Week 31 - Easy Can be Darn Good

Oh my goodness. I made this recipe thinking it would be a quick and hopefully OK lasagna but it turned out to be a quick and FANTASTIC lasagna. I have 0 complaints about this recipe - even Brian thought it ranked pretty high on his list of all-time good lasagnas.

I would maybe add sausage next time just to try it, but it's totally delicious on its own and is an amazing, quick crowd-pleaser.

EASY CHEESE LASAGNA

Source: The Best 30-Minute Recipe

1 1/4 C. ricotta cheese - 3/4 C. grated parmesan cheese - 1/4 C. minced fresh basil - 2 large egg yolks - Salt and pepper - 3 C. jarred tomato sauce - 8 no-boil lasagna noodles - 2 C. shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees.

2. Mix ricotta, 1/2 cup of parmesan, basil, egg yolks, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper together until well combined.

3. Spread 1/2 cup of tomato sauce over bottom of 8x8-inch baking dish. Place 2 noodles on top of sauce. Spread 1/4 cup ricotta mixture evenly over each noodle. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella over noodles, then top with 1/2 cup more sauce. Repeat this layering twice more. For final layer, lay remaining 2 noodles on top and cover completely with remaining 1 cup sauce.

4. Wrap dish tightly with plastic wrap and microwave on high power until noodles are soft and tender when poked using fork, 10-14 minutes.

5. Remove plastic wrap and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup parmesan and remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella over top. Bake until cheese is melted and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Let lasagna stand for several minutes before serving.

Week 30 - Stickin With the Grill

Since it was too blazing hot last week to even think about turning on the oven, we stuck with the grill theme and again Brian and I really made this one together.

I was genuinely surprised at how tasty and simple these were. "Delightful" is not a word I always associate with foods that you form into a log before cooking, but these were great. They would be a really new and different surprise if you were having a small barbecue party with friends, but probably wouldn't be much as leftovers.

We also threw on some of Kevin's grilled red potatoes a la Johnny's and they came out really well, too, so this was quite the impressive meal for our friend Joey who just happened to be passing through town. He's so lucky.

PERSIAN CHICKEN SKEWERS

Source: The Sunset Grill

1 lb. ground chicken - 6 T. fine dried bread crumbs - 1 egg yolk - 2 T. minced onion - 1/2 tsp. ground dried turmeric - About 1/4 tsp. salt

1. In a bowl, mix the chicken, bread crumbs, egg yolk, onion, turmeric and salt. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.

2. Divide the chicken mixture into 4 equal portions. Dipping your hands frequently in water to keep the mixture from sticking, pat each portion around a flat metal skewer to form a log 1 inch thick and about 7 inches long. Set aside.

3. Prepare a grill for cooking over high heat. one skewer at a time, lay the chicken on the grill rack and rotate quickly to firm up the surface of the meat. Rotate the skewers every 2 to 3 minutes until the meat is lightly browned and firm at the skewer, about 10 minutes total.

4. Cut or push the meat off the skewers. Season to taste with salt and serve immediately.

Week 29 - I Want My Baby Back...

More on more these recipes are becoming mine AND Brian's which is making this project even more fun. On this one I did all of the prep work and he worked the grill like a pro. Neither of us have ever cooked ribs before so it was a neat undertaking.

The marinade had a lot of ingredients (many of which we didn't have) so this cost about $40 for the whole meal, but maybe I'm the only one without hoisin sauce and Asian chili-garlic sauce in my pantry. The funnest ingredient to find was lemongrass - who would've guessed that it's kept between the bananas and the grapefruit. And it's an amazing ingredient, too, because the flavor came through SO strong in the marinade even though there was only 1 stalk in there (we halved this one).

In the end these were very filling and had a flavor that was a nice change from all the traditional barbecue sauces I'm used to on ribs and such. Kind of a fun and festive twist on such a classic grill food.

