Vegetable Lasagne Rollups

Tonight's dinner!!  Look good don't they? And very easy and great if you just want a single portion and not much cheese.  I'm trying to do at least two vegetarian dinners a week now, and it's working out well and there is not too much complaining from the kids.  I saw this recipe in In Style and changed it up the filling a little bit and did not use jarred sauce, I made the sauce myself, (although I did use canned tomatoes)

1 teaspoon olive oil
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cups baby spinach, chopped
1 16oz container skim milk Ricotta cheese
1/4 cup Parmigiano/Reggiano Cheese
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 onion
1 clove garlic or 1 teaspoon minced garlic
12 lasagna noodles, cooked, drained and layed flat to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F
In a skillet heat olive oil, and saute chopped carrots until  tender, and then let cool.
In a large bowl mix ricotta cheese, baby spinach, parmigiano/reggiano cheese and cooled carrots.

For Tomato Sauce:
Chop onion and saute with garlic until tender, add the can of crushed tomatoes and simmer for 5 mins.

Using a spoon, spread filling onto each lasagna noodle, leaving 1/2 inch at each end so roll-ups don't overflow, roll each one tightly. Spread half of tomato sauce on the bottom of a deep backing pan, place roll-up seam side down.  Cook in  oven for 45 minutes. Remove and top with remaining tomato sauce and any cheese that takes your fancy (cheese entirely optional), cook for 15 minutes more.

Calories:  Around 171 per roll, 4.5gs fat.  You have to take into account how much cheese you use on yours and also if you use skim or full milk ricotta, but this gives you an idea.

Chicken, Asparagus Puree and Potato Rosti

As promised,I made my first dish from Donna Hay Modern Classics 1 on Sunday. It was actually a side dish, and simple, but it's a start!I made it to go with a chicken and asparagus dish that I found on the Sydney Morning Herald Cuisine Section. They have a lot of fabulous recipes, but you do have to do conversions from metric.

The recipe is chicken with pureed asparagus. The puree was absolutely delicious, and I used water in my recipe instead of chicken stock, so I can only imagine how much better it would be with chicken stock. I pan fried the chicken in a small amount of olive oil, and steamed the asparagus spears.

1lb green asparagus, woody ends snapped off
1 tblspn butter
1 medium brown onion, finely sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
salt
ground white pepper
3/4 cup water or stock
4 chicken breasts, trimmed and skin removed

Puree

Cut 4 cm long spears from asparagus top and reserve. Finely chop remaining stems. Melt butter in a small saucepan then add onion, 2 garlic cloves, season and cook gently until soft, about 15 minutes. Add asparagus stems and stock then simmer until asparagus is soft, about 10-15 minutes. Blend to a smooth puree with a stick or bar blender, keep warm.

Serves 4

Potato Rosti

4 roasting potatoes.
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme leaves
kosher salt and cracked pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F. Using a sharp vegetable peeler, but the potato into long, thin strips. Toss the potato strips with the oil, Parmesan, thyme, salt and pepper. Place the mixture in six piles on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

I also threw in some carrot for good measure. I think it turned out well, and I'll definitely be making this whole meal again!

School Has Started!!

Yay - I put their smiling faces on the bus at 7:40 in the morning and they go off to a fulfilling day of learning!! So I'm finally getting the chance to update this blog of mine.

First of all, we had a great time in Vancouver. We did A LOT of eating, and there was tons to choose from. Lots of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Crepe restaurants and coffee.

We had lunch one date at Hons Wun Tun House which was really good, and lunch another day at a Crepe Cafe, and I had a delicious Spinach and Feta Crepe. The kids had sugar and butter crepes and thought they were great!

As well as eating we did some sightseeing, we went to Capilano Suspension Bridge,and walked around Stanley Park, and even went swimming at the public pool there, although it was way to cold for me. It was only 76 outside with a brisk breeze and the water was FREEZING, but the kids went in.





And in Seattle on the way home we had dinner at Ivar's Acres of Clams. The service was great and so was the food, although the weather and the traffic are totally miserable in Seattle.

