Spinach Lasagna Rolls

If you can't eat spinach like Pop-eye, this recipe is for you. Also, I've always been intimidated by lasagna for some reason so I never made it. Until now.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

adapted from Skinnytaste.com

Ingredients:
10 lasagna noodles, cooked
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and fresh pepper
32 oz tomato sauce
10 tbsp mozzarella cheese

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

The original instructions say to use wax paper to lay out the noodles. You'll see I ended up using lightly greased cookie sheets because I wanted a hard surface and it made for moving around the kitchen easier.

Also, the original recipe also called for 9 noodles; I actually cooked 10 lasagna strips just in case I tore one, but it turned out 10 portions was exactly right.

I found a pre-made roll of mozzarella and end up just slicing about 1/2 inch thickness to top each spinach roll with. I love the cheesiness. You'll see I actually use less tomato sauce than called for and more cheese.

 Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 10 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

 10 perfect servings

Delicious!

Baked Okra

Fried okra was definitely one of my favorite things to eat growing up. There is an old wives' tale that eating okra makes your hair grow thick, my family told me that's what happened to me. If it was the okra, I don't regret it. In an effort to not fry much of anything, I found this recipe on Pinterest and had to see if it could be just as good as the fried stuff... and IT IS.

Baked Crunchy Okra

from The Spotted Fox blog

Ingredients:
bag of frozen cut okra
Italian style bread crumbs
paprika
2 egg whites
salt & pepper

Preparation:

In a bowl, toss together bread crumbs, a few healthy shakes of paprika, and salt & pepper.

In a separate bowl, toss a handful of your cut okra in the egg whites until they are nicely coated.

Take each piece of okra and cover with your bread crumb mixture.

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the okra on the baking sheet and make sure they aren’t touching one another.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, turning your okra halfway.

Garlic Basil Parmesan Quinoa

This is a perfect side dish for many different dinners. What do you like to add to your quinoa?

Garlic Basil Parmesan Quinoa

Ingredients:
2 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth/stock
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tablespoon fresh basil, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt (sea salt or Kosher)

Preparation:

Bring the broth/stock to a boil over medium heat. Stir in the quinoa. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the basil, garlic, cheese and salt until fully combined. Serve immediately.

I served it alongside my ratatouille. Tada!

Tofu Scramble

I'm going to have to apologize for this one because I cannot remember where exactly I got the recipe, but I've already memorized it. Super simple healthy breakfast, here you go!

Tofu Scramble

Ingredients:
1 serving tofu (about 4-6 oz.), crumbled
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 turmeric
olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
mushrooms, red bell peppers (any other vegetables you would like)
3 tbsp tomato sauce

Preparation:
In a small bowl, mix the crumbled tofu with the cinnamon, cumin and turmeric. I tend to go heavy on the cumin and light on the turmeric (which I read is more for color anyway).

In a medium sauce pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Saute until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes, and then add the rest of the vegetables. Cook through for about 4-5 minutes and add the tomato sauce and tofu and warm through. I generally use the prepared jarred sauces, but you can also use 1 tbsp tomato paste with some water as well.

Enjoy!

Will you Rata- my -touille?

Remy, oh Remy! You have revived my blog! Yes, I still appreciate Disney at my age.

Dear lonely blog, I abandoned you for so long. Life got busy, I cooked less, ate even worse and now I am ready to return. Seriously. I finished school and before I get stuck in a vicious cycle of work I'm cooking almost every day. Also, I've become vegetarian. Yeah, I know, a lot has changed. So welcome back!

First up, ratatouille!!! Caught myself watching Ratatouille and becoming inspired to actually try my hand at it. And it was GOOD. Now YOU go make it!

Baked Ratatouille
from Vmac & Cheese

Ingredients:

• Extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced 
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 
• –pinch crushed red pepper flake 
• 1 medium-large zucchini 
• 1 medium-large yellow zucchini 
• 1 orange heirloom tomato [I omitted this one!]
• 4 medium vine tomatoes 
• 1 small Japanese eggplant [Definitely recommended]
• 1 tbsp tomato paste 
• –Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to season [I use the regular stuff]

For garnish:
–Asiago or your choice of cheese [I did Parmesan Reggiano and mozzarella]
–Fresh basil, julienned

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 400°.

In a medium skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and let cook for a minute until  soft. Add in half of the chopped garlic, the crushed red pepper flake, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occassionally. Prep the vegetables.

