Paula Deen's Lot's O' Meat Lasagna

In case you haven't noticed, and not  intentionally, I've been on a kick lately. Trying to find some good old-fashioned, basic, go-to recipes. I love trying new recipes and different versions of our families favorites, but in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it's so nice to have a recipe you know you can depend on to give you great results every time. My latest quest ?Lasagna.

I have a few lasagna recipes I really like. The Pioneer Woman's recipe, this amazing version that I usually save for company or special occasions, and this fun mexican version. Although they are all delicious in different ways, I was still on the lookout for something new.

Then as luck would have it, when my friend Andrea and I were planning what to feed our boy's soccer team and some of their families at an upcoming tournament, she suggested a lasagna recipe her brother had e-mailed her. After reading over the ingredients, I had a feeling it was going to be good.

After tasting it, I had to agree, it was delicious. I loved the combination of both ground beef and sausage. The addition of ricotta as well as cottage cheese ? Let's just say it totally makes the lasagna. The soccer boys and their families devoured it. It's a keeper.

Lots O'Meat Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (the original recipe calls for ground chuck so do whatever you like best)
• 1 pound ground Italian sausage
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano *we don't like chunks of tomatoes so I puree this. Sometimes I add a little more if the sauce looks too dry)
• 2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
• 1 16 oz. container ricotta cheese
• 1 (5-ounce) package grated Parmigianno-Reggiano
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 9-12 oven-ready lasagna noodles (Barilla is my favorite. see cooks note at bottom)
• 2 (8-ounce) packages shredded mozzarella *

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large saucepan, combine ground chuck, sausage onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until meat is browned and crumbled; drain.

Return meat to pan and add oregano, basil, salt and pepper. If desired, puree tomatoes in food processor. Add tomatoes or tomato puree, tomato sauce and paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes.( If the sauce looks too dry, I add a little more of the tomato puree.)

In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese,ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, and eggs.

Spoon 1/4 of sauce into bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan. Place 3 uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Do not overlap noodles. Spread 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture over noodles, top with 1/4 of sauce and 1/3 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, ending with sauce, reserving 1/3 of mozzarella cheese.

Bake 45 minutes, covered in foil. Remove foil, top with remaining cheese and bake 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

**Cooks Notes 


If you use Barilla brand of oven ready lasagna noodles, you will need to use 12 noodles because they are fatter and shorter. When I halved the recipe for 8x8 pan I used about 6 noodles.


I  never use pre-grated cheese. They use a substance on it to keep it from clumping which keeps it from melting as nicely as freshly grated cheese.

Recipe Source: adapted from Paula Deen
Posted by: Sallie

Jen's Shredded Beef Enchiladas

If you follow this blog you know we're huge fans of Mexican Food so when I heard my friend Jen had an enchilada recipe that used shredded beef I was totally on board.

Although you'll need to plan ahead (the beef needs to cook for 10-12 hours) your trusty crock pot will easily cook your roast while you sleep.

Filled with seasoned shredded beef, delicious spices and lots of cheese these enchiladas were delicious.  My youngest daughter was sitting at the counter stealing bites of meat as fast as she could and was quite upset when I cut off her supply. I can't wait to try the shredded beef in tacos, burritos, and taqutios.

*Plan ahead. The roast needs to cook for 11-12 hours*

Jen's Shredded Beef Enchiladas
adapted slightly from Jen Leach's recipe


2-3 lb. beef chuck roast

1 can beef broth

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce (if  you use a 3 lb. roast you can add a little more if it seems too dry.)

3/4 tsp. paprika

3/4 tsp. oregano

1 1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 generous spoon full of sour cream

8 oz. each  monterey jack and cheddar cheese, grated

1 large  can green enchilada sauce

12-18 flour tortillas



Salt and pepper the roast. Cook in crock pot with beef broth and garlic for 11-12 hrs. The longer it cooks the easier to shred. (You can do this overnight and just put shredded meat in the fridge until you're ready to make your enchiladas.)Put warm (or if cold warm it up) shredded beef in pan with worchestershire sauce, tomato sauce, paprika, oregano, chili powder, cumin, black pepper and sour cream until warm. Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Pour just enough enchilada sauce in the bottom to coat the bottom of pan. Fill each tortilla with meat mixture and cheese.Roll tortillas and place seam side down in pan.Pour remaining enchilada sauce to cover enchiladas and the sprinkle with remaining cheese. bake in 350 degree oven for 20 min. Serve with sour cream and salsa. Makes abt 18 enchiladas.


