Tomorrow I am making my friend Christine's Lasagna recipe. I like how she uses ground beef and sausage. I recently heard a group of women talking about lasagna and I was shocked at how many said they never make it because it's so much work. I totally disagree. It's only a couple steps past making spaghetti which most people consider really simple. Now with the no boil noodles, it's even easier to do lasagna. I know some people even use regular noodles (unboiled). The trick is to make sure the noodles are completely covered in the sauce. At any rate, I'm making this for my home group so everyone else will bring the sides. I'm also planning to make this Creamy Berry Pie sometime this week.
Christine's Lasagna
Christine
Makes one LG 3 QT Dish
1 lb ground beef
3/4 lb bulk Italian pork sausage (Mild, Hot, or Sweet..out of casing)
3 cans (8oz each) tomato sauce,
2 8oz cans water
2 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
1 palm full chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
1 carton (16 oz) ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb lasagna noodles, cooked and drained (or one box no-boil)
2 cups Italian Blend Cheese (Sargento)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1) In a large skillet, cook beef and sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, seasoning, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Adjust salt and pepper to suit your taste.
2) In a large bowl, combine the egg and parsley. Stir in the ricotta and Parmesan. Add salt and pepper if desired. Spread 1 cup of meat sauce in lasagne pan sprayed with Pam.
3) Layer with four noodles, spoon sauce to cover noodles, top with dollups of ricotta cheese, top with 1 cup Italian cheese blend. Repeat. Finish with final layer of noodles and sauce, top with 2 cups mozzarella.
4) Cover (if using no boil) and bake at 375 deg F for 50 minutes. Uncover; bake 20 minutes longer or until heated through. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting. If not using no boil, bake uncovered about an hour.
Creamy Berry Pie
Katie (Katiedid) from Family Circle
MAKES 12 SERVINGS.
CRUST
6 T unsalted butter
12 graham cracker boards, finely crushed
1 T sugar
Pinch of Salt
FILLING AND BERRIES
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3 T water
8 oz pkg cream cheese
8 oz container sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup strawberry jelly
6 oz pkg raspberries
1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries, quartered
1/2 oz white chocolate
1 tsp vegetable oil
CRUST---Melt butter in microwave on high 20 seconds. In a bowl, stir cracker crumbs, sugar and salt. Add butter, stir until crumbs are moistened. Press up sides and into bottom of 9 inch pie plate. Refrigerate. FILLING---In a bowl, sprinkle gelatin over water. Let stand 3 min. In a 2nd bowl, cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Transfer softened gelatin to microwave, heat 30 seconds on high. Stir until smooth. Pour gelatin into cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth. Pour into crust. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 3 hours. MELT jelly in microwave on high 10 seconds, toss with berries in bowl. Remove plastic from pie, top pie with berries. Microwave chocolate and oil on high 20 seconds. Drizzle over pie. Slice and serve.
Amy
2 comments:
Christine's Lasagna - I think this is a good recipe. The sauce is good, I love using the two meats. However, I think I used too big of a pan because it was totally dry for us. Actually, I know the problem is my big pan. Since the pan was bigger, the sauce was a lot thinner since it had to spread out farther. Overall people liked it though.
Creamy Berry Pie - This wasn't too bad. For all the work that went into it, I was kind of disappointed that the middle layer didn't have more flavor. It almost needs to be berry or lime or something. It's just plain. People liked the pie though. It looked really cool too!
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