Tag Archives: cheese

Turkey Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

I don’t know what has happened to me but I think I’ve turned into a little girl again getting all giddy every time Frozen comes on television. The past couple of weekends, I’ve been getting ready to cook some food and scroll through the tv stations for background noise only to find Frozen on one of the cable channels. When I see it’s on, I can’t help but turn it on. And yes, I sing at the top of my lungs. Frozen has become one of those movies I turn on whenever it’s on. I’m even pretty darn close to downloading it. I mean, I have a niece who turns six on Friday so I should at least download it so I have it available for her to watch when she visits, right? It only seems like the right thing to do. Anyway, one dish I made while belting out Let It Go was this Turkey Sausage and Spinach Lasagna.

Hot turkey sausage, fresh spinach, shallots and garlic are the basis of this lasagna which is layered with no-boil lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese, and a béchamel white sauce. Topped with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, this tomato-less lasagna is creamy, a little spicy, and a lot flavorful. It makes six servings so this is a great meal for a family or easy to portion control for lunches or dinner leftovers. Maybe you won’t feel like making lasagna during the summer but after watching Frozen for the umpteenth time, I felt like having a warm meal. Do you want to build a snowman?

If you like this, check out Turkey Lasagna.

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Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, milk, stock, oil and bay leaf in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Cook 8 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in salt and pepper. Spread 1 cup milk mixture in bottom of an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.

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Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons water and spinach to pan; cook 2 minutes or until spinach wilts. Drain spinach, pressing until barely moist. Increase heat to medium-high. Remove casings from sausage. Add sausage to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove sausage from pan. Add shallots and garlic to pan; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in remaining milk mixture, spinach, and cooked sausage. Remove pan from heat.

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Arrange 2 noodles over milk mixture in baking dish; top with 1/2 cup ricotta and one-third spinach mixture. Repeat layers twice. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes. Remove foil.

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Preheat broiler to high. Broil 4 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.

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Let stand 10 minutes.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

Huevos Rancheros Tacos

I hope everyone out there got a chance to spend the day with their moms or mom-figures yesterday. Or if you didn’t get to spend the day with them, I hope you at least got to reach out to them in some way. Mother’s Day is never easy for me and seems to get harder every year. I would give anything in the world to hug my mom one more time and tell her I love her. But since I can’t, I’m happy that I have my wonderful aunt who I can reach out to anytime I need to. In honor of her, yesterday I made these Huevos Rancheros Tacos.  These may not seem like typical brunch fare to some of you, but to my aunt and I, they totally are.

Corn tortillas are broiled with cheese and black beans before being topped with a fried egg, avocado and pico de gallo. This is such a quick and easy dish to make in a morning or even for a quick dinner. Since I’m all about eggs for dinner, this is something that is right up my alley. I chopped up regular tomatoes in lieu of the pico de gallo and left out the Mexican crema but still got all of the flavors of huevos rancheros I wanted. Since my aunt is in Chicago and I’m in Philadelphia, I ate this dish without her but told her about it when I called to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. Every mom deserves a meal made for her.  Even if she’s not your mom.

DSC05073Preheat broiler to high. Arrange tortillas on a baking sheet; lightly coat tortillas with cooking spray. Broil 2 minutes; remove pan from oven. Turn tortillas over. Top each tortilla with 2 tablespoons cheese and 2 tablespoons beans. Broil 1 minute or until cheese melts. Remove from oven.

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Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Crack eggs into pan; cook 2 minutes. Cover and cook 2 minutes or until whites are set.

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Place 1 egg in center of each tortilla; sprinkle with pepper. Top tacos evenly with pico de gallo, crema, avocado, and cilantro. Serve with lime.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:

  • Mexican crema

Substitutions:

  • Vine-ripened tomatoes for pico de gallo

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

Chicken Roulades

I’ve been feeling under the weather so I’ve been trying to eat a lot of veggies.  Luckily, I’ve been obsessed with frozen vegetables lately unlike I ever have before in my life.   It’s pretty common for me to have boxes of frozen spinach in my freezer because I throw it in everything – eggs, pasta, on pizza, and in smoothies.  I also typically have all kinds of chicken in my freezer since I take advantage of when it’s on sale at the store so rather than making plain old chicken and vegetables, I wanted to see what else I could do.  I was thrilled to come across this Chicken Roulades recipe I had tucked away.

Thin slices of chicken are rolled with a spinach-Gruyère cheese mixture, cooked until golden brown and topped with an easy broth-based sauce tanged up with fresh lemon juice and lemon peel. I used smoked Gruyère cheese which gave this dish a whole other layer of flavor but you could easily use any of your favorite cheese.  I love buying thin chicken cutlets in the store and keeping them on hand specifically for recipes like this because I’m not a big fan of pounding chicken until it’s thin.  With the thinning already being done for me, it also speeds up my whole cooking process which is just what I need when I’m not feeling good.  This dish is just what the doctor ordered.

If you like this, also check out Spinach and Tomato Stuffed Chicken Roulade.

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In small bowl, combine Gruyère, mayonnaise, garlic, 1 teaspoon  mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

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On each piece chicken, spread 1 heaping tablespoon spinach up to 3/4  inch from edges. Place 2 teaspoons cheese mixture on spinach at one short end,  in a strip, 1 inch from edges. Roll up, starting at end with cheese. Secure with  toothpicks to enclose filling.

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Heat oil in 12-inch skillet on medium-high; add chicken. Cook 5 to 8  minutes or until browned, turning occasionally. Reduce heat to medium; add 1 tablespoon water. Cover; cook 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (165  degrees F), turning over once. Transfer to plate and cover with foil.

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Into same skillet on medium-high, stir chicken broth, lemon juice,  remaining 1 teaspoon mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook 4 minutes or until  sauce thickens slightly. Stir in lemon peel.

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Remove toothpicks from chicken and slice.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:

  • Smoked Gruyère

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Good Housekeeping magazine

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