Skinny Turkey Lasagna

Suffice it to say that no lasagna is skinny... I mean clearly, let us operate in the realm of truth. Nonetheless, this is a less calorie intensive rendition of this delicious comfort food. I switch out the normal pork sausage for a low fat turkey turkey sausage. I use part-skim and fat-free cheeses. I bulk up the flavor of marinara with balsamic vinegar and a ton more veggies. This is a great freezer meal or you can make ahead and store in your refrigerator a day in advance. 

What you need

• 3 stalks of celery diced

• 2 medium onions diced

• 1 cup of shredded carrots

• 1 pound of raw turkey sausage 

• 3 cloves of garlic minced or micro-planed 

• 1 tablespoon of salt free Italian seasoning

• 3 cups of marinara 

• 2 eggs

• 16 oz of fat-free ricotta

• 2 cups of low fat mozzarella 

• 1 box of no boil lasagna sheets or fresh pasta sheets

• 2 tablespoons of Parmesan 

• salt and pepper to taste

• red pepper flake (optional)

• basil leaf for serving

What you do

1. Make the sauce: In a large non-stick sauce pan over medium heat cook the celery, onions, and carrots. Cook the vegetables for a minute or two. Add the turkey sausage out of the casing. Cook until no longer pink, stirring. If the turkey sticks to the bottom of the pan add some water. Micro-plane in or add the minced garlic, add the Italian seasoning. Then add the marinara. Turn the heat down to low, and allow to simmer while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. 
2. Make the cheese filling: In a large bowl whisk the eggs and add the ricotta. Stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper.   
3. Assemble the lasagna: Cover your pan in foil and spray with non-stick spray. Pour a ladle full of sauce into the bottom of 11 X 9 X 3 inch serving dish or lasagna pan. Place the no-boil noodles, one at a time to make a noodle blanket and cover the bottom of the dish. Lots of thin layers is better than 2 thick ones. Layer a few laddles of the sauce. Cover with a layer of raw noodle sheets. Pour about half the cheese mixture, spread into a flat layer, cover with noodles. Repeat with remaining noodles, sauce, and cheese. When at the top, cover the noodle sheets with sauce, then mozzarella and top with Parmesan. You can bake right away or freeze for later. 
4. Bake: Cook the lasagna covered for 30 minutes at 400 degrees; then uncover the dish for an additional 15 minutes so the cheese can turn bubbly and brown.  
5. Serve: thinly slice fresh basil leaves. Serve with red pepper flakes and extra Parmesan cheese.

Make-ahead and freezer directions 

• The dish will keep in the refrigerator tightly covered for a day. 
• If you are freezing cover the entire dish in foil. 
• Write what is in the dish and label with date and cooking instructions. 
• You can either thaw the lasagna and cook covered for 30 minutes at 400 degrees; or you can put the frozen lasagna in the oven covered in foil for 2 hours at 400 degrees. Either way you want to uncover the dish for an additional 15 minutes so the cheese can turn bubbly and brown.  

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy cooking!

Pan con Tomate

So, no Spanish table is complete without good red wine and Pan con Tomate. This is so easy, it is not nearly a recipe, more of instructions, for an easy and tasty Spanish take on Bruscetta. Which I am willing to bet both Spainards and Italians would be happy to eat either rendition.

Ingredients:
crusty bread of
any kind quality extra virgin olive oil
tomato or the reserved tomato seeds and water from the gazpacho recipe
clove of garlic

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Slice your bread in half and drizzle with olive oil
3. Toast open faced in your oven until just golden
4. Cut the tomato and the garlic in half so you have good sized chunks
5. Take the bread out of the oven and while still hot rub the cut side of the garlic on the bread
6. Rub the cut side of the tomato on the bread or smear the reserved tomato guts from the last recipe
7. Eat, greedily with good Spanish Wine and someone you love

Buen provecho! As always, much love, many blessings, and happy eating...

The Cuban Cure

Regardless of why you are sad, sick, or otherwise less inclined to tolerate anyone on the planet, the Cuban Cure in my family is the end all be all in culinary medicine. My mother is Spanish, so I grew up with this cure. It is the ultimate in comfort food. The trick is the sofrito. Sofrito is the Spanish version of mirepoix. It is mixture of onions, peppers, garlic, and spices that flavor nearly every Spanish dish, and it is the sweetest aroma in the kitchen. It just smells like home. The other big trick to mash down about 1/3 of the beans until it is a lovely black purple paste which thickens the dish. My grandmother used to do this with a mallet. Which still makes me smile, but I now do it with a potato masher. So here it is, my silver bullet for all that ails you.

Frijoles Negros (Black Beans and Rice aka the Cuban Cure)

Ingredients

3 cans of organic black beans

2 large red bell peppers

2 large onions

olive oil for the pan

a good palm full or 2 Tablespoons of each: Pimenton de la Vera (smoked paprika), Cumin, Salt

a good pink or 1 teaspoon of each: Black Pepper, Coriander, and Cayenne

4 cloves of grated or minced garlic

1 1/2 c. sherry

cooked rice

Method

1. I admit, I cheat I use canned beans, organic here does make a difference. Chef's say there is a difference I think organic canned beans taste just fine.

