Portobello Mushroom Lasagna Rollups

I'm on a roll this month... two dinner posts in 2 weeks. That's more than I've posted all year! Anyway, last week the hubs and I stopped in Wegman's and realized how much better their produce is than our local Shoprite and Acme stores. It was sort of an inspiration to pick a bunch of new recipes and head to Wegman's for the ingredients. One of the recipes I chose was from one of my favorite Food Network chefs, Ellie Krieger. I got a couple of her cookbooks, of which 3 of this week's dinner recipes are coming from. Tonight's dinner was from The Food You Crave. If you don't have her cookbooks, I highly recommend hers. Her recipes are always so balanced in nutrition and flavor. Granted, I always add a bit more salt to my recipes, but I'd rather it taste good than feel like I have to force-feed myself bland, healthy food.



One of the first things I changed about her recipe was the tomato sauce. Her recipe calls for the tomato sauce which she has a recipe for in the book. I wanted to make this dish as simple as possible, so I just used crushed tomatoes and added some Italian seasoning, a pinch of salt here and there, and some crushed red pepper to add some flavor. These simple changes really elevated the flavor in this dish and I was more than pleased with the way this dish turned out. Which says a lot because..... I thought I hated mushrooms! Back to the Wegman's thing, their portobello mushrooms were just perfect. And the organic mushrooms were the same price as the regular, so that was a no-brainer decision.



PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM LASAGNA ROLLUPS
Adapted from: Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave

10 lasagna noodles
2 tsp olive oil
2-3 portobello mushrooms (stems and gills removed), chopped
1 can crushed tomatoes with basil (use an extra can and season accordingly if you like extra sauce)
kosher salt
Italian seasoning
crushed red pepper
one 15 oz. container part-skim ricotta cheese
one 10 oz. package frozen, chopped spinach, thawed & squeezed dry
1 large egg
black pepper
parmesan cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese



1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain and lay flat on parchment paper.
3. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until moisture has evaporated. Add a pinch of salt, a touch of Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper to taste, and 1-2 ladles of crushed tomato straight out of the can. Simmer about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk egg and ricotta cheese together. Add a pinch of salt and black pepper to taste. Stir in spinach.
5. Spread 1 ladle of crushed tomato straight from the can in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
6. Spread about 2 Tbsp of the ricotta mixture along the length of a lasagna noodle. Spoon about 2 Tbsp of the mushroom mixture on top of the ricotta mixture on the lasagna noodle. Roll the noodle and place in baking dish, seam side down. Repeat for remaining lasagna noodles.
7. With your remaining crushed tomatoes, add a pinch of salt, Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper to taste directly to the can. Stir until combined. Ladle the seasoned crushed tomatoes over your lasagna rollups.
8. Top with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese over each rollup. Top with grated mozzarella.
9. Top with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is lightly browned.



I made this dinner after a long day of work on my feet and it was a cinch. I even did some of the dishes before I went to sit down! I was admittedly a little nervous about whether I would like this or not - mainly because of my fear of mushrooms, but alas, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find how much I (and the hubs!) liked this dish. And I'm even happier considering the vegetables that are incorporated into it. I need to eat more vegetables and this is a great way to do so. I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did!

Chicken Scampi

Fortunately for me, my mother-in-law is a pretty good cook. I've learned how to make a few dishes of hers and this has always been one of my favorites. Back in the day when the hubs and I were still dating, if we didn't have plans for us to hang out on a day where his mom was planning on making chicken scampi, he would always call me up and say "Mom's making chicken scampi, wanna come over?" It was just one of those dishes for me.

So she taught me how to make it, and it's relatively simple. The most daunting part about it is the chopping of practically an entire head of garlic. And one thing I'd never sacrifice in this dish is the use of fresh garlic. I was almost gonna this time - but just couldn't! I made a stop at the produce stand during my travels that day just to get fresh garlic because I knew I was making it for dinner and didn't have any on hand.

Another thing - if you haven't noticed by now - is that this is a red sauce scampi. People are usually surprised when I mention this dish and the fact that it's made with tomato puree, but it's just normal to me!

CHICKEN SCAMPI

Source: my mother-in-law

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

2 Tbsp butter

1 small onion, diced finely

1 head of garlic, diced finely (I usually use about 9-10 cloves of the head)

1 can tomato puree (you can also add a can of diced tomatoes to add some texture/additional veggies)

long pasta, cooked according to package directions

salt

sugar

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1. Melt butter in skillet.

2. Add chicken and cook until browned.

3. Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent.

4. Slowly add the tomato puree and stir.

5. Cover and simmer until pasta is done, stirring occasionally.

6. Season with salt and a few pinches of sugar to reduce the acidity (I personally don't think pepper has a place in this dish).

Serve this with a salad and some nice italian bread. I picked up a fresh loaf from Baker Street Bread, sliced it up, buttered one side and sprinkled some garlic salt from Penzey's.

Adventures with shrimp... continued

Some of my previous attempts with shrimp didn't turn out so well. Finally, I think I found an easy, no fail, amazing dish! This was seriously SO good. And it being a Cooking Light recipe, it's a win-win! The sauce was simple and perfect. As far as homemade sauce goes, this is now my go-to recipe, whether or not I make shrimp with it. I love spicy food, so an arrabbiata is only fitting. And I've had shrimp arrabbiata from different restaurants and I must say that this tops them all.

