Vegetarian Lasagna

Holy Week begins tomorrow: for my friends who are clergy or lay leaders in their churches, it is one of their busiest weeks of the year. This week the Mouse House will feature easy, make-ahead meals that can be stored in individual or family sized portions and frozen.

My first choice is vegetarian lasagna. My first memory of eating lasagna was as a young adult. It was in the mid 1970s and my grandmother was making dinner for her extended family. She served lasagna: from a recipe which called for cottage cheese instead of ricotta. What did we know? With our Scottish/English/Irish/Swedish heritage our knowledge of Italian food was spaghetti and meatballs and pizza. We were a meat/vegetables/potatoes kind of family. And dessert. Always dessert.

A few years later, I was dating and later married a man whose grandparents had all been born in Italy. His mother was a fabulous cook. I learned how to make lasagna, and never again, did it include cottage cheese instead of ricotta.

Vegetarian Lasagna

1 pound lasagna noodles
1 (15 oz.) container ricotta cheese
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 (26 oz.) jars pasta sauce
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (or fresh)
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
Chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 350°.

1. Cook noodles as package directs.

2. In medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and eggs. Mix well.

3. Cook frozen or fresh spinach (chop into small pieces if using fresh); press all of the water out of the spinach. Add to cheese and egg mixture.

4. Grate carrots and add to cheese and egg mixture.

5. In a 14" by 11" by 2" pan, spread 1 cup pasta sauce. Layer with half each of the lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese mixture, pasta sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering. Top with parsley.

6. Bake lasagna, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Lasagne is even better the second day!

Easy Chicken Salad

Chicken salad brings memories of graduation parties and bridal showers; I remember trays of egg, pickled ham, and chicken salad sandwiches on tiny rolls.  Not being a pickled ham fan, I always wondered who ate those sandwiches.....

Having cooked chicken on hand provides a base for a number of easy summer meals. When it is too hot to even think about cooking on the grill, let alone in the oven, I cook my chicken in my crock pot. The recipe book that came with my Rival Crock-Pot (which may have been a gift at a bridal shower where chicken salad sandwiches were served....) has the following recipe for roast chicken :

Roast Chicken or Hen
3-4 pound roasting chicken (I often use chicken breasts, either with the bone or boneless, of various weights)
Salt and pepper
Parsley
Basil or tarragon (optional)
Butter

Thoroughly wash chicken and pat dry (patting dry assures good browning). Sprinkle cavity (or pieces) generously with salt, butter, pepper, and parsley. Place in crockpot; dot chicken breast with butter. Sprinkle with parsley and basil or tarragon if using. Cover and cook on High 1 hour then turn to Low for 8-10 hours.


Let chicken cool. Cut into slices (for chicken sandwiches) or chunks (for chicken salad). Store in refrigerator. Chunked chicken can be frozen for use in salad.

Easy Chicken Salad
Mix chicken chunks with mayonaise, using the amount your family prefers. (I prefer my chicken salad with only enough mayo to hold everything together.) If desired, mix in:

• celery
• grapes
• walnuts
• dried cranberries
• onion

Slow Cooker: Chicken Parmesan over Whole Wheat Pasta

When my daughter was little she liked to go to Rinaldo’s, an Italian restaurant in Marblehead on the top level of Village Plaza. Classic red sauce Italian with the red and white checked tablecloths, a garlic cheese spread and packaged crackers on the table as soon as you sat down, and standard dishes like chicken, veal, or eggplant parmigiana. And, spaghetti with butter for children. Allison especially liked their fried mozzarella sticks; when she was sick they were often the only thing she wanted to eat…

I made this recipe on Palm Sunday for dinner, serving it over whole wheat pasta. I tossed a cup of frozen peas into the Crock Pot about 10 minutes before I added the cheese to make this a one- pot meal. Fed the two of us, with leftovers for lunch or dinner during the week. It was quick and easy and used ingredients I had on hand. A great addition to my selection of easy recipes for Holy Week, or any other busy time of year.

Slow Cooker: Chicken Parmesan over Whole Wheat Pasta

Makes 4 servings.

Medium Crock Pot

2 tsp olive oil
4 skinless chicken breasts (or thighs), about 3 oz each
½ of a 26 oz jar of your favorite tomato sauce
1 cup frozen peas (optional)
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
whole wheat pasta for 4 servings

1. Heat the oil in frying pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken and saute’, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
2. Combine chicken and tomato sauce in the Crock Pot. Cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked through and a meat thermometer registers 175 degrees, 6 to 8 hours.
3. If using frozen peas, add 25 minutes before you plan to eat.
4. Heat water for pasta, following package directions.
5. Combine the cheeses in a small bowl and sprinkle them over the chicken. Don’t stir. Cook until the cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.
6. Put pasta on plate and top with chicken parmesan.

Slow Cooker Recipe: Pork and Apricot with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Here’s the second offering of easy, make ahead meals for Holy Week. I first made this dish the Christmas Bill and I spent with our daughter in New York. Her work schedule precluded traveling for Christmas so we loaded up the Prius with gifts and goodies for holiday meals, including Christmas table clothes and napkins.

Our Christmas breakfast included our traditional Danish, quiche, and French toast (watch for these recipes in December). For dinner I chose this recipe, preparing the ingredients on Christmas Eve afternoon, refrigerating the Crockpot insert overnight, and then cooking it on Christmas Day. Our plan was to eat dinner around 6:00 pm. Great plan except: I put the insert into the Crockpot, turned it on, and, as I discovered a few hours later, neglected to plug in the Crockpot. On to Plan B: putting everything in a roasting pan in the oven and eating dinner later than originally planned.

