Recipe 19: Hamburger Strata

This tastes a little like lasagna, and a lot like stuffed french bread (only easier to eat).  If I were paying more attention, I would have doubled this recipe.  Probably a good thing I didn't, since I've been cooking so much I don't need a lot of leftovers.  And my husband is picky, and doesn't like the tomato/cheese combo very often (except on pizza) so the small batch was perfect for me and Cupcake.  If making for a larger group, definitely double and use a 9x12 pan.

Cook:
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion

In an ungreased 10x6x2 dish, layer
1 cup plain croutons
1 7-ounce can whole kernel corn (drained)

Spread the beef on top and then layer:
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup plain croutons

In a separate bowl, mix together:
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Pour the egg mixture over top, cover the dish in foil and bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.  Let stand for five minutes before serving.

focaccia bread

We normally buy this bread but won't anymore ... we decided on Italian for dinner tonight after Adam had already been to the grocery store and he wasn't going to go back. So he found the recipe to bake the bread - totally easy, really good, and why pay 4 bucks for a small loaf of this when it's cheaper to make it?

focaccia bread

* 1 teaspoon white sugar
* 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
* 1/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with flour; stir well to combine. Stir in additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all of the flour is absorbed. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly for about 1 minute.
3. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
5. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface; knead briefly. Pat or roll the dough into a sheet and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the dough with oil and sprinkle with salt.
6. Bake focaccia in preheated oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on desired crispness. If you like it moist and fluffy, then you'll have to wait just about 10 minutes. If you like it crunchier and darker in the outside, you may have to wait 20 minutes.

Adam changed the recipe by tripling the amount of yeast. It would be good to add some Italian dried herbs - we'll do that next time. And then have it with motz cheese and balsamic vinegar - yummmm!

Be aware that baking it at such a high temperature means it cooks REALLY fast - we pulled it at 9 minutes, and the bottom was just about to start turning black.

Italian Sausage and Pasta Bake

I cut this recipe in half and still had enough to feed 6 adults! I didn't have any fennel seed, but it still tasted good without it. It wasn't my favorite, but Aaron really liked it. From Recipezaar #286627.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage (mild or hot)
• olive oil (optional)
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped
• 28 ounces meatless extra chunky pasta sauce
• 213 ml can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 5 cups penne pasta
• 1 (284 g) package fresh spinach (trimmed and coarsely chopped)
• 3 cups shredded provolone cheese or mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated asiago cheese or parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cut sausage into 1/2 inch chunks. I large skillet, brown sausage over medium-high heat, in batches and adding oil if necessary. Transfer sausage to a bowl.
2. Pour off any fat from pan. Add onions, garlic and red pepper, cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in pasta sauce, tomato sauce, basil, oregano and fennel seeds; bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Return sausage and any accumulated juices to pan; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until sausage is firm throughout.
3. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta for 6 minutes, add spinach;cook for 1 minute. Drain well and return to pot. Add sausage mixture and provolone/mozzarella cheese; stir to combine well.
4. Transfer to 2 greased 8-inch square baking dishes or 1 13x9-inch dish. Sprinkle with Asiago/parmesan cheese. Cover dish with greased foil, greased side down.
5. To serve: Bake, covered with foil, in in 375 degree F. oven for 30 minutes or for 1 hour if from the refrigerator. This freezes beautifully (thaw in refrigerator before baking).

Stuffed Jumbo Shells

This was yummy and a hit tonight with friends. I got the recipe off the back of the box of shells. I ended up using just half the box of shells- I now have some to use for another recipe :) I didn't have any spinach- so I just cooked the ground beef with the onion and garlic for 5 min. and didn't add any water. I didn't have any parmigiano cheese, so I used 1/4 c. of Parmesan and 1/4 mozzarella mixed together for the filling. This is an easy recipe to adjust to what is on hand.

1 box jumbo shells pasta
1 lb. ground beef
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 bag (6oz) baby spinach
1 cup finely diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
1/4 cup Parmigiano cheese
1 jar sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella

PREHEAT oven to 350
COOK jumbo shells according to directions: drain, reserving 1/3 cup of the cooking water
COOK ground beef in large skillet until meat is no longer pink. Drain grease.
ADD oil, spinach, onion, garlic and reserved pasta water. Continue cooking 10min, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
ADD seasonings and blend well. Let mixture cool enough to handle.
STIR in egg and Parmigiano cheese.
POUR 1 cup of sauce into 13 x 9 baking dish
FILL jumbo shells with meat mixture and place in dish. Pour remaining sauce over shells, sprinkle mozzarella over the top, and cover with foil.
BAKE for 30 min.

pizza night

In conjunction with Amanda's post with pizza crust and sauce recipes, here's how we do pizza night with friends:

We set out all the toppings in their own bowls. We make a whole bunch of little crusts about the size of your hand, and everyone makes their own mini-pizzas.