Barefoot Bloggers:Panzanella

The first recipe for Barefoot Bloggers for August was Panzanella from the Barefoot Parties book. I never would have made this in a pink fit, but I'm glad I did now. It is delicious!!! I had some for lunch, but I'm sure it will taste better later when all the flavours have had time to develop. I did leave out the capers and the red bell pepper. The recipe has red and yellow peppers and I don't really care for them normally, so I just chose yellow for the added colour and put it in. I only had white wine vinegar, and I didn't want to buy a whole bottle of champagne vinegar, so I just used the white wine vinegar, as that was the closest.

Here is the recipe

I'm actually going to use the rest of it for dinner tonight. I'm roasting a chicken, so and I'm also going to do roast vegetables, but there will be a choice of roast vegetables or the Panzanella to go with the chicken. Yum.

Beef Stroganoff

I just made Elle's Beef Stroganoff and Marc has declared it best dish ever in the world and wants me to make 5 gallons of it, so he can eat it every night. So, therefore, Highly Recommended!!! Thanks Elle!

I'll be out of town until Sunday, we are going to the beach, so hopefully I'll have some lovely beach photos next week.

Thai Fried Rice with Soft Yolk Egg

This recipe for Thai Fried Rice with Soft Yolk Egg was in the Washington Post Food section last week. Normally all the recipes in the Washington Post look great, but are totally tiresome to make, and I could never be bothered, but this looked so good,and relatively easy that I had to try it.

I made sure that I chopped everything up first and had all the sauces out ready to go, because it's a really quick cooking process, and I cheated a bit, because I had Marc fry the eggs while I was finishing off the fried rice, so it was all ready at the same time. I cooked the rice earlier in the day and then let it cool, and then refrigerated it for a few hours before I made the fried rice.

This recipe is actually for one serving, so I just doubled everything as I did it. You can also add chicken or shrimp to this. I stuck with the mushroom, but next time I make it, I think I'd do it with shrimp, just to fill it out a bit more.

I thought it turned out really well,and would be great with or without the egg.

Ingredients for ONE Seving

1 tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil
8 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 cup oyster mushrooms, cleaned (may substitute other mushrooms of your choice)
1 cup cold cooked white rice
2 scallions, white and green parts, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
1 medium tomato, cored and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons fish sauce, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce, plus more to taste
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
1/2 small cucumber, cut into thin slices (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 medium lime, cut into wedges
Directions:

Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok over high heat until a drop of water vaporizes within a second or two.

Swirl in the oil to coat the sides and bottom, then add the garlic and stir-fry for about 20 seconds, until the garlic is just golden. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry for about 1 to 2 minutes, until they have softened.

Add the rice, breaking it up with your fingers as you toss it into the wok. Use a heatproof spatula to keep the rice moving for 2 to 3 minutes, scooping and tossing and pressing the rice against the bottom and sides of the wok to sear it. Add the scallions, tomato, fish sauce and soy sauce; stir-fry for 30 seconds or until the tomatoes break up and the scallions slightly soften. Transfer the mixture to a dinner plate.

Wipe out the wok and return it to the heat. Break the egg into a small bowl, then gently add to the wok. Add the water, then cover and cook, undisturbed, for 1 or 2 minutes, or until the yolk lightly films over but is still soft. Carefully lift out the egg and place it atop the rice.

Garnish with the cilantro, overlapping cucumber slices and wedges of lime.

Flounder with Vegetable Cous Cous

We had this for dinner tonight. It's from Everyday Food. Here is the recipe. I have to be honest, I didn't like it at all. I guess steamed fish isn't that great. However, I think it looks good in the photo! And it was super easy to put together. So if you want a quick, tasteless dinner, give this a try. The best part was the mustard viniagrette.

Bored!!

This week is so boring at my house. Last week was a frenzy of activity with camps and what not, but this week is sort of dead. And I have no enthusiasm for cooking - anything! Last night we had the salmon tacos again, and on Monday we had some breaded turkey breast cutlet thingys that I got at Wegmans on the weekend. I don't usually shop at Wegmans, but they are the only supermarket in my area now carrying the Hershey's Dutch Processes Cocoa Powder. Giant and Safeway are not stocking it anymore for some strange reason.

I have no clue what we are going to have tonight, but I'm sure it's going to be totally lame and involve some kind of pasta.

The good news is that I did find a great recipe for Beef Stroganoff over at Elle's New England Kitchen so I might conjure some of that up tomorrow night. It's not really the season for it, but I really feel like it!

