Spinach Mushroom Lasagne

"If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?"....Author Unknown

I love to make lasagne, and while it's not hard and I really don't think you can mess it up (unless you burn it), it can be a laborious task, especially if you are using regular lasagne noodles that you have to worry about getting out of the water and straightened, so they don't bend and stick to themselves. That's the reason I've switched to the no-boil type of noodles...very easy to use and just as tasty. But that doesn't mean I make the recipe any more than I use to... Before I continue, let me just say, if you don't like the vegetable ingredients, substitute to whatever you like. You really can't mess this up.

Ingredients


1 package no-boil lasagne noodles

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
4 cups (firmly packed) fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
4 cups tomato sauce or your favorite pasta sauce
3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (if using dried, remember that you use 1/3 amt of dried herbs, so 1 tbsp dried)
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped (3/4 tspn dried)
salt & pepper to taste (I personally don't salt many recipes because there is enough salt found in things like cheese)
1 four oz can of sliced black olives (or about 1/2 cup)
2 cups Ricotta cheese (I use the low-fat variety)
2 eggs1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (1 tbsp dried flakes)
4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (using fresh is so much nicer than that powered stuff...ick!)

In a large skillet on medium heat, saute onions, garlic and mushrooms in the olive oil until veggies are soft, but not brown. Add chopped spinach, lower heat, stirring occasionally and saute for about 5 minutes, or until all of the spinach absorbs liquid from the pan and gets soft (almost wilted looking.) Add 3 1/2 cups of the tomato sauce (setting aside 1/2 cup of sauce), to the veggie mixture. Add the basil, oregano, pepper and black olives. Simmer, covered, on LOW heat for about 10-15 minutes.

In the meantime, beat the eggs and combine with the ricotta cheese, TWO of the cups of mozzarella cheese and the parsley. Set aside the other two cups of mozzarella cheese.

In a 13x9x2 inch baking pan, spread the 1/2 cup set aside tomato sauce, evenly on the bottom. Layer in the following manner, layering noodles overlapping so there are no gaps in the noodles:

If making two layers -

Noodles, 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 veggie sauce mixture, 1/2 mozzarella cheeseNoodles, 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 veggie sauce mixture, 1/2 mozzarella cheese, sprinkle with parmesan cheese

If making three layers -

Noodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1/3 veggie sauce mixture, 1/3 mozzarella cheeseNoodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1/3 veggie sauce mixture, 1/3 mozzarella cheeseNoodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1/3 veggie sauce mixture, 1/3 mozzarella cheese, sprinkle with parmesan cheese

As a side note, using the no-boil noodles, because the brand I use is a flatter noodle, I can make three layers, but using the traditional noodles, I only get 2 layers.

Depending on what noodles you are using, follow the directions for your noodles to determine baking time. With traditional noodles, since you already cooked them, you should only need to bake the lasagne for 30 -40 minutes at 375°F. With the no-boil noodles, you should bake it for 50-60 minutes at 375° F.

So here is a finished lasagne.

Serve with a nice crisp green salad and some garlic bread. Mangia!!

Well, I never claimed to be a food photographer and my guess is that a lot of the really yummy looking recipes you see in food magazines are either plastic, dyed or inedible. You can't see the layers very well, but trust me, all three were there and they were yummy....if I do say so myself.

Happy Caturday!!

w00t! It's Caturday.... after 10:30 am and still in me jammies. Finished a book this morning and had a piece of cold pizza with a glass of milk for breakfast. Yeaaah...it's Caturday!

Happy Caturday peeps!

Week 2

The men and women took the floor tonight doing either the Mambo or Quickstep. This ought to be interesting doing the Quickstep so early in the season when these stars haven't had a chance to break in with an easier dance.

Steve & Anna - Mambo - Again, what is it with the huge facial expressions he's making? He seems to really love doing this and has a great outlook on this. He's trying hard and I'm sure he'll be a crowd favorite. But he's not great...just ok.
Judges score - 16/30, mine 6/10

Christian & Cheryl - Quickstep - this is a hard dance and I thought they did a good job but it seems the judges weren't overly thrilled. Are they giving this guy a harder time because he's Latin and should have good rhythymor something? He's CUTE! ah well...
Judges: 20/30, me 7/10

Monica and Jonathan - Mambo - eeesh, I don't think she can pull off loosening up and swishing her skirt. It doesn't work. She looks stiff. She did try hard, but I really think it her dances have come to an end...or should anyway.
Judges: 15/30, me 5/10

