Dips, Dressings, and Spreads – Page 6

Beefy 6 Cheese Lasagna

So my hubby is a pilot and is on call every other week. When he is gone, we usually just have cereal and eggs for dinner, but I do make one dish he doesn’t like once the week he is gone. Pot Roast is one. Anything with ricotta is another. He HATES ricotta, and I find that slightly offensive, but I love him anyway.

Last night he was out on a flight and I really wanted lasagna. I thought I had all the ingredients to make my Easy Weeknight Lasagna, but I didn’t have any jarred sauce. But I did have 1 large can of crushed tomatoes and 1 can of tomato sauce. So after I stole some basil from my neighbor’s yard (shout out to Colleen if you are reading this), I decided to make some homemade meat sauce.

Sauce- Heat a dutch oven or large pot and add in 3 turns of olive oil. 1 onion diced cooked down for a few minutes, then add 3 cloves of garlic minced and half a container of sad sliced mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and mixed well and let cook for a few minutes.

Side rant- If you watch any cooking shows, they tell you to cook the tomato paste down until it looks like rust and it gives off a certain smell. I don’t really know what the hell that means. I just cooked it with mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce, so of course it is going to look rusty. Everything at this point smells like garlic, so IDK? I probably am just cooking in the wrong order, but I don’t care. I cook how I cook. You do you!

Meanwhile I am browning some ground beef. Normally I would do everything in that same pan, but I didn’t this time. I only had to wash one more pan, so NBD. After the meat is browned, I add it to the sauce and mix well. I let it cook all together for about 20 minutes.

Lasagna- I used no boil noodles. I layered the noodles and sauce with ricotta, mozzarella, and a 4 cheese Italian blend. Cooked at 350 for about 40 minutes. You could use Italian sausage or your favorite ground meat. If you are a vegetarian, leave the meat out. I also made bruschetta with my farmers’ market tomatoes and stolen basil 😉

Tofu Peanut Noodles

Asian, Dips, Dressings, and Spreads, Pasta, Vegetarian

This is one of my favorite noodle dishes in the summer. For when you feel like eating pasta, but you are tired of regular pasta salad.

Tofu Peanut Noodles

Ingredients
1 package of your favorite Asian Noodle or 1/2 package of Linguine- any long thick noodle will do
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp of ginger paste or 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 package cooked tofu or you could make yours…

Directions

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Normally I don’t drain my noodles, but if I am using Asian noodles of some sort, I always do.

Combine the sesame oil, peanut butter, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger together in a large bowl. Whisk until well combined. The peanut butter should completely break down to create a smooth sauce. I have never tried crunchy peanut butter, but I think it would probably add more of a crunch.

Add the noodles to the bowl with the sauce until evening combined. Cool in fridge. Top with the Tofu (you could warm the tofu up if you like, but I like it cold. I would not mix the tofu, because it will break apart, but this is purely for looks. I mix mine after I serve myself some =)

Instead of tofu, you could add some chicken or just have the noodles plain. For a little heat, you can add in your favorite hot sauce! Top with some sesame seeds,scallions, or more peanuts if you have them!

Except for the honey, it is vegan. You could replace the honey with agave.

Teriyaki Salmon

Asian, Dips, Dressings, and Spreads, Seafood

Evening guys! I hope everyone is well. Today was a pretty crazy day full of errands and family time, so tonight I cooked this easy healthy dinner while my daughter was at practice. If I have the ingredients on hand, I usually make my own marinade like this for my proteins, but I do keep a few in the cabinet just for busy or lazy nights. When I saw the marinade pouch staring at me in the cabinet, I went for it.

All I did was marinate the salmon while I heated my oven to 400. I baked the fish for about 15 minutes (less or more depending on the thickness). I also cooked some rice and some squash and mushrooms sauteed in a bit of butter and sesame oil. I didn’t take a picture of the complete dish, but it was very pretty.

The salmon gets a bit charred on top, but was not burned. They were rather large, so I cut them in half. This is going in to the fish rotation for sure 😉