In the mean time, here are some of my hydrangeas:

Rosemary Fried Chicken

Ever since I moved here to the US I've always wanted to be able to make a really good fried chicken, but it's sort of difficult, especially to know when the chicken is cooked and also not that good for you, but I came across a recipe for half fried and then finished off in the oven,(from Everyday Food)and I thought that was the perfect solution. Also it was very easy! I used the side burner on the grill so I wouldn't get oil spat all over the kitchen, and except for the rain, that was a good idea.

I served it with a pasta,celery and red onion salad. (recipe below)

Ingredients

8 chicken legs and 8 chicken thighs (about 3 1/2 pounds total)
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus 4 sprigs
2 cups vegetable oil, such as safflower

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line one large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; place a wire rack over a second rimmed baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine chicken, buttermilk, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; set aside (or refrigerate up to 2 days).



In another large bowl, whisk together flour, paprika, chopped rosemary, 1 tablespoon salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper. Lift chicken from buttermilk, a few pieces at a time (allowing excess to drip off), and dredge in flour mixture (shaking off excess); transfer to foil-lined sheet. Dredge chicken in flour mixture a second time; return to sheet.



In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet (or a 5-quart Dutch oven), heat oil and rosemary sprigs over medium-high. When rosemary sizzles rapidly, remove and discard. In three batches, fry chicken until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side; transfer to prepared rack. (If chicken browns too quickly, reduce heat.)



Remove foil; set a rack on that baking sheet. Transfer half the chicken to this empty rack. Bake chicken on both racks until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh registers 165, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. (To store, let cool, then layer between paper towels; refrigerate up to 1 day. If desired, bring to room temperature before serving.)




Pasta Salad

1 pound medium pasta shells (I used bowties!)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup light mayonnaise
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
6 celery stalks, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise, plus 1 cup celery leaves
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped

Directions

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente; drain and rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise and lemon juice. Add celery stalks and leaves, onion, and cooled pasta; season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine.

Spinach Grapes and Almonds

I dutifully made Thursday nights recipe last night.Steak with a side of Spinach, grapes and almonds.I did not like it at all. And it didn't look that good so I didn't take a picture. That combination of spinach, grapes and balsamic didn't really sit well with me. So that's too bad!!

Here is the recipe from Everyday Food

So, forging ahead with the recipes, tonight, especially for the 4th July, is Rosemary Fried Chicken. The chicken is already soaking in the buttermilk!

Spaghetti,Bacon,Green Beans and Basil

I did make Wednesday's dinner of Spaghetti,Bacon,Green Beans and Basil last night, but I forgot to take a photo of it. It looked exactly as you would imagine it to!

Chicken Thighs, Zucchini and CousCous

Tonights dinner from the weeks menu was Chicken Thighs with Zucchini and CousCous.It was nice. Not spectacular but nice. I did like the red-wine vinegar in the couscous, and next time I would definitely put more vinegar in it.

Here is the recipe.

Asparagus, Sun Dried Tomato and Ricotta Pizza

So here is Monday's dinner. Pizza with Asparagus, Sun Dried Tomato and Ricotta. It was delicious. I grilled the scallions and the asparagus,and tossing them in some sun dried tomato oil was just brilliant, and then cooked the pizza in the regular oven. The recipe calls for grilling the pizza dough as well, but I didn't want to try it tonight, because if it failed, there was nothing else for dinner. I also made the kids a cheese pizza.

And for the pizza dough - I make my own with one of Ina's recipes, but store bought (Trader Joe's is a good one) would do just as well.

Here's the recipe.

A Weeks Menu

I mentioned last week that I was going to challenge myself and do a whole weeks menu from one of the Everyday Food magazines.

I chose the menu this morning, it's from the June 2008 Everyday Food. "Weeknight Wonders" starting on page 81. I have made one subsitution only. Monday in the Everyday Food Menu was "Tuna Steaks with Lemony Tomatoes and Onion" and I'm subsituting the Rosemary Fried Chicken from the same magazine.

So here is the weeks menu. I will be posting each dish so you can see how it turns out.

Tonight:

Grilled Pizzas with Asparagus and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Tuesday:

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Zucchini and Couscous

Wednesday:

Spaghetti with Pancetta, Green beans and Basil


Thursday:

Steak with spinach, grapes and almonds

Friday:

Rosemary Fried Chicken

I am going to be making a couple of incidental subsitutions, and I'll write those up when I make each dish.

