Better Beef Lasagna

It's been a while!! I've been rather lazy and have been cooking the same recipes for dinner... I know, how boring is that? Oh well. I found an amazing recipe for Beef Lasagna (less fatty version) and decided to try it out! This was my first experience making Lasagna and I even cooked the noodles myself instead of cheating and using the 'ready bake' ones at the store :-p

Here is the link to the recipe I found (there is even a video : http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/better-beef-lasagna-recipe/index.html

I opted out of the mushrooms and the spinach.

I'm just going to post the pictures i took and brief steps. Please print and follow the instructions on the recipe and use this as a visual giude :-)

I started by boiling the noodles first.  I didn't have a large enough pot to boil all 15 strips of lasagna noodles, so I had to boil the first half, lay them out, and then do the second half and lay those out as well.  I put about a teaspoon of EVOO in the water before it started boiling - this keeps the noodles from sticking together while they boil.

 When you get ready to drain the noodles in your strainer, drip a few drizzles of EVOO over the noodles and shake them around gently, this will keep them not sticky. Then you will lay them out nice and neat like onto wax paper (wax paper will not stick to the noodles) making sure the noodles don't touch or overlap on the wax paper.

 Set aside 4 cups high quality Marinera sauce (I used Bertolli Marinera) and made the Ricotta, pepper, salt and nutmeg mixture, referred to as the 'CHEESE MIXTURE' in the recipe.

 Yummmmmm!

 I browned my 93% lean beef and then poured water over to cover it and boiled it (this removes alot of the fat/grease in the beef).  Once it started boiling, I drained it in the strainer and returned it to the pan and added the 2 cups of sauce to it to simmer for 3 minutes.

Pour one cup of sauce as the first layer to coat the bottom of the dish.

 Add your lasagna noodles over the bottom sauce layer so that they are touching but NOT overlapping.

 Then add the 'cheese mixure' and spread evenly and gently so you don't accidentally mix the layers.

 Add another layer of noodles, again, touching but not overlapping eachother.

 Adding HALF of the meat/sauce mixture. Since it's 1lb of beef and 2 cups of sauce, half of he portion  ended up being 1 1/3; if you want to get technical and measure everything out like i did.

 Add another layer of noodles.

 Add the rest of the 'cheese mixture' as your next layer (i forgot to get a photo of it) and then layer another layer of lasagna noodles.
Add the rest of your meat/sauce mixture to cover the noodles as evenly as you can.

 Top the last meat layer with the rest of your sauce to coat evenly over the noodles.

 Take your shredded/grated low moisture skim mozzarella and sprinkle evenly accross the top of the sauce layer. Then sprinkle the grated parmesan.

 After you have all the cheeses on top, cover it LIGHTLY with a sheet of aluminum foil and put in the oven.

 After 45 minutes, take the foil off and cook for another 15 minutes. And clean your kitchen because it's probably a mess :-)

 Leave the dirty dishes for your significant other...or just do them tomorrow!

Finished product!

My slice :-)

 The inside looks yummy too! For the record, the piece missing is from me AND Derek, I didn't eat all of that, haha!

IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!! Hope you enjoy!

Pigs in a Blanket (from HEB)

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Bake Time: 10 minutes
Makes 10 servings (2 sausages per serving)

1 Can Hill Country Fare refrigerated biscuits
20 HEB Smoked mini sausages (or Lil' Smokies; try turkey Lil' smokies for less fat)
1 Cup HEB Fruit Apricot or Peach Spread
2 Tablespoons HEB Dijon Mustard

1) Heat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil, spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. (you don't REALLY need the foil if you don't have it)

2) Cut each biscuit in half and flatten into a 3-inch round. Place a small sausage in each, roll like a taco and place seam side down on baking sheet.

3) Bake for 10 minutes or until biscuits are golden-brown.

4) Meanwhile, combine fruit spread with mustard in a small bowl and serve as a dipping sauce. You can serve these sauce hot or cold.

Easy Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

• 3-4 c. cooked chicken - shredded (you have to shred it yourself) I like to buy the rotisseree chicken already cooked and then cut and shred that up.
• 7 oz. can chopped ortega style chiles (you can add more juice and less chiles if you don't like chiles, but you need to add some because it adds flavor)
  
• 16 oz. sour cream
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 3 c. shredded jack/cheddar cheese
• 10 flour tortillas

Sauce: Mix chiles, 3/4 sour cream and soup

1. Take 1/4 sauce and mix with chicken (will be referred to as 'chicken mix')
   
2. Fill tortillas with a scoop of chicken mix and handful of cheese and roll enchilada style
   
3. Take another 1/4 sauce and spread on greased pan
4. Place enchiladas in pan, carefully, with seam down so they don't open op
   
5. Cover enchiladas with remaining sauce and cover with foil
6. Bake @ 350 F for 30-35min
7. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining cheese
   
8. Bake another 5 minutes
9. Top with sour cream

I like to serve it with a side of refried beans. It's pretty filling so adding rice may not be such a great idea. Go with either rice or beans, not both :-)

Strawberry Shortcake

Low fat, low sugar strawberry shortcake.

