Meat & Mornay Lasagna

I need to start updating this more often...

It'd be great if groceries were cheaper...and if I could just quit my job and cook all of the time.

I'm really aiming to make cupcakes tomorrow night, we'll see if that happens. For now, I combined a few basic lasagna recipes to make tonight's dinner. I made a classic meat sauce lasagna with a pretty awesome Mornay sauce.

Mornay sauce is just your basic Bechamel sauce (butter, flour, milk), with some shredded Gruyere cheese melted in. Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

Meat & Mornay Lasagna
from me

1 pkg. ready to bake lasagna noodles
1 lb. ground beef
2 jars marinara sauce
1 lb. ground sweet Italian sausage
16 oz. ricotta cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
2.5 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
2 cups warm milk
salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of garlic powder
5 oz. shredded Gruyere cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a glass baking dish.
2. Brown the beef and sausage in a skillet. Drain the fat. Add in a little over 1 jar of marinara sauce to the meat in the skillet. Heat until sauce is warmed.
3. In a bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, oregano and basil.
4. To make the Bechamel, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over med-high heat. Whisk in the flour. Keep whisking so no lumps form. Heat until the mixture turns a nice golden yellow, do not let it brown. Slowly whisk in the warm milk and keep whisking so no lumps form. Heat until it comes to a slight boil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat and stir in salt, pepper, nutmeg and garlic powder. Stir in the shredded Gruyere.
5. Spread 3/4 cup of leftover marinara sauce on the bottom of the greased baking dish. Place lasagna noodles over the sauce. Do not let them touch the sides or overlap, the ready to bake noodles will expand when cooking.
6. Spread half of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Spread a few spoonfuls of the meat sauce mixture over the ricotta. Sprinkle about a cup and a half of mozzarella cheese over the meat. Spoon half of the Mornay sauce over the mozzarella.
7. Repeat with another layer of each items.
8. Top with one last layer of noodles, meat sauce mixture and remaining mozzarella cheese.
9. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

Teriyaki Brisket

Yesterday, I thought we were going to get snowed in. Dan and I went grocery shopping in the morning and basically prepared to stay in all day and night. It stopped snowing early in the afternoon and we ended up going out with friends. We did however get a lot done. I cooked and Dan furiously cleaned all day.

I ended up making my shepherd's pie with cream stout gravy. I could drink that gravy. I would eat it on everything if I could. It's seriously that good.

Today, I made a teriyaki brisket in the crock pot. It was super delicious.

Teriyaki Brisket
from Betty Crocker 

2 - 2.5 lb. beef brisket (not corned beef)
3/4 cup teriyaki marinade/glaze
1 tbsp. grated orange peel
3 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. corn starch

1. Trim the brisket of fat.
2. Place in the crockpot.
3. Combine the teriyaki and orange peel together and pour over the brisket.
4. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
5. Remove from crockpot and cover to keep warm.
6. Combine the water and cornstarch and mix it into the juices in the crockpot. Cook on high for 15 minutes until sauce thickens.
7. Cut the brisket across the grain into slices and serve with sauce.

Burgundy Beef Stew

For the past week and a half, I kept telling myself I was going to take a day off of work just to do work stuff at home. Well, today I had the day off for MLK day and did I do any work stuff?

The answer to that question is no.

I did, however, get some cheer stuff done and made a delicious meal in the crock pot. You win some, you lose some.

If you use fresh onions (like I had to, because there were no frozen ones), be sure to add in the extra time to quick-boil and peel them. I added in my veggies after 2 hours of cooking because I had to go to cheer practice, and they cooked pretty perfectly. Though next time I make this, I would add the fresh onions at the halfway point. And seriously, is there anything that smells better than something cooking in a crock pot??

Burgundy Beef Stew
adapted from bhg.com

2 lb. boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch chunks
salt and pepper
2 tbsp. quick-cooking tapioca
1 14 oz. can beef broth
1 cup burgundy
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 medium  carrots cut into 1-2 inch pieces (or as many baby carrots as you like)
16 oz. fresh or frozen pearl onions
5-6 small red potatoes, cut into chunks

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper.
2. Place in the crockpot and sprinkle with the tapioca.
3. Pour the broth and burgundy over the beef.
4. Add the garlic and set to high.
5. Halfway through cooking (3 hours) add in the carrots, potatoes, and onions.
6. Cook for 2-3 more hours.

Serve over egg noodles if you like.

