Lasagna

I think this second picture proves my theory that everyone loves lasagna!  After serving chili to Ezra a couple weeks ago I was smart enough to take his shirt off before tonight's dinner.

This recipe is a collaboration between my mom and a good family friend.  It is one of my absolute favorite recipes!  Comfort food at its best.  What makes this lasagna different than traditional recipes is that it has sour cream rather than ricotta.  It sounds weird, but please give it a try!  It gives it a creamy tang and doesn't taste weird at all, I promise!

Lasagna
From Joanna Knox and Nancy Craddock

1 pound hot sausage
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
water
salt
pepper
Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
lasagna noodles
sour cream (I always use low fat)
mozzarella cheese, grated

Brown the sausage and onion and drain off the grease.  Transfer to a large sauce pan.  Add garlic, tomato sauce and paste, sugar, basil and oregano.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add some water.  The amount you add depends on how thick/thin you like your sauce.  I fill up the tomato sauce can about 1/2 way and add that (about 1 cup).  Allow sauce to simmer while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Before putting all ingredients together add 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese to sauce and stir to combine.

While sauce simmers, cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain hot water, return to pot and cover with cold water so noodles won't stick while you layer the ingredients.

Spray pan with cooking spray.  Add a layer of noodles and cover with half the sauce.  Drop small dollops of sour cream over sauce.  Add mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.  Repeat all layers.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how browned you like the cheese to be.

Notes:
1. I prefer Bob Owens sausage.  It is spicier than Jimmy Dean.
2. This recipe makes enough sauce for 1 9x13" pan or 2 8x8" pans.
3. You can prepare the lasagna up to the point of baking and freeze it unbaked to be thawed and baked later.  However, when I have done this it turns out a little watery.  If I'm not baking it right away I prefer to freeze the sauce and assemble the lasagna before baking.  

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

My camera was hiding in the chair cushions before dinner so no picture today.  Maybe I'll get one when we have leftovers.


This is the third jambalaya recipe we have tried and definitely the easiest!  The first was from Southern Living and is good, but it requires lots of chopping.  The second recipe we tried was when Aaron got a craving and decided he would cook dinner.  He found a recipe online, went to the store to buy ingredients and started cooking.  Three hours later...jambalaya still wasn't ready!  The rice was supposed to cook in the liquid but it wasn't cooking and the tomatoes were burning on the bottom of the pot.  Although I appreciated his effort I gave up and made a sandwich.  He tried to eat it but couldn't.  This recipe is good, and very easy!

Slow Cooker Jambalaya
Adapted from Plain Chicken

1 pound chicken tenderloins, cut into 1-inch pieces
14 ounces smoked turkey sausage, cut into half-moon pieces
1 28-oz. can petite diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
cooked white rice

Combine all ingredients except rice in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.  Serve over hot cooked rice. 

Lemon Cookies

I found this recipe about 2 years ago and I've made these at least 4-5 times since then.  I don't love lemon, but I love these cookies!  They're very easy and nice when you want a dessert that's not too rich.

Lemon Cookies
From Gimme Some Oven

1 box lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
juice of half a lemon
zest of half a lemon
powdered sugar

Mix cake mix, eggs, oil, lemon juice and lemon zest in a bowl.  Do this by hand, not with a mixer.  Dough will be sticky.  Roll balls of dough in powdered sugar.  Bake at 375 on a cookie sheet that's either greased or lined with parchment paper until they just barely start to turn golden brown.

Nutella Cream Cheese Ball

I needed a super easy dessert to take to MOPS on Friday, and this was it!  It couldn't be easier, and I got lots of compliments on it.  If you like chocolate this is definitely a winner!  I served it with vanilla wafers, but you could serve it with pretzels, graham crackers, apple slices, etc.

Nutella Cream Cheese Ball
From Gimme Some Oven

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened (I used the 1/3 less fat kind)
1 13-oz. jar Nutella
chocolate chips

Mix cream cheese and Nutella in mixing bowl.  Wrap mixture in plastic wrap and freeze for 1-2 hours.  Shape mixture into a ball.  Press chocolate chips into the surface of the ball.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Simple Tomato Sauce

I've seen this recipe on several food blogs.  It is super simple, but everyone said that it didn't need all the herbs that are missing from most tomato sauces, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Unfortunately we didn't care for this.  It wasn't bad, but it was thin and lacking in flavor.  And with 5 tablespoons of butter it just wasn't worth the calories.  But for the sake of documentation I'll post it anyway!

Simple Tomato Sauce
From Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan via Annie's Eats

1 (28 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes, with juices
1 onion, peeled and halved
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt, to taste

Combine the tomatoes, onion, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce the heat to keep the sauce at a low, steady simmer for 45 minutes.  Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.  Remove from the heat, discard the onion, and add salt to taste.  Serve warm with pasta. 

Note: I used a potato masher to crush the tomatoes. 

Cheesy Stuffed Meatballs

I never really cared for meatballs when I was growing up.  I never really liked spaghetti either.  In fact, when my mom would make spaghetti for us sometimes I would just melt a piece of American cheese over the pasta and skip the sauce and meatballs altogether.  I changed my ways in college when I started cooking for myself.  Spaghetti with meat sauce became a regular staple because it was so easy.  A few years ago I decided to give meatballs another try too and I'm glad I did because these are so yummy!  They can be served on a sub sandwich or on spaghetti.

Cheesy Stuffed Meatballs
From Classic Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals (title in book is Super Sub Balls)

1 & 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (a shake or two)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 medium Spanish onion, minced
A handful chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup Italian bread crumbs (a couple of good handfuls)
4 shakes Worcestershire sauce
2/3 pound provolone cheese, cut into 16 small cubes
Olive oil, for baking sheet

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine meat, egg, red pepper flakes, garlic, onions, parsley, bread crumbs, and Worcestershire in a bowl.  Pull a palmful of meat mixture into your hand.  Nest a piece of provolone in the middle of the meat and form a ball.  Place on a nonstick cookie sheet brushed with a little olive oil.  Repeat until mixture is gone, about 16 balls later.  Place cookie sheet in oven and bake until cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes.

Notes:
1. I don't like the strong taste of raw onion, so I substitute onion powder.
2. I use mozzarella instead of provolone because I have it on hand.
3. I line a cookie sheet with foil and spray it with cooking spray instead of olive oil.  Easy cleanup!

Green Monster Smoothie

It's really green, huh?!  I've seen multiple recipes on food blogs for green monster smoothies, but most of them have too many ingredients or make too many servings.  I finally found this recipe that was very simple and made just 1 serving (although it could also be 2 smaller servings), so I decided to give it a try and see if it really tasted good like everyone claimed.  I was a little skeptical about drinking a glass of spinach, but now I can say that it really is pretty good!  And knowing that it's good for you makes it taste even better!  I think next time I may try some different fruit and I may even leave out the peanut butter.  If you know about my deep, deep love for peanut butter this may be shocking, but since the spinach is already just the slightest bit bitter I don't think it needs the added saltiness of the peanut butter.  If you're skeptical like I was, please give this a try and let me know what you think!

Green Monster Smoothie
From Iowa Girl Eats

1 banana, peeled, sliced and frozen
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cup milk
about 4 cups spinach

Add first 4 ingredients to blender.  Fill up the rest of the blender with spinach.  Liquefy!

Note: 
1. Peel and slice your banana before freezing, and wrap the banana in some wax paper or plastic wrap so that when it freezes it won't stick to the container.
2. You can also use juice (I prefer orange) instead of milk.