Crowd Pleasing Lasagna

As often happens in the kitchen, sometimes the best food is born out of resourcefulness. What is that old saying? Necessity is the mother of invention? I think that anyone who has ever spent any time in a kitchen will tell you how true that is. Many years ago my cousin was making lasagna when she belatedly realized she didn't have the right cheese on hand. She rummaged through her frig and saw she had swiss cheese, cottage cheese and mozzarella. Long story short...the family lasagna recipe was born. I know most of you (and especially any Italians) are thinking, 'Swiss cheese? Cottage cheese? In lasagna! Are you crazy!', but I promise this is beyond delicious.

Lasagna

Ingredients
1. 1 - 1.5 lb. lean ground beef
2. 1 box lasagna noodles - do NOT be tempted into buying the "no boil" pasta
3. 2 jars of spaghetti sauce - you can certainly make your own sauce but I really like the taste of Classico Tomato and Basil
4. swiss cheese- I like Sargento Deli Style Sliced Swiss Cheese. It comes with 12 slices which is more then you will end up using but it's nice to have on hand for sandwiches.
5. cottage cheese- I buy a 1 lb. tub of it and end up using approximately 1/2. My mom makes her's with reduced fat but I like the Horizon Organic best.
6. mozzarella cheese- Again, I'm partial to Sargento brand shredded mozzarella cheese. You certainly won't use up an entire bag since this is only going on the last layer but cheese is always a good staple to have in the frig.

Directions
1. Brown the meat in a deep pan and drain off any grease.
2. Add the two jars of tomato sauce. Turn the heat down to medium low and just let it simmer.
3. In a large pot bring water to a boil. Salt slightly and put lasagna noodles in. The noodles should be completely cooked in under 10 minutes. You want to take them out slightly before they are al dente. They will finish cooking in the oven.
4. In a 9x13 inch pan spread a thin layer of tomato sauce out. This will keep the lasagna from sticking to the pan after baking.
5. Put down a layer of lasagna noodles. I can usually fit around 3 or 4.
6. Take the meat/sauce mixture and spoon a pretty good layer on top of the noodles.
7. Take your swiss cheese slices and lay them down on top of the sauce. I can usually fit 4 slices.
8. Take a spoon and dollop out the cottage cheese on top of the swiss cheese and meat mixture. I don't have precise measurements I just eyeball it. Just do about a dozen or so quarter size dollops all over.
9. Over the cheese add another layer of the meat/sauce mixture.
10. Repeat steps 5-9 until you get to the top of the dish.
10. For your last layer after you have added the sauce over the swiss and cottage cheese you will add a heaping layer of mozzarella cheese. Be generous with it. This will brown and become the "crust" of the lasagna.
11. Put into a 350 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes or until the mozzarella cheese has melted into a deep golden brown.
12. Serve hot with garlic bread. This recipe makes enough lasagna to feed a small army so if you are planning on having guests over you should absolutely consider this!

Chili

Chili is T.H.'s all time favorite meal. When we met in college I don't think he had ever cooked much of anything other than a hot pocket; but my mom's chili recipe is so easy and delicious that he now makes it all the time. This is the recipe that I grew up on and in my opinion is the ultimate chili.

Chili

Ingredients

1. 1 can of kidney beans

2. 2 cans of pinto beans

3. 1 medium onion diced

4. 1 large clove of garlic

5. 1 (14.5) can of whole tomatoes

6. 1 lb. ground beef

7. 2 tbsps. chili powder

8. 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Brown 1 lb. of ground beef. Drain off fat

2. Add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is tender.

3. Add can of tomatoes. With a spoon break up the whole tomatoes slightly.

4. Add the beans (do not drain)
5. Add chili powder. The amount is approximate. Despite what you may think, chili powder doesn't actually add a lot of heat it just adds a kind of smokey background taste. The more you add the darker the final product will be.

6. Add red pepper flakes. Again the amount is approximate. A little goes a long way so add a little bit and let it cook for awhile and then you can taste and determine if you want to add more.

7. Add enough water to cover the entire chili mixture.

8. Cook on medium high heat for around 20-30 minutes stirring occasionally to ensure the bottom doesn't scortch.

9. Serve hot

T.H. likes his with lots of shredded cheddar cheese. I like mine with a little shredded cheese a few shakes of Frank's Hot Sauce and some saltine crackers. This and the white bean soup also in this blog are my all time favorite soups ever. When I think of comfort food this is what I think of!