Penn & Kym - Quickstep - oh dear.... the dance may be quick, but he really does look like a bit of a giant in a tutu and the magic bit at the beginning was just plain daft. He seemed irritated by the judges remarks. They do sound harsh.
Judges: 17/30, me 5/10

Priscilla & Louis - Mambo - Go mamma, shake that skirt! She is much more fluid and swishy than Monica, she's just plain GOOD! The judges give her a bit of a hard time for not being sexy enough, but I think she did a great job.
Judges: 21/30, me 8/10

Shannon & Derek - Quickstep - They did a really nice job, but I can't find anything to warm up to this star. She's alright. The judges love her though for this dance.
Judges: 24/30, me 7/10

Jason & Edyta - Mambo - WOW, again, for a football player, this guy is a great dancer. And he doesn't carry himself the way other tall athletes in past series' have, where they kind of hunch their shoulders. He has great posture and once again, he looks great with Edyta. And DO the judges love him or what!
Judges: 27/30, me 9/10

Marissa & Tony - Quickstep - Whe I saw they were doing the quickstep, I thought cripes, you'll never see them. They will just be a blur on the screen with all of her pent up frenetic energy....whirrrrrrrrrr! They were good though and she seemed to settle down and focus more. She had the energy, but it wasn't crazy.
Judges: 21/30, me 7/10

Adam & Julianne - Mambo - errrr, ok, let's just say it was a bit odd and that Julianne won't be staying around longer than her brother.
Judges: 19/20, me 6/10

Marlee & Fabian - Quickstep - At some point in this dance I did fall asleep, thank god for DVR. Upon rewatching, this time with my eyes open, I thought they were ok. I liked her better this week than last. She seemed more fluid and I liked her dress. As an aside, too bad there can't be points added or subtracted for their outfits...hehe...a Project Runway meets Dancing with the Stars. Anywhoo, not bad and the judges thought so too.
Judges: 24/30, me 7/10

Kristi & Mark - Mambo - and whoa! They hit a homerun again! They do a difficult dance, even I can tell that and pull some cool moves. But I'm not crazy about Kristi's dress or gloves at all...what's up with that??? She's a serious contender. I hope I don't jinx it though. Look what happened to Sabrina last year...
Judges: 27/30, me 9/10

Mario & Karina - Quickstep - The dance started with her flying into his arms from a few steps above him. Let's just say I wouldn't have been sorry to see him accidentally not quite catch her properly...ahem. I know that's not fair. He did a great job and seems like a nice guy. I imagine this causes a bit of flack for his rep....hehehe.
Judges: 26/30, me 9/10

For me Kristi and Priscilla are the best of the ladies and Jason and Christian are the best men. At the bottom I'd put Monica and Marrissa and Adam and Penn.

On elimination night I never watch the show, just the last 5-10 minutes. I just can't bear all of that filler, recapping, and singing and dancing from people I don't care to watch.

In the end, Penn and Monica went home....no surprise.

Dancing With The Stars

Alrighty here we go...a new season. I've been looking forward to it. I know, it's a bit schmaltzy and many times the stars that kicked off aren't the worst dancers, just the least popular for that week. It IS a popularity contest, but in general the stars that DO make it into the final round and are amongst the one's that are the better dancers. If that weren't the case, we'd have seen Jerry Springer or George Hamilton of previous seasons win, which they didn't and shouldn't have. The stars for this season consist of:

I had no idea who Christian de la Fuente or Mario were. Christian is a Chilean actor and Mario is a rap or hip hop or R&B singer. Can't remember which. Adam Carolla isn't so familiar either and I didn't know Shannon Elizabeth did more than American Pie. I'm sure like everyone else, I was surprised to see Marlee Matlin on the roster, and not to be mean or anything, but is every season going to have a star with some sort of disability who gets given a bit of leeway by the judges and gets voted off long after they should have? Will she be another Heather Mills? hmmm Time will tell. I was also surprised to see Priscilla Presley and a little disturbed by what possibly could be botox gone wrong. Jason Taylor I don't know from football, but he won't be hard to watch (along with Christian), Steve Guttenberg might be the "old" guy this year. Penn Jillette....oh my is all I'll say. And Monica and Marissa....eh...ok. I WAS thrilled to see how Kristi Yamaguchi participating. I loved her skating and thought she might be enjoyable to watch.

