I have tried several lasagna recipes over the last couple years to find the perfect lasagna and have been sorely disappointed......until tonight. This lasagna tasted like it was made straight from one of the diners featured on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" --- my favorite Food Network show. SO YUMMY!
The thing is I veered from the recipe, which is what I think cooking is all about. To me, recipes are "guidelines" -- some need to be followed more closely, and others have quite a bit of flexibility. I think that's the genius behind being a great cook -- knowing from experience where you can veer and what will taste really good. I think anyone can learn this with a little bit of instruction and creativity.
When you "doctor" up a recipe; be sure to write it down on your recipe card so if you liked the changes, you can do it again :)
That's the preamble to the recipe.
I adapted this recipe from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" -- the yellow version, he had his own sauce, but I used my favorite marinara sauce instead.
Ingredients:
1 - 1 and a 1/2 cups Bechamel sauce (recipe below)
8 oz. cottage cheese (this is my addition)
3 cups, more or less, marinara (recipe below)
Lean ground chicken & lean ground pork, (about 1 1b. each) browned & seasoned
Grated Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese, grated (my addition)
Kosher salt & coarse black pepper to taste
Lasagna noodles, about 9, cooked al dente
1. Make your marinara. See recipe at http://www.keep-your-home-cooking.com/best-marinara-sauce-ever.html
I always have some of this in my freezer, which made my lasagna easier tonight. Make enough of this great marinara to have some on hand all the time. For the lasagna recipe, you may need to thicken up the marinara. Do this by cooking it longer and reduce it a bit. Tonight, I added enough meat to thicken it up, and had cooked up this marinara a couple times which made it a little thicker.
2. Cook your noodles in salted water until al dente -- slightly firm; drain.
3. Brown the ground chicken & LEAN ground pork together, season with kosher salt, black pepper and italian seasoning. Use your good judgment for the seasonings & of course, taste it!
YOU have just made an easy HOMEMADE SAUSAGE that's lean and tasty.
4. Combine the marinara and seasoned ground meat.
5. Make the bechamel sauce: 1 1/2 T. butter, 1 1/2 T. flour, 1 to 1 1/2 cups milk.
Melt butter in pan, add flour -- make a paste; add 1 cup milk, cook on low to medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Add a little more milk if necessary -- I didn't.
Season with kosher salt, black pepper and white pepper to taste.
**To date, this is my favorite bechamel sauce (french for white sauce), because it doesn't taste of
flour.**
You are ready to assemble the lasagna.
Grease your 9 x 13 glass pan with butter.
Layer:
Noodles (about 3)
Spread 1/2 of the bechamel sauce on the noodles
Spread 1/2 of the cottage cheese over sauce; add some black pepper if you think it needs it.
1/3 of the meat/marinara sauce
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese
Light layer of mozzarella cheese
Repeat this layering again, except on one layer use the remaining bechamel and the next series of layering, use the remaining cottage cheese.
So:
Noodles, bechamel, meat/marinara, parmesan cheese, mozzarella;
Noodles, cottage cheese, meat/marinara, parmesan cheese, mozzarella.
**Don't go crazy on the mozzarella cheese; that was one of my husband's favorite part -- it didn't taste like just cheese. You could taste all the other lasagna goodness!
The original recipe doesn't call for cottage cheese -- that's why I didn't add a lot, and we liked it that way.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes.
The bechamel sauce makes this lasagna so creamy! We loved it!
Enjoy :)
My cooking/baking adventures for the coming week, so stay tuned:
1. Homemade English Muffins -- I am into making everything from scratch, because we can't get ready-made items here -- sauces, certain breads, etc. I am also testing to find the very best recipes for homemade everything!
2. OR, homemade bagels -- we'll see what I fancy this week.
3. Individual chicken pot pies with the best pie crust ever.
http://www.keep-your-home-cooking.com/perfect-pie-crust.html
4. Peach pie (peaches from a can) using the same pie crust as above for the bottom, but a sugar cookie crust on top. Yummy! I've got to make something delicious with what I can get my hands on.
5. Oven caramel corn -- I usually can't stand mixing salty with sugary stuffs, but I tasted this and it was magnanimous.
I made Apple Fritters last week, and they were delectable Dar-lou-nee! I'll share the recipe on another post.
To the journey,
justjulie
Monday, September 21, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
My stupid oven!
OK, so I have a dumb oven.
What does that mean exactly?
I'm not going to drone on and on about the background of my oven woes; but, I'll give you the short version.
I actually have two ovens -- one American sized oven and one Filipino sized oven (small).
