Tasty Thursday: Butternut Squash Lasagna

When I make my grocery list each week, I comb through my recipe binders and cookbooks. This week a recipe fell out that was torn from a newspaper over four years ago and yet was one I’d never made. I’m not sure why because it looked delicious. I made a tweak here and there, added the ingredients to my shopping list and the results were wonderful! It would be easy to adapt as a vegetarian meal. It was hearty but not heavy. I can’t wait to make it again. What a wonderful alternative to traditional tomato-sauce based lasagna!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

1 medium butternut squash
1 quart of chicken broth
1 pound of ground sweet Italian sausage
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp garlic
2 eggs
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 pound of lasagna noodles
grated Parmesan cheese

1. Roast the squash: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and lay flesh side up on a baking sheet. Place a tablespoon of butter on each half and season with salt & pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes until flesh is soft enough to pierce with a fork. Let cool.

2. Brown your sausage over medium high heat. Remove and place in a bowl lined with paper towels (helps to remove some of the grease) and pour off most of the fat from the pan, reserving just enough to brown your garlic & onions. Cook the onions & garlic for about 10 minutes until the onion is translucent and lightly browned. Place in the bowl with the sausage. (Don’t forget to pull out your paper towels!)

3. Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook your lasagna noodles according to instructions. At this time also put your chicken broth on to simmer.

4. While that’s happening, scoop the flesh of the cooled butternut squash into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the eggs, ricotta cheese and seasonings. Blend until smooth then mix with the sausage & onions. This is your filling.

5. In a lasagna pan or 9×13 dish, layer your lasagna. Alternate noodles, filling, a generous sprinkle of parmesan and a ladle full of broth. End with noodles, one more scoop of broth and more parmesan on the top. Bake, covered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes until the top is golden and the edges are a bit crispy.

We served this with some grilled asparagus alongside (toss one bunch of asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper & red pepper flakes and grill on a lightly oiled grill pan for about 10 minutes).

Tasty Thursday: Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake

There are some nights when I throw a few things in a pan, stir it together, put it in the oven and hope it comes out tasting good. This recipe came from one of those nights – which means it tasted pretty darn good. It’s not the sort of cooking that we do all the time around here but I’m sure this will make an appearance on the table again someday. In fact, the middlest liked it so much that it might just appear for her birthday next week.

Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake

2-3 cooked & chopped chicken breasts OR pull apart a rotisserie chicken
1 box of penne pasta
2 jars of alfredo sauce
2 cups of shredded mozzerella cheese
1 tsp basil
black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 and boil pasta according to directions while you chop or pull apart your chicken.

2. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients – setting aside one cup of the cheese.

3. Put the mixture in a greased 9×13 baking dish, top with remaining cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Tasty Thursday: Shrimp Orzo Skillet

Pulled this one out of a tried and true cookbook: 29 Minutes to Dinner. If you ever have to go to a Pampered Chef party – buy this book. I like this recipe because it’s delicious and low in fat. As an added bonus, everyone at the table enjoyed it (yes, even the picky child).

Shrimp Orzo Skillet

With slight modifications by me.

• 16 oz medium shrimp (35-40 per pound)
• 1 TB canola oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1 cup orzo pasta
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 cup clam juice (look in the juice aisle of the grocery)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 TB lemon juice
• ! bunch of asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 TB butter

1. If you are using fresh shrimp, peel & devein them. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. As oil heats, mix together the salt, pepper & sugar – sprinkle over the shrimp and toss.

2. Put shrimp in a single layer over the bottom of your skillet and cook for 1 minute (should be slightly browned from the sugar caramelizing). Turn over and cook for another minute or until centers are opaque and shrimp are cooked through. Remove from skillet and set aside.

3. In same skillet, combine the orzo, garlic, clam juice & broth. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the orzo has absorbed the broth and is cooked.

4. As orzo cooks, chop your asparagus and blanch it: drop it into a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes then strain the asparagus and place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

5. Once orzo is done, remove skillet from heat and stir in the lemon juice, butter (chop it into small pieces) and the asparagus. Arrange the shrimp on top, cover and let stand 5 minutes before serving

There you have it! A one-pot meal with healthy, low fat food inside. My daughter also added a dash of parmesan cheese on top of her serving – delicious!

Tasty Thursday: Sausage & Mushroom Risotto

Risotto is such a wonderful base for so many things. It’s creamy and comforting and goes just as well with fresh veggies as it does with roasted butternut squash and salmon.

The extremely cold weather this week led me to plan a week full of comfort foods, so it’s no surprise that risotto was on the list. Inspired by a new cookbook recipe (I got some great new cookbooks for Christmas!) I came up with this twist. Yum!

Sausage & Mushroom Risotto

1/2 lb Italian sausage
1 8oz package of sliced portobello mushrooms
2 TB butter
2 TB olive oil
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups arborio rice
6 cups chicken broth, warm
2 TB parmesan, shredded
2 TB butter (yes again – you use it at two different times)

1. In shallow saucepan, brown the sausage. When finished, put it in a bowl with paper towels to soak up excess grease. In the same pan, in the sausage drippings, saute the mushrooms until tender – 5 minutes or so. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Bring broth to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. While it’s warming up, warm olive oil and melt the butter in the saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add rice and cook for two minutes to open the grains.

3. Start adding the broth, a ladle or two at a time, stirring constantly. Add a ladle, stir till almost completely absorbed… add a ladle, stir till almost completely absorbed etc. Your heat should be low enough that it takes 2-3 minutes at least between ladles.

broth just added – stirring away!

see how it’s much thicker and pull from the sides as I stir? time to add more broth

4. Once the last bit of broth is nearly absorbed, stir in Parmesan. Remove from heat. Cut the last 2 TB of butter and arrange over the top so it melts all over the dish. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Add sausage & mushrooms. Stir to mix everything together one last time and serve!

Food Thursday: Steak & Tortellini

I was wandering around the grocery store this week with a cart full of fresh vegetables. I was looking for some dinner inspiration surrounding that fine produce when I spied some sirloin steak marked down for sale that day. And that’s when I came up with this plan:

Steak & Tortellini

1 family size bag of tortellini pasta
1.5 lbs of sirloin steak
1 red bell pepper
1 8oz package of mushrooms
1 red onion
1 head of broccoli
1 14oz can of tomato sauce
Parmesan cheese

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to directions.

2. Grill your sirloin to medium doneness. Let it rest and then cut into bite size pieces.

3. Chop all vegetables into bite-size pieces and, in a large skillet with a lid, saute them in olive oil over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes until they just start to get soft. Add your steak and tomato sauce to the pan. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Drain your pasta and put it in a large bowl. Cover with your sauce/steak/veggie mixture and toss to coat. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

This is a great way to make use of a variety of vegetables – I think the onion is a must have but the rest are up to you… green beans, squash, asparagus, spinach… just about anything would work!