Spinach Artichoke Lasagna

This is a new recipe to me which I really enjoyed preparing and eating. It was such a gooey, veggie, pasta loving dish! Lots of really good flavors at play here :)

Ingredients:

• 9 lasagna noodles, cooked
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 can veggie stock
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 14-oz can of artichoke hearts, drained
• 1 10-oz package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
• 1 jar favorite pasta sauce
• 1/2 c feta crumbles
• 3  c shredded mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Add veggie broth, artichokes, and spinach. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

3. Add red sauce and simmer until warm

4. Splash a bit of sauce in a 9x13 pan, then layer the following: 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the veggie-sauce mixture, 1 c mozzarella cheese. Finish with crumbled feta.


5. Bake covered for 45 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving with your favorite bread or garlic bread.

Semi-Homemade Ravioli

This is my Wednesday night ode to Sandra Lee. I am notorious for throwing together whatever happens to be in my fridge. Living alone doesn't make it easy to stock a full fridge and cooking for one is a bit tricky sometimes.

For this recipe I used pre-made ravioli/won ton squares that I found in the vegetarian/vegan section at Kroger. I had never used these before so I followed the recipe instructions on the packaging for the ravioli. They suggested making a filling of cooked spinach and ricotta cheese seasoned with salt and pepper. Because I was in a pinch I got crafty and decided to use a spinach dip I had in the fridge and mixed it with fresh grated Parmesan cheese for the filling. Here's the step-by-step:

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Place one ravioli square on a clean dry surface. Spoon 2 tablespoons of spinach mixture neatly into the center of the square.

3. Dip your finger or a small brush into a glass of water and brust the outside rim of the ravioli square. You will feel the ravioli become gluey from the moistness of the water.

4. Place a second square on top of the first and use a fork to press edges together. I found that in order to be sure that the filling doesn't ooze out, work one side at a time and pick the ravioli up as you go and handle delicately.

5. Arrange completed ravioli on a baking sheet that has been lightly sprayed with non-stick. Brush top of ravioli with olive oil and place in oven for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly browned. I flipped them half way through just to be sure I wasn't burning them on one side, as baking ravioli was a new concept to me. They became a little more crispy than I would have liked, so next time I might experiment with dropping them in boiling water instead.

6. Serve with red sauce for dipping or drizzle over like I did. Easy peasy.

For the side salad I just topped chopped iceberg with sliced strawberries, cucumbers and crumbled Parmesan cheese. Drizzled with lite balsamic vinaigrette and you have a delicious summer salad. If I had some chopped walnuts or slivered almonds I would have thrown those in the mix for a good crunch, but alas, you work with what you have!

This was a delicious and easy mid-week meal, hope you enjoy and feel inspired by my semi-homemade pinch meal. Have you ever done something different like using spinach dip for a ravioli filling? Let's hear about it!

Lasagna

Lasagna has always been a classic at my house. Sometimes I throw in the occasional surprise ingredient, but by and large I stick with the, "If it ain't broke," rule here. This is another one that I suspect my roommate will be checking the blog for once I move out, so I'm putting up detailed pictures :)

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hr 15 min
Serves: 5-6 (or 1 and left overs!)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 lb ground sausage
• 2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 16 oz can of Hunt's Garlic and Onion red sauce
• 1 chopped onion (optional)
• 4 cloves chopped garlic (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 10 lasagna noodles prepared according to the directions on the box (I never use the ready to bake kind, I think they come out funny... so it's up to you but I prefer to boil them ahead of time)

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and heat a skillet on medium.

2. Cook noodles according to directions on the box. Simultaneously brown the sausage and beef combo in the skillet. Drain the excess fat off of the meat when it's all the way brown. Salt and pepper to taste.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 F while you put the lasagna together. Slosh a few spoonfuls of sauce around in the bottom of a casserole dish. This will keep any noodles from sticking to the bottom.

4. Lay 3 noodles side by side in the bottom of the dish. The 10th noodle is in case any other noodles break... Usually they don't, but lasagna noodles come in boxes of 20, so I'm pretty sure you're supposed to make one extra and eat it.

5. Add 1/3 of the meat to the noodles, spread evenly.

6. Add about 1/3 of your remaining sauce to the mix.

7. Add 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. (This picture didn't come out... but you get the point)

8. Repeat 4-7 two more times.

9. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 15 more minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Deep Dish Skillet Pizza - My first post!

This is my first contribution to Goodies and Grub so I guess I should formally introduce myself! I am the previously mentioned friend, Monica. I have varied experience in the kitchen, from learning from my parents growing up, to having my own culinary radio show while attending Miami U, I have worked as a short order kitchen cook and manager and even spent some time in a French kitchen in Cape Cod as a sous chef. I'm a foodie friend who is super proud of my girls and all of their kitchen prowess, you're both a couple of culinary cuties!

Like the girls, I also feed the man in my life. His name is Fred and he loves to eat just about as much as I love to cook. He's a meat and potatoes kinda guy and I like to try things that are a bit more daring, he's only worried until the fork hits his mouth. He doesn't do much cooking himself, but he enjoys baking and has promised to teach me his grandma's cinnamon roll recipe which I look forward to sharing with you all!




And now for the meat of the matter...the delicious pizza I stuffed in my belly for dinner last night :)

I have wanted to try this for so long, pizza in a cast iron skillet! And, pizza is the perfect midweek go to for using up leftovers! For a quick and easy fix, I used a recipe of yeastless dough and leftover breaded chicken parmesan.

Yeastless Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup water
Olive oil

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl, add water and then knead together for approximately 2 minutes or until well blended and a little sticky to the touch.

Preheat oven to 325. Use olive oil to coat the bottom of a cast iron skillet, I used a #8 pan. Press dough into the bottom of the skillet and slightly up the sides. Coat the dough top with olive oil before spreading down the pizza sauce. This helps seal the dough to keep it from becoming soggy from the sauce. You can use whatever ingredients you have available, I used leftover chicken parmesan, sliced into thin strips. I started it with Schiavone's red sauce, you can find it at Kroger and it is a perfectly sweet and garlicy sauce manufactured by family friends of mine. A layer of marinated mushrooms, freshly grated parmesan, fresh basil and oregano (from my little balcony garden), and crushed red pepper sealed the deal.

Place the pizza in your preheated oven for 25 minutes and then finish off under the broiler for the last 5 minutes, or until crispy and browned to perfection!