We bought all the appliances that were in the house when we rented it.
Sidebar: In the Philippines, you have to buy your own appliances when you rent a place. The owner doesn't usually provide anything. Renting in the Philippines is another blog... or fifty blogs!
ANYWAY......
We moved this summer to another house closer to the school -- I love it and it's so convenient!
But, this house, and the country for that matter, use 220 volts of power. If you don't know, the United States uses 110 volts.
Well, I thought my American sized oven was 220 volts because it was bought here.
No can do!
It's 110 volts, so I haven't been able to use it yet.
I'm trying to get 110 into the house or some solution to use my nice sized oven again; but that is happening very slowly.
ONE POSSIBLE PROBLEM:
The day we moved in, I plugged the oven into the 220 when I didn't know my oven was 110 and I smelled burning --- so I'm not sure if I fried it.
If we rewire the house, it still might be shot because I fried it, so...
We looked for an oven yesterday and I found one I love!
It's beautiful and I even think I dreamed about it last night.
I say "I think" because I slept so terrible last night, I'm not sure if I was sleeping or just
dreaming about it as I lay in bed waiting for sleep.
Why can't I use my Filipino sized oven?
Well, I can and I have been using it but it's really small, so it doesn't fit every pan that I have.
And it doesn't work properly -- when you open up the door, the flame blows out, so you always have to restart the flame.
Which leads to the next problem with it: It doesn't keep consistent heat -- there's no reason to have a gauge to set the temperature because the oven heats at whatever temperature it wants to anyway. It has a possessed mind of its own.
There is no guarantee anything will come out properly when cooked because it's so temperamental.
See my problem!
We used to be able to make the yummiest breads (in my big oven) and now they just taste tasteless (in the small oven) -- the texture is blah, and the shape is narly. Downright nasty! And I wanted to really start making killer breads, so now I'm disappointed & frustrated.
I even began to question my cooking & baking skills, which I have always considered myself a better than average cook. Oh dear!
I was so flabberghasted this last week that I even considered making a clay oven outside. I googled it and printed off a "recipe" to make my own clay oven.
All you need is sand, water and hay or rice hulls. I can get all that stuff!
So we're going to start on the plans this week. Sorta cool & very "green."
Actually, my husband is so keen on the idea he wants to use it as a possible livelihood project for Filipinos. He could teach them to make clay ovens and they could sell them for income.
One of our ministries to the Filipinos is teaching livelihood projects, so it fits.
The thing is that the average Filipino doesn't use an oven, so we would need to access the need and evaluate whether they could make money from it.
Rich Filipinos use ovens and so do expats and missionaries, so they might appreciate a clay baked pizza or hearth breads made in their own clay oven.
Svveet!!
So, lesson to be learned from my frustration: God works things out and may have revealed a new way for Filipinos to make money from the nature that surrounds us so bountifully.
To the journey,
just julie
What does that mean exactly?
I'm not going to drone on and on about the background of my oven woes; but, I'll give you the short version.
I actually have two ovens -- one American sized oven and one Filipino sized oven (small).
We bought all the appliances that were in the house when we rented it.
Sidebar: In the Philippines, you have to buy your own appliances when you rent a place. The owner doesn't usually provide anything. Renting in the Philippines is another blog... or fifty blogs!
ANYWAY......
We moved this summer to another house closer to the school -- I love it and it's so convenient!
But, this house, and the country for that matter, use 220 volts of power. If you don't know, the United States uses 110 volts.
Well, I thought my American sized oven was 220 volts because it was bought here.
No can do!
It's 110 volts, so I haven't been able to use it yet.
I'm trying to get 110 into the house or some solution to use my nice sized oven again; but that is happening very slowly.
ONE POSSIBLE PROBLEM:
The day we moved in, I plugged the oven into the 220 when I didn't know my oven was 110 and I smelled burning --- so I'm not sure if I fried it.
If we rewire the house, it still might be shot because I fried it, so...
We looked for an oven yesterday and I found one I love!
It's beautiful and I even think I dreamed about it last night.
I say "I think" because I slept so terrible last night, I'm not sure if I was sleeping or just
dreaming about it as I lay in bed waiting for sleep.
Why can't I use my Filipino sized oven?
Well, I can and I have been using it but it's really small, so it doesn't fit every pan that I have.
And it doesn't work properly -- when you open up the door, the flame blows out, so you always have to restart the flame.
Which leads to the next problem with it: It doesn't keep consistent heat -- there's no reason to have a gauge to set the temperature because the oven heats at whatever temperature it wants to anyway. It has a possessed mind of its own.