FIJIAN-STYLE BARBECUED RIBS

Source: The Sunset Grill

6 lbs. baby back ribs - 3 T. sesame seeds - Salt - 2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

South Pacific Marinade: 2 stalks fresh lemon grass - 1 can coconut milk - 1/2 C. coarsely chopped fresh cilantro - 1/2 C. firmly packed brown sugar - 1/3 C. soy sauce - 1/4 C. coarsely chopped shallots - 2 T. chopped garlic - 2 T. chopped fresh ginger - 2 T. toasted sesame oil - 2 T. hoisin sauce - 2 T. Asian chili-garlic sauce

1. Make the marinade. Pull of and discard the tough outer layers from the stalks of lemon grass. Trim and discard the stem ends and coarse tops. Cut the tender stalks into chunks. In a food processor or blender, combine the lemon grass and the remaining marinade ingredients. Puree until smooth and set aside.

2. Rinse the ribs and pat dry. Trim and discard any excess fat. Put the ribs and marinade in a large roasting pan and mix to coat. Cover and chill at least 2 hours or up to 1 day, turning the ribs occasionally.

3. Prepare a grill for cooking over indirect heat. First, oil the grill rack. If using a gas grill, turn all burners to high and close the lid. When the temperature inside reaches 350 to 400, lift the lid, turn off one of the burners and lower the burner(s) to medium-high. Place a drip pan under the turned-off burner - this is the indirect heat area.

4. Set the oiled grill rack in place. Lift the ribs from the pan and reserve the marinade. Lay the meat on the grill over the drip pan and cover the barbecue. Turn the ribs as needed until well browned on each side, about 40 minutes total.

5. Meanwhile, toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. Bring the reserved marinade to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pour into a bowl.

6. Transfer the ribs to a platter. Sprinkle with the cilantro and sesame seeds and serve with the sauce alongside.

Week 28 - Because Kevin Demanded It

This week was a cool opportunity to cook for my family because Kevin and the fam were coming out from Boston and he strongly suggested that I should make dinner for everyone. It was actually a great opportunity to use my awesome Red Rock Ranch Cookbook because it's got great, easy meals for groups of people.

In choosing the recipe I was working under 2 important facts: 1) Kevin loves Mexican food and doesn't get good Mexican in Boston; and 2) my grandma's house has a reasonable supply of spices, etc, but is not somewhere that I want to leave left over ingredients like milk or fresh veggies cause nobodies there to eat them! So I went with a Mexican-ish recipe that would be easy to shop for and leave few leftover ingredients.

Everyone seemed really happy with this casserole - even Grandma AND Timmy - so I was very happy about that. And, depending on your group, it would be an easy one to throw in a few more spices, especially some cayenne or something else to give it more kick. I suppose you could also use hot instead of mild enchilada sauce, too... But overall it was simple and satisfying and a will be a great addition to my potluck arsenal.

ENCHILADA SQUARE

Source: The Red Rock Ranch Cookbook

1 lb. ground beef - 1/4 c. onions, chopped - 4 eggs - 1 8-oz. tomato sauce - 1 5 1/2-oz. evaporated milk - 1 C. enchilada sauce - 1/3 C. sliced ripe olives - 2 C. corn chips - 1 C. shredded cheese

Cook ground beef and onions together. Spread into a 10x6x2 dish. Beat eggs, tomato sauce, milk and enchilada sauce together. Pour mixture over the meat. Sprinkle with olives and cheese and chips. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle with more cheese and serve.

Week 27 - It Really Does Have Carrots

A couple weeks ago I had a yearning to make a carrot cake. I wasn't really craving eating one, I just wanted to see how they were made. So I made one.

Carrot cake proved much simpler than I expected. AND, to my surprise, it really has carrots in it (I've only ever made them from a box). Thanks to my trusty food processor, grating the carrots was a snap so the whole cake was pleasantly quick and easy. This recipe made enough for 2 little round cakes (I stacked them to make a double-layer cake) and a handful of cupcakes.

The cake part of this is great but I didn't care for the frosting at all. It was bland and too buttery for me. So if you make this I would find another frosting recipe or go with store-bought because it is just so stinkin easy and guaranteed delicious.

MOM'S CARROT CAKE

Source: A Taste of Oregon

2 C. sugar - 4 eggs - 1 C. cooking oil - 2 C. flour - 2 tsp. baking soda - 2 tsp. cinnamon - 1 tsp. salt - 2 tsp. vanilla - 3 C. grated carrots - 1/2 C. chopped nuts - 1/2 C. raisins

Mix together sugar and eggs; add the oil and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and beat again. Add the vanilla, carrots, nuts and raising to mixture and mix well. Pour mixture into three 9-inch greased cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool and then frost.

