Classic Lasagna

Here is a delicious recipe for lasagna. It was a great main dish to make because it was easy and everyone loved it. Plus you can decide how much cheese  you want to use depending on your preference. Here is the link to the recipe, Classic Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 9 uncooked lasagna noodles (about 8 ounces)
• PAM® Olive Oil No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 1 pound ground beef (Italian pork sausage works too)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (28 oz each) Hunt's® Crushed Tomatoes
• 1 can (14.5 oz each) Hunt's® Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic and Oregano, undrained
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups part skim ricotta cheese (optional) 
• 1 cup shredded Romano cheese, divided
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
• 3 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided (3 cups = 12 oz)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cool water to stop cooking. Meanwhile, spray large saucepan with cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat until hot; add sausage and ground chuck. Cook and stir 5 minutes to crumble meat.
Add onion and garlic to pan. Continue cooking 8 to 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and onion is tender. Drain meat mixture well. Add crushed and undrained tomatoes, 1 tablespoon parsley, fennel seeds, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and salt. Bring meat mixture to a boil. Reduce heat; cook uncovered over medium-low heat 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Place ricotta, 3/4 cup of the Romano cheese, eggs, remaining parsley, basil and remaining pepper in medium bowl; blend well. Set aside.
Assemble Lasagna: Spray 13x9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup meat sauce evenly over bottom of dish. Place 3 lasagna noodles over sauce, top with 2 cups meat sauce, half of ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers ending with a layer of noodles topped with sauce and the remaining mozzarella and Romano cheeses.
Spray underside of aluminum foil with cooking spray; cover dish tightly with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until cheese melts and sauce is bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes before serving

Rice and Chicken Dish

For the Main Dish category I made what my family calls "Rekker Rice Dish", we call it that because the family who gave us the recipe is the Rekkers and we don't have a better name for it. Because we got it from another family I have no idea where the original recipe is or came from.

Ingredients:

2 to 2.5 lbs. meaty chicken pieces                                             

½ cup chopped onion                                                                     

½ cup chopped green pepper                                                   

2 cloves minced garlic                                                                     

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes                                                       

1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained                        

1 cup tomato juice

1 cup frozen whole kernel corn

2/3 cup long grain rice

 1 tsp. chili powder

½ tsp. salt

 ¼ tsp. ground red pepper

Paprika 

Directions

In a large saucepan cook onion, green pepper and garlic in hot oil until tender, but not brown.  Stir in undrained tomatoes, black beans, tomato juice, corn, uncooked rice, chili powder, salt and ground red pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Transfer rice mixture to a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Arrange chicken pieces on top of rice.  Sprinkle chicken with paprika.

Bake, covered at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink and rice is tender.

Serve with sour cream. 

This is always a hit with the whole family. The night I made it we had a family over who had five kids under the age of 8 and all those kids liked it too, I think that speaks for itself. Great family meal!

Blast From the Pasta

   This is a main dish that my mom makes all the time so I thought I'd try it. It turned out very well.

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds extra-lean ground beef
1 cup each chopped bell pepper and chopped onions
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 can (10 oz) cream of tomato soup
1 can (10 oz) cream of mushroom soup
½ cup milk
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp each black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes
8 oz fusilli pasta (uncooked – about 3 cups dry)

Directions:

* Cook beef over medium high heat until no longer pink. Break up any large pieces using a wooden spoon. Add peppers, onions and mushrooms. Continue to cook until vegetables begin to soften.

* Stir in diced tomatoes and their liquid, tomato soup and mushroom soup. Cook and stir until mixture is well blended. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This was my favourite recipe so far. I found it here and I thought that it turned out very well. It makes 8 servings but it isn't that hard to double the recipe if you are having company over. I served it with fried rice and found that that was a good combination. A suggestion of mine would be to cook only an hour or so before meal so you can still serve piping hot.

Ingredients:
-1 can pineapple chunks (juice drained and reserved)
-1/4 cup cornstarch
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/2 cup distilled vinegar
-2 drops orange food colouring (if desired)
-8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
-2 1/4 cups self-rising flour
-2 tbs vegetable oil
-2 tbs cornstarch
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp ground white pepper
-1 egg
-1 1/2 cups water
-4 cups vegetable oil (to fry)
-2 green peppers, cut into small pieces

Directions:
In saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups of water, vinegar, sugar, pineapple juice, and food colouring. When boiling, turn off heat. Combine 1/4 cup of cornstarch with1/4 cup of water, slowly stirring into saucepan. Stir until mixture thickens. Combine flour, 2 tbs vegetable oil, 2 tbs cornstarch, salt, pepper, and egg. Add 1 1/2 cups of water gradually to make batter smooth. Blend thoroughly. Add chicken pieces and stir until chicken is coated well. Heat oil in skillet to 360 degrees F. Fry chicken pieces in oil for 10 minutes or until golden. Rmove chicken and drain on paper towels. when ready to serve, layer green peppers, pineapple chunks, and chicken pieces on a platter. Pour sweet and sour sauce, still hot, over top. Enjoy.

Creamy Chicken Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles 
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1 container of small-curd cottage cheese
• 3 cups diced cooked chicken
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese 
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. Cook and drain noodles as directed on package.
• Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Stir in milk, soup, basil.
• Place 4 noodles in baking dish. Top with about 1 cup of the soup mixture, half of the cottage cheese, 1 1/2 cups of the chicken, 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/3 cup Cheddar cheese. Repeat layers once, starting with noodles. Place remaining 4 noodles over top. Top with remaining soup mixture, mozzarella cheese and Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top.
• Bake uncovered 50 to 55 minutes or until bubbly and hot in center. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Two-Cheese Pasta and Tomatoes

This recipe, from Anne Lindsay's New Light Cooking, was rather disgusting according to everybody and I'm not sure if that is because it was more of a soup than pasta, or because I skipped some rather important ingredients. I DO NOT RECOMMEND. Should you be so brave to try it and succeed, I encourage you to post on what went wrong.

Ingredients:
8 oz macaroni
1 cup grated old Cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp dried mustard
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp each of salt, pepper and paprika
3 cups 1% milk
2 tomatoes chopped
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Directions: In a large pot of boiling water, cook macaroni for 10 minutes; drain. Meanwhile in a bowl, combine cheeses, onions, flour, mustard, tarragon, salt, pepper and paprika. In a large saucepan, heat milk until hot; add cheese mixture whisking constantly until well combined. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in macaroni; cook for 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes. Add parsley. Serve.

Changes: I used shells for noodles. I didn't use green onions, tarragon or tomatoes due to a dislike. I did go for the parsley because we had quite a lot on hand. I doubled the entire recipe because we had a lot of people.

Cooking Class

Broccoli Cheese Quiche

This is not a true quiche recipe as it is not made in a pie shell, but it is a very tasty one.

  

Ingredients:

300 g frozen broccoli

3 cups cheddar, grated and divided

1 ½ cups cooked chicken

2/3 cups chopped green onion

1 1/3 cups milk

3 eggs, beaten

¼ cup Bisquick mix

¾ tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°

Mix first four (4) ingredients (only using 2 cups of the cheddar) into the 8” square glass pan.

Mix next five ingredients.  Pour over broccoli, etc.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife, inserted, comes out clean.    I have found it may take a bit longer (depending on your oven). 

Sprinkle with remaining cheese and broil until brown and bubbly.

Serves 4-6 people.

Enjoy!