Eat My Words

Well, I'm already having to eat my words regarding the July/August Everyday Food. I had the magazine sitting on my desk and I just thumbed through it again and came across a recipe for Bay Scallop Stir Fry. I was desperate for a dinner idea, I knew I had some scallops in the freezer, so I decided to give it a try. I didn't really like the sauce, it wasn't quite right, but it was OK, we ate it. And I also didn't have most of the other ingredients, so I substituted!

Serve this dish over rice!

Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable oil.
1 red bell pepper (ribs, seeds removed, thinly sliced) I used green beans instead
2 bunches of scallions, white and green parts separated (left it out because I didn't have any!)
2 carrots, halved lengthwise or quartered if large and cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths (I actually had carrots!!)
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 pound bay scallops, patted dry (I just used the small ones in the bag from Costco).

Prepare rice whichever way you like.

Whisk together vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch in a small bowl. Set sauce aside.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high. Add bell pepper , scallion whites, carrots and ginger; cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are crisp-tender, 4 to 5 mins. Add scallops and scallion greens, cook, stirring occasionally, until scallops are cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Whisk sauce briefly, and add to skillet; cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Serve scallop stir-fry over rice.

I also found a Strawberry Cream Cake recipe which I'm going to try. I have one from Ina which is fantastic, but this one only has 1 stick of butter in it, and Ina usually has a lot more than that!

Barefoot Bloggers: Parmesan Chicken

This delicious dish for Barefoot Bloggers was no hardship at all. My whole family loves this and my 5yr old even asked for seconds, which is practically unheard of!

I've made this once or twice before,but never with the lemon vinaigrette and the arugula salad, and those two things really enhanced the whole dish and made it that extra bit special.

The breading process is one step longer than normal, or at least the way I usually do it, but it's worth it.

Here's the recipe!

New Challenges

And having just said this about Martha and Everyday Food, my new challenge to myself for next weeks dinners is, choose one of the Everyday Magazines that I have and make every dinner for a week that they suggest in one of their "week of dinners" sections. I haven't chosen it yet, but I'll post the whole menu when I do.

Tonight we are having the Garlic and Parmesan Turkey Burgers!

Barefoot Bloggers: Pasta, Pesto & Peas

This is my first recipe for Barefoot Bloggers. Ina's Pesto, Pasta and Peas from the Barefoot Parties Book. Here is the recipe.

I made it slightly different from the recipe, namely totally forgot to put the spinach in and then only used bowtie pasta, as I already had it in the house and did shaved parmesan on the top, not grated. It is still yummy without the spinach,and to be honest, tastes a lot better than I thought it would. It's an easy weeknight dinner and it's surprisingly light!

Fakehetti

Last night,for something different and healthy I tried the Trader Joe's Brown Rice Spaghetti Pasta. I was worried about how it would turn out and if it would taste just like regular spaghetti, but I shouldn't have worried at all. It turned out really well and you couldn't tell the difference. The rice spaghetti passed the biggest test of all, my 7 yr old, who loves regular spaghetti and I thought he might notice immediately, but he shoveled it in,no problems.

You could tell when cooking it, that it was different because the water went really white, and you definitely needed to rinse it in hot water once it was drained, but it served up and sat on the plate just like wheat spaghetti. If you were on a gluten free diet this would be a life saver!

I served it with a shrimp and tomato sauce.

You won't save calories or carbs eating this, I compared it to a regular spaghetti and it was the same, but it is made from organic brown rice and water, so it is definitely better for you than pasta made from processed wheat.

Oprah's Turkey Burger

Last night I made Oprah's favourite turkey burger which she featured on her Summer Favourite Things show a couple of Friday's ago.

Huge disappointment. I followed the recipe, except for the fact that I forgot to buy celery. The burgers fell apart on the grill and made a big mess. I managed to salvage them enough to serve and they were only OK. I used a mango and lime chutney, which was very nice on it's own. Oprah's chef used a pear chutney, but I couldn't find any of that at my local Giant.

I'm glad I gave them a try, but I'll be sticking with my own Garlic Parmesan Turkey Burgers from now on.