Slice the vegetables to your desired thickness. You'll see I went super thin. I'll probably go a little thicker next time seeing as how my tomatoes just refused to be sliced as thin as everything else. Yes, it did drive me a little nuts in the end.

Once the onions are soft, add in the tomato paste to the pan. Let it warm and melt into the onions. Transfer the onion mixture to the bottom of your baking dish, and drizzle with a tablespoon or so of olive oil.

Arrange the vegetables in any pattern you would like, alternating colors. Sprinkle the rest of the garlic over the top of the arranged vegetables, then season the whole thing with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a bit more olive oil.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes to an hour, or until the mixture is very bubbly and the vegetables look tender. Remove the dish from the oven, and turn your broiler on to high. Layer shaved or sliced cheese on top of the cooked vegetables, then bake underneath the broiler until the cheese gets bubbly and brown. Let the dish sit for a couple minutes, garnish with freshly chopped basil, and serve.

Tine's Notes: As you can see from my pictures, I sliced my veggies super thin. By hand. [Don't worry, I still have all my fingers intact.] I'm a bit of a masochist like that. Don't worry, I have a mandolin on my Amazon wish list. I followed the recipe pretty much at a T, I used 2 types of cheese to top since that's what I had on hand - Parm Reggiano and mozzarella. I had so many veggies that I had this dish plus a 6x6 pyrex filled to the brim. I actually added more pepper and red pepper flakes to the onions at the bottom of the smaller dish and it really shined through to my liking.

Butternut Squash Risotto

Now before you go dismissing this because it contains a vegetable... don't. It's perfectly sweet and savory. Lots of vitamin A, good for your eyes. Sorry, that's such a parental thing to say. And also how my parents got us to eat pretty much everything. Damn reasoning. As with all risottos, get your arm muscles ready, kids.

Butternut Squash Risotto
from Allrecipes


Ingredients:
2 cups cubed butternut squash
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, minced
1 cup Arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
5 cups hot chicken stock
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Place squash cubes into a steamer basket in a saucepan. Add water, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Allow to steam until the squash is tender (10 to 15 minutes), then drain, and mash in a bowl with a fork.

2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir for 2 minutes until the onion begins to soften, then stir in the rice. Continue cooking and stirring until the rice is glossy from the butter, and the onion begins to brown on the edges, about 5 minutes more.

3. Pour in the white wine; cook, stirring constantly, until it has evaporated. Stir in the mashed squash and 1/3 of the hot chicken stock; reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir until the chicken stock has been absorbed by the rice, 5 to 7 minutes. Add half of the remaining chicken stock, and continue stirring until it has been absorbed. Finally, pour in the remaining stock, and continue stirring until the risotto is creamy. Finish by stirring in the Parmesan cheese, and seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Yields: 4 servings

Tine's Notes: I probably added a touch more white wine than called for but the alcohol cooks off and it's more for flavor. Don't forget to keep checking your rice to make sure it's fully done, no one likes crunchy risotto!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Let's face it, cream cheese is a blessing and a curse. It creates cheesecake and also I imagine it blocks arteries just as sufficiently. But let's not think about that just right now. Focus on the positive. Stare at this beauty... and yes, I used the real, regular cream cheese and this came out PERFECT. Light cream cheese can suck it.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake  

from Mrs. Fields' Best Ever Cookie Book

Ingredients:
-Crust
5 ounces chocolate cookie crumbs (about 1 cup)
2 tbsp salted butter, melted

-Filling
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
16 ounces sour cream (about 2 cups)
3 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
9 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Prepare the crust: Grind cookies into fine crumbs using a blender or a food processor fitted with a metal blade, Add butter and blend until smooth. Press crust into bottom of 9-inch springform pan, and refrigerate while preparing the filling.

3. Prepare the filling: Beat cream cheese until smooth in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Blend in sugar and sour cream. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix until smooth.

4. Using a wooden spoon, stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips. Pour filling into the crust-lined pan, and smooth top with a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips evenly over the top.

5. Bake 30 to 40 minutes. Turn oven off and leave cheesecake in oven for 1 hour to set. Remove from oven and chill in refrigerator until firm, about 3 to 4 hours.

Yield: 12 to 16 servings

Tine's Notes: No seriously, I understand some people are very health conscious but cheesecakes aren't meant to be low-fat. Use the real stuff, your mouth will thank me while your waist...that's another story.