*The original recipe said it made 12 enchiladas but when I made them I got 18. (My roast was 3 lbs). I  also used more sauce (the original called for 10 oz. ) so just cover tortillas to your liking.

Posted by: Sallie

Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

Last weekend I went and saw Julie and Julia with my friends Sarah and Christin. It was a great movie and made me want to go home and whip up some yummy french food!

We just started on our nursery, and we needed some help moving furniture around, so I thought I could bribe Vince's friends Frank and Steve to come over and help if I made them dinner. So, I decided to make Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon.

It was definitely a Sunday meal because I started it at 2:00pm and it wasn't finished until 6:30pm. But, other than being lengthy, the recipe was not difficult and it was definitely worth it! The dish was delicious. The meat was so tender and the brown braised onions and buttered mushrooms added such a rich flavor to the dish. Between the 4 of us, we finished off almost all of it.

I served it with mashed potatoes and some beer bread. The sauce from the dish makes a very good gravy.

Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

From "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck (Alfred A. Knopf, 1961)

Ingredients
One 6-ounce piece of chunk bacon
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy)
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 teaspoon thyme
A crumbled bay leaf
18 to 24 white onions, small
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)
1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered

Cooking Directions
Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.

Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust).

Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered.
Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.
Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet. Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly. Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet.
Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.

Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms. Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.
Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top. Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.

Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.

Posted By: Julia

Round Steak with Black Beans

I promised myself that after coming back from vacation I would try to use up a lot of the food that was piling up in my freezer. I had some round steak and found this recipe from Southern Food. It cooks in the crock pot which makes it super easy and the only work required is dicing an onion and measuring spices. Everything else comes from a can. It was really good. The soup gave it a little creaminess and the kick from the green chilies was really good. The meat turned out so tender! The only change I would make next time is to just leave the round steak in serving portions. I think it would make a nicer presentation and cubing it just wasn't necessary. We had this over mashed potatoes but you could also use rice. This recipe can be easily adapted. I think pork chops would taste just as delicious and if you don't like spicy food you could just use regular diced tomatoes.

Round Steak With Black Beans

Southern Food

1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies 10 oz. or 1 1/2 cups salsa

1 10 1/2 oz can cream of mushroom soup

1 16 oz. can black beans, drained

1 large onion, diced

1/4 tsp. each cumin, chili powder, oregano, and garlic powder

1 1/2 -2 lbs. round steak (you can either cube this or just leave in normal portion sizes)

Preparation: Combine all ingredients in the crock pot. (I did the sauce first and then added the meat last). Mix well. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or 4 to 5 hours on high. Serve over hot rice or mashed potatoes. Makes 4-6 servings.

Weekend Grilling

I was watching the Ask Aida show in Food Network this morning as I was running on the treadmill at the gym, and the recipe looked so good, I thought I'd try it for dinner. Let me tell you, I actually got an applause from my husband when he finished eating! It was that good! I love sauces and I love dipping things into sauce. This recipe called for a limed sour cream sauce that was perfect to dip the grilled veggies and the steak in. Yum!

Grilled Flank Steak with Ginger Marinade

courtesy of Aida Mollenkamp

Ingredients:
1 (5-inch) piece ginger, sliced thinly
1/4 cup sesame oil
8 medium garlic cloves, smashed
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds flank steak, trimmed of fat and sinew

Directions:
In a nonreactive dish or large resealable plastic bag, combine all ingredients except steak and mix thoroughly. Add steak and turn to thoroughly coat. Cover dish or close bag and allow to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes. (If you are making ahead, cover, and place in refrigerator. Can be marinated up to 24 hours in refrigerator.)

Once steak has marinated, remove from refrigerator and bring to room temperature for at least 15 minutes. Heat a lightly oiled grill pan to medium-high heat. When pan is heated, remove steak from marinade, shake off excess, add to pan and cook for about 6 to 8 minutes per side for medium rare.

Transfer to a cutting board, season with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Slice thinly across the grain and serve.

Grilled Onions and Mushrooms with Limed Sour Cream

courtesy of Aida Mollenkamp

Ingredients:
1 cup plain sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 medium red onion, cut into 8 wedges
3 large portobello mushrooms, cut into 1-inch slices
Vegetable oil, for brushing the vegetables

Directions:
Combine sour cream, juice, zest, salt and pepper in a medium nonreactive bowl. Store, covered in refrigerator until ready to use.

Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, brush onions and mushrooms with oil and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

When grill pan is heated, add onions cut side down and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add mushrooms and grill until charred and soft, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately with sour cream sauce.

