Mexican Lasagna

If you haven't proclaimed your opinion in my little poll then please scroll down to the next entry and do so! Thanks!

Recently I made a little dish that I came up with when I first started getting interested in cooking. I like to call it Mexican Lasagna and we both really enjoy it. This is a really easy recipe to toss together, and would also freeze well if you're looking for something you can make ahead of time.

Mexican Lasagna
Recipe from me; Serves 6-8












12 corn tortillas
1 lb. ground beef
1 packet taco seasonings
1 bag frozen Mexican mixed veggies
1 jar prepared salsa
2 cups shredded cheese

• Brown the ground beef in a skillet; drain fat, return to skillet and cook with taco seasonings according to packet instructions. Drain liquid from the meat, stir in frozen veggies and let warm over low heat.
• While meat/veggie mixture warms layer bottom of a 9" x 13" pan with corn tortillas. Top with layer of meat/veggie mixture, then layer of salsa, and layer of cheese. Repeat finishing with a layer of tortillas and top with cheese.
• Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes, till warmed through and cheese is melted.

My notes: The frozen veggie mix I use has black beans, corn, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper. You could easily toss some canned beans, frozen corn, and chopped onion together and use if you can't find a frozen mix. This time I made a half-batch of lasagna because I had a half pound of ground beef I needed to use, and so we wouldn't have as much leftover. The smaller pans makes for a lot more overlap with the tortillas, when you make a full pan the layers won't be as thick as pictured above. I needed to use up my tortillas though, so I didn't bother with trimming to cut back on the overlap. As for the cheese, I have used just cheddar, cheddar & jack, and a mixture of cheddar & jack and pepper jack. All are great. :)

Twice As Nice

Since I am now officially on Christmas Vacation (YES!!!) I thought I would go ahead and post about tonight's dinner. Tomorrow will be filled with laundry, gift wrapping, and more cooking, so best to get it done before I forget. Tonight's meal is another one made in duplicate for the new mommy & daddy. For some reason last night I kept dreaming about this dish. That has never happened to me before, but I actually had several dreams through the course of the night that involved Spinach Lasagna. Every time I awoke from a dream I'd think to myself, "Oh yeah, I'm making Spinach Lasagna tomorrow night." When I got up this morning it was to the point that I was almost feeling hesitant about the evening's meal. It seemed like dreaming about lasagna couldn't be a good thing. Opposite to all foreboding the meal came together very easily. I was a little low on cheese, so I put together the dish for the freezer first. Wouldn't want to stiff the new parents on mozzarella. I had enough cheese in the end, as you know lasagna is so overly cheesy it wasn't a real problem being just a smidge low on it. This was really so easy I'm wondering why I hadn't been making two at a time all along, and saving myself twice the effort for two meals. Obviously this is isn't the first time that I've posted about the Spinach Lasagna, but this being such a fast, easy and healthy recipe I figured it definitely worth re-posting at this most hectic and indulgent time of year.

Spinach Lasagna
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 8












4 cups (32 oz.) whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
Salt and fresh ground pepper
2 10 oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess moisture
6 cups store-bought or homemade tomato sauce
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
1 lb. (4 cups) fontina cheese, shredded

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese, eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add spinach, and stir well to combine.
• Spread a small bit of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish or dishes. Arrange a layer of lasagna noodles on top. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the noodles, followed by 1/3 of the remaining sauce; sprinkle with 1/3 of the grated cheese. Repeat to make two more layers, ending with cheese. If freezing, cover tightly with plastic wrap. Before baking, defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
• Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; continue baking until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Let cool slightly before serving.

My notes: I always use part-skim ricotta, mozzarella in place of the fontina, and top it off with a little parmesan for good measure. I've been using aluminum 8" square pans for all the freezer goodies I've been packing, and with this recipe it was a little shallow, and a little weak. If using one of these yourself to freeze your second batch then I would suggest that you go a little thinner with your sauce. In my written directions to the couple I also suggested putting it on a baking sheet to cook, in case of any spill over. It was also a little harder to wrap the plastic wrap all the way around the pan, since it was very full and a little weighty, but I managed. Just an fyi to be careful. Or use something better than a slightly shallow aluminum pan, ha. Also, each 8" pan should serve four, but I can easily get 6 servings out of it.

Roasted Eggplant Lasagna

So, last week I was originally planning on making this Eggplant Ricotta Bake. When I started my prep work I realized that one of my eggplants wasn't good. Down an eggplant I wasn't quite sure what to do. Perusing my pantry I saw half a package of no-bake lasagna noodles and decided that I would use those as a substitute. It's not any stroke of genius, but I was quite proud of myself. I had to muster a lot of energy to get myself into the kitchen in the first place, and I tend to give up easily. In this case I didn't, and I'm glad because the results were pretty good.

Roasted Eggplant Lasagna
Based on Everyday Food recipe; Serves 4












1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise 3/4" thick
6 no-bake lasagna noodles
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 15 oz. part-skim ricotta cheese
3 large eggs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons oregano
2 cups marinara or tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
olive oil

• Preheat oven to 450°. Arrange eggplant slices in a single layer on rimmed baking sheet. Brush lightly on both sides with oil; season with salt and pepper. Roast until eggplant is tender and golden, turning halfway through, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta, eggs, ½ cup Parmesan, oregano, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoons pepper. Brush an 8-inch square baking dish with oil.
• Place thin layer of tomato sauce in bottom of dish. Place two lasagna noodles on top, spread with layer of ricotta mixture, and two slices of roasted eggplant. Layer sauce on top of eggplant and repeat layers, ending with last of ricotta mixture. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan and 1/2 cup mozzarella across top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, removing foil for last 5. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
  

My notes: I actually used less Parmesan than in the recipe because, for the 3rd time that week, I had underestimated how much of an ingredient I had. Still tasted great, and I'm sure will be even better next time with the full amount.

