Lasagna Primavera

I love when I get my cooking magazines in the mail. I can't wait to sit down and browse through them and think of all of the yummy things that I want to make. There are many times that I mark several recipes but never make them. When I received this months copy of Everyday Food, I knew that I needed to make this lasagna. The only question was how I would pass it off to my kids and particularly my husband. As before mentioned, my husband does not eat anything green or that grows in the ground so how does one pass off a dish that contains a healthy dose of the two? By covering it with a bechamel sauce and lots and lots of cheese!

My kids actually loved the dish and ate a good size plate of it. My son even had seconds or maybe even thirds. My husband lovingly ate it without complaining although I did see a pile of the carrots on his plate that he had picked out. It was nice to have a meal that I could eat for a change and it was delicious. I served the lasagna with the Garlic Knots that I also found in the Everyday Food magazine. It was all so good that I hope to be making it again soon.

I did make a few changes to the recipes, but they are printed here as they appear in the magazine. I made the bechamel sauce for the lasagna with 1% milk rather than whole milk but I did add about 2 oz. of regular cream cheese to replace the creaminess lost by the 1% milk. I also replaced one layer of mozzarella with havarti cheese as I had some in my fridge that I needed to use up. I reduced the spinach to only 1 package since I knew that the green stuff was going to be a battle with the family. I am glad that I did though because there was a lot with only one package and I can't imagine the amount if I had used both. With the garlic knots, I replaced half the oil with butter because I prefer the taste of butter to oil. I also topped the knots with some sea salt and some fresh grated parmesan cheese before baking. They were a big hit and were gone before they could even cool off completely.

Lasagna Primavera
(From Everyday Food magazine)

Serves 8.

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for foil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups whole milk
2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas
1/2 pound carrots (4 to 5), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 container (15 ounces) part-skim ricotta (about 2 cups)
1 large egg
1 package (9 ounces) no-boil lasagna noodles (12 to 16 noodles)
1 pound part-skim mozzarella, shredded
1 cup grated Parmesan

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium; add flour and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes (do not let flour mixture darken); whisk in milk. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, and cook, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add spinach, peas, and carrots; season with salt and pepper. Set sauce aside.

2. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and teaspoon pepper.
In the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, spread a thin layer of vegetable sauce. Layer noodles, half the remaining vegetable sauce, another noodles, half the ricotta mixture, half the mozzarella, and half the Parmesan; repeat.

3. Cover dish with lightly oiled aluminum foil, and place on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake 45 minutes, uncover, and bake until bubbling and browned, about 20 minutes more. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Garlic Knots

All-purpose flour, for shaping dough
1 pound pizza dough, thawed if frozen
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a 16-by-10-inch rectangle; with a knife or pizza cutter, cut crosswise into 16 strips. Tie each strip into a knot, and place on a large rimmed baking sheet.
Brush knots with 1 tablespoon oil. Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes; transfer to a large bowl.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat garlic and remaining 3 tablespoons oil over medium until garlic is fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour garlic oil over bread knots in bowl; season with salt and pepper, and toss.

Here's what's for dinner tonight...

Here's a little secret about me, I'm a Costco junkie. I often go there several days a week. I don't know if it's their cheap hot dog and drink combo or all the delicious food to look at. Probably both. I love to grab a diet coke and wander around the store. I longingly look at all of the food and think of all of the yummy meals that I can make or walk over to the Le Creuset pots that beg me to take them home each week. I bring this Costco obsession of mine up for one reason, I love their salmon. They sell these bags of individually packaged frozen salmon fillets. It makes it easy for my small family to enjoy the fish whenever we want to. I can pull ou two of the fillets, which defrost in only 10-15 minutes and have them on the table in another 15 minutes. It makes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.

Quick and easy Salmon

(by Ina Garten)

4 skinless salmon fillets

olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Heat an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, pat the salmon dry with paper towels. Cover liberally with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.

3. Place salmon season side down into the dry skillet. Cook without turning for 2 minutes. Flip salmon over (if the salmon sticks, wait another minute for salmon to form a brown crust) and place the skillet in the over to finish cooking for 5 -7 minutes.

Since I am in a secret divulging mood, can I share another one? This bowl of beautifully colorful veggies makes me giddy. I mean, when I see all of those delicious veggies layered in a glass bowl I just smile and it instantly brightens my day. Does that sound insane? I just love them. In fact, tonight before dinner, well maybe not just before dinner, more like all day, I was in the worst of moods. I don't know what it was, probably just girlie hormoes, (curse those hormones),but I was not the nice fun mommy today. I think my kids were thinking that their mommy had been kidnapped and replaced with Cruella De Vill. But once I cut up the veggies and saw them layered up in the bowl, I just smiled. I had to run and find the camera so that I could snap this picture. Maybe I'll use it for the screensaver on my computer that way it'll brighten up my day everytime I look at the computer.

So, what did I do with all of those lovely veggies you ask? Only my favorite thing of course, I roasted them. I love roasted veggies. Everything gets better when covered lightly with olive oil and cooked until browned. I love the way that the onions get a little crispy and caramelized and the carots get a little toasty. Oh my goodness, I am drooling all over the computer. Another thing that I love about these beautimus veggies is their versatility. I can roast up a cookie sheet or two one night and have them for dinner. The next day I can turn them into several other dishes. I have made them into a vegetable pot pie by covering them in a vegetable gravy and topping with biscuits or skip the biscuits and top with a layer of cheesy mashed potatoes and you have shepards pie. Inevitably tomorrow morning you'll find me in front of my fridge snacking on them cold. What can't these wonderful veggies do?

Roasted Veggies

1 butternut squash, pealed, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
5 carrots, peeled and cut on the diagonal into thin 1/2 in. pieces
1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
3 cloves of garlic. peeled
4 red potatoes cut into 1/2 in. pieces
olive oil
salt and pepper
1tsp. dried thyme, optional

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray.

2. Place cut up veggies onto cookie sheet and drzzle with olive oil. Sprinkle on salt, pepper and thyme, if using. Toss to combine and to coat all of the veggies. Spread between 2 cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 45-60 minutes, tossing the veggies and rotating the sheets after about 25-30 minutes. Toss with a little more salt and serve.