Pesto Lasagna

Working with what you have.

Often times, rather than have a set menu for the week, I buy the usual suspects at the grocery store and each night, I open the refrigerator door and take a peek in to see what I can rustle up for dinner.

On Sunday after our party, I had leftover pesto, ricotta, parmesan, mozzerella, and sauce. I also knew that I had several types of lasagna noodles in the pasta drawer that moved in with the dawn of DG. So what does this spell? Lasagna! Which is something I haven't made in about 10 years. It was the last meal I ate before I got the flu it's taken me 10 years to get over it. But I digress.

I did not do anything real fancy, and actually just followed the instructions on the side box of no cook noodles. Oh crap, does this fall under Sandra Lee's semi-homeade?

15oz ricotta
2 eggs
1/2C pesto (3C basil, 3cl garlic, 1/4C pine nuts, 1/2C olive oil, 3/4C grated parmesan, 1/2tsp salt) oooh, a recipe within a recipe
1/4C Parmesan
3C Mozzarella
1 jar sauce
1 box no cook noodles

Mix the ricotta, eggs, 1 1/2C mozzarella, and pesto. I only had 7oz of ricotta which I had premixed with garlic, basil and oregano for the pizza I made. Since I didn't have the full 15oz, I substituted some non-fat cottage cheese which worked just fine.

Spray a 13 x 9 baking pan and pour 1C sauce in the bottom. Add the first layer of 4 noodles. Then add 1/3 of the ricotta mixture and another cup of sauce. Repeat 4 times until the last layer is noodles. Top with the remaining parmesan and mozarella. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 375.

I cut this up into 12 servings and froze half of it for later this winter when the fridge is completely empty except for limp celery and condiments.

The Week I Didn't Have to Cook

At the beginning of our courtship, DG planned a date where he made dinner for me. I drove 40 minutes North to the condo where he was living, in Lafayette, CO for a gourmet meal of under-cooked grilled salmon, boiled potatoes and green beans (or asparagus, I can't remember, but I don't want to be accused of not being accurate). Let's just say he did not woo me with his culinary talents. And that night, it was Mr. Gibson the lover dog that did all the wooing. Since then, except for his amazing chili and the occasional Valentine's Day, I have done all the cooking. This is quite ok with both of us.

But pregnancy changes everything. Because nothing ever sounds good to eat, and food just isn't the same, I have lost the desire to cook. During the first trimester, there were several nights that I served up frozen taquitos as a meal. This coming from the woman who cooks 5 nights a week and insists on a protein, carb, and veggie at every meal.

Sunday night, after having eaten out an excessive 6 times that week-end, DG took the reins and suprised me by offering to cook every night for a week. I think he was hoping that I would turn him down and let sense take a hold with a quick reminder of his cooking skills. But honestly I was ON BOARD and left wondering if he could take over the next two weeks. He layed out a 5 day meal plan and even though nothing sounded good, I didn't care because it meant I DON'T HAVE TO COOK! Wheeeeeeeee.

We are now on Day 4 of DGs cooking extravaganza and I'm definitely not starving and the baby is getting healthy proportions of food. I still don't want to cook, and I am perfectly happy cleaning the kitchen after dinner. But I think DG is running out of ideas and learning the planning that has to go into a week's worth of meals. It's a nice lesson for both of us.

Last week's menus

Now that I'm back in the saddle cooking up nightly dinners in the kitchen, I've been throwing together some zany combinations.

Tuesday
Guiltless Chicken Fingers
Morroccan Cous Cous (recipe below)

Wednesday
Tofu, red pepper, green bean stir fry with rice noodles

Thursday
Salmon Burgers
Roast Brussel Sprouts
Lemon Garlic Cous Cous Salad


I made up the Cous Cous recipes this week based on whatever was about to expire in the fridge. I cooked the Cous Cous on Tuesday and used half for dinner then and half for dinner Thursday in 2 wildly different recipes.

Morroccan Cous Cous salad
2 stalks chopped celery
1/3C raisins
1 chopped apple
1 carrot shredded
1/2tsp. cinnamon
zest 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

Use about 1-1/2-2C of cooked cous cous. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and serve. You could also add some toasted almonds to this recipe.

Lemon Garlic Cous Cous Salad
8 cherry tomatoes quartered
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1tsp basil
zest of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Again, use about 1-1/2-2C cous cous, add the tomatoes, zest, lemon, salt and pepper. Cook the garlic in EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) with the basil until slightly browned. Stir in and serve.

Salmon Burgers
1lb uncooked salmon (skin removed)
1TBL dijon
2 TBL soy sauce
1 garlic clove
1" piece ginger peeled
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2C breadcrumbs

Add everything except the salmon to a food processor. Create a sauce. Remove the skin from the salmon, chop into 2" cubes and add to the proecessor. Pulse until mixed together, stir in bread crumbs. I make about 4 patties to fry on the stove top in a little EVOO.

It's so fast that you too can whip it up.

