive Oil if needed to, to help it stick. Bake in oven at 350 for 20 – 25 min

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This is one of my own creations. I love Ham and Pineapple together and so, I thought I’d roll it up into some store bought bread dough. It’s kind of almost like a Stromboli. Dip in Pizza sauce or a store bought jar of your favorite Marinara sauce. Obviously, mine is Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Marinara sauce. I love the seasoned homemade bread over at Subway, so I thought I’d add some seasonings to the bread dough  too. This smelled so good baking in the oven. It was very good, and I could have ate the whole pizza roll.

We still have quite a bit of leftover ham. I wanted to make some Spinach Lasagna Roll ups sometime this week and maybe I’ll throw in some diced Ham with it? There really isn’t a lot of good leftover Ham recipes, other than throwing some into a pot of soup or a quiche.

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Ingredients
1 city style (brined) ham, hock end*

1/4 cup brown mustard

2 cups dark brown sugar

1-ounce bourbon (poured into a spritz bottle)

2 cups crushed ginger snap cookies
Directions
Heat oven to 250 degrees F.
Remove ham from bag, rinse and drain thoroughly. Place ham, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Using a small paring knife or clean utility knife set to the smallest blade setting, score the ham from bottom to top, spiraling clockwise as you cut. (If you’re using a paring knife, be careful to only cut through the skin and first few layers of fat). Rotate the ham after each cut so that the scores are no more than 2-inches across. Once you’ve made it all the way around, move the knife to the other hand and repeat, spiraling counter clockwise. The aim is to create a diamond pattern all over the ham. (Don’t worry too much about precision here.)
Tent the ham with heavy duty foil, insert a thermometer, and cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the deepest part of the meat registers 130 degrees F.
Remove and use tongs to pull away the diamonds of skin and any sheets of fat that come off with them.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Dab dry with paper towels, then brush on a liberal coat of mustard, using either a basting brush or a clean paint brush (clean as in never-touched paint). Sprinkle on brown sugar, packing loosely as you go until the ham is coated. Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon, then loosely pack on as much of the crushed cookies as you can.
Insert the thermometer (don’t use the old hole) and return to the oven (uncovered). Cook until interior temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.
Let the roast rest for 1/2 hour before carving.
*Cook’s note: A city ham is basically any brined ham that’s packed in a plastic bag, held in a refrigerated case and marked “ready to cook”, “partially cooked” or “ready to serve”. Better city hams are also labeled “ham in natural juices”.

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I’m going to first start off by saying, that I tried making this pumpkin bread pudding by Martha Stewart this weekend. I had high hopes for this recipe because it looked so good. It was bad. There was something missing in this recipe, and it needed more liquid. I’m going to try and figure it out, because maybe it should have said 2 cups of milk instead of just 1? What a good waste of dulce de leche.

Another recipe we tried this weekend, was this City Ham recipe by Alton Brown. Ben was in charge of making this and he did a good job. I just made a box of au gratin potatoes to go a long with this. Normally, if we have ham we have cheesy hash brown potatoes. SO good! He thought he had let the ham get to high but it ended up being ok. Oh my god, the crust on this ham was fabulous! I really liked the ginger snaps and it gave it a nice crunch. My dog Jerry Lee wanted some of it too because he tried licking a piece of the ham off my plate. We’re trying not to give them human food because we don’t want them begging.

This was just a practice shot. I’ve been reading up on food photography at work a lot lately, because I want to improve my photos. Yep, that’s what keeps me busy when I’m bored. Some of the things I noticed is that people used a tripod. I have never done that before with any of my food pictures.  This time, I tried it with this picture. What a difference!

I was also looking at lighting.  It is hard to photograph food during the winter time! There is hardly any natural light during the winter. When I get home from work at 3:30 the sun is already going down. I set up my own light box in my basement. Here is a picture of what I did.

I don’t aim the artificial light directly at the food. Instead I try and bounce it off the white board. White board is super cheap. I got 2 sheets of it at Wal-mart for only .90 a piece. the light clamps were about 5.00 a piece and the bulbs were probably about that much too. I’m trying to shoot in manual mode more, since this Fall, because I took a photography class on how to use my DSLR camera. I shoot with a Nikon D60 camera and use a macro lens for my photos. Hopefully, from here on out my photos will keep improving.

Have you ever had Hamburger Helper before? We like to have it every now and then when we want something quick to eat. We noticed that they like to skimp out on the noodles now so we will add some more in. Not very gourmet, but whatever. Tomorrow, I plan on making a potato soup.