Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Chibi's Veggie Packed Lasagna

Veggie Packed Lasagna

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 pound maple sausage
1 large eggplant
1 box lasagna noodles
1 large can crushed tomatoes
3 cans diced tomatoes
1 medium onion
4 stalks of celery
4 tablespoons minced garlic
1 32 ounce container ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons pepper
1tsp of sea salt
1 lemon
2 eggs
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup raw spinach
1/4 cup sliced olives
1 1/2 bags shredded Italian blend cheese
1 package sun dried tomatoes.


Sauce
Start with slicing the onion and celery add to the beef and sausage, add garlic. Brown meat until done. Add in the can of crushed tomatoes and just ONE can of the diced tomatoes. Drain olives and add to the sauce Let simmer until sauce thickens about 20 minutes.

Ricotta Mixture
Crack open eggs, then slice lemon in half and add all the juice to the eggs. Whisk until foamy. Add in pepper, salt ricotta and 1/2 of one bag of shredded cheese. Whip until blended nicely set aside in the fridge.

Lasagna Instructions
Start by greasing a deep baking pan, then line the bottom with a single layer of noodles, make sure to place them over lapping. Add last cans of diced tomatoes over the layer of noodles, then cover with another layer of noodles shingled over that. Spread about 3/4 of the ricotta mixture over the top layer of noodles, cover that with the meat sauce. Then add in the carrots, and spinach. Peel and slice the eggplant thinly and layer over everything else. Spread remaining ricotta over the eggplant, add the sun dried tomatoes, then the remaining shredded cheese. Let bake in over at 350 for about 1 hr..

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Taco Lasanga

Barb’s Taco Lasagna
Ingredients-
2 lbs ground meat (beef/chicken/pork/turkey/lamb (Whatever you choose)
3 pks taco seasoning
1 Large Can Refried Beans
2 boxes Spanish Rice (cooked up separately)
1 bag shredded cheese
2 large jar salsa
1 Large container of ricotta cheese
2 16 count packages tortillas

--------
Brown meat until done, add in 2 packages of taco seasoning and let simmer. While meat is browning prepare the rice according to the box (Or if you want to cheat 2 cups instant rice cooked up and add ½ of a jar of salsa to it..). Heat up beans and mix until smooth and creamy. Blend 1 package of taco seasoning into ricotta cheese.

Spray a baking pan with pam (or grease it or butter it), layer 1 layer of tortillas over lapping only a bit until the bottom of the pan is covered. Smear a layer of beans over tortillas, add ground meat over that, then a layer of ricotta cheese, rice, then salsa and a thin layer of shredded cheese. Add another layer of tortillas and repeat with beans, meat, rice, ricotta and salsa until pan is filled. Top off with 1 last layer of tortillas then smother tortillas with cheese. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until heated through and cheese on top is all melted and slightly browning.

Serve garnished with a dollup of sour cream and chives for added flare.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Memory Lane

Normally I post just regular things I make or am about to make. Well today I kind of want to go down memory lane and sort of share with you some of the things I used to enjoy eating as a child/young adult. Because its funny how tastes change with age and diet.


The most funniest of all things I used to love is HOT DOGS.. omg I loved hot dogs in any way shape and form, normally straight up cold with about half a bottle of ketchup (at least back then it seemed like that much). I remember loving hot dogs so damn much, thats all I ever wanted... And then Jennie (my oldest sister) told me what they were and now, OMG I cannot eat them. GROSS! Its also funny that back then the ONLY fish I would eat was tuna or fish sticks, now I will try just about any fish (minus lobster and shrimp ew).

One of my favorite things to do was drink Dill Pickle Juice even when pickles were still in the jar, it was seriously my favorite thing. My mom would always yell at me over it though. LOL.. I would also do that to marachino cherries as well. Dill pickles were big to me. I loved them, ONLY dill though, I hate and still do sweet pickles or bread and butter varieties. I would take dill spears lay them on bread with cheese, french's yellow mustard and turkey.. OMG that was the best best best sandwich ever!

Like all little kids I used to think the fruit/vegetable area was a buffet (thank you Sizzlers) and I would always steal 1 or 2 of the baby corns and eat while grocery shopping, which always got me in trouble, but I did it anyways. My favorite candy bar was Hershey's and then Whatchamacallits later on (omg they are the best even now). Hamburger Helper old original lasagna was my favorite dish.. that and tacos.. But mom made porkchops and meatloaf, quiet a lot.

Something else I loved was blueberries, every time mom bought them I would end up getting in trouble just eating the entire baskets full of them. I mean I had my favorites of coarse, you know like... McDonalds, and Bob's Big Boy Spaghetti, Denny's Spaghetti.. Luv's Spaghetti, just about... if you made Spaghetti I loved it.. Now not so much.. Spaghetti noodles make me throw up now.. =0(.. but that's ok.