There is no guarantee anything will come out properly when cooked because it's so temperamental.
See my problem!
We used to be able to make the yummiest breads (in my big oven) and now they just taste tasteless (in the small oven) -- the texture is blah, and the shape is narly. Downright nasty! And I wanted to really start making killer breads, so now I'm disappointed & frustrated.
I even began to question my cooking & baking skills, which I have always considered myself a better than average cook. Oh dear!
I was so flabberghasted this last week that I even considered making a clay oven outside. I googled it and printed off a "recipe" to make my own clay oven.
All you need is sand, water and hay or rice hulls. I can get all that stuff!
So we're going to start on the plans this week. Sorta cool & very "green."
Actually, my husband is so keen on the idea he wants to use it as a possible livelihood project for Filipinos. He could teach them to make clay ovens and they could sell them for income.
One of our ministries to the Filipinos is teaching livelihood projects, so it fits.
The thing is that the average Filipino doesn't use an oven, so we would need to access the need and evaluate whether they could make money from it.
Rich Filipinos use ovens and so do expats and missionaries, so they might appreciate a clay baked pizza or hearth breads made in their own clay oven.
Svveet!!
So, lesson to be learned from my frustration: God works things out and may have revealed a new way for Filipinos to make money from the nature that surrounds us so bountifully.
To the journey,
just julie
Friday, September 18, 2009
Beignets -- French for Donut Holes :)
Hello Friends,
Today was my second attempt at Beignets, which is a fancy way to say donut holes.
They are delicious!! -- in any language.
So soft and airy; addicting beyond belief.
I'll share the recipe and what I learned in making them.
What I learned, and hopefully will help you when you're making them:
1. This recipe makes a lot of beignets, so unless you're feeding your child's school; make half the recipe.
2. It says to roll the dough out and cut into 1 inch squares -- well, I wanted to drop them like a dumpling into the hot oil like I saw on the Food Network show "Chopped." Don't do that; follow the recipe because they are too thick otherwise. I had much better luck today when I made mine about 2 inches x 2 inches, so that's a little bigger than the recipe, but they worked just fine.
3. The recipe says to heat the oil to 350 degrees; well, that was too hot for my beignets. They were brown in seconds and doughy in the middle; so, I heated my oil to about 250 degrees and they did just great. Use a candy thermometer to gauge the temperature. When frying, I took the oil off the flame if the heat got out of control. You will have to see how your range works with the oil and how quickly it cooks the beignets; adjust the heat as needed.
4. One last thing: I didn't have time this morning to let it rise for 2 hours, so I only let it rise for 1 hour and they still turned out great; almost better than the first time. You decide for yourself.
Here's the recipe; Enjoy!
This recipe is from one of my favorite Food Network stars -- Paula Deen. My all-time fav is Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (between 100 - 110 degrees)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast -- 2 1/4 tsp.
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup evaporated milk
7 cups bread flour
1/4 cup shortening
Nonstick spray
Oil, for deep-frying (use a small to medium saucepan, and fill oil to about 1 - 2 inches deep)
3 cups powdered sugar -- just put a couple of scoops in a ziploc and add more if needed; you may not need this much.
Directions:
Mix water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together.
Mix egg mixture with the yeast mixture.
Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
Add shortening and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour.
Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray.
Put dough into bowl and cover with plastic wrap or towel.
Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees.
Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares (or 2 inch squares).
Deep fry, flipping when one side is light to golden brown.
After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towel.
Toss them with powdered sugar in a ziploc bag.
Enjoy!!
Today was my second attempt at Beignets, which is a fancy way to say donut holes.
They are delicious!! -- in any language.
So soft and airy; addicting beyond belief.
I'll share the recipe and what I learned in making them.
What I learned, and hopefully will help you when you're making them:
1. This recipe makes a lot of beignets, so unless you're feeding your child's school; make half the recipe.
2. It says to roll the dough out and cut into 1 inch squares -- well, I wanted to drop them like a dumpling into the hot oil like I saw on the Food Network show "Chopped." Don't do that; follow the recipe because they are too thick otherwise. I had much better luck today when I made mine about 2 inches x 2 inches, so that's a little bigger than the recipe, but they worked just fine.
3. The recipe says to heat the oil to 350 degrees; well, that was too hot for my beignets. They were brown in seconds and doughy in the middle; so, I heated my oil to about 250 degrees and they did just great. Use a candy thermometer to gauge the temperature. When frying, I took the oil off the flame if the heat got out of control. You will have to see how your range works with the oil and how quickly it cooks the beignets; adjust the heat as needed.