• 1 c. low fatwhip cream tub
• 1/3 nonfat vanilla yogurt
• 4 slices angel food cake (sugar free or regular)
• 1 c. fresh strawberries

Whisk whipped topping with yogurt

Spoon over angel food slices

Cover cream with strawberries

Garnish with remaining cream

Crispy Picnic Chicken

A tasty and healthy alternative to fried chicken!

• 1 c. nonfat buttermilk
• 1.5 lb. boneless, skinless, boneless thighs (or whatever other type of chicken piece)
  
• 2.5 c. corn flakes
  
• 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 c. Panko (they're like breadcrumbs but stay crispy when wet

Add buttermilk and chicken to plastic into a plastic bag and refrigerate 30 min. to 2 hours

Preheat over to 350 F

Line baking sheet with aluminum foil

Combine corn flakes w/ Italian seasoning, salt and cayenne and ground them all together.

Place crumbs in shallow dish w/ Panko and mix

Drain buttermilk from each chicken piece and coat with crumb mix seasoning

Bake 30 minutes or until juicy and cooked thoroughly

(2 thighs: 317 calories, 9 g. fat, 21 g. carbs, 36 g. protein)

Spaghetti with beef and sausage or ground turkey

You can use either ground beef + jimmy dean mild breakfast sausage, OR you can substitute both or one of those for ground turkey for a lower fat meal, but it is less tasty and less absorbent of the sauce flavors.

° Thin spaghetti noodles
° 1 large can Hunts traditional spaghetti sauce
° ½ lb. ground round (lean) beef
° ½ lb. Jimmy dean mild breakfast sausage
° 1 can Hunt’s basil oregano diced tomato (not going to use whole can, only used for season to taste)
° little bit of olive oil (maybe a teaspoon or two)

In a large sauce pan, add Hunts traditional spaghetti sauce, olive oil, and 1-2 tablespoons of the can basil oregano diced tomatoes. Heat sauce on low-medium covered.

Add ½lb of ground beef and ½ lb of Jimmy dean Mild breakfast sausage to medium-large skillet and cook on medium to medium-high heat until browned. Be careful to cook the meat thoroughly, the sausage can be deceiving as it is naturally a little pinker than beef.

Once the meat is cooked thoroughly, add water to cover the meat in the skillet and cook on high (to boil the fat out of the meat). Once the water starts to boil/simmer, drain the meat and water into a strainer.

Place the cooked meat into the spaghetti sauce and re-cover. Reduce heat to low-medium. Cover and cook down 25-30 minutes so that the meat absorbs all the flavors. Please taste the sauce and add more tomatoes from the can if needed.

After sauce has been cooking down for 20 minutes...

In a medium sauce pan, fill half - ¾ of it with water. Add 1-2 shakes of salt for faster boiling time. Heat on High to boil.

Once water boils, add spaghetti (refer to spaghetti noodle package for serving size suggestions)

I like to cook the noodles for 10 minutes or until i can throw the noodle at the cabinet and it sticks. You can taste the noodle at 10 minutes to see if it is to your liking.

Drain the noodles and add to plates, and top with your spaghetti sauce.

Time to make: 30 - 45 min

Hawaiian Turkey Burgers

Low fat and very yummy! This recipe may make more burgers than you need, but they refrigerate well for 2-3 days and taste even better when re-heated.

Ingredients:

° 2lbs of ground turkey breast
° ½ Teaspoon ground ginger
° 2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
° 2 cloves of garlic (the jarred kind is easier to work with and mix)
° 2 green onions chopped finely (or you may use jar of chives from the seasoning section of the grocery store)
° ½ Cup Hoisin sauce for basting.
° 1-2 Tablespoons of Hoisin sauce in the turkey mix.
° 2 Teaspoons sesame oil
° hamburger buns
° (optional) 1 egg or 1-2 handfuls of bread crumbs (to make the turkey patties more fluffy and absorbent)
° Pineapple (optional, to put on top of patty when served)

Mix by hand: turkey, ginger, soy sauce, garlic, 1-2 tablespoons of Hoisin sauce and chives(if desired) and bread crumbs or an egg (both optional).

Mix in small bowl: ½ cup of Hoisin sauce and 2 Teaspoons of sesame oil (for basting the patties as they cook).

Form into patties and cook 5 minutes on each side on George Foreman grill or outdoor grill over medium heat.

As patties cook, baste with Hoisin and Sesame oil mixture. Flip and repeat to baste both sides thoroughly. You can always make more mixture for basting, the more you add, the sweeter it is.

Serve on wheat or white hamburger buns and top with pineapple (if desired). I like to add a little bit of Hoisin sauce on top of the patty for extra flavor.

Servings: 8 patties depending on how big you make them

Time to make: 20 min