FROSTING: 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened - 1/2 C. butter or margarine - 2 C. powdered sugar - Lemon juice or milk as needed - 1 C. chopped nuts

Mix together cream cheese, margarine and powdered sugar. If too stiff, add lemon juice or milk until spreading consistency is obtained. Add nuts to the mixture and frost cake.

Week 26-ish - Party in My Mouth

So on the real week 26 I couldn't manage a night to actually cook (we had a barbecue to get ready for, after all) so I did it on week 27. And even though I did it 4 days ago, I'm just now getting around to posting. Since I don't think anyone follows this too religiously, I'm not worried.

This recipe was AWESOME. Totally delicious. This is one of my favorite flavor combinations and for once it was just as good at home as at a restaurant or cafe. I was totally floored at how easy pesto was and I'm excited to find more uses for it. Later in the week we even re-used it along with the mozzarella and red roasted peppers on burgers and it made them delicious, too.

I'm not going to reprint the whole recipe as it is written because we (Beej and I, we've been doing a lot of these together recently and for this one he prepped and grilled the veggies) found a couple things in it ridiculous. First, the say cut the veggies crosswise into thick slices but doing that makes them not even come close to fitting on a baguette and makes the sandwich at 2 inches tall plus the height of the bread, thus nearly inedible. So we did stick-shaped veggies and they worked great. Second, the real recipe tells you exactly how to stack the items ("...2 slices of eggplant, 2 slices of zucchini,..." etc) which just seems unnecessary. Of course if you want it exactly as is, just check out foodnetwork.com.

GRILLED VEGETABLE PANINI

Source: www.foodnetwork.com

1/4 C. olive oil - 1 med. to large regular eggplant - 2 zucchini - 1 small red onion, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices - Salt and pepper - Baguettes (or ciabatta or any kind of fun sandwich bread) - 1/2 C. Basil Pesto (see below) - 8 oz. fresh water-packed mozzarella cheese, sliced - 2 tomatoes, sliced - 1/2 C. roasted red peppers

Heat a grill pan (we used cast iron skillet and it was fine) over medium-high heat. Drizzle oil over the eggplant, zucchini and onion slices, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Working in batches, grill the 3 veggies until they are tender and grill marks appear, about 4 minutes per side. Cool completely. Spread basil pesto on both sides of baguette and stack veggies into baguette. (Sandwiches can be made 4 hours ahead. Wrap well with plastic and refrigerate.)

Basil Pesto: 2 C. fresh basil leaves - 1/4 C. toasted pine nuts - 2 garlic cloves, peeled - 1/2 tsp. salt - 1/4 tsp. pepper - 1/3 C. (about) extra-virgin olive oil - 1/2 C. grated Parmesan

In a blender, pulse the basil, pine nuts, garlic 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until finely chopped. With the blender still running, gradually add enough oil o form a smooth and thick consistency. Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl and stir in 1/2 cup of cheese. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Week 25 - Not as Good as Mom's

This summer is proving busy, busy, busy so I needed something quick and simple that would give us lunch for a couple days. Mac and cheese it is.

I don't know why I thought this could be as good as mom's... it wasn't. It was good, just didn't have the classic cheesy taste that I'm used to. As nervous as I was about the mustard and tabasco, I now can't determine their purpose. I couldn't really taste them.

All in all it was OK. I liked it a little better as leftovers. But it served it's purpose - it was definitely quick and simple so I've got no complaints.

SKILLET MACARONI AND CHEESE

Source: The Best 30-Minute Recipe

3 1/2 C. water, plus more as needed - 1, 12-oz. can evaporated milk - 12 oz. elbow macaroni - Salt and pepper - 1 tsp. cornstarch - 1/2 tsp. dry mustard - 1/4 tsp. Tabasco - 2 C. shredded cheddar cheese - 2 C. shredded Monterey Jack cheese - 3 T. unsalted butter

1. Bring 3 1/2 cups water, 1 cup of evaporated milk, macaroni and 1/2 teaspoon salt to simmer in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat, stirring often, until macaroni is tender, 8-10 minutes.

2. Whisk remaining 1/2 cup evaporated milk, cornstarch, mustard and Tabasco together, then stir into skillet. Continue to simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

3. Off heat, stir in cheeses, one handful at a time, adding additional water as needed to adjust sauce consistency. Stir in butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.