Easy Does It Lasagna

This past weekend was cold and rainy here in Southern California so what better way to beat the rainy day blues than by cooking up, and then eating, a big plate of lasagna? I've made lasagna a few times in the past but I have to admit, it sure has been a long time. I think it's because I tend to think of lasagna as a labor-intensive dish with lots of little ingredients that I just don't have time for. Well, this recipe I used was actually quite the opposite as it required only a few ingredients, and best of all was healthy and delicious. I got it right off the box of Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat Pasta by the Ronzoni company. What I loved about the recipe was that it was quick, and even though these were not "no-boil" lasagna noodles, boiling the noodles was not required. Isn't that cool? Simply throw all the ingredients together and stick it in the oven. About 50minutes later, you will be indulging in a hot, cheesy, comforting plate of good stuff that is actually good for you too.

Healthy Harvest Easy Lasagna

ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

3 cups (26oz jar) spaghetti sauce

1 and 1/2 cups water

1 and 3/4 cups (15oz container) ricotta or small curd cottage cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8oz)--I used part-skimmed

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

9 pieces uncooked lasagna noodles

directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F; in a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the meat and then drain the fat. Add the spaghetti sauce and water. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

2. While meat sauce is simmering, stir together the ricotta cheese, one-half mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl.

3. Pour about 1 cup sauce on bottom of 13x9 inch baking dish. Arrange 3 UNCOOKED pasta noodles lengthwise over the sauce; cover with 1 cup sauce. Spread one-half cheese mixture over sauce.

4. Repeat layers of lasagna, sauce, and cheese filling. Top with layer of lasagna and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese.

5. Cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes, then remove foil and bake additional 10 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Allow to stand for 10minutes before cutting.

Makes 12 generous servings.

Do You Fideo?

I had never heard of the word Fideo until I saw an episode of Top Chef several months back where one of the contestants prepared a dish using this pasta. Here’s the definition from Wikipedia: Fideo is the Spanish word for a noodle of any type. In Mexico, its name refers to a type of pasta similar to angel hair spaghetti. It is also known as vermicelli. In Spain it refers to very short noodles used in place of rice in some dishes.

Since I love trying out new ingredients I eagerly looked for fideo in my grocery store and came home with a couple of bags. I used a recipe I found on Allrecipes that had minimal ingredients, was simple to do, and more importantly, was pretty darn quick to make. All in all, I enjoy fideo. I found the pasta to be hearty, versatile, and easily adaptable. It's certainly a nice alternative to your more traditional pasta and I can see many uses for it in dishes like casseroles or soups. Let me know what you think.

Pretty Pasta

This colorful concoction was created by my boyfriend the other night. It’s always a sweet treat when he cooks for me because for one thing, he doesn’t do it as often as he’d like, and for another, it’s my turn to get to sit back, relax, and watch him be creative in the kitchen (not to mention that he looks awfully cute in his apron with the kangaroo print)! He puts a lot of effort into the process of preparing his dishes and since he’s such a stickler for freshness, does most of his ingredient shopping just a few hours before the actual cooking. On this particular night he made a tri-color pasta dish with ground beef and loads of fresh vegetables, topped with tomato sauce and chunks of Fuji apples.
Isn’t it lovely?

Is It Pasta Or Is It Rice?

Orzo is an elusive pasta. First off, I literally had to search in several supermarkets before finding it in my local Pavillion's. I couldn't believe that even my ever-so-faithful Trader Joe's did not carry this item. What a disappointment that was. I soon got over it though and trekked on over to the grocer that would be my saving grace. I was so elated when I found the little box that I ended up buying two of them. I originally wanted to make a pasta salad using gnocchi. This was soon ixnay'd however because I learned that cold gnocchi doesn't do a pasta dish any good. It gets too "gummy" I was advised. So, several foodies recommended that I try an orzo salad or why not a tortellini salad? I chose the orzo. When orzo is uncooked it can very well pass for rice. Once it's cooked, it can very well pass for rice! It's not rice though. It's a pasta. In Italian it literally means "barley" and to make it even more confusing, it's known as the rice shaped pasta. In any case, my orzo pasta salad turned out beautifully. It had a lot of flavor to it and tasted even better the next day. I found the recipe on Epicurious. Easy to prepare ahead of time and perfect accompaniment to our leftover Easter ham.