Bang Bang Chicken

In case any of you were wondering, having a migraine for 5 hours really sucks. That's how my afternoon went. When it finally subsided enough for me to withstand a small source of light, I figured I should make the dinner I had planned on making last night.

It's no secret that I love sushi, and I love spicy mayo. But I hate plain old mayo, let's get that straight. I'll eat mayo mixed into things, but plain mayo is pretty revolting. Even just spooning it into something is gross...it has a weird thick jello-y texture...ugh.

And to continue on my mayo rant, it's pretty weird that I don't like mayo. I love egg whites. I love oil. So why the two together creep me out so much is a mystery...one that will probably never be solved.

There is something magical about sriracha sauce though. Sriracha is a spicy chili sauce. I once added about a 1/4 of a bottle of it to a bowl of Pho that Jaime and I shared in Atlantic City...she was not happy with me. It was 2am though, and we had been gambling and drinking all night, so it seemed like such a great idea. I only added a few teaspoons of it to my mayo for dinner tonight, which worked out way better than a 1/4 bottle.

Bang Bang Chicken
from Table for Two

5 chicken tenders, cubed
1/2 cup mayo
5 tsp. sriracha sauce
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. dried basil
vegetable oil

1. Prepare a plate lined with paper towel to drain chicken on after it cooks. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the mayo, sriracha, vinegar and sugar.
3. In a shallow dish, beat together the egg and milk.
4. In another shallow dish, mix together the flour, panko, salt, pepper, garlic powder and basil.
5. Dip the pieces of chicken in the flour mixture, then the egg, then the flour mixture again. Be sure to coat well. Place on a plate and continue with remaining chicken.
6. Cover the plate and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. This helps the coating stick.
7. Pour a thin layer of oil in the bottom of a skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Once the oil is glistening, fry the chicken (do in batches if needed). Turn and fry until chicken is a nice golden brown and cooked through. Remove to prepared plate with paper towels.
8. Place chicken in a large ziploc bag and pour sauce in. Seal the bag and shake to coat chicken with sauce.
9. Serve over white rice.

A big messy bowl of spicy chicken

Chicken and Corn Enchiladas with Mole Sauce

I've become so accustomed to cooking for two, that going back to cooking for one (just for tonight!), was a little tough. I cooked enough for 3 people....leftovers it is....

I went through quite a bit of recipes deciding what to make, and figured it would be a prime opportunity to make something Dan wouldn't eat. I also had a craving for Mexican, so enchiladas it was. But not just any enchiladas...enchiladas with mole sauce (pronounced mo-lay).

Mole sauce is pretty magical. It's a popular sauce that is made in many different ways. It can also be many different colors, depending on what kind of chiles you use. I chose a dark mole sauce that had chocolate in it. Yes, chocolate.

These little "juice boxes" of mole are about a cup!

I also didn't follow a recipe for this, so yay me!

Chicken and Corn Enchiladas with Mole Sauce

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cubed
1 can enchilada sauce
1.5 cups corn kernels, thawed if frozen
2 stalks green onion, sliced
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or any kind you like, I used 1/2 cheddar, 1/2 queso)
1 cup mole sauce, prepared as directed
6-8 Flour tortillas

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat the chicken in a skillet over medium heat. Once heated through, add the enchilada sauce, corn and onions. Mix to combine and cook until heated through.
3. Sprinkle a little cheese on the side of a tortilla. Top with chicken mixture and top with more cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish.
4. Top all enchiladas with remaining cheese.
5. Top with mole sauce and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

If your kitchen isn't messy while you cook, you're doing something wrong...

Pizza Dip

Every Wednesday is Girl's Night at my friend Lindsey's. Lindsey's and another friend of mine's husbands play pool on Wednesdays, so we go to Lindsey's since she's home with two of the cutest kids in the entire world (it's true). For the past month or so, we've been bringing food to girl's night, and this week we had a few special treats.

Yeah, that's a calzone with hamburg, ham, pepperoni and onions.

I envy Pam for being able to work with pizza dough....pizza dough and I are enemies.

My special treat was this pizza dip that I saw on Foodgawker. I did a very very basic version with the ingredients below, but the actual recipe calls for garlic powder, dried oregano and dried basil to be added, which I recommend.

Pizza Dip
adapted from The Way to His Heart

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 jar pizza sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
mini pepperoni

1.Preheat oven to 325.
2. Grease a pie plate or square baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Spread the cream cheese on the bottom of the pie plate. Spread the pizza sauce over the cream cheese. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top (and spices if using). Top with mini pepperonis.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

It didn't make it too long....