Roasted Eggplant-Mushroom Lasagna

I don’t have enough words to describe how awesome this is.

Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients:

• 2 sprays cooking spray
• 1 pound uncooked eggplant, unpeeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms, such as oyster, chantarelle and cremini, halved
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 24 oz store bought marinara sauce
• 9 pieces no cook lasagna noodles
• 3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 3 Tbsp basil, fresh, chopped
• 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

• set racks in upper and lower thirds of oven
• preheat oven to 400 F
• spray 9×13 inch baking dish and large baking sheet with olive oil nonstick spray
• spread eggplant on baking sheer and mushrooms in prepared baking dish
• lightly spray vegetables with nonstick spray and sprinkle with salt; toss to coat evenly
• roast, stirring occasionally, until eggplant and mushrooms are tender and lightly browned, about 25 minutes
• transfer vegetables to sheet of foil
• reduce oven temperature to 375 F
• spread 1/2 cup of marinara sauce in same baking dish
• arrange 3 noodles over sauce
• top with 1/3 of eggplant mixture, 1 cup of marinara sauce, 1/4 cup of mozzarella, 1 tablespoon of basil, and 1 tablespoon of Parmesan
• repeat layering twice
• transfer lasagna to oven and bake until mixture is bubbly around edges and topping is browned, about 45 minutes
• let stand 10 minutes before serving
• slice into 8 pieces and serve
• yields 1 piece per serving

Whitney’s notes:

• in the future I would rough chop the eggplant between roasting and layering so that I don’t have giant pieces I’m cutting through while cutting the lasagna
• the recipe makes it sound like the jar has 3 1/2 cups of marinara; however my 24 oz jar only had 2 1/2 cups
• make sure all the noodles on the top layer are completely covered by sauce; if they’re not they will be very hard and crunchy after cooking
• before roasting, it looks like a lot of mushrooms, but they shrink down in size, so don’t panic

 

Skillet Lasagna – aka one of my favorite recipes ever

I have to start this one with a disclaimer: yes I am Jewish, but no I don’t keep Kosher.  I was raised very Reform, so that’s one thing that never really was all that important to me.  I pay more attention to things than I used to, but I still love shrimp and sometimes like some cheese with my meat.  Hence, this recipe has both meat and dairy, though one or the other could easily be left out.

Makes 6 servings.

 

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces uncooked bulk turkey sausage
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
• 2 cups purchased spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups dried wide noodles
• 1 1/2  cups coarsely chopped zucchini
• 1/2 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 1 Tbsp snipped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat mozarella cheese (2 ounces)

Instructions:

• In a large skillet cook sausage and onion until meat is brown and onion is tender, breaking up the meat during cooking.  Drain off fat.
• Stir in spaghetti sauce and water.  Bring to boiling.
• Stir in uncooked noodles and zucchini.  Return to boiling; reduce heat.
• Simmer, covered, about 12 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile in a small bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and parsely.
• Drop cheese mixtures by spoonfuls into 6 mounds over the sausage-noodle mixture in the skillet.  Sprinkle each mound with mozarella.  Cover and cook on low heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until cheese mixture is heated through.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Whitney’s notes:

• you could double the meat if you really wanted to; sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t
• even with letting it sit, it still falls apart when you serve it
• this freezes well, so I make it all the time in the winter
• I tend to use Newman’s Own Sockarooni spaghetti sauce because it has peppers and yummy stuff in it, but it really doesn’t matter what kind you use
• if I don’t already have parsley on hand, I usually leave it out

Whitney’s tweaks:

• I don’t look zucchini, so I leave it out.  To add bulk back in, instead on one onion, I chop up two onions and a bell pepper.
• Instead of lasagna-type noodles, I use bow-tie pasta because it’s easier to deal with.  I usually use whole wheat pasta, but that’s personal preference.
• I usually use fat-free mozzarella instead of reduced-fat, but I doubt it really makes a difference.  I’m just used to Kraft Free shredded cheese because that’s what I grew up with.
• I’ve tweaked the meat a few different ways since I’ve started making this.  For whatever reason, I can’t find turkey sausage and instead only find chicken and turkey sausage.  When it comes to chicken, if it’s not a breast, occasionally a wing, and on rare occasions chopped liver, I will not eat it.  So instead I used ground turkey breast.  However, there was that nice little recall not all that long ago, so the last time I made this, I used 85% lean ground beef.

 

Chicken Adobo

I made this tonight and it’s pretty simple.

Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 lb skinless chicken thighs
• 2 cups prepared brown rice

 

Instructions:

• Combine vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, pepper, and chicken in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20-25 minutes until chicken is tender and cooked through.
• Remove chicken from the pot and bring mixture to a boil.  Continue to boil for about 10 minutes until the cooking liquid reduces by half and it thick enough to cling easily to the back of a spoon.
• Return chicken to the pot and heat through.  Discard the bay leaves.  Serve the chicken with the rice and the reduced sauce.

Whitney’s tweaks:

• I buy garlic pre-minced, so I just used a couple large spoonfuls.
• I totally forgot to add the pepper, but I always add more than a recipe calls for and never actually measure it.
• I only eat white meat chicken, so I used chicken breasts instead.

Whitney’s notes:

• I use low sodium soy sauce, but I doubt it really makes much of a difference.

 

om nom nom

The past several months I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and tried several different recipes.  And I thought it would be fun to share them.

I often tweak recipes so I’ll post the original recipe and then my tweaks and other notes at the end.