Lasagna! (and some news...)

First, the news: I'm pregnant! The hubs and I found out the day after the Superbowl and since then, I've barely cooked a single bite. I truly couldn't stomach anything. However, the nausea and food aversions are finally beginning to subside and I'm getting hungry again! A while back, I was having a major craving for lasagna, and that's definitely one of the hubs' favorite things that I make. So I stopped at the grocery store to pick up the ingredients (and recipe) for my favorite lasagna. So, without further ado:

Lasagna (from the San Giorgio box)

Ingredients

1lb ground beef **I did not add beef, because we prefer meatless
3 cups (about 26 oz jar) spaghetti sauce
1 cup (8 oz can) tomato sauce (optional) **I did use this
1 3/4 cups (15 oz) ricotta cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
12 pieces San Giorgio No Boil Lasagna noodles
4 cups (16 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese



Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, egg, basil and oregano.

3. If adding small can of tomato sauce, stir together with jarred sauce.

Assembly
1. In a 13x9 inch baking dish, spread 1/4 of the sauce mixture.
2. Place 3 pieces uncooked pasta crosswise over sauce. Pieces should not overlap or touch side of pan since they will expand when baked.
3. Spread about 1/3 of the ricotta mixture evenly over pasta. Spread 1/4 of the sauce mixture evenly over ricotta covering pasta completely; sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese. **I usually just eyeball the "measurements".
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times. Top with remaining 3 pasta pieces. Spread remaining sauce completely over pasta; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
5. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes; remove foil. Bake 10-15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting. Serve with additional sauce, if desired. 10-12 servings.

The final product (which was amazing!):

Abandonment

I know I've abandonded this blog for a while. Stay tuned for more things to come, promise!

Crockpot Mac and Cheese

Drumroll...

Today I'm sharing the recipe of all recipes, crockpot mac and cheese. This recipe came to me by way of my sister, who has my husband's and my eternal gratitude, ha! This is a delicously fattening, amazingly crowd-pleasing side dish or main dish, depending on your preference. It's great for parties or just a lazy Sunday at home. I served it on Christmas Eve and the crowd went wild.

What we started with:


And now, without further ado, the recipe.

1 box of Rotini pasta
2 cups cheddar jack, shredded
2 cups Monterey jack, shredded
Half of a large block of Velveeta
3 cups milk
Garlic salt
Butter – ½ stick (optional)
Bread crumbs, any flavor (optional but highly recommended)

1. Boil a pot of water for the pasta.
2. Cook ½ time on box – usually about 7 minutes.
3. Strain pasta.
4. Place pasta and all ingredients in the crock pot, mixing together.
5. Cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.
6. If you put on low, make sure to check periodically, as it sometimes is done sooner.
7. Approximately 30-45 minutes before the macaroni and cheese is done, sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
8. When breadcrumbs are crispy, it is ready.

I assure you, this recipe is the bomb. Yes, I am going so far as to use outdated 90's slang because...well because it really is the bomb. Unfortunately like a fool, I forgot to take a photo of the final product. The next time I make it, I will update and bump up this post.

Steamed Red Potatoes & Green Beans

So my new found adventurous attitude toward fruits and veggies continues. Tonight I made myself a hypocrite by sort of creating my own recipe. I think I might have effed it up a little though. I'll get to that though.

I love potatoes, pretty much in any form except scalloped or Au gratin. Never cared for either of those. But I digress. Since I'm on the Weight Watcher bandwagon, I've been sticking with red potatoes. So I decided to start there. Then I picked my dreaded green veggie. I chose green beans, as evidenced by the title of the post.

Here's what we started with:

And here's where it went:

1 lb red potatoes6 ounces fresh green beans
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Wash veggies.
2. Half, then quarter potatoes and snap ends off beans3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Toss to coat, mixing well.
4. Steam potatoes only in electric steamer for 30 minutes.
5. When potatoes have 10 minutes left, add green beans, carefully mixing (so as not to break the potatoes)
6. Pierce a potato with a fork to test for doneness.

So, the way I effed up is a) too much olive oil and b) too much garlic! W

hen I made the recipe I used double the garlic and double the oil. I'm still not 100% sold on green beans, but what can ya do? I have to abide by the Weight Watcher gods.

