Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna

Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna
Adapted from this recipe


Ingredients:

• 9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 1 (15 ounce) container of part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
• 2 eggs
• olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pound sliced crimini mushrooms
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1 (1 pound) bag of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water
• 1 jar marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Boil noodles per package instructions.  Drain and lay flat on aluminum foil, set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta and cottage cheeses with the eggs.  Set aside.
• Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet.  Sweat the diced onion until translucent.  Add the mushrooms and season with TSSS.  Sauté for several minutes until soft.  Add the spinach and sauté a few minutes longer.  Add the marinara sauce and continue to stir until heated through.  Remove from heat and set aside.
• Spray the bottom of a lasagna pan with olive oil.  Lay 3 noodles in the pan.  Spread half of the cheese mixture over the noodles.  Then spread half of the spinach-mushroom mixture over the cheese.  
• Lay down 3 more noodles.  Spread the rest of the cheese mixture (minus 3 tablespoons, which you need to reserve), then the rest of the spinach-mushroom mixture.
• Lay down the last 3 noodles.  Top with the remaining reserved cheese mixture.
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Then remove the foil, top with the shredded mozzarella and parmesan, and return the lasagna to the oven for an additional 15 minutes.
• When done and bubbling, remove the lasagna from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Palmiers

I grew up all over the world, but my most memorable experiences came from the 5 years we spent living in Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast), West Africa.  Côte d'Ivoire used to be a French colony and gained its independence from France on August 7, 1960.  When we lived there in the early-to-mid-80s, there was still a lot of French influence, including many boulangeries and patisseries turning out crusty loaves of French baguettes and flaky desserts.  One of my favorites was the palmier, a light, airy, flaky, sweet, crunchy "cookie".  Its base is a puff-pastry-type dough, which, while simple to make in theory, takes a lot of time, something I don't have much of these days.

Enter my Google search, which led me to where else but the Food Network website.  The two palmier recipes that stood out to me were from two of my favorite chefs: Ina Garten and Anne Burrell.  They use frozen puff-pastry sheets from the grocery store.  YAY!  Not exactly the same as the authentic stuff, but close enough and pretty damn good.

What I ended up baking today was a mesh of these two recipes.  Ina's recipe is more traditional, but when I saw that Anne puts cinnamon in hers, I had to try it that way.  Sans orange zest.

Oh, and if the thought of light, flaky, crispy pastries filled with sweet, crunchy caramelized sugar has you distracted and wondering if this recipe is South Beach Diet approved, sorry, but it's not.

Palmiers
Taken from this recipe and this recipe.
Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1 pinch of kosher salt
• 1 package of Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed
• 1 bag (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

• Combine the sugar, cinnamon and salt together in a small bowl.
• Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the sugar mixture onto a pastry marble.
• Open up one of the thawed pastry sheets directly onto the sprinkled sugar mixture on the marble.  Sprinkle another 1/4 cup of sugar mixture onto the top of the pastry sheet.  Make sure to coat every bit of the dough with sugar.
• Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a large rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick.  You want to press the sugar mixture into the dough while rolling.
• Take one of the short ends of the rectangle and fold it so the end reaches halfway to the middle of the rectangle.  Then fold it again so you reach the middle of the rectangle.  Do the same to the other side.  Then fold one side onto the other as if you're closing a book.  (You'll have a 6-layered flat "log".)
• Transfer the "log" to a baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Do the same for the remaining thawed pastry sheet.
• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
• When ready to bake, remove one of the "logs" from the fridge and place onto a clean flat surface like a pastry marble.  Slice it into 1/4-inch pieces (approximately 24 pieces per "log"), and lay each piece flat onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 12 minutes, then flip the cookies and continue baking for an additional 3-6 minutes, depending on your oven.  You want the cookies a nice golden brown.  Check them often towards the end; when I did 5 minutes mine turned out slightly burned, but 3 minutes was perfect.
• Let cool for 5 minutes on the pan, then once the cookies firm up a bit, transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
• For optional chocolate dip: Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler over simmering water.  Dip completely cooled cookies in the melted chocolate and lay them on parchment paper to set.
• Store the cookies in an air-tight container.

Fish with Eggplant Ragout

Today was clean-out-the-fridge day.  I found: 1 eggplant, 1 package of sliced button mushrooms, a small orange bell pepper from a friend's garden, and 1/2 an onion.  On the counter were 4 plum tomatoes, and in the pantry was half a jar of couscous.  I bought some red snapper fillets on my way home from picking up the munchkin from school.  Throw it all together and what do you get?  A skillet of yumminess.

