Mexican Lasagna

Mexican Lasagna

 

Adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Café

 

Prep Time: 15 min / Cook time: 55 min

 

Ingredients

1 ½ lb. ground turkey

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

6-oz can tomato paste

1 Tbsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

Dash cayenne pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

24-oz can tomato sauce

14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, drained

15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 ½ cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

Salt & pepper, to taste

9-12 lasagna noodles (either no-boil, or cook and drain regular noodles)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup sour cream

8-oz cream cheese

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease a 9X13-inch pan.

 

2. Brown ground turkey and onion over medium heat in a large skillet until cooked through.  Drain grease. Add garlic, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, oregano, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, and corn. Mix well, season with salt and pepper, and heat for about 5 minutes.

 

3. Cover bottom of prepare pan with a thin layer of the sauce mixture.  Layer 3-4 noodles over the sauce, spread 1/3^rd of the sauce mixture over the noodles, and then spread 1/3^rd of the sour cream and cream cheese across the sauce. Top with 1/3^rd of the cheeses. Repeat two more times until all ingredients are used.

 

4. Cover with tin foil, and bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes more, until lasagna is bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into and serving.

 

Make Ahead Directions

Assemble lasagna up to 12 hours in advance. Let the meat/sauce mixture come to room temperature before assembling. Cover with tin foil and refrigerate. Bake as directed, adding an additional 5-10 minutes.

Skillet Butternut Squash, Sausage, and Penne Pasta

Skillet Butternut Squash, Sausage, and Penne Pasta

 

Adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Prep time: 20 min / Cook time: 22 min 

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound chicken sausage, casing removed
Salt & pepper, to taste
4 cups chicken broth
8 oz. ounces penne pasta
3 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
4 cups baby spinach
¼ tsp safe
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Grated Parmesan, for topping
 
Directions
1. In a large nonstick skillet, combine onion, garlic, and sausage; season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until the sausage is cooked through, 5-7 minutes. Plate and set aside.
 
2. In the same skillet, bring chicken broth and pasta and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in squash, simmer 5-7 minutes until squash and pasta are both tender. Squash will break down, and add a creaminess to the sauce. Add more liquid if mixture seems dry.

3. Stir in spinach and sage; cook for 1-2 minutes until spinach wilts. Add sausage and onion back to the skillet; add mozzarella and stir until melted.


 
4. Remove from heat, cover and let pasta sit for 5-10 minutes. Top with Parmesan cheese, and serve.

Vegetable Stew

The Polar Vortex wages on, and soup continues to appear on the menu.  To make soups a more filling dinnertime option, especially soups without meat or pasta, consider serving it in a bread bowl like we do with our Cheesy Tomato Soup.  With that being said, this soup is packed with both vegetables and protein, thickened up with a little evaporated milk and pasta, so no need for bread bowls this time around.  If you're cooking with lean meat, it's unlikely you'll have a lot of excess fat to drain from the pot, but it's good to scoop out whatever excess fat you can.  I had celery, baby carrots, and onion on hand, so that's what I chose to throw into the pot.  I called this a vegetable "stew" instead of "soup" because I thought it seemed particularly hearty.  In all honesty, I don't actually know the difference between "soup" and "stew," do you??

Vegetable Stew
Time: 45 minutes
Servers: 4-6

Ingredients

1 lb. ground turkey
2 tsp olive oil

3 cups diced vegetables (carrots, onion, red pepper, celery)
2 cloves garlic, minced
28-oz. can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
½ Tbsp dried basil
½ Tbsp dried oregano

½ Tbsp dried thyme

½ Tbsp dried sage

½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup small pasta, such as stelline, orzo or elbow macaroni
½ cup evaporated milk

Directions 

1. In a Dutch oven or large stockpot, brown turkey, stirring frequently until no longer pink.  Season with salt and pepper.  Drain excess fat and set aside turkey.

2. Using the same Dutch oven, combine olive oil and diced vegetables.  Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until soft.  Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 3o seconds.

3. Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, and spices to the pot.  Bring mixture to a simmer.  Add pasta, and continue heating on medium until pasta is cooked through, about 10-15 minutes.  Finally, add evaporated milk, and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add turkey back to the Dutch oven, and heat until warmed through.  If necessary, season with additional salt and pepper.

Crockpot Lasagna Soup

Crockpot Lasagna Soup

Adapted from Fresh Family Meals

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
3 cups chicken broth
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 small onion chopped onion
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
6 oz can of tomato paste
8 oz can tomato sauce
Italian seasoning, to taste
2 cups uncooked shell pasta
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1 cup pater
Shredded Mozzarella cheese, for topping

Directions
1. Add all ingredients to the corckpot. Note, you do not need to pre-cook the turkey.

2. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours , or on high for 4-5 hours.

Pepperoni Pasta Bake

This dish reminds me a lot of Pizza Spaghetti, so no surprise that it was a big hit with KK! I added a red and green pepper to the dish to sneak some veggies into our meal (and also to use them before they went bad), and it was certainly a positive addition.  I had leftover pasta mixture after filling my 2.5-qt. corningware dish, so I filled a smaller 15-oz. baking dish with the remaining pasta.  I cooked both at the same time, and it did not affect the cook time.  We paired this pasta bake with a 2010 Casa Emma Chianti Classico which is one of the vineyards we visited in Tuscany last fall.  We were thrilled to find a wine shop near Kevin’s parent’s house where Casa Emma wine is sold! As usual, KK and I both topped our servings with a generous amount of crushed red pepper flakes!