Noble Pig Brisket

One of the food blogs that I love to follow is the Noble Pig. I love to drool over all the food and when I saw this recipe it really jumped out at me. I was a little intimidated at the thought of cooking a brisket since I had never attempted that feat before but looking at the step by step photos I felt confident that yes I could indeed make it! T.H. who is not the standard man who will eat anything gave this two thumbs up and said he wanted me to make it again soon. I hope you all like it as much as we did.

Noble Pig Brisket

from Noble Pig Blog http://http//noblepig.com/2008/02/14/seriously-the-easiest-most-foolproof-best-tasting-brisket-ever-you-can-do-thisno-excuses.aspx

Ingredients

1. 1 large onion diced

2. 1/2 cup butter

3. 28 ounces of ketchup

4. 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

5. 1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar

6. 1/3 cup lemon juice

7. 2 Tablespoons chili powder

8. 1-1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce

9. 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish

10. 1 teaspoon salt

11. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

12. 2 teaspoons liquid smoke (optional) I did not use it

13. 2 beef briskets totaling 5-6 pounds or one large 6 pound beef brisket (if you can find it) Mine was about 4.2 pds.

Directions

1. Saute onion and butter in a heavy saucepan until tender.

2. Add the next nine ingredients; bring to a boil.

3. Reduce the heat; simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes until reduced to about 6 cups.

4. Place the brisket in a roasting pan. I don't have a roasting pan so I used a sheet pan.

5. Add 3 cups of sauce.

6. Cover and bake at 275 degrees for 3 hours for two smaller briskets, basting occasionally. I forgot to cover the pan with aluminum foil so it didn't get the nice crust it was supposed to. Still delicious though!

7. If you use one large 6 pound brisket bake at 350 degrees for 4 hours, covered.

8. Skim any fat.

9. Remove brisket and let rest for 15 minutes.

10. Thinly slice the beef and pour remaining sauce from the pan and reserved sauce over the beef. Or throw the thinly sliced beef back into the roasting pan with the cooking sauce and add the sauce you reserved and completely coat the meat, then plate it up. It will be so saucy and so good.

I highly recommend you go to the Noble Pig site to see all of the pictures that she took for this brisket recipe. My pics don't come anywhere close to showing how good it is!

The BBQ Report

BBQ is such an interesting type of food because unlike almost any other food where there are clearly defined lines as to its origin; bbq is claimed by the entire country. Everyone from the north to the south claims that they have the best way of creating bbq. Even Native Americans were known to bbq their meat. In the U.S. we have four broad categories when it comes to how you prefer your bbq: Kansas City, Memphis, Texas and North Carolina. They differ based on what type of wood you use (some say hickory others swear by oak) to what kind of sauce (dry rub, wet sauce, vinegar, sugar, etc.). The interesting thing about what most people refer to as bbq is that it actually isn't. BBQ by definition is a "method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal" (I quote wikipedia) So unless you're firing up the barbie at home you aren't actually making bbq. Even so I'm not one to be a stickler for the rules. I make "bbq" about once a month and no it isn't over fire, smoking wood or hot coals....it's in the slow cooker. I'm sure a lot of southerners just rolled over in their graves.

I do love my slow cooker though and try to use it as much as possible. T.H. and I received one as a wedding present from a very sweet lady in our church. The problem was it was so tiny that you couldn't even fit one chicken breast inside without having to cut it in half. I think it must have been one of those tiny slow cookers intended only for making dips but T.H and I made whole meals in it for about five months! You know it goes back to my motto "make it work!" So for Christmas I decided to ask for a large 6qt slow cooker. One I could put whole pieces of meat in without having to cut it up first. On Christmas morning I happily unwrapped my Hamilton Beach Stay n Go 6qt slow cooker and I've been using it ever since. This recipe for bbq could not be any simpler. For people who say you can't cook yes you can! This has literally zero prep work. Make it and you'll be everyone's best friend.

Slow Cooker BBQ from allrecipes

Ingredients

1. 1 (2.5-3 pd.) boneless chuck roast (I used an angus roast)

2. 1 tsp. garlic powder

3. 1 tsp. onion powder

4. 1 (18 ounce.) bottle of bbq sauce (I like to use Sweet Baby Ray's but you could always make your own sauce)

Directions

1. Place roast into the slow cooker. Sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder, and season with salt and pepper. Pour barbeque sauce over meat. Cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours. (I recommend 8. It makes it easier to shred)

2. Remove meat from slow cooker, shred, and return to slow cooker. Cook for 1 more hour. Serve hot.