I’ve since made this many times (in the Crock Pot). It is great for dinner with lots of leftovers for lunch during the week.

Pork and Apricot with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Makes 8 servings
Prep: 35 minutes
Cook: 7 to 9 hours on low; 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours on high

Ingredients
2 ½ lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 ½” chunks
3 ½ to 4 lb boneless pork shoulder roast
1 tsp dried tarragon, crushed
1 ½ tsp fennel seed, crushed (if I don’t have this on hand, I omit it)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp cooking oil (I use olive oil)
1 14-oz can chicken broth (or equivalent homemade)
¾ apricot nectar (I use apple juice, or if I don’t have any, I omit this and add equivalent in water)
½ cup dried apricots
4 tsp cornstarch

1. Place sweet potatoes in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Trim fat from pork roast.
3. Combine the tarragon, fennel seed, garlic, salt, and pepper in small bowl; rub onto pork roast.
4. In a very large skillet, brown roast on all sides in hot oil. Drain off fat. Place meat on top of sweet potatoes in cooker.
5. Pour broth and ½ cup of the apricot nectar over all.
6. Cover and cook for on low-heat setting for 7 to 9 hours or on high heat setting for 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours, adding the dried apricots for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
7. With a slotted spoon, transfer pork and apricots to serving platter. Transfer sweet potatoes to a large bowl; mash with a potato masher.
8. Strain cooking liquid into a glass-measuring cup. Skim fat from liquid; discard fat. Reserve 2 cups liquid (if necessary add chicken broth to equal 2 cups).
9. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup apricot nectar and the cornstarch. In a medium saucepan, combine cooking liquid and the cornstarch mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; cook 2 minutes longer. *
10. Serve with pork and mashed sweet potatoes.

*Omit this step if you are too tired or too busy. The pork, apricots, and sweet potatoes taste fine without it.

Vegetarian Chili

This is my favorite fall/winter ‘party’ recipe. Whether it is our annual Thanksgiving Turkey Lope* or a Christmas or Super Bowl party, this easy recipe is on the menu. Sometimes I make it the day of the party; othertimes I'll make it the day before. I usually serve it with cornbread and a green salad flavored with citrus fruit, dried cranberries, and nuts.

Modified from a recipe in Molly Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook, I add or subtract vegetables based on what I have on hand. I often cook it in my grandmother’s cast iron dutch oven or, if I want to be less hands on, I dump all the ingredients in my 1970s crockpot.

6-8 Servings (This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to feed a crowd.)

2 ½ cups kidney beans
1 cup raw bulgher
1 cup tomato juice
4 cloves crushed garlic

1 cup each, chopped:

Celery

Carrots

Green peppers

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. chili powder (more, to taste)
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 Tbsp. dry red wine
Dash of cayenne (more, to taste)
Olive oil for sauté (about 3 Tbsp.)

Heat tomato juice to a boil. Pour over raw bulgher. Cover and let stand for at least 15 minutes. (It will be crunchy, so it can absorb more later.)

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil. Add carrots, celery, and spices. When vegetables are almost done, add peppers. Cook until tender.

Combine all ingredients and heat together gently – either in pan on stove top or covered, in a moderate oven.

Serve topped with cheese, parsley, and sour cream.

*What's a Turkey Lope? It’s the Davidge’s annual three to five mile run with Bill or a two mile walk with Nancy to enjoy the beauty of Marblehead before a casual dinner with family and friends.

SpaghettiOs and other food from the 60s & 70s...

Listening to NPR while driving to work last week I learned that Donald Goerke, the Campbell Soup executive who created SpaghettiOs (and Campbell's Chunky Soup line) had died. I flashed back to Girl Scout camping trips, when SpaghettiOs offered an easy way to 'cook' dinner over a campfire. Add some ground beef, serve with a salad and garlic bread: Dinner.

SpaghettiOs, Instant Breakfast, Pop-tarts, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, Tang, Jiffy Pop: none of these have been in my consciousness for years. Since my mother didn't buy these foods, of course we wanted them. Growing up, we ate fresh or frozen food prepared by my mother. TV dinners, bakery cakes, deli meat, processed food, and white bread were not on our table. Nor was anything that would have been considered ethnic food, except for spaghetti: Prince from the box and homemade meat sauce. It wasn't until my senior year in high school that my mother finally had enough of preparing hot breakfasts and offered us Instant Breakfast and Pop-tarts. My sisters and I were thrilled.

After college, when I had the choice to eat whatever I wanted, I found that aside from the occasional Dinty Moore Beef Stew, I continued to eat fresh, rather than processed food. I still do.

In honor of Donald Goerke and all the other executives who created the processed food from the last half of the 20th century, here is my favorite SpaghettiO recipe:

Girl Scout Camp SpaghettiOs with Garlic Bread
Serves 2
Can of SpaghettiOs
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic pressed or mashed garlic in a tube
butter
2 Italian rolls

SpaghettiOs
In large cast iron skillet, heat olive oil, add onions and saute.
Add ground beef, cook until browned.
Open can of SpaghettiOs, add to onion and ground beef mixture; heat thoroughly.

Garlic Bread
Cut Italian rolls in half as if for sandwich, separate halves.
In small cast iron skillet, melt butter and garlic over low heat.
With small brush, spread garlic and butter mixture on rolls.
Toast rolls in toaster oven until browned to desired crispness.

Serving suggestion
Add a simple green salad (lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes) and you have recreated the simple supper made on many camping trips in my youth.