4. One last thing: I didn't have time this morning to let it rise for 2 hours, so I only let it rise for 1 hour and they still turned out great; almost better than the first time. You decide for yourself.
Here's the recipe; Enjoy!
This recipe is from one of my favorite Food Network stars -- Paula Deen. My all-time fav is Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (between 100 - 110 degrees)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast -- 2 1/4 tsp.
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup evaporated milk
7 cups bread flour
1/4 cup shortening
Nonstick spray
Oil, for deep-frying (use a small to medium saucepan, and fill oil to about 1 - 2 inches deep)
3 cups powdered sugar -- just put a couple of scoops in a ziploc and add more if needed; you may not need this much.
Directions:
Mix water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together.
Mix egg mixture with the yeast mixture.
Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
Add shortening and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour.
Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray.
Put dough into bowl and cover with plastic wrap or towel.
Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees.
Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares (or 2 inch squares).
Deep fry, flipping when one side is light to golden brown.
After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towel.
Toss them with powdered sugar in a ziploc bag.
Enjoy!!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Lizard on the toilet
Hey friend,
I'm inspired, so am writing a second blog today.
I promise to get to food -- I'm trying a new recipe today for home made crescent rolls, so I'll tell you how it goes and pass on the recipe if I like it. Because we can't get packaged crescent rolls here, I need to find one from scratch -- I want to make the most yummy crescent chicken recipe that oozes with cream cheese; and a delicious breakfast treat using crescent dough. I'll add them to my next post :)
Okay,
I just returned from the states about a week ago -- I was getting my 3rd daughter settled into college. I was there for 5 and a half weeks, which is kind of a long time, so I think I am experiencing some culture shock in my return.
In the Philippines, there are certain creatures that always share our living space -- cockroaches, lizards, mice and ants. Certain homes boast more than others. To me, lizards are the most mild and I barely notice them anymore. Lizards eat mosquitos, so that's a plus. Nervertheless, I don't enjoy when they fall out on my head when opening up a cupboard -- which has happened. I also don't enjoy when they crawl out of the cereal box when I go to open it -- that has happened too; no lie. I also don't appreciate their waste droppings on my kitchen counter every morning -- the cockroaches leave those gems too. I suppose the mice do too -- yuck!
As much as I don't mind the lizards, I did spot one this last week, which sort of gave me the shivers. I was shuffling into the bathroom in the night trying not to get wakened, since middle age has kept me wide-eyed in the middle of the night on occasion. I noticed something dark on the rim of the toilet; it moved -- it was too small for a mouse (I hoped) and too big for a cockroach, so I figured it was a lizard. I inched closer hoping it would move on; it didn't. Rubbed my toe along it's back to send it packing; it squirmed down the side of the toilet and on the floor. I'm glad I spotted it, and didn't sit down on him -- that slimy little creature would have really woken me!
Moral of the story: Be thankful for indoor plumbing with no creepy crawlers, AND if you happen to be using an "out-house" check before you sit or squat.
Blessings to you,
just julie :)
I'm inspired, so am writing a second blog today.
I promise to get to food -- I'm trying a new recipe today for home made crescent rolls, so I'll tell you how it goes and pass on the recipe if I like it. Because we can't get packaged crescent rolls here, I need to find one from scratch -- I want to make the most yummy crescent chicken recipe that oozes with cream cheese; and a delicious breakfast treat using crescent dough. I'll add them to my next post :)
Okay,
I just returned from the states about a week ago -- I was getting my 3rd daughter settled into college. I was there for 5 and a half weeks, which is kind of a long time, so I think I am experiencing some culture shock in my return.
In the Philippines, there are certain creatures that always share our living space -- cockroaches, lizards, mice and ants. Certain homes boast more than others. To me, lizards are the most mild and I barely notice them anymore. Lizards eat mosquitos, so that's a plus. Nervertheless, I don't enjoy when they fall out on my head when opening up a cupboard -- which has happened. I also don't enjoy when they crawl out of the cereal box when I go to open it -- that has happened too; no lie. I also don't appreciate their waste droppings on my kitchen counter every morning -- the cockroaches leave those gems too. I suppose the mice do too -- yuck!
As much as I don't mind the lizards, I did spot one this last week, which sort of gave me the shivers. I was shuffling into the bathroom in the night trying not to get wakened, since middle age has kept me wide-eyed in the middle of the night on occasion. I noticed something dark on the rim of the toilet; it moved -- it was too small for a mouse (I hoped) and too big for a cockroach, so I figured it was a lizard. I inched closer hoping it would move on; it didn't. Rubbed my toe along it's back to send it packing; it squirmed down the side of the toilet and on the floor. I'm glad I spotted it, and didn't sit down on him -- that slimy little creature would have really woken me!