Fish with Eggplant Ragout

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant, diced into 1/2" pieces
• salt
• olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 plum tomatoes, diced into 1/2" pieces
• 1 small bell pepper, chopped
• 1 package (6 oz.) sliced button mushrooms
• 1/4 cup water
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• large dash of dried thyme
• large dash of dried oregano
• 1 pound fish fillets, cut into 4 pieces

Directions:

• Liberally salt the eggplant pieces and let sit in a colander for 10 minutes to drain.  Rinse thoroughly.
• In a large skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat and sauté the onions until translucent.
• Add the eggplant and everything else except the fish.  Season with TSSS to taste.  Sauté for about 10 minutes until veggies are soft.
• Move veggies to the edge of the pan and add another tablespoon of olive oil to the center.
• Season the fish fillets with TSSS.  Add the fish in a single layer to the center of the pan.  Cook for a few minutes on each side until done and flaky.  Spoon the veggie mixture over the fish, remove from heat and let sit for a minute.
• Serve over couscous or rice.

Spinach Turkey Roll

ETA on 8/9/14: To make this gluten-free, I replaced the 1 cup of bread crumbs with 1/4 cup coconut flour.  

This was delicious, and the presentation was pretty impressive.  I used Jennie-O turkey, which comes in a 1.25-lb tray (as opposed to just 1 pound as the original recipe calls for).  I added parmesan and salt to the mixture for more flavor.  And I don't keep mustard powder in the pantry (though maybe I should), so I used regular Dijon mustard.  I also don't keep wax paper around, so I used aluminum foil to roll the meat mixture.

Spinach Turkey Roll
Taken from this recipe.



Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup marinara sauce
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated or shredded parmesan
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tray (1.25 pound) ground turkey
• 1/4-ish teaspoon salt
• 1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• olive oil in a mister
• another 1 cup marinara sauce for plating

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the first 11 ingredients together.
• On a large sheet of aluminum foil (or wax paper), spread the meat mixture out and shape into a large rectangle, a little larger than 12x8 inches, and approximately 1/2-inch thick.  Sprinkle with the spinach and cheese.
• Position the short side of the meat rectangle towards you, and carefully roll up the meat like a jelly roll, peeling the foil away as you go.  Seal the ends and the seam and discard the foil.
• Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Transfer the turkey roll to the baking sheet, seam side down, and bake for 50 - 60 minutes until cooked through (internal temperature registers 165 degrees F).
• When the roll is done, heat the remaining 1 cup of marinara sauce.  Slice the turkey roll into individual portions and top with the heated sauce.

Fish Stew

A quick, simple and delicious fish stew.  I made more broth than what the original recipe called for because I love dipping a warm, crusty sourdough loaf into it.  I also omitted the tomato paste and added more tomatoes, and next time I think I'll add even more.  Yum.  Eat more fish!

Fish Stew
Taken from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• a few tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 a medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• a small handful of fresh parsley, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 4 plum tomatoes, chopped (about 2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 8-oz. bottle of clam juice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup vegetable (or fish) broth
• 1.5 pounds of sea bass (or other white fish), cubed into 1-inch pieces
• a dash each of dry oregano, thyme and Tabasco
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt, to taste
• freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
• lemon wedges

Directions:

• In a large heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until soft and translucent.  
• Add parsley, tomato and tomato paste and cook, stirring often, for a few minutes until tomatoes begin to soften.
• Add clam juice, wine, vegetable broth and fish.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cover the pot.  Simmer 7-10 minutes until fish is cooked through.
• Add TSSS and pepper to taste.
• Ladle into bowls and spritz with lemon wedges.
• Serve with fresh, hot, crusty bread.

Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar

Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar
Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into strips or pounded flat, optional)
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 2 tablespoons of Smart Balance

Directions:

• Season chicken with TSSS, pepper and lemon juice.
• In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high heat and cook the chicken until done and the juices run clear (7 - 10 minutes per side for breasts, 3-4 minutes per side for strips or tenders).  Remove chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.
• Add balsamic vinegar, white wine, garlic and cherry tomatoes to the pan and deglaze it, scraping up all the browned chicken bits.  Cook for a few minutes to reduce the sauce by about half and until the tomatoes begin to soften.
• Stir in and melt the butter.  Add the chicken back to the pan and flip to coat all sides.
• Plate the chicken and pour all the yummy sauce over the top. 

Chicken Stuffed with Basil and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are a great lean protein and a staple in this kitchen.  But they can get old when you eat them over and over.  How can you spruce up boring old chicken breasts?  Stuff them!

I've done Cordon Bleu-ish Chicken stuffed with ham and cheese, Chicken Stuffed with Feta and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Chicken Saltimbocca (can we say "prosciutto, YUM!"?).  Today I was admiring my beautiful little basil plant with its luscious green leaves, and I decided to use them to stuff tonight's chicken breasts.  Deee-lish!

Chicken Stuffed with Basil and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• PAM
• 4 medium chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, all visible fat removed
• 4 teaspoons sun-dried tomatoes, drained (chopped, sliced or whole, it doesn't matter)
• 8 - 12 fresh large basil leaves, washed and dried
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a baking pan with PAM.
• Butterfly the chicken breasts.  (Pound them out to 1/4" thickness if you desire.)
• Open up the breasts and layer each one with a teaspoon of sun-dried tomatoes and 2 - 3 basil leaves. 
• Close up the breasts and sprinkle both sides with TSSS.  
• Tlace the stuffed breasts in the sprayed baking pan.
• Bake until cooked through, approximately 25-30 minutes.