I'm going to post the recipe as stated, but if making this dish for 4 servings, I would definitely double the sauce - no ifs, ands or buts about it. I made the sauce as follows and used only a 1/2 pound of shrimp. Also, the beauty of this dish is that you can lessen the amount of oil easily, thus omitting more fat. I served this with Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta.

SHRIMP ARRABBIATA
Source: Cooking Light, March 2006, David Bonom

6 ounces fresh linguine
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup prechopped onion
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

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1. Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

3. Sprinkle shrimp with salt; add shrimp to pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done. Transfer shrimp to a bowl.

4. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in pan. Add onion, minced garlic, basil, and crushed red pepper to pan; sauté 1 minute.

5. Add tomato paste and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes or just until sauce begins to thicken.

6. Return shrimp to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated.

7. Add parsley to the pan, stirring well to combine. Serve over pasta.

Spicy Shrimp and Fettuccini

One day I was scouring myrecipes.com for some healthy dishes. I came across this recipe featured in Cooking Light magazine. I love spicy, I love pasta, and I love shrimp, so I had to give this one a shot.

I made a few changes based on the ingredients I had on hand, and in the end it was great, a definite make-again dish, except I solemnly vow here and now to NEVER BUY FROZEN COOKED SHRIMP AGAIN! Ugh, NAAAAASTY! Anyway, I'll probably just stick to frozen raw shrimp from now on.

I also halved the recipe, but made the sauce as stated because I like a lot of sauce with my pasta.

SPICY SHRIMP and FETTUCCINI

Source: Cooking Light, October 2007

8 oz. fettuccini (I used 4 oz of whole grain fettuccini for 2 servings)

1 Tbsp EVOO

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used 1/2 lb. of some nasty cooked frozen shrimp, yuck)

2 cups chopped plum tomatoes (I used a 14.5 oz. can of diced roma tomatoes)

2 Tbsp reduced-fat sour cream (I omitted as I had none on hand)

1 Tbsp tomato paste (I reduced to 1 tsp)

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

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1. Boil water and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

2. Heat oil in pan. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and saute 1 minute.

3. Add shrimp; saute 1 minute.

4. Add tomatoes, sour cream, tomato paste, basil and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

5. Stir in pasta and cook 1 minute or until heated through.

6. Plate and top with parmesan cheese.

Eating clean?

This is sort of a new concept for me. I sort of get it. I might just be overthinking it. Either way, my friend, Jess, was looking for a clean way to prepare tilapia and came across this blog and recipe. Jess raved about it, and of course I was leery, because avocado is something that I'm just learning to experience, all thanks to Jess for that one. But I decided to give it a try - I figured beans and rice and sour cream make everything better.

So I did my research on how to pick an avocado, and I think I did a pretty good job. And for a first timer, I had no trouble at all extracting the avocado from the pit and the skin. And considering that the dish ended up being fresh and fabulous, I can say that my first experience with using avocado was a hit.

I made enough for 3 meals and now have enough for 2 lunches after I had it for dinner tonight. And let me tell you - this was amazingly easy and FAST to cook up.





Ingredients (estimated):
4-6 Tbsp fat-free sour cream
4-6 Tbsp salsa
1 cup black beans
3/4 - 1 cup rice (I used brown rice)
3 tilapia fillets
1/2 avocado, diced
1 small tomato, diced
salt and pepper





1. Season your fish with salt and pepper. Coat a large pan lightly with a spray of EVOO (courtesy of Misto) or whatever you have on hand (the original recipe posted uses coconut oil). Lightly brown the fish on both sides until cooked through, them with a spatula, break up the fish into bits.

2. While your fish is cooking, mix up the sour cream and salsa in a medium sized mixing bowl.

3. When fish is done, toss all ingredients into the mixing bowl with the sour cream and salsa and stir gently to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hot-cha-cha!

The hubby and I enjoy chips and salsa - BUT... I really haven't found a store bought salsa that we like. They all are just too chunky for our taste. My friend, Jess, once said she really liked the Chili's restaurant salsa, so I googled for a knock-off recipe and found one!

And really, when you make your own salsa, you can make it as thick or thin as you like, as spicy or mild as you like - so it's perfect.

CHILI'S SALSA

Source: Recipezaar

1 14.5 oz can tomatoes and green chili's (Rotel) (I used 2 small cans then weighed the contents to get 14.5 ounces)

1 14.5 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (plus juice) (I could only find a 28 oz can so I took each tomato, deseeded them, then weighed them and added the juice from the can until I got 14.5 ounces)

4 teaspoons jalepenos (canned, dicked - not pickled (I get jarred diced jalepenos by Cento - and of course I added waaaaay more than 4 teaspoons)

1/4 cup diced yellow onion (I use vidalia onions)

1/2-3/4 teaspoon garlic salt (I used 3/4 tsp)

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon sugar

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1. In food processor place jalepenos and onions and process for just a few seconds.

2. Add both cans of tomatoes, garlic salt, sugar and cumin.

3. Process by pulsing until you reach desired consistency.

4. Refrigerate a few hours to help blend and enrich the flavor.

Note: I also added about a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of regular table salt.