I make our sauce, which is posted here. Our toppings include the usual Americanized stuff like pepperoni and black olives. We have multiple kinds of cheese like motz, block Parm (not the stuff in the green can), and goat cheese. We have Italian sausage, Italian spiced pulled pork, olive oil, diced bell pepper, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, capers, dried herbs like oregano and basil ... we use the "Jamie Oliver's Italy" book to get ideas for topping combinations.

The missionaries LOVE pizza night!
(And yes, the one with the beard has permission to grow it - he has a skin condition that makes it difficult to shave cleanly.)

Homemade Pizza

My husband LOVES pizza! High end, take and bake, take out, frozen, you name it - he likes it (he even eats those Totinos party pizzas - ewww!!)

After much searching and experimenting I think we have finally found the best homemade pizza

Sauce: from recipezaar - we add 1teaspoon water and up the sugar to a full teaspoon

http://www.recipezaar.com/Ultimate-Pizza-Sauce-114392

seriously this sauce is amazing! you could spread it on a saltine and it would be a pretty good pizza :)

Crust: just tried it today:

http://www.recipepizza.com/doughs/pizza_dough.htm

I cooked it on a pizza stone (you can buy an unglazed tile and it would work just as well - cost about a buck vs the $40 for a "pizza stone")

Toppings: you can figure that out - put on whatever you like - my one suggestion, don't put on too much cheese - it is easy to think you have to cover it in cheese... it is ok/better to still be able to see some of the sauce, once everything melts it will cover the sauce anyway

Creamy Penne Pasta

This isn't the healthiest recipe, but it sure is yummy! The original recipe calls it a creamy pasta, but it's basically an alfredo sauce and penne.


Ingredients

* 2 cups penne pasta, uncooked
* 1 tablespoons butter
* 4 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
* salt, to taste
* 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
* crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
* 3/8 cup half-and-half (I used half heavy cream and half 1%milk)
* 1/4 cup chicken broth
* 2 tablespoons water
* 3/8 cup parmesan cheese, grated
* 2 tablespoons sour cream


Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter.

3. Stir in the oil, flour, garlic and seasonings until blended.

4. Gradually add the half and half, broth and water.

5. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.

6. Remove from heat; stir in cheese and sour cream.

7. Drain pasta and toss with the sauce.


I added chicken and broccoli and it was a big hit with my picky family.

Baked Beef Ziti

This is a Weight Watchers recipe (5 points per serving) and a huge favorite at our house. I especially like it because it's very flavorful without being full of bad-for-you ingredients; the spices really shine through! Thought I'd share:

Ingredients:

12 oz ziti (although I have used both penne and macaroni; whole-wheat is great in this recipe because it makes it even more filling)

1/2 lean lb ground beef (turkey also works well)

2 Tbps olive oil (I just eyeball it)

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

28 oz. crushed tomatos

1 C shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain. While the pasta cooks, preheat oven to 350.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet; when it's hot, add the garlic and cook until savory-smelling.

3. Add the ground beef and cook until done, then add all spices and cook until savory-smelling.

4. Add tomatos and bring to a boil.

5. Spoon just enough of the tomato-and-meat mixture into a 9x13 pan to cover the bottom.

6. Layer 1/2 the macaroni, 1/2 the remaining sauce, and 1/2 the cheese, then repeat.

7. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

Fresh Herb Penne With Chicken and Tomatoes

I found this on recipezaar and it turned out yummy. I added the crushed red pepper flakes and it gave it a nice zip.

• 14 1/2 ounces penne
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic, chopped
• 14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 1/3 cup basil, fresh, chopped
• 10 ounces chicken breasts, cooked (can use chicken breast strips - 1 package)
• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• salt and black pepper
• crushed red peppper flakes to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Cook and drain pasta according to package directions.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Add tomatoes and basil; cook 2 minutes. Add chicken; simmer for 5 minutes. Toss with pasta and Mozzarella cheese. Season to taste with salt and cracked black pepper. Serve immediately.
3. Note: if you do not have fresh basil or garlic, you may substitute 1-1/2 teaspoons dried basil and 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder.

chicken primavera

#15 of 50 - I'm moving forward with this goal again! Yay! I got this from a Good Housekeeping magazine that randomly showed up at my house (apparently the person who used to live here subscribed and it didn't get forwarded).