The stars are paired up this way: Adam & Julianne Hough (winner of last two seasons); Christian & Cheryl Burke (winner of the two seasons before Julianne); Shannon& Derek Hough (yes, Julianne's brother); Steve & Anna Trebunskaya; Mario & Karina Smirnoff (ick I don't like her); Marlee & Fabian Sanchez (he's replacing Maxim Chemerkovsky...toooo bad. Fabian seems boring); Penn & Kym Johnson (how does she always get stuck with duds); Priscilla & Louis van Amstel; Monica & Jonathan Roberts; Jason & Edyta Sliwinska (this woman has legs that go on for miles...holy schmoly); Marissa & Tony Dovolani and Kristi & Mark Ballas.

The judges are, as usual Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli.

So for the start of this season, the producers decided that the couples would dance two dances before an elimination and for the first time there would be a double elimination. Sooooooo, week one had the dancers doing either the Foxtrot or the ChaChaCha. The men danced the first night. Penn & Kym were up first with the ChaChaCha. Eeeek, he did seem to be trying but jimminy crickets, Bruno said it right, he looks like Shrek and his feet are like BOATS! Their score was 16 out of a possible 30. My score 6/10. Jason & Edyta followed with the Foxtrot. He did a really nice job. For a football player, he was surprisingly elegant and paired with Edyta, they make a nice picture on the dance floor. Score: 22/30, my score 8/10. Christian & Cheryl were up next with the ChaChaCha. He was nice to watch and I think the judges were a little hard on him, but they still gave him fairly respectable marks 21/30. My score 7/10. Then it was time for Adam & Julianne with the Foxtrot. Let's just say, there is no way Julianne is going to have a three-peat! Judges score 15/30, mine 6/10. Mario & Karina were up next doing the ChaChaCha and while he was good, I'm never going to get past that I don't like her and I wanted to urp when one of the judges said something about her and all these great Mario's...aaack. Their score 24/30, mine 7/10. Lastly Steve & Anna took the floor and I think Steve needs to stop making all of the facial expressions. He did fair. Their score 18/30. My score 6/10. So the men were in the following order by score: Mario, Jason, Christian, Steve, Penn and Adam.

The next night the ladies took to the dance floor. Shannon & Derek were up first with the ChaChaCha. The judges liked them. I thought they were ok. Derek made some comment about being a MAN this year instead of a boy like last year....aaack! Judges score 21/30. My score, 7/10. Monica & Jonathan were up next with the Foxtrot. Oh my goodness! It's a real good thing Monica is just using this as a substitute for the prom she never went to because she was in a Grand Slam, cuz I think she may see her last dance next week. She was so stiff and gangly. Judges score 15/30, my score 5/10. Marrissa & Tony did the ChaChaCha. First of all, in the bits they show before the dances of the dancers practicing and learning and all that filler which sometimes gets annoying... I wanted to either shake her or slap her Cher style ala Moonlight "SNAP OUT OF IT!" She was so hyper and over the top bubbly. I understand that was probably a huge bit nervousness, but SHEESH! This carried into the dance where she was kinda all over the place. I got exhausted watching her. The judges kinda felt this too. Their score 18/30. My score 5/10. Next was Priscilla & Louis doing the Foxtrot. WOW....I was shocked. She was GREAT! She did this death spiral thingy and she really looked great. I just wish she could smile properly. Judges loved 'em...24/30. My score 8/10. And then came Kristi & Mark, also doing the Foxtrot. C'mon, could she do a bad job. With her years of skating experience, she must have loads of dance training and any dance that would require elegance and good arm and leg extension, she'd surely be able to pull off nicely. YAYYYYYYYY, she did. She looked GREAT out there and everyone loved her! Judges score 27/30, my score 9/10. Finally Marlee was up last and did the the ChaChaCha. She was good, don't get me wrong, but there were a few awkward moments of a stiffness. hmmm Judges gave her a 22/30, my score 7/10. So the ladies are in the following order: Kristi, Priscilla, Marlee, Shannon, Marissa & Monica.

Next episode and then duh duh duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh...double elimination!

Out with TC4, in with DWTS!

OK, I've made an executive decision here. Instead of doing a weekly recap of Top Chef, I'm going to do one of Dancing with the Stars. I may make reference to TC, but it's easier to talk about the stars than the cheftestants that no one knows. The review of the first elimination round will be forthcoming very soon.

So what else is new? Earth Hour is tomorrow. The Hubs and I are planning to go out early to celebrate the booking of our trip to Peru by going to an authentic Peruvian restaurant not too far from us. Ya know, that's what I love about Chicago...one can find an authentic Peruvian restaurant, run by a Peruvian immigrant, so you know he's going to be serving the real thing, not just an Americanized version, like I think so many Chinese restaurants are. Where do you find something like that in Bumblehoot, Iowa? We'll be going out early enough to get home in time to turn off a lot of the things in the house that use electrical energy. I don't think I'll unplug the clock radio...too much of a pain to reset the time.

