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italian

Food, Savory

Mini Lasagnas

Sometimes, I just don’t know what to do for dinner, especially when I’m cooking for one. The thought of making a huge pasta dish, meatloaf, anything in a crockpot, or something in the oven is usually a slightly depressing thought. That is also followed by the thought I might need pants with elastic for attempting to eat everything that is made when one creates a gourmet masterpiece for a party of eight. So I made myself a deal when I looked into the fridge and found myself with a pound of ground beef that needed to be used. I decided I needed to make a single serving meal and I was craving lasagna.

Mini Lasagnas

Ingredients:
Half a green pepper, diced
1/4 of an onion, diced
Pound of ground beef
Lasagna Noodles
1 jar of pasta sauce
1/4 c grated Parmesan
Any leftover shredded mozzarella you might have in the fridge (I happened to have a bit from when I made pizza the other day)
Olive Oil
Ground pepper, salt, garlic powder

I cooked the onion, green pepper, and spices in a bit of olive oil, all while trying to remind myself that I was only going to put about half the effort into this hair brained idea as I would a real lasagna. (There are way more steps and ingredients when I go all out and make it full-scale.) Once the veggies were cooked through (read the pepper and onion were soft). Then I added the ground beef and cooked that through.

Then I added the pasta sauce and cooked that down until it lost most of its watery-ness. There is nothing worse than making a lasagna and when you go to eat it, it just falls apart because the sauce is too saucy. Yes, sauce can be too saucy. Toss in the Parmesan cheese and cook down.

Did I mention you should probably be cooking up those lasagna noodles by now? Ok, well, get on that. Then when you pull them out, I cut them into quarters. Pulled out my cupcake pan. Yup, you heard me right, we’re taking baking equipment into the cooking kitchen.

Layers as follows:
noodle
meat/sauce mixture
noodle
meat/sauce mixture and a bit of mozzarella
noodle
little bit of meat/sauce mixture

Popped that into the oven at 350 for 20 minutes and ta-dah! dinner! Single serving size here we come!

Let them sit and it should look like this:

 

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September 11, 2012 by
Food, Savory

Bread-Free Garlic Bread

Delicious and cheesy!

Yup, you read that right. Bread-free garlic bread. Not going to lie, got this from a Pinterest pin, and had to try this out. Looks like bread, right? It’s all cheese and cauliflower. It all started with a head of cauliflower:

From this to garlic bread. Ready for the magic to happen.

Needed:
1 head of cauliflower
3/4 c. shredded mozzarella
3/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

So, in average you’ll get about three cups of cauliflower to one head. Cut it up, place in boiling water, and cook cauliflower until it’s soft. Then I took to mashing it with a potato masher until it was all broken up, added the oregano, garlic powder, 1/2 c of the mozzarella, and 1/2 c of the Parmesan cheese.

Spread that over the cookie sheet into what looks like a pizza crust. Bake that for 15 minutes.

Ready for the oven.

Almost ready… just more cheese and back into the oven

Added the rest of the cheese and popped it back into the oven until the cheese was melted. This is the time you start your cheesy bread dance and await amazing goodness.

Ready to eat!

I sliced it up and took to eating it. Best done with a fork, though. Such a great alternative to garlic bread!!!

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September 7, 2012 by
Food, Savory

Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches

The intent was not to be impressive. But impress I did. Let me back up a bit. I love chicken Parmesan. I love it so much that I’ve been making it since I was old enough to reach the stove (the first few times were under the skilled eye of my mother until she realized I wouldn’t burn the house down). So when I was watching television with a friend recently and they were showing some dive that sells chicken parm sandwiches, I was like, “hey, I could totally do that.” I mean really, you’re swapping out pasta for bread.

My friend, however, has this notion that making chicken parm is some sort of old secret that takes days to make. Like it’s some labored over meal that only 4-foot tall Italian grandmothers wearing sauce stained aprons can make. Let me set the record straight. I may not be the aforementioned cook, but I can still cook up a food coma worthy meal – and all with half the time. Believe me, you can make this.  I’ll even share my secrets.

Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches

The basics:
Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Fresh Mozzarella
Homemade pasta sauce or your favorite brand (I like to grab Prego’s Roasted Garlic and Herb)
4C bread crumbs (seasoned)
one egg
your spice rack
Olive Oil
Hearty hoagie (sub, whatever you want to call them) rolls

Cut the chicken in half length ways so you end up with four pieces. Dredge in a beaten egg and then coat with the 4C bread crumbs (I tend to toss a bit of cayenne pepper, black pepper, and garlic powder in as well).

Fry in a skillet with a thin layer of olive oil until cooked through. Remove from the heat and place on paper towels to get rid of some of the grease. Believe me, you’ll thank me later. I love olive oil, but there is something about a soggy, oil-infused chicken breast that I just can’t stand. And here comes my favorite part: the mozzarella.

I don’t know if it was that I was bread on mozzarella sticks, or that I have a secret crush on pizza. Either way, every time I buy mozzarella, I know I should expect about half of it to be eaten (by me) before it ever touches the food I’m cooking. It’s delicious. As an appetizer with a bit of fresh Roma tomato and some herbs. I die, it’s so good.

But back to dinner. Cut the mozzarella into thin (maybe quarter inch thick) pieces.

Cut the rolls open, lay them on the cooking sheet and spread a layer of pasta sauce on the bread. Place your chicken on top, another dabble of sauce, and then two piece of that mozzarella on top. You should have something that looks like this:I broil it on low for about six minutes (but it depends on your stove). Just so that the cheese gets a little brown and the bread is toasted. Pull it out, let it cool, and serve it up. I think it took longer for us to go to the grocery store and get everything than to make it. I have successfully convinced my friend that yes, in fact, you can make a fabulous meal in less than an hour. (Total was probably about 45 minutes, including time to open beers, put on the A/C, and find the baking sheet.)

I know this isn’t some miraculous dish that I just served up, but it’s one of the most crowd pleasing things to make, and it’s quite easy to make everyone feel like you spent hours slaving over the stove to make it. Just tell them you made the sauce yourself. How will they ever know?

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August 13, 2012 by