Red and White Lasagna

Lasagna is something I play around with. I switch up the cheeses, add veggies or not, change the sauce. But this is the most common method. I really like the creamy white sauce to mellow out the tangy tomato sauce. This recipe makes 2 square pans, so I freeze one (uncooked) for later.

Ingredients:
Prepared spaghetti sauce
Prepared white sauce
1 tub (16 oz) cottage cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1 package no-boil lasagna noodles (I like Barilla brand)

Instructions:
Prepare both sauces. Mix the cheeses (leave about half cup mozzarella cheese for the top) and seasonings in a bowl. (note: if your tomato sauce is extra runny, add an egg to your cheese mixture, it will hold everything together.)
Spray either 2 8x8 or 1 9x13 pan with oil. Spread 1 scoop of red sauce on bottom. Layer twice: noodles, cheeses, red sauce, white sauce. (alternate direction of noodles for each layer to add stability) on third layer: noodles, red sauce, white sauce, remaining mozzarella cheese, a sprinkle of parmesan and a sprinkle of more Italian seasonings.
Cover with sprayed foil and bake until noodles are tender (check it at 30 minutes). Do not over bake. Noodles will get mushy. Remove foil and bake additional 5-10 minutes.

Lemon Pasta with Chicken and Spinach

A quick, easy, light meal.  Pretty good.
Adapted from melskitchencafe.com

Ingredients:
Cooked chicken
12 oz pasta, cooked (I used angel hair)
4 cloves garlic
2 T butter
6 cups chopped spinach
1/4 cup chicken broth
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
Cook garlic in melted butter. Add spinach and chicken broth and cook until spinach wilts (about 3 minutes). Add pasta. Add in lemon zest and juice and cooked chicken. Serve immediately and top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

I like a rich creamy alfredo sauce...but don't like all the calories. This is delicious.

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce



Ingredients:
2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2-3 T flour
1/2 t salt
Dash nutmeg 1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Place milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it.

Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.

When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

Creamy Chicken, Bacon and Tomato Pasta

This was a little tangy and I especially liked the contrast of the bacon. It was yummy and something different.

Ingredients:
3 cups bow tie pasta (farfalle)
1 pound chicken, cut into bite size chunks
5 (or more...) slices bacon, reseve 1 T. grease
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes, undrained
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
pepper and salt to taste

Directions:
Cook pasta. Meanwhile, cook chiken. Add bacon, tomatoes, cream cheese, water, salt and pepper. Mix well. Cook until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended, a couple of minutes. Drain pasta, mix into sauce. Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Jambasta

This recipe origionated from Rachel Ray, but I have changed it quite a bit to suit my own tastes. This is yummy!

1 lb sausage (ground or cut up links is fine, italian or spicy)
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2-1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 can chicken broth
1 can diced or crushed tomatoes
thyme
milk
penne pasta (other types work fine)

start boiling pasta
Brown sausage and remove from pan, leaving the grease. Add butter (more or less depending on fat content of sausage) Cook vegetable with salt and pepper. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add chicken broth. Add thyme and tomatoes. Let sauce come to a boil, then lower heat and add a splash of milk. Stir in pasta and sausage.
Options: Top with Monteray Jack Cheese; Add hot sauce
Origional recipe has both chicken and shrimp. I like it with just sausage.

Baked Ziti

Recipe from Campbell's

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 large onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 jar spaghetti Sauce
1/2 pkg. tube-shaped pasta (ziti) (about 3 cups), cooked and drained
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Cook the beef and onion in an 4-quart saucepot over medium high heat until the beef is well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.
Stir the sauce, ziti and 1 cup mozzarella cheese in the saucepot. Spoon the beef mixture into 9x13 pan or a casserole dish. Top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
Bake at 350°F. for 30 minutes or until the beef mixture is hot and the cheese is melted..

Tip: To make ahead and freeze, prepare the ziti as directed above but do not bake. Cover the pan with foil and freeze. Bake the frozen ziti, uncovered, at 350°F. for 1 hour or until it's hot. Or, thaw the ziti in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then bake, uncovered, at 350°F. for 45 minutes or until it's hot.

Alfredo Lasagna Rollups

I found this on one of those recipe cards at walmart



8 lasagna noodles
1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 15 oz. pkg. ricotta cheese
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped fresh or 1 tsp. dried basil
1 1/3 c. Alfredo pasta sauce

Cook noodles. drain spinach. stir together spinach, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, egg, and basil. season to taste with pepper.
preheat to 375. spread cheese mixture on one side of each noodle. roll up from narrow end. place in greased baking dish. spread alfredo sauce on top.
bake, covered for 45 minutes. uncover and bake 5 minutes or until heated through.
garnish with fresh basil and tomato slices, if desired.

The changes I will make on this: substitute cottage cheese for ricotta and omit the egg, and use homemade alfredo sauce. It is cheaper and easy to make. And I think I will probably put some meat in it. We are anything but vegetarians here.

Alfredo Sauce:

use equal parts butter and flour (usually 3 T. more or less depending on how much sauce you need)
melt butter, whisk in flour, cook for about 1 minute. slowly add milk(and/or part cream) (about 2 cups??) until mixture thins out. once it boils, you will know how thick it's going to get, and can add more milk if needed.
add some parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup), salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a dash of nutmeg- all to taste.

note: Made this last night for company, everyone liked it. tasted just like a lasagna but was easier and less time consuming to make. Think I'll keep this one.