And then on Sunday, I'll be going out to Afternoon Tea with the ladies *said with pinky held high* at one of the posh downtown hotels. I'll let you know how that goes.

I was able to unload another book from my Bookins list...YAY! And I have two items coming to me, the book Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. I've been wanting to get this book for a long time. I've heard it's hilarious. And maybe it will help me be a better writer...LOL. I just had to include an image of the book cover because it cracks me up! I'm also getting a Spanish Level 1 (Learn in your Car). Well, we don't have a car, so I'm assuming this will be Spanish Level 1 (Learn in your cocina). It should be a hoot anyway!

Episode 2

Okay, so I know I'm a week behind...got a bit busy with my own top chef activities for Easter dinner and didn't get to watch TC4 until this week. To keep it short, the elimination challenge from Lincoln Park Zoo was fun to watch, having volunteered at LPZoo for over 10 years. The premise was that 5 teams of 3 cheftestants were named after 5 animals, lion, bear, vulture, penguin, and gorrilla and the teams had to prepare appetizers using foods that those animals would eat and they would have to cater to a fancy cocktail party for zoo patrons.

In the end the winner was the annoying Andrew, from the penguin team, who swore a lot in the first episode but didn't seem to be so obnoxious this episode...hmmmm. He made a ceviche and this glacier made out of yuzu (a Japanese fruit). Valerie, from the gorilla team, made some awful looking olive blinis that got soggy and was sent packing. I would have ditched either her or Nikki, from the bear team for making the "poo" looking stuffed mushrooms. I can't believe her team didn't tasted them before serving them. It seems a no-brainer to taste the food you are serving to anyone else, before you do so. Heck even I do that when I cook....duh!

For more reviews, visit the Top Chef website or read David Dust's blog.

Conserve some energy and read a book!!

Two things on my mind today....one I was reminded about in an email from a "family-member-by-choice", that Saturday, March 30th, my husband and I are going to observe Earth Hour, Chicago, from 8-9 pm. To all (yes, I know I have a mass audience out there...hehehe) naysayers who would say that by turning off the lights and using as little electrical power as possible, one can't make a difference, well then they really are missing the point. It's about making those small changes on a daily basis that make a difference and if you don't believe we, as humans are having an impact on our environment, then I just don't know what to say. Impact it possitvely by reducing your energy use. I know I'm far from perfect when it comes to the three R's (and I don't mean, Reading, Ritin', and 'Rithmatic), I'm talking about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but I think these kind of observances give us all pause to think about what we are doing....so TURN YOUR LIGHT OFF!

And while you have the light off, you might want to pick up a book. Yes, your eyes can handle reading by candlelight for an hour. Better yet, it would be cool to read by one of those old fashioned hurricane lanterns (hmmmm, not so sure about the kerosene though). But I digress (as ususal)....this is about books and reading. I was made aware of this great book swapping website called Bookins. The idea is that you offer up books for trade that are taking up way too much space on your bookshelves and in return you can replace them with books you want to read, but instead of paying full price, you pay one flat fee for any of the books in the Bookins database...$4.49. When someone wants a book you have, you just have to print off a US postal service label, wrap the package up, slap the label on, and pop it in any mailbox....no auctions, no dealing with the buyers directly, no going to a post office. It's so easy, you just wait for an email telling you that someone wants one of your books and you are off! The best thing is you know the book is going to someone who wants to read it. I joined the site yesterday...for FREE, I might add....put 23 books up on my trade list and by the end of the day THREE of them were requested. That was so cool! I was worried no one would want my books...LOL Anywhoo...if you are a reader, but don't want to keep buying books at full price, or even reduced price, check Bookins out. Another suggestion I'm making to readers out there is to check Amazon Marketplace for books. Yesterday I bought the book for my next book club meeting for 1 cent! Of course there were shipping costs of $3.99, but really can one camplain about spending $4.00 on a book. And then when I'm done with it...on the Bookins list it will go! I know some of you will say....go to the library. The fact of the matter is that some of the books we read for our book club are that readily available and I'm not going to traipse all over the city to find a book. *shrug*

Lastly for today...Dancing with the Stars.... Monica Seles, Penn Jillette, and Adam Carola are in my bottom three. There will be a double elimination...two of them NEED to go. And I just gotta say, I'm impressed with how well Priscilla Presley is doing. Her face has some strangeness of the Botox variety going on, but WOW, she's dancing great....and not "just for her age". Kristi Yamaguchi is my girl though and is at the top of the heap....go Kristi!!