The finished product:

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

Ok so this recipe is a serious no-brainer, right? Sure. Well this is coming from a girl who had to actually Google how to make one. Ridiculous, I agree. As I said previously, I literally just started eating fruit this past week. I maintain that I have texture issues when it comes to certain foods, which is another way of saying I'm a giant baby and won't eat something I don't like the look of.

Some random website gave me this:

6 large ripe strawberries
1 large banana
1 cup milk (ed. note - I used 1%)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. GENIUS, I tell you! If you're counting WW points, all you have to calculate are the points for the milk. And this made enough for 2 smoothies. Brilliant.

Obligatory photos:

I think we can all agree that that is one sorry looking banana, who was promptly eaten by me, shortly after this recipe was posted.



And the finished product (which looks gross, but tastes great):

Champagne Basted Turkey

Every year, the hubs and I host a Christmas Eve open house at whatever apartment we happen to be living in at that time. Normally, I just do apps and finger foods. But this year, we did so much freaking food shopping that I got that free turkey from the supermarket that I'm always, like 3 points shy of. So I decided to cook that up for the open house.

Now I've only made a turkey once before, and that was in my NuWave Oven that I got at my bridal shower. It was ah-may-zing. It was a 14 lb. turkey that cooked in 2 1/2 hours...from frozen! The hubs begged me to do this again, and even went around boasting to his family that that's how it'd be made. But some wonderful soul signed me up for a Taste of Home magazine subscription at some point and I came across a recipe for Champagne-Basted Turkey. I decided to give it a whirl.

Let me tell you...HUGE hit! It was incredibly moist and my crib smelled delicious. Everyone raved over it. Here's the recipe written out, in case you don't feel like clicking the above link.

Champagne Basted Turkey

1 turkey (14 to 16 pounds)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon celery salt

3/4 teaspoon pepper
fresh sage and parsley sprigs, optional (I used)
2 cups Champagne or other sparkling wine (I used Martini & Rossi Asti)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups minced fresh parsley
1 cup condensed beef consomme, undiluted
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

Gravy:

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Pat turkey dry. Combine the butter, salt, celery salt and pepperl rub over the outside and insude of turkey. Place sage and parsley sprigs in cavity if desire (ed. note: I did!). Tuck wings under turkey; tie drumsticks together. Please breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan.

2. Bake uncovered at 325 for 30 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the Champagne, onions, parsley, consomme, thyme and marjoram; pour into pan. Bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours longer or until a meat thermometer reads 180, basting occasionally with the champagne mixture (ed. note: I basted every 30 minutes). Cover looseley with foil if turkey browns too quickly. Cover and let stand 20 minutes before slicing.

3. For gravy: strain drippings into a small bowl. In a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add drippings. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with turkey. (ed. note: the gravy did not come out AT ALL for me. I had to use store bought, jarred turkey gravy. You could still taste the champagne in the turkey though!)

A photo below, apologies for the poor quality.

Inaugural Post

Well, hello Internet. Allow myself to introduce...myself.

My name is Jess and I'm a childless newlywedish...under 2 years so I'd say that still counts. I loathe to write this post as I hate talking about myself, but considering there are hundreds of thousands of blogs out there, I need to give you some reason to stick around. So where was I? Oh right, telling you a bit about myself. I'm desperately holding on to what's left of my twenties, live in the Philadelphia area and fancy myself an amateur cook. Let me stress the word amateur.

I am that obnoxious Facebook friend who posts photos of various food and drink, whether homemade or dining out. I love food...to the point that I am a 5 time member of Weight Watchers, currently counting points as we speak (type?). I was recently laid off back in November '10, like 9% of the rest of the American workforce. Since that time, I've been cooking a lot more.

Here's the thing though, I have the least sophisticated palate of anyone, ever. I am not a fan of vegetables, literally just this week started eating fruit. I don't make up recipes, because I am terrified of screwing up measurements of ingredients and poisoning myself and my friends/family. So that's the reason for the oh-so-clever blog title. I take my recipes wherever I can get them, magazines, the Internet, friends and family, my mom, etc. I think my success rate is a tad higher than that of my failure.

So that's the premise of this blog. I am going to basically give you my reviews and recommendations of any of the new ones I try with full credit to the source of the recipes, natch. I hope you enjoy and follow along in my food-ventures.

PS - I promise never to use the word "food-ventures" ever again.