Lasagna

Lasagna is a favorite in my house, we usually eat it about once a month. Since summer is coming I probably won't make it as much, but I usually get a request from those who do not have to stand in the hot kitchen and make it, heehee... And it is a good follow up to the tomato sauce recipe, since I use it in this recipe.

1/2-3/4 of the basic tomato sauce recipe (depending on how saucy you like it and if you like extra sauce on the side, my clan does :-)
16 oz container of ricotta cheese (if you are a traditionalist), or cottage cheese (if you are like my mom)
1 box of no boil lasagna noodles (I prefer Barilla)
1 pound of ground meat (beef, turkey, or lamb)
1 pound of mozzarella
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon of dried basil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Olive oil a 9x13 pan. Brown the meat in a skillet. Once brown add the tomato sauce and bring to a bubble then let simmer. In a bowl mix together the ricotta (or cottage) cheese, the Parmesan cheese, the egg and the basil. In the olive oiled pan place a small amount of the sauce in the bottom. Lay three noodle sheets on top of the sauce. Ladle some of the meat sauce onto the noodles. Take small spoonfuls of the cheese mixture and scatter them around the sauce. Then a layer of the mozzarella cheese. Continue layering until you have about 4-5 layers, ending with mozzarella with some additional Parmesan cheese if you like. Cover with foil sprayed with olive oil spray (any oven non stick spray will do)(this is so the cheese doesn't stick to the foil while baking). Put it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Then take the foil off and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes. After you pull it out for best results let it sit for 10-15 minutes to set.

Basic Tomato Sauce Recipe

A quickie introduction for me, since Em (my 3 yo daughter) is calling me, lol. I am a mom, daughter, wife and all around busy body. I love to cook, mostly traditionally American dishes. Right now I am learning to cook Indian food and loving it. This is a basic tomato sauce I use for many different things. It freezes great, and doubles fine. Usually I get the enormous cans of crushed tomatoes at Costco and make a large amount at one time and freeze several containers. I have also given it away to friends as it makes a quick meal for a new mom, new house, and newlywed couples :-)

3- 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons of fresh basil chopped
1/4 cup of minced garlic
2-3 red onions chopped
1/4 cup of good olive oil
salt, pepper and sugar to taste

saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil. add basil right at the end of the saute. add all of the tomatoes. add about a tablespoon of salt, some cracked black pepper, and a teaspoon of sugar (it will keep it from getting bitter). Stir to combine. Bring it to a bubble, and then reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 hours.

I use it for spaghetti and lasagna (which, insha'Allah, I will be posting a recipe for soon :-)

Beans & Anjeera

We love beans in our house. Not only is the cooking time very appealing for this dish, it became extremely convenient after having my teeth filed this week. Anything that required using my front upper and lower teeth to eat became incredibly painful. So I resorted to anjeera and fuul (beans). I found a can of Heinz Deep-Browned Beans in Tomato Sauce in my cabinet. I had picked it up at the grocery store a few weeks back and only got one can to 'test' it out. I'll add a picture incase someone wants to know how the can looks. I decided we'd have it with it anjeera considering we hadn't had it in a few months. I quickly made the batter and made the anjeera. Then I put the beans on the stove, added a few veggies and some seasonings, and I had the meal ready in about 30 minutes.


My anjeera recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

1. 1 can 14 oz Heinz Deep-Browned Beans in Tomato Sauce
2. 1/2 an onion, diced
3. 1/2 green pepper, diced
4. 3 garlic cloves, minced
5. 1/2 chicken stock cube
6. 1 cup of water

Steps:

1. Pour the entire can of beans on a skillet.



2. Add 1/2 onion and 1/2 green pepper, diced.
3. Let it simmer for 5 minutes, then add 1/2 cup of water
4. Add 1/2 chicken stock cube, mix well. Let simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes
5. Add the minced garlic. Mix and let sit on medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes.
6. Serve hot with anjeera



Enjoy!

Impromptu

I was doing laundry and packing up to leave town while wondering what in the world we were going to have for dinner that day. I looked in the freezer and saw that we had ground beef. So my initial thought was to make spaghetti sauce (tomato) and pasta. I waited for the meat to defrost and prepared my ingredients. It was only after the ground beef was ready that I noticed we were out of tomato sauce. Bummer! (Don't you hate when this happens?) I thought long and hard about what to do with the ground beef...



and this is what I ended up with!




I like to call it ground beef sauce w/ Pasta (minus the tomato part :)



Needed:

- 1/3 lb of ground beef
- half an onion, diced
- 2 tomatoes cut up into bite sized pieces
- 1 chicken stock cube
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 cups of water
- chopped parsley


1. Boil your ground beef until ready. (or fry if you're short on time)
2. Sautee your onions in the meat until golden brown.
3. Add your diced tomatoes. Let it sit and blend for a 10 minutes. Add water if necessary.
4. Add your minced garlic gloves.
5. Mix in the chicken stock cube.
6. Last step add your parsley.

You can eat this really with whatever you want. We wanted pasta so we used it as a sauce.

Enjoy :)

No Name Chicken

I literally marinated these drumsticks with every spice I had in my cabinet. Not a bad turnout huh? I'm not complaining :D

Curry
Tandoori Mix
Xawaaji (Cumin)
Pepper
Salt
Yogurt


Steps:

1. In a large bowl, mix 1/2 a cup of plain yogurt. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Then add 1 tsp. each of every spice. Mix well.
3. Dump in your drumsticks and make sure the spices are well incorporated.
4. Refrigerate for t least 3-4 hours. (optional... if you're in a rush, I suppose you can skip this part)
5. Pop it in the oven for approx. 1 hour. Potatoes are optional.

Enjoy :)