Meatball Sandwich

Earlier this week, I made a tomato sauce recipe that Eileen, my old boss, gave to me. She recently had a pizza party where she made all the dough, and both meat and vegetarian sauces. Once we arrived at her house, we started assembling pizzas. We had so much fun and I ate pizza until 10pm.

Since I made the sauce on Monday, I've been dreaming about what I could do with the leftovers. Then it came to me, da duh duh turkey meatball sandwiches. YUM!

First, I started with the Eating for Life Recipe for meatballs.

1 1/2lb white meat ground turkey
2 egg whites
1/2C breadcrumbs
1/4C water
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4C fresh parsley, minced
2tsp dried basil
1tsp black pepper
salt

Mix all of the ingredients, form into balls that you like the size of and place on a baking sheet. Broil for 10-12 minutes, taking time at least once to rotate the balls.

After cooling the balls, I put 8 into a pan with the sauce to keep them warm. On hand you will also need mozzarella cheese and a roll. I broiled the roll a bit to brown it, then added the warm sauce and meatballs, sprinkled it with mozzarella and sent it back to the broiler to melt the cheese. The result was a tasty dinner and now I'm going to have to recreate it again for lunch.

Meal in a Pouch

I caught an Alton Brown show on the food network recently about pouch meals which was fascinating and peaked my interest with how easy it was to do. I decided to recreate his fish and cous cous pouch this week with ingredients that I had on hand. I also was out of parchment paper so I used aluminum foil.

Steamed Tilapia with Cous Cous(just quadruple the recipe for 4)
1 tilapia filet
1/4C Cous Cous
1/3C Chicken or Vege stock (or white wine)
1 clove garlic minced
1/4C sliced red onion
6 cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half
1/4tsp thyme
lemon juice
dab of butter
salt and pepper (lemon pepper maybe?)

Heat oven to 425 degrees. I had 3 tilapia fillets so I tripled the ingredients and made 3 pouches. First cut a piece of tinfoil about 1 1/2' long. Rinse the cous cous and lay in the middle of the tin foil. Flatten a bit and lightly salt. Lay the tilapia fillet over the top of the cous cous. Lay the tomatoes around the egdes. Cover the fish with the chopped onion and garlic. Sprinkle with salt, pepper (lemon), thyme, a few squirts of lemon juice, and a dab of butter. Seal the aluminum foil so that there are no air holes. I folded it lengthwise and then up the sides. Bake for 20 minutes. Be careful when you open it up because you are going to want to nuzzle your nose in and take in the amazing aroma. However, the steam is super hot.

Oh wait, you wanted a touch of dessert too? Ok, here's a dessert pouch, again based on Alton's Brown recipe. He uses gingersnaps in his.

Fruit Pouch (use peaches, pears, plums, apples, whatever you have on hand)
1 apple (peeled and chopped)
1 pear (peeled and chopped)
2 TBL orange liqueur
1 TBL honey
1 TBL sugar (optional)
1/4tsp cinnamon (we love saigon cinnamon from Savory)
squirt of lemon juice
dollop of butter (I used less than 1/2 a TBL)

Place all the ingredients in a pouch. Hermetically seal your pouch and throw it in the oven while your dinner is cooking. Bake for about 20 minutes. This serves 2. Eat with 1/4C of real vanilla ice cream. Yum and it's only about 250 calories WITH the ice cream.

Last Week's Menus

I noticed in my lastest email installment of Martha Stewart Food, they had a lovely little side panel with a list of fresh healthy meals to make for a week. I'm all about the 5 minute meal (aka Rachel Ray) and I'm reading "The French Don't Diet Plan". Lesson number 1 is DON'T eat fake foods! The grocery store is full of packaged dinners and boxed mixes of human made chemicals created to simulate real food. It started in the 60s with the American LifeStyle of needing it hot, fast and now. We were fooled into thinking that Cool Whip was a fast and easy treat. But it is just chemicals we are putting in our bodies. Take High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) for instance. This was processed in the 60's to simulate sugar. But your body doesn't recognize it as a sugar, and your body has to process it through the liver with the rest of the toxins. HFCS is hard to get away from as it is in everything because it is cheaper for manufacturers to use than sugar. It's in most cereals, snacks, and even ketchup!

Normally we eat pretty close to the food chain, but even this one gets into our diet. I am going to try and be better about not buying anything with HFCS in it anymore.

Here's a sampling of our own quick and easy menus of what we ate last week for dinner:

Tuesday
Skillet chicken
Stuffed Acorn Squash (from The Moosewood)

Wednesday
Baked Salmon with lemon and dill
Roasted Asparagus
1/2 Baked Sweet Potato

Thursday
Homemade Turkey Meatballs (from the Body for Life cookbook)
Tomato Sauce (organic fat free)
Angel Hair Pasta (1 portion only!)