Fontina Risotto Cakes with Chives

Yay! I'm posting the first of my recipe collection. I served these for Easter dinner yesterday along with lamb and mixed veggies and soup and these were a big hit. I'll definitely make these again. I got this recipe out of Bon Appétit magazine. I've slightly changed it so I don't think I can be accused of copyright infringement for reprinting it here. You'll notice I say FRESHLY grated cheese and FRESH chives. The first is there is a world of difference between freshly grated Parmesan cheese and that grated powdery stuff that you get in the pasta aisle....eww, that stuff just doesn't smell right. And as far as fresh herbs, well, if that isn't pointed out, one COULD make the mistake and use dried herbs and that would be a mistake. The rule of thumb is to use 3 times as much fresh herbs as you would dried herbs.

Ingredients
4-5 cups (about) chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
6 tablespoons FRESHLY grated or shaved Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/2 cup (packed) coarsely grated FRESH Fontina cheese
1/4 cup chopped FRESH parsley
3 tablespoons chopped FRESH chives
1 large egg yolk
2 large eggs
Canola oil (for frying)

Instructions
Bring 4 cups broth to simmer in small saucepan. Reduce heat to very low; cover and keep warm.

Heat olive oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine; stir until absorbed, about 30 seconds.
Add broth, 1/2 cup at a time, and simmer until rice is just tender and risotto is creamy, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more, and stirring often, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in 6 tablespoons Parmesan and butter. Season with salt (if you want, I didn't use salt though) and pepper. Spread risotto in a thin layer in a pan and cool completely in the refrigerator. Can be chilled overnight.

Beat 2 eggs in shallow bowl to blend. Place 1 cup panko in another shallow bowl.

Mix 1/2 cup panko, Fontina cheese, parsley, chopped chives, and 1 egg yolk into risotto. The risotto will be a bit more solid than when it was first made, but it will make the cakes stick together much better. Shape mixture into 1 1/4-inch balls; flatten to 2-inch rounds. Dip risotto cakes into beaten egg, then into panko to coat.

Pour enough canola oil into large skillet to coat bottom; heat oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sauté risotto cakes until crisp and brown, about 2 1/2 minutes per side. Either serve immediately or these can be made ahead of time and heated on a baking sheet in the oven on a low heat for 20 minutes.

grrrr Trader Joe's!

Trader Joe's is starting to get on my last nerve now. It seems everytime I go in there the product I'm looking for is "no longer carried". I went in there today for panko bread crumbs. Knowing that they make a panko-crusted ckicken breasts, I kinda thought they might carry the bread crumbs and besides...panko bread crumbs are not THAT unusual. But no, it seems that when a product is in the bottom 100 of their products, it gets rotated out of stock for something else. Apparently it's been the way they do things for over 50 years. Hmmm, I didn't know TJ had been around for 50 years. The chirpy (why are they all so chirpy anyway) TJ employee said that sometimes items get rotated back in because of demand but that these had alread been rotated back in once and he doesn't think they will be back. And then he just annoyed me by saying, it's all the products he loves too, so he felt my pain.... oi!

So off to Whole Foods I was....and yep they had organic panko bread crumbs. Organic...hmph...I don't think EVERYTHING needs to be organic. But they weren't a bad price........ for Whole Paycheck.

We are going to Peru!!!

After accumulating airmiles for the past few years, and working diligently to boost those miles over the past two months, my husband and I finally have enough miles to book our trip to Peru so that we only have to pay the taxes. We'll be going in our summer, their winter and will be there for Peru Independence Day at the end of July! I'm so excited about this. It will be the first time either of us have been south of the equator, in South America, in a totally different culture.

One question always comes up when we tell people of our plans, NO, we are NOT going to Machu Picchu, not because it's not an amazing site to see I'm quite sure, but we were looking to do something a bit less touristy and therefore a bit less expensive. Since the airfare is basically free, we only have to worry about accomodations, dining, and of course....SHOPPING! hehehe Ooooh, and I may have to bring an alpaca back with me. And from what I understand about less travelled places in Peru, staying and visiting is really inexpensive. The only thing we need to do is learn a bit of Spanish. I'm sure we won't have much difficulty getting around in Lima, but we won't be styaing there for long and the smaller towns may require a bit more communication skills. So, I'm going to taking a Spanish class meant for travellers and a good translation book will go a long way! OHMIGOSH! I'm so excited!