Strong To The Finish

Popeye would be proud. Last night I made Spinach Lasagna. Josh has been a fan of this recipe for a while. I had forgotten how easy it actually is, especially when I put the spinach to drain in the fridge overnight. I rig a little set up with a bowl, a sifter, some plastic wrap, and another bowl and then by the time I get home from work all it needs is a little extra pressing and I'm rid of most of the excess moisture. This is also a great go-to recipe when you're entertaining vegetarians for dinner and don't have a clue what to serve. Easy and basic enough that it should appeal to everyone at the table and it can be assembled ahead of time and popped in the oven at the right moment. This is a Martha Stewart recipe and one of the first things I made when we started trying to eat healthier. Martha calls it Vegetable Lasagna, but considering the only vegetable in it is the spinach I think that name is a little misleading. Oh, and I'm fully aware my picture probably isn't all that appetizing, but have you ever tried to take a fabulous picture of lasagna? Even Martha's picture isn't all that pretty to me.

Spinach Lasagna
Recipe from Martha Stewart; Serves 8
4 cups (32 oz.) whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
Salt and fresh ground pepper
2 10 oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess moisture
6 cups store-bought or homemade tomato sauce
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
1 lb. (4 cups) fontina cheese, shredded

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese, eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add spinach, and stir well to combine.
• Spread a small bit of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish or dishes. Arrange a layer of lasagna noodles on top. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the noodles, followed by 1/3 of the remaining sauce; sprinkle with 1/3 of the grated cheese. Repeat to make two more layers, ending with cheese. If freezing, cover tightly with plastic wrap. Before baking, defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
• Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; continue baking until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Let cool slightly before serving.

My notes: I typically halve this recipe. Their portion sizes are kind of large, we usually get more than 4 servings out of one 8" x 8" pan, so a 9" x 13" is really just too much for the two of us. I use part-skim ricotta instead of whole, and buy the 15 oz. container when halving the recipe. That's technically an ounce short of half, but are we going to quibble over tiny details? I almost always use Hunt's canned tomato sauce because it's often on sale for $1. I also use shredded mozzarella cheese instead of fontina. It's easier to find and I in fact often need it for making pizza so it's just easier to buy one cheese instead of two. On the top layer I usually sprinkle some grated parmesan along with the mozzarella cause the hubby loves his parm.

Oh, and a note on draining my spinach. I take one bowl, and put my fine-mesh sifter over it. My sifter has little pegs to help it sit atop a bowl, which is nifty. Put the spinach in the sifter, put a layer of plastic wrap over it, and then put a bowl on top to help press down the spinach. Then I just leave it in the fridge overnight until I get home from work and let gravity do most of the work for me. I'm sure I'm not the first person to do this, but it's a big part of making this recipe a quick one, so I thought I'd explain it.

Zucchini Lasagna

Monday night I made a Zucchini Lasagna from one of my issues of Everyday Food. I served it with a salad, which I topped with the vinaigrette from this weekend's episode of Real Simple. The vinaigrette was pretty good, although I will probably use less olive oil next time I make it. Was the lasagna good? Yes. Photogenic? Absolutely not. The pic below is from the Martha Stewart website.

Zucchini Lasagna
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4
Olive oil for baking dish
8 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 15 ounce container part-skim ricotta cheese
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 medium zucchini (8 ounces each), halved lengthwise then sliced thinly crosswise
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
6 no-boil lasagna noodles
2 ounces (1/2 cup) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly oil 8-inch square baking dish; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese and ricotta; season with salt and pepper. In another medium bowl, combine zucchini, garlic, and oregano; season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine.
• Spread 1/3 zucchini mixture in prepared baking dish; top with two lasagna noodles, then 1/3 ricotta mixture. Repeat twice with remaining zucchini mixture, noodles, and ricotta mixture, finishing with the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella.
• Cover baking dish with aluminum foil; bake until bubbly and noodles are tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove foil; bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes more. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

My notes: This recipe was pretty good and very easy. Josh gladly ate seconds, and I happily ate leftovers for lunch yesterday. If you were serving this with more than just a salad you could easily feed more than the 4 it claims to serve. I split it into 6 well-portioned servings and with my large salad didn't feel like I'd been short-changed in the dinner department. All the zucchinis at the store were very small, so I went by weight instead of quantity, gathering 4 zucchinis that totaled 16 ounces. It seemed like maybe I was still a bit skimpy on zucchini, but I definitely could have cut my slices thinner, which probably would have helped. Anyway, assembly of this dish is pretty quick, and baking time isn't too bad either. We both felt like perhaps it was missing something. I could have used more salt & pepper in seasoning the cheese mixture, and I think it could have used more garlic. Josh felt that the Parmesan cheese he added helped, so I might add all of these things next time I make it. You could also add a tomato sauce for a change-up that would be delicious.