12 ounces pasta - use a small, thin pasta like penne or the macaroni spirals. The sauce is really thin and mostly water, so it doesn't hold up to a heavier, thick pasta
2 scallions cut into small pieces
4 tsp olive oil - used 2 tsp at a time
1 lb chicken breast cut into bite-size chunks
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 lb asparagus cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium sized red bell pepper cut into thin strips
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Parmesan cheese
fresh basil leaves chopped

1. Cook and drain the pasta as usual. When draining the pasta, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Put the pasta in a large serving dish with the water.

2. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in skillet, cook the chicken and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. When done, put it in a bowl and set it aside.

3. Clean out the skillet, and heat the other 2 tsp of olive oil. First add the green onions and garlic for about a minute. Then add the asparagus and red bell pepper, and cook until tender crisp. Add the cream, crushed red pepper, and a little salt. Bring it to a boil, then add the chicken and remove from the heat.

4. Combine the chicken/veg mixture into the serving dish with the pasta, then add Parm and basil, and eat!

BRUSCHETTA WITH WARM TOMATOES AND HERBS

BRUSCHETTA WITH WARM TOMATOES AND HERBS
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups assorted tomatoes, such as grape, cherry, or chopped heirlooms
3 tablespoons fresh basil, chiffonade, plus more for garnish (the thinner the better)
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 teaspoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 (1- ounce) slices ciabatta or sourdough bread
1 garlic clove, halved

Method:
Combine first 8 ingredients, and let stand 1 hour. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add tomato mixture, and cook 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush bread with olive oil and add to grill; cook 2 minutes on each side or until toasted. Rub 1 side of each toast piece with the cut sides of garlic clove halves. Serve tomato mixture over toast and garnish with basil.

*you can toast the bread in the oven if you don’t have either a grill or a grill pan that goes on the stove)

*Spanish paprika (pimento) would be good in this mixture

*use firmer tomatoes – cooks down sweeter

*Garnish with a little Maldon

-
this is also fabulous, easy, and just so good!

manacotti trick

Adam and I saw this idea on a cooking show on PBS a few months ago, and we've done it twice. It works great! Manacotti noodles are those big tubes that you're supposed to stuff with the cheese mixture, and it's a pain in the neck. The "new and improved" manacotti is to use lasagna noodles. Boil the noodles first. Put a scoop of the cheese at the end of a noodle, and then roll it up. Voila! A tube without having to manuever the tube!

We don't have a particular recipe that we use for the cheese or the sauce (except for my marinara sauce that I already posted) - I guess just look that up for ideas. When we made this manacotti over the weekend, I think Adam just used ricotta and mozzarella mixed with a few herbs.

parmesan chicken

Martha Stewart again - Everyday Cooking, Jan/Feb 2007, page 100. It's "light" parm chicken because of how the breading is done - about 400 calories.

4 chicken breasts
2 slices of whole wheat sandwich bread
1 tbl grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp olive oil
1 egg white
flour
1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes in juice
1 garlic clove, minced
grated mozzarella cheese (part-skim lowfat)

1. In a food processor or blender, put the bread, Parm cheese, oil, and a small amount of salt and pepper. Pulse it until it's in large crumbs.

2. Put the egg white in a shallow bowl, and beat it with a fork until frothy.

3. Put the flour in a shallow bowl and mix in a little salt and pepper.

4. When coating the chicken, do only one side. Flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Press down into the breadcrumbs to make sure they stick.

5. Put the oven rack towards the top of the oven. Bake the chicken on a foil-lined cookie sheet (with edges) at 425 for 10 minutes.

6. Remove from oven, sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese, return to oven for just a couple more minutes.

7. While the chicken is baking, cook the tomatoes and garlic - bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until it thickens.

8. When plating it, put tomatoes over the chicken.

I had it with a green salad and side of pasta - I did linguine noodles tossed with just olive oil and a little garlic powder. 4 for 50. I'm off to a good start!

For those cold nights ...

Zuppa Toscana

2 lbs Italian sausage (I like mild)
5-6 large russet baking potatoes, sliced in half and then in 1/4 inch slices
2 medium white onions, chopped
1 pound smoked bacon - chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups kale, chopped
4 cans chicken broth (14.5 oz cans or 7 ½ cups)
2 quarts water
2 cups heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper - to taste
3 tsp crushed red peppers

1. Sautee Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic for approximately 15 min. or until the onions are soft.
3. Mix together the chicken broth and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling.
4. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage.
7. Add kale just before serving.


