Recipes Discovered

Butternut Squash Lasagna Recipe

I had planned on making lasagna the other night, but with a large butternut squash sitting on my counter, I decided to deviate from the traditional lasagna and try a recipe that I have been looking at for quite awhile. Instead of the traditional cheese filling and red sauce, this lasagna is filled with a mixture of roasted butternut squash, onions, garlic, and amaretti cookies and covered with a basil cream. Amaretti cookies are simply Italian almond macaroons, so any almond flavored cookie would work. If you can’t find amaretti cookies (I had a hard time), just omit them. They aren’t a dominate flavor, and I don’t think it would change the dish.
To make the filling, I roasted a butternut squash until it was very tender. Roasting the squash makes it really sweet and gives it a nice texture to mash up. I also sauteed onions and garlic to add some more flavor. I put the squash, onions, garlic, and crushed cookies in a large bowl and mashed it all together. I left the filling sort of chunky, but you can make it as smooth or chunky as you like. The filling could even be pureed in a blender for a really smooth texture. >> Read more

Homemade Manicotti Recipe

A couple years ago, I order manicotti at a local Italian restaurant, and was surprised by what I got. Instead of ricotta cheese stuffed into a pasta shell, this was fresh crepes, filled with cheese, spinach, and garlic. It was wonderful, and I always said I was going to try to make it someday. I came across a recipe for crepes the other day, which made me think of the manicotti and how good it was. This is the recipe I put together to recreate it.

I started with the sauce, keeping it simple and fresh. First, I sauteed onions and garlic until they were soft, and then added crushed tomatoes. To that, I added oregano, basil, a bay leaf, salt, and a pinch of sugar. I let it simmer while I made the crepes, about a half hour. This could be made days in advance though and kept refrigerated.

Next, I mixed together the batter for the crepes. I used a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat flour, just to add a little more flavor and texture. To the flours, I added salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter, and whisked until the batter was smooth. Crepe batter is very thin, similar to heavy cream, so be sure to add enough milk to get the consistency right. It’s also best to let the batter set for about a half hour before making the crepes to let the flour absorb all the moisture.>> Read more

Pasta Salad Recipe

I like taking pasta salads on picnics. I don’t have to worry about mayonnaise spoiling like with macaroni and potato salad, plus pasta salad just gets better the longer it sets. This is a really simple pasta salad that can be changed up a 100 different ways. I’ve made it with a lot of different ingredients, and it’s always a big hit.
The base of the pasta salad is, of course, pasta. I like the spiral pasta, especially the multi colored kind, but any pasta works. I don’t cook the pasta completely because I like a little bite to it. After I cook, drain, and cool the pasta, I toss it with Italian dressing. My favorite is Kraft Light Done Right Zesty Italian. It has a lot of flavor and a lot fewer calories. >> Read more

Portobello Lasagna Rollups Recipe

Fresh Tomato Sauce Recipe

Lasagna generally takes a really long time to bake, which makes it more of a special dish. I thought making lasagna rollups would cut down on the baking time, but honestly, the rollups take just as long to bake as regular lasagna (about an hour). The rollups are a little fancier than traditional layered lasagna though, and this particular dish is definitely an upscale version of lasagna.
I generally use this recipe for tomato sauce, which is pretty similar to the recipe included with the lasagna, but I thought I would try to make the sauce with fresh tomatoes since there are so many in the garden. I started by peeling and chopping 10 large tomatoes, about 8 cups. In a large pot, I heated some oil and then added onions. I cooked them about 5 minutes until they were soft, and then added garlic. Once the garlic had cooked for a minute, I added the tomatoes, tomato pasta, oregano, basil, salt, and a bay leaf. I also added about a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. When I make tomato sauce with canned tomatoes, I cook it for 30 minutes. With the fresh tomatoes, it took about 2 hours for the sauce to cook down and thicken up. >> Read more

Macaroni and Cheese with Tomatoes Recipe

A few years ago, my mom made macaroni and cheese with tomatoes in it and to me, it tasted just like pizza. Not too long ago, I asked her for the recipe, but she had no idea what recipe I was talking about. After a lot of searching, I found two recipes that I combined together to replicate that macaroni and cheese that tasted like pizza.

First, I cooked a pound of macaroni (4 cups uncooked) until the noodles were just soft. Since it bakes in the oven, the noodles shouldn’t be cooked completely or they would fall apart. After I drained the noodles, I returned them to the pot and let them cool while I made the cheese sauce. >> Read more