FIRST KITCHEN BLOGS

Well, it’s December and only a few weeks left to get Christmas shopping and preparations finished… Seriously, I tell myself every year that I am going to start early and then relax and ‘enjoy’ the holiday season. Well, that has not happened! I haven’t even been able to blog let alone cook much…too many holiday party invites or events going on or just plain tired from all this cold weather!

The other night I wanted a home-cooked meal and decided on lasagna, as it is a favorite comfort food of mine and the leftovers are amazing! I call it lazy because I don’t spend much time on the assembly but it will take at least ½ hour to cook the meat and get all the ingredients ready to assemble…it’s worth it!

I love the versatility of lasagna. You can be traditional or creative and it usually always turns out so tasty!  

Jarred sauce works great but it is also super easy to make your own. I usually do half/half depending on what I have around my kitchen. You can simmer the sauce while the meat is cooking then assemble.\

Here’s the recipe:

Lazy Lasagna Casserole

Serves 8

Prep time: ½ hour

Cook time: 1 hour

For the tomato sauce:

3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

½ onion, chopped

2 Tbs olive oil

1 can (28oz or 2 14oz cans) diced tomatoes

¼ cup cooking wine (I used red wine)

1 Tsp salt

½ Tsp crushed red pepper

For the meat:

½ onion, chopped

1 lb lean ground beef

2 Tsp oregano(dried)

2 Tsp basil (dried)

Dash salt

2 cups cottage cheese

½ cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 jar tomato sauce (I like using either chunky garden or 3 cheese but you can use any kind that sounds good!)

1 8oz bag of shredded mozzarella cheese (2 cups)

2-3 Roma tomatoes cut in rounds for the top of lasagna

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350

For the sauce: sauté onion and garlic in olive oil and then add tomatoes, wine, salt. Let simmer for at least 20 minutes.

For the meat: cook onion, meat and herbs together until browned. Transfer meat to separate bowl and mix in parmesean and cottage cheese.

To assemble: In a large 9x13 pan break apart 1/3 of the noodles and lay evenly in the pan.

Cover with ½ of the jar sauce. Add ½ of the meat and spread evenly. Repeat this step one more time and use the rest of the jar sauce and meat. For the last layer, break apart the remaining noodles and spread evenly on top. Pour the tomato sauce that you made over the top (all of it). 

Place the sliced tomatoes on top of the sauce and put in the oven.  Cook for 45 minutes. Remove and add cheese to the top. Bake another 15-25 minutes, until cheese is golden.

Serve with parmesan cheese and a side salad or steamed vegetable! This makes great leftovers too!

**This can be easily made into veggie lasagna. Substitute mushrooms and spinach for the meat. OR for another variation, you could use Italian sausage and red peppers. Get creative!

Have friends or roommates that are vegetarians?  Or maybe you’re thinking of becoming vegetarian?  Do you wonder what the heck vegetarians eat?  How come some of them are eating fish and others won’t touch it.  Then again some eat eggs and drink milk while some don’t. To clear up this confusion, let’s talk about the different types of vegetarians:

Lacto-vegetarian- eats dairy and not eggs or any meat.

Ovo-vegetarian- eats eggs but not dairy or any meat.

Lacto-ovo-vegetarian- can you guess? Ok, they exclude all animal products including dairy and eggs.  

Pesco-vegetarian- eats fish, dairy, eggs, but no meat

Semi-vegetarian- eats all foods except red meat

Vegan- no meat, egg or dairy (basically NO animal products)

So how do vegetarians get all of the nutrients they need?   Without careful planning, they may be deficient in some nutrients such as protein, iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.

Protein- vegetarians who don’t eat meat, need to replace it with high-protein vegetarian foods, such as nuts, peanut butter, soy foods, and legumes like beans, peas, and lentils.

Iron- is found not only in the same foods high protein vegetarian foods listed above  but also in dark green leafy veggies (broccoli, spinach) and iron fortified breakfast cereal. 

Calcium- the obvious sources of calcium comes from dairy products, but vegans or ovo-vegetarians (no dairy), can find it from sources such as dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale and broccoli.  Foods such as soymilk, orange juice and cereal are also fortified with calcium …just make sure to read the label!

B12- this is the only one exclusively found in animal products and must be added to a vegan-vegetarian diet. Nutritional yeast flakes, fortified soy milk and fortified cereals may contain vitamin B₁₂.