Mozzarella, Tomato & Pesto Bruschette

Serves: 3-6 Prep. Time: 0:20

1/4 cup butter - softened
4 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
(6) 1/2" slices Italian OR French bread, or ciabatta (I like ciabatta the best)
6 slices mozzarella cheese - trimmed to fit bread slices
3 Tbls. basil Pesto
(6) 1/4" slices Roma tomato
julienne fresh basil - to top

*if using ciabatta, cover with mozzarella and tomato, don't need to follow the exact slice ratio

-Mix butter with garlic and garlic powder.
-Spread butter mixture over bread slices.
-Place a slice of mozzarella on each piece of bread.
-Place a slice of tomato on each slice of mozzarella.
-Spread 1/2 Tbls. of Pesto over each slice of tomato.
-Place bread on a cookie sheet and bake in a 500 degree oven for 4 minutes, or until cheese has melted.
-Sprinkle basil over top.

Administrator note: She came up with these recipes herself through trial and error. Go Alisha! I'm not nearly so brave!

Raisin - PInenut Pasta

This is one of our favorite recipes. It has a light taste and you can add chicken, italian sausage or whatever meat you like, if you want.


3 quarts water
1 pound pasta – spaghetti
8 tbsp olive oil
6 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup raisins, soaked in 1 cup hot water for 20 minutes, drained, water discarded
½ cup pine nuts
4 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
4 tbsp chopped fresh basil
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
4 tbsp Italian Bread crumbs, toasted **
4 tbsp freshly grated Romano cheese

First get raisins soaking in the hot water for 20 minutes. Then do prep work while soaking. Bring the water for the pasta to a boil in a large pot. Add the pasta and cook until just tender.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large sauté pan set on medium-high heat until sizzling, about 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes, raisins and pine nuts. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the pine nuts are brown and the raisins are puffed up like balloons. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley, basil, salt and pepper.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and return to the pot. Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir well. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese, toss and serve. Its up to you!


We like to add the bread crumbs and cheese on our separate plates, you can individualize the taste that way.

marinara sauce

I don't know how real Italians make marinara sauce, but this is how I do it. You can use this on spaghetti or any other kind of pasta, in lasagna, as pizza sauce, whatever. It's the all-purpose "Italian" red sauce for me ...

- one 15-oz can of tomato sauce and one 6-oz can of tomato paste. If you actually make your own sauce (you lucky dog!), use a 2-to-1 ratio of sauce to tomato paste. The paste is what makes it thick.
- Italian seasoning mix used liberally to taste. (I do not "sprinkle." I dump it.)
- just a little bit of salt
- 2 garlic cloves crushed (or however many you like)
- occasionally I add finely chopped onion, depending on what I'm using the sauce for.

Cook in a saucepan until everything is melded together and then use and/or freeze.

Regarding the Italian seasoning ... instead of buying the stuff already mixed together, I usually just use a list of spices and dump it in as I feel like it. One of these days, I'll experiment around with it to get a good balance and make my own "Italian seasoning mix" to keep in a jar so I don't have to buy the prepped stuff. Here are the dried herbs/spices I use:

ITALIAN HERB BLEND - all quantities about even, with extra basil and half the pepper
parsley
basil
oregano
thyme
rosemary
savory
majoram
rubbed sage
black pepper

vegetarian lasagna

This was actually part of an ad for Glad containers in the Martha Stewart magazine "Everyday Food" (Oct. 2007).

olive oil
2 medium yellow squash, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, large diced
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 10-ounce bag spinach
1 15-oz jar marinara sauce
1 15-0z container ricotta cheese
coarse salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, chopped
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles

1. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add squash in batches and cook until just tender. Transfer to a plate and put in the refrigerator to cool.

2. Heat another tsp olive oil in the skillet. Cook onion, bell pepper, garlic, and salt to taste. Cook until softened. Then add spinach a handful at a time and cook until just wilted. Transfer to a bowl and put in the refrigerator to cool.

3. At this point, the directions say to let the vegetables cool overnight - I didn't do that. I just put them in the freezer while I was getting the next stuff prepped.

4. Combine ricotta, basil, and salt to taste.

5. Put half of the sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Layer 1: 3 noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, the squash. Layer 2: 3 noodles, 1/3 ricotta, half of the spinach veggie mix. Layer 3: Same as layer 2. Layer 4: 3 noodles, the rest of the sauce over the top, mozzarella on top of everything.

6. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for about 50 minutes. When it's done, let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Extra notes:
1. Instead of 2 squashes, I used 1 squash and 1 zucchini just because I felt like it.

2. I didn't use fresh basil - I used dried and didn't measure it.

3. I do not use marinara sauce from a jar. I make my own. I'll put directions for that in the next post - it's really easy.

4. The marinara sauce is only on the bottom and the top. If you want sauce throughout, double the amount of sauce and add it with each layer. I thought it tasted fine the way it was - you didn't drown all the flavors of the various vegetables in tomato sauce. But it was a little dry, and Adam likes more sauce. So next time I'll add a little bit in the layers but not much.

This was a new recipe that I made tonight for dinner with the missionaries. 1 for 50 on the year.