Pepperoni Pasta Bake

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

Time: 55 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 lb. gemelli
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
½ tsp dried oregano
4 cloves garlic, minced
24-oz. jar marinara sauce
15-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
½ cup Parmesan cheese
30 slides of pepperoni, sliced in half

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and cook pasta al dente according to package instructions.


2. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Sauté onions for 2-3 minutes. Add diced peppers and cook an additional 5 minutes; onion should be translucent, and peppers should be soft.  Add garlic and oregano to the skillet and cook for 1 additional minute.  Once garlic is fragrant, remove skillet from heat.


3. Stir onion mixture marinara sauce, diced tomatoes, 1 ½ cups mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, and pepperoni into the pasta.  Mix well.


4. Transfer pasta mixture into a greased baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 40 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.  Serve immediately.

Cheesy Baked Bowties

For some reason, I have a hard time getting bowtie pasta cooked perfectly.  It’s either a little crunchy in the center, or too mushy on the outside.  This time, I erred on the side of caution, and left the center a bit crunchy, knowing it would likely soften up as the pasta baked (correct).  But does anyone know how I can perfect the art of cooking bowtie pasta? The original recipe seemed a bit bland (I’m noticing this as a common theme in the few Martha recipes I’ve tried recently), so I added some additional basil and red pepper flakes to enhance the taste.  Use a gentle touch when breaking up the whole tomatoes.  As I learned from experience, if you’re too forceful, you’ll end up with tomato seed and juices squirting out at  you or all over your stovetop.   As I read down the ingredient list, I knew I wouldn’t want to make/eat a salad with this dish.  Sure enough, the gooey, cheesy pasta blend was too appealing, and I wanted seconds of it instead of having a salad.   Thankfully, I added some spinach to the pasta bake, so I was able to sneak some additional nutritional value into it.  Win! To add more nutritional value to this dish, next time I’ll consider adding diced onions and/or a chopped red pepper.  Any other suggestions?

Cheesy Baked Bowties

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil, divided

2 chicken sausages, ~6 ounces

8 oz. bowtie pasta

1 clove garlic, minced

28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, in puree

¼ tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp dried basil
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
⅛ tsp sugar
3 oz. baby spinach
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  When water boils, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drain cooked pasta and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp olive oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook sausage on all four sides, about 3-4 minutes per side.  Remove from heat and slice into ¼-inch thick rounds.  If sausage is not cooked through, return to skillet and cook, flipping until sausage is no longer pink.  Set aside with cooked pasta.

3.  Using the same saucepan, heat remaining 1 tsp olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.  Add tomatoes, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and sugar.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes, until thickened.  Add spinach, and continue cooking 3-4 minutes, allowing spinach to wilt.  Season with salt and pepper.

4. Stir pasta, sausage, and half the mozzarella into the sauce mixture.  Transfer to a 2.5-quart baking dish; top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.  Bake until top is lightly browned, 10-15 minutes.  Let sit for 5 minutes prior to serving, allowing additional liquid to be absorbed by the pasta.

Honey Balsamic Chicken

As much as I enjoy cooking, sometimes it’s nice to have a quick recipe filed away in my back pocket for days I’m feeling lazy.  Not only is this one of those quick and easy recipes, but we usually have all of the ingredients in our pantry, making it a go-to dinner for nights when we haven’t been to the grocery store in awhile.  Tortilla Egg Scramble (http://3ddinners.blogspot.com/2013/05/tortilla-egg-scramble.html) and Tofu Pad Thai (http://3ddinners.blogspot.com/2013/01/tofu-pad-thai_23.html) also fall into both categories.  I should really add those as categories on the blog’s sidebar (adding that to my To Do list right now!).  So… back to dinner! The savory-sweet juxtaposition between the garlic and honey was especially nice.  Overall, it was very similar to the Honey Garlic Chicken (http://3ddinners.blogspot.com/2013/07/honey-garlic-chicken.html) dish I made over the summer, but this meal was more sweet and less spicy.  If you’re going to serve this meal with rice or another starch, I recommend starting with that first.  I started my Chicken Rice-A-Roni (http://www.ricearoni.com/Products/rice-a-roni/classic_favorites/Chicken) just before cooking the chicken, but the chicken cooked and sauce thickened well before the rice was finished cooking – that’s just how fast this one really is! Since the chicken and sauce are cooked in the same skillet, even cleanup is a cinch!

Honey Balsamic Chicken

Adapted from Baked Bree

Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1-in pieces

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ cup chicken broth

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ tsp honey

Rice, optional for serving

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, then add olive oil.  Season chicken with salt and pepper, then cook in prepared skillet until no longer pink inside, 5-10 minutes.  Remove cooked chicken from heat, plate, and cover with tin foil.

2. Add chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, and honey to the same skillet.  Cook for 5 minutes over medium-high heat; sauce will begin to thicken.

3. Return chicken to pan, coating evenly with sauce.  If desired, serve with rice or orzo.