Posted By: Julia

3 Envelope Roast

After working all day and then fitting in a gym session, the last thing I want to do is come home and cook a meal. That is why I love my crock pot. There's nothing better then walking in the door from a long day, starving, and smelling dinner already cooked! This recipe is so easy and it was absolutely delicious. The sauce made "gravy" that would be perfect with some mashed potatoes on the side.

3 Envelope Roast
adapted from bigoven.com

Ingredients:
3 pound beef roast such as chuck roast
1 envelope of dry Italian salad dressing mix
1 envelope of dry ranch salad dressing mix
1 envelope of dry brown gravy mix
2 cups water

Instructions :
Put the water in a measuring cup that is larger then the amount of water you are using. Now add and mix all three envelopes of dry salad dressings to the water. Mix until blended completely.
Brown the roast (if desired). Add the meat to your cooker. Pour the water, salad dressing mixture over the roast. In the slow cooker cook it on high for about 4 hours on low about 8 hours.

Posted By: Julia

Jack Cheese Burgers with Tomato Avocado Salsa on Ciabatta Rolls

Don't let the fancy name scare you. These are just yummy cheese burgers topped with some guacamole salsa. I wanted to do something easy but nicer than just plain old burgers. I spotted this recipe in a book I checked out from the library. These burgers were really good. A hamburger pattie with grated cheese throughout and topped with a tomato avacado salsa. I took the seeds out of the jalepeno and the salsa was very mild. Next time I will leave some in because I like things spicy. I served them on Ciabatta Rolls instead of hamburger buns. I was going to put bacon on them too, but in my rush forgot. The only other thing I would change is to add some garlic powder to the hamburger patties next time.

Jack Cheese Burgers with Tomato-Avocado Salsa

from the Perfect Recipe

Burgers:

1 1/4 lbs. 100 % ground chuck

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

3/4 c. grated Monterey Jack Cheese

Tomato-Avocado Salsa

1 small avocado, peeled and pitted

1 small ripe tomato, cut into very small dice

1 tbsp. minced scallion

1 tsp. finely minced jalepeno pepper (if you don't like it too spicy remove seeds)

1 1/2 tsp. minced cilantro leaves

1 tbsp. fresh lime juice

Salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Hamburger Buns or Ciabatta Rolls

Directions for hamburgers:

Place ground chuck in large bowl and break up with fingers to increase surface area for seasoning. Sprinkle salt and pepper over meat and toss lightly with hands to distribute seasoning. Divide meat into 4 equal portions (5 oz. each). With cupped hands, toss portion of meat back and forth to form a loose ball. Pat lightly to flatten to a 1 in. thick burger, 3 1/2-4 inches across, using your fingertips to create a pocketed, textured surface. Repeat with remaining meat. Makes 4 patties.

Directions for Tomato-Avocado Salsa:

Mash avocado with a fork until chuncky. Add tomato, scallion, jalepeno, cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Top each hamburger with a portion Add any other garnishes you would like and serve.

Classic Meatloaf

My husband requested meatloaf this week which we hadn't had in quite awhile. I hate meatloaf that tastes like a big hamburger and remembered trying and really liking Martha Stewart's Classic  Meatloaf. It proved to be just as good the second time around. The ingredients are pretty standard items that are easy to keep on hand and my whole family loves it. It's now my go to meatloaf recipe. 

I think the key is the combination of both ground beef and ground pork which adds flavor and moisture. The ketchup glaze on the top adds a touch of sweetness and tang. Shaping the meatloaf and cooking it on a wire rack makes for even cooking and keeps the grease from pooling at the bottom of the meatloaf. (See tip at bottom.)

I usually serve this with mashed potatoes and a veggie like corn or green beans. If I'm feeling extra ambitious I'll throw in some homemade rolls.

Classic Meatloaf

Ingredients:
3 slices white sandwich bread
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 medium onion, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg
1/2 cup ketchup
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Place bread in food processor; pulse until fine crumbs form. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in milk. Set aside, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine beef, pork, onion, garlic, egg, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add bread-milk mixture, and mix very gently with a fork (do not overmix).
Place meat mixture on prepared baking sheet, and form into a loaf about 9 inches long and 4 to 5 inches wide.
Bake, brushing twice with remaining 1/4 cup ketchup during baking, until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees, 45 to 55 minutes. Let meatloaf rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Serves 6.

Tip: To keep your meatloaf from sitting in grease, take a small wire cooking rack and wrap with aluminum foil. Poke hole periodically in the foil and bake meatloaf on top of foil. (put cooking spray on the foil. ) This allows the grease to drain to the bottom of the pan.

Posted by: Sallie