Sunday Special Birthday Dinner
Seared Ahi with Cilantro Dipping Sauce
Cucumber Salad
Udon Noodles with peanut sauce (Sauce recipe from The Enchanted Broccoli Forrest)
Individual Chocolate Truffle Cakes

Too sad to write...

Joy left this morning *sniff* after our fun 48 hour extravangza. We hung out and coffee clutched Saturday afternoon while perusing houses for sale in Burbank before heading downtown to drink red wine and listen to a great jazz band. Cabbing home, these two desperate housewives stayed up giggling until 2:30am. Thank god Joy had the sense to say no when I wanted to open another bottle of wine before going to bed. After the dogs let us sleep in until 9am, I made an honorary breakfast of a crab cheese egg scramble. I was trying to recreate the lobster casserole that we ate every morning at The Island Inn on Monhegan when we were there for Joy's wedding. It was a really good substitute.



Crab Cheese Egg Scramble

5 eggs
1 can REAL crab meat
shredded cheddar cheese
3 green onions, chopped
some 1/2 and 1/2 (use at your discretion - a couple of tablespoon fulls is good)
salt and pepper
1TBL butter for frying

Scramble all of the above and cook. It is suprisingly tasty.

More on our adventures tomorrow, maybe when Joy sends me some pictures. I have to go to bed early tonight to recover from our trip!

Super Bowl 41

At the super bowl party we went to, I was asked who I was rooting for. I said I was rooting for the chips and dip. Gooooooooooooo chips and dip. Who was playing in the game anyway? I don't go to those parties for the football, I go for the FOOD and the company. I brought standard and easy to throw together 7 layer minus a layer dip. Here is the recipe:

Super Bowl 7 Layer Dip
1 can refried beans
8 oz sour cream
salsa
sharp cheddar cheese
1 diced tomato
1 small can sliced black olives
green onions
Sliced jalepenos

I don't know what the proportions are, I just use a glass square pan and add the ingredients from top to bottom. I smooth the beans down with a spatula, then smooth the sour cream, pour on half the jar of salsa, completely cover with cheese and then sprinkle the rest on. Now if you want to get real fancy, add the guacamole after the sour cream. I'm just too lazy to rustle up some guacamole as I'm usually throwing this together in a frenzy before running out the door so I don't miss the tip off, I mean the first pitch, aw hell, I know it's the kick off.

Cranberry Walnut Salad

It is cranberry walnut week here at Team Gibson household. First there was the Wild Rice Recipe, then the granola, there were evern some bran flaxseed muffins and NOW duh Duh DUH!!! Salad. I threw this together for book club the other night.

1 bag pre-washed spinach
1/8 red onion, thinly sliced
1/3-1/2C dried cranberries
1/3C chopped walnuts
4oz goat cheese crumbled over the top
Newman's Own Light raspberry walnut dressing (to taste)

Go ahead, throw it together. As a matter of fact, you may want to buy like 2lbs. of the dried cranberries as there are so many uses for them!

Wild Rice with Cranberry and Walnuts

Years ago, I went to Cleveland for the week-end to get off campus. (Alright, alright, more than a decade ago.) At the time, I did not eat red meat, pork, or chicken. Having been a vegetarian for only a couple of years, my idea of dinner was a main course of french fries and cereal for dessert.

We stayed with a friend's family and in order to accomodate her guests, the mom went out to a specialty food store and brought back a bunch of gourmet vegetarian options, the likes of which I had never tasted. Wow, vegetarian food was good! It was so amazing to feel included at dinner time. My favorite dish that she brought back however, was a wild rice with cranberry and walnuts. I ate this cold every day until it was gone. For years I tried to recreate it with real cranberries. Recently, I learned that the real trick is to use dried cranberries.

I was at Wild Oats last week and saw a wild rice blend in the bulk section. While in that aisle, I also bagged up some walnuts and dried cranberries which I also use in my granola recipe.

Wild Rice with Cranberry and Walnuts
1C Wild Rice blend
2C water
salt (1/8 tsp. maybe?)
1TBL butter or olive oil (optional)
1/3C Cranberries
1/3C Chopped Walnuts

Put the first four items in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil. When it boils, turn the heat down to simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes. Throw in the last two ingredients, mix and serve. The hot rice will make the cranberries soften up perfectly. Now I usually just throw a handful of each in, so I am not exactly sure of the amount, because that is how I cook, a little of this, a little of that. But just eyeball it. If it looks like you are eating a few grains of rice with your cranberries, than add less cranberries, Duh!

Snow Storm Equals Baking and Knitting

Apparently I've gone straight from cute housewife to ready to be an little old lady. So far this morning, I made 3 loaves or oatmeal bread, pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes, and started 3 knitting projects. I’m on a roll with the bread. My plan is not to buy a loaf of bread the rest of the winter. We’ll see how it goes.

I found this awesome new yarn store called Posh in Northwest Denver. Holly and I went yesterday and picked out a couple of projects. They are small but carry some very fun and hip looking yarns. Currently I am working on baby hats for a friend of mine who is having twins. I'll post pictures soon.