Moral of the story: Be thankful for indoor plumbing with no creepy crawlers, AND if you happen to be using an "out-house" check before you sit or squat.
Blessings to you,
just julie :)
Biting Ants!
Hey friend,
Sorry it's taken so long to write again, but I have been stateside and didn't have access to the internet, which doesn't make sense when I read that sentence, since in the states EVERYONE has access to the internet! Except my 86 year old mother, which is reasonable -- I was staying with her and could'nt leave her alone to check my e-mail. Enough about that.
One thing I've learned in my short blog experience is that you need to be in the mood to blog -- or at least, I do. To me, it feels weird to yammer on about things and wonder "Who gives a rip?" about anything I'm saying, which I can understand; so the mood needs to strike and I need to say "Who cares about what people think" and blog. Blogging feels a bit like "mouthing off" since you can say whatever you want, so here goes :)
Living in the Philippines poses it's challenges -- tap water doesn't just come into the house all the time like it does stateside. Everyone has a tank in their yard, and city water fills it periodically; or for us, we have a well, so we need to turn on a pump every morning and afternoon to fill our tank. This assures us we will have water in the faucet every time we turn on the spigot. So, that's the background.
Our pump is half across the property attached to a termite infested "in-law" quarters -- it is uninhabitable. Why, oh why attach it to that stinking house?! What were the builders thinking?! I have to trudge through ant infested walkways to get to it! Thus, my title for this blog -- "biting ants!" These ants are crafty -- you don't feel them crawling on you until they take a bite out of you. And they sting like the dickens; and swarm. You can't stand still for a minute or you'll have hundreds crawling up your legs; I still feel like they're crawling up me and that was 30 minutes ago. It's material for a serious horror movie.
I'm going to try and Raid spray the life out of them today, but there are so many. Surprisingly, there are few pest control companies in this country, which doesn't make sense because biting and crawling pests reign supreme here. And really, the Raid spray I have is only for cockroaches, but it's poison so it ought to kill them. You would think someone would say, "Hey, I should invent a way to get rid of these annoying biting ants." They would be millionaires in no time!
So the moral of this story is: Be thankful if you don't have to turn on a water pump just to have tap water from your spigot, AND be thankful your yard is not filled with biting ants!
Blessings,
just julie :)
Sorry it's taken so long to write again, but I have been stateside and didn't have access to the internet, which doesn't make sense when I read that sentence, since in the states EVERYONE has access to the internet! Except my 86 year old mother, which is reasonable -- I was staying with her and could'nt leave her alone to check my e-mail. Enough about that.
One thing I've learned in my short blog experience is that you need to be in the mood to blog -- or at least, I do. To me, it feels weird to yammer on about things and wonder "Who gives a rip?" about anything I'm saying, which I can understand; so the mood needs to strike and I need to say "Who cares about what people think" and blog. Blogging feels a bit like "mouthing off" since you can say whatever you want, so here goes :)
Living in the Philippines poses it's challenges -- tap water doesn't just come into the house all the time like it does stateside. Everyone has a tank in their yard, and city water fills it periodically; or for us, we have a well, so we need to turn on a pump every morning and afternoon to fill our tank. This assures us we will have water in the faucet every time we turn on the spigot. So, that's the background.
Our pump is half across the property attached to a termite infested "in-law" quarters -- it is uninhabitable. Why, oh why attach it to that stinking house?! What were the builders thinking?! I have to trudge through ant infested walkways to get to it! Thus, my title for this blog -- "biting ants!" These ants are crafty -- you don't feel them crawling on you until they take a bite out of you. And they sting like the dickens; and swarm. You can't stand still for a minute or you'll have hundreds crawling up your legs; I still feel like they're crawling up me and that was 30 minutes ago. It's material for a serious horror movie.
I'm going to try and Raid spray the life out of them today, but there are so many. Surprisingly, there are few pest control companies in this country, which doesn't make sense because biting and crawling pests reign supreme here. And really, the Raid spray I have is only for cockroaches, but it's poison so it ought to kill them. You would think someone would say, "Hey, I should invent a way to get rid of these annoying biting ants." They would be millionaires in no time!
So the moral of this story is: Be thankful if you don't have to turn on a water pump just to have tap water from your spigot, AND be thankful your yard is not filled with biting ants!
Blessings,
just julie :)
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