2. Making the Sofrito. In a large pot of over medium high heat saute the diced onions and peppers until they are translucent and starting to sweat (i.e. you can smell them.) Add all of the spices, keep them around, you might need more when it is done cooking. Let them toast a bit until fragrant. Add the garlic and stir. Add the sherry and swirl about until a bit has cooked out and you can no longer taste the alcohol.

3. The paste: Add about a third of the beans to the sofrito and spices. Cook for a few minutes until the pot comes to a boil. Using a potato masher or a hammer if you are inclined mash down to a lovely purple black pulp.

4. The delish: Add the rest of the beans and allow the sauce to reduce, about 10 minutes or so.

5. The serve: over rice with fresh cilantro and some salsa, with chicken, with anything, I would eat this on cardboard.

As always, many blessings, much love, and happy cooking.

Honey Bread Minis

Did you know the Honey Bee species is endangered? http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wildtv/endangered.html. Well, to do our part, we supported the http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/ and for Christmas I requested and received wonderful raw and natural honeys. But once you have, as I have, horded all your honey, what to do with it. This sweet golden elixir uses are countless, but what to do? You can only put so much in your tea and toast with cheese. Unlike the beloved children's character Pooh I cannot stomach it off of my fingers.

For this recipe I used a German Rap Seed Honey a raw wild flower honey, which was a pale yellow creamy color with a strong floral scent but a delicate and almost tongue-tingling taste. It was a Christmas gift from my dear friend Kristine. The wild flower honey complimented the ginger in this recipe perfectly, but any wonderful version of the bees' elixir will do.

Honey Bread Minis

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of ginger

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 cup of honey

1 cup of milk

1 egg lightly beaten

Heat your oven to 375 degrees F

Spray your muffin tin or silicone of choice. Usually I am big proponent of the old fashioned metal muffin tins, but this recipe benefits from silicone because the top and bottom of the muffins are more so evenly cooked.

Add all of the ingredients into your standing mixer and let it go low and slow for about 10 minutes, so the gluten develops and the honey has had a chance to be infused with the spices and blossom in flavor. A little trick to measuring honey, always use an oil/butter spray on your measuring cup and the honey will just slide out perfectly. I do that with anything super sticky, works great with peanut butter.

Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes and let cool.

Serve with butter, jam, or as I like a compound butter made of butter, cream cheese, blueberries and a little sugar. Lemon curd would also be divine if you were serving this with a good strong tea.

As always much love, many blessings, and happy baking.

I will leave you with my favorite Winnie the Pooh, exercise song. Very appropriate for a woman on Weight Watchers.

Up-Down From "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh"

Composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Up - Down - Up

When I up, down, touch the ground it puts me in the mood

Up, down, touch the ground in the mood for food

I am stout, round and I have found speaking poundage-wise

I improve my appetite when I exercise

Oh, yes, I'm rumbly in my tumbly

Time for something sweet I am short, fat, and proud of that and so with all my might

I up, down, up-down to my appetite's delight

While I up, down, touch the ground I think of things to chew

With a hefty, happy appetite I'm a hefty, happy Pooh

With a hefty, happy appetite he's a hefty, happy Pooh

Easy, fast, delicious blueberry muffin recipe

You can never underestimate the power of a fresh baked breakfast. When you can do it in 20 minutes or less, you should. So here goes…

Makes nine plump muffins, or 12 skinny ones.

1 cup of flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder (powder not soda)
½ teaspoon of regular ol’ salt (did you know that salary means salt money)
1 egg or 2 egg whites
¼ cup of melted butta or ½ a stick
1 cup milk (skim if you are watching it)
½ cup of sugar bowl sugar
1 cup of blueberries dusted in some flour

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375

2. Pam up your muffin tin

3. Sift together all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and let it hang out until you are ready. I use a piece of parchment or roller’s mat to easily pour into your mixer bowl.

4. In your standing mixer throw in all of your wets save the blue berries. So the eggs, butter, milk, and sugar. (Sugar melts, so it is treated like a liquid.)

5. Once mixed, add all the dry ingredients at once. This is called the muffin mixing method. Don’t over mix, when it looks completely mixed and fluffy stop.

6. By hand fold in the blue berries.

7. Spoon into buttered muffin tin. I don’t use cupcake liners, because well, they aren’t cupcakes, and I love the brown soft crust that appears from a dark pan and direct contact.

Voila, delicious, light, and easy, and low cal should you choose. On the planet Weightwatchers, the low cal version with egg whites and skim milk is 2 points for a plump muffin. Keep the chubby in the muffins and not in the pants.

I will try and procure my soon to be mother in law’s Blue Berry Bread recipe next. It is quite delectable.

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy baking.