Lasagna

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground turkey or beef
Some spices and junk like onion powder, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper (about 1/2 tsp of each)
Half a package of lasagna noodles
1 1/2 c. grated mozzarella
1 c. grated parmesan
1 jar marinara sauce (I like the kind with garlic, yeah!)


Boil a pick pot of water with about 1 tbs salt in it.

Meanwhile, brown the meat with the spices. Add the marinara sauce and stir it up.

Once the water is boiling, cook the noodles for about five to ten minutes (five for traditional, ten for whole grain). Drain and rinse noodles with cold water and then lay them out flat so they don't stick together.

Oh yeah, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread a little bit of marinara sauce on the bottom of a baking dish. (For this recipe, smaller than the 13X9 pan. ) Layer some noodles, then marinara, then cheese. End with a layer of noodles then cheese on top. Cover and bake for 40 minutes, uncover then bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let it cool a little so you don't burn your mouth. End of story. Bam.

Salami Pizza

Crust
2 c. flour
1 c. plain yogurt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder


Toppings

whatever you want! i used tomato sauce, grated cheese and salami


mix together with a spoon until you can't mix anymore. knead it with your hands for about five minutes until dough is elasticky. put aside, covered in a bowl for up to an hour.

after an hour, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. divide dough into two balls. roll out each separately, and fry lightly on each side for about one minute.  slap the toppings on and bake in the oven for 5-8 minutes.

Twice baked potatoes

2 Potatoes
1/4 c Cheese
4 Tbsps Butter
2 Chicken breasts
You know, some amount of Broccoli
1/2 c Flour
1/3 c Oil
Salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, whatevs

preheat oven to 425, wash potatoes, poke holes all over, and put in the oven to bake for ~45 minutes

Mix ~1/2 cup flour with tsp salt, tsp pepper, some paprika (to taste), 1/2 tsp onion powder, tsp garlic powder or garlic salt. dip chicken pieces in flour mixture to coat.

In a skillet (with lid), mix 1/3 cup olive oil and two tbsps butter at high heat. Turn down to medium high and place chicken in skillet. Cook 1 minute on each side, just to sear. Cover, turn heat down to low and let cook for ten minutes. Turn heat off and let sit with lid on for ten more minutes.

Meanwhile....

Saute broccoli. Mix it together with cheese. Once potatoes are done, cut in half, scoop out the middles and add to cheese/broccoli, mashing it up good. Cut up chicken, and mix it in as well.  Put back in shells and in the oven at 350 for ~5-10 minutes.

I also added turkey pepperoni. It was good.

Enjoy?

Blueberry muffins

Lemon-Sugar Topping:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins:

• 2 cups fresh blueberries, divided
• 1 1/8 cups plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. For the topping: In a small bowl, stir together sugar and lemon zest; set aside.
2. For the muffins: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring 1 cup blueberries, juice from one lemon, and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer. Cook, mashing berries with spoon and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs until thick, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in milk until combined. Using rubber spatula, gently fold egg mixture and remaining 1 cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened (do not overmix.)
6. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon 1 teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using a toothpick, gently swirl berry filling into batter. Sprinkle lemon sugar topping evenly over muffins.
7. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Good summer pasta

Ingredients

Angel Hair or Linguine

2 plum tomatoes
1 colored bell pepper (I used yellow)
1 tbs capers
Garlic, pepper, and Parmesan to taste

Boil pasta, dice veggies, mix in capers and seasonings. Toss over the pasta. Easy and not so heavy for those hot nights.

Breakfast Smoothie (that happens to be vegan)

Ingredients
1 cup soymilk (I use plain)
1 packet (1 to 1.5 oz) instant oatmeal, ground
1 frozen banana, cut in pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
frozen strawberries and honey to taste

Mix up with your kick-ass immersion blender and enjoy!

Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients
4-5 medium sized baking potatoes (like Russet)
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2-2 cups flour
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Wash the potatoes and poke holes in them. Bake them on a cookie sheet for 40 minutes or until soft.
Peel the skins from the potatoes while they are just cool enough to work with (should still be warm). Mash them until fine, then fluff them with a fork so that they are not compact.
Add eggs, flour and salt. Mix by hand just until together, making sure not to compact the dough.
Roll out logs of dough to about 1 inch diameter (again, make sure that you are not squishing the dough, it should be pillowy).
Cut into 1 inch sections. Using a fork, depress each side of the gnocchi.

Bring a pot of salted water (1-2 tsp) to a boil. Add gnocchi. Remove it from the pot with a slotted spoon as soon as they start floating.
Cover with some sort of sauce for deliciousness.

(Next time I will try making a sweet potato base. I'll let you know how that goes.)