Smokin' Sausage Lasagna

Does anyone not like lasagna? I didn't think so. Even my 5 year old (who, btw, got her first loose tooth yesterday!) likes it even though she is firmly against casseroles or other "mixed up" food.

Normally, I use beef or turkey in my recipe but this time we tried sausage - to great applause! I also generally use no fuss, no muss, no pre-boiling required noodles...they make preparing dinner so much easier!

The great thing about lasagna is that pretty much anything goes - like garlic? Add more! Don't like wine? Substitute water! Like it hot and spicy? Add hot sauce!

My favorite ingredient in this recipe is the smoked Gouda - it melts so well and imparts a great but not too strong smoky flavour. Also, this recipe makes a smooth, creamy tasting lasagna - none of the flavours really stand out too much (that is there is no Horshack, "Ooh-ooh-ooooh! pick me Mr. Carter" going on - sorry to anyone not familiar with the Sweathogs) but everything melds together to produce a memorable and delicious comfort dish.

Mmm, pass the garlic bread!

Ingredients
1 cup wine wine
2 lbs mild italian sausage
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1.5 bottles Paul Newman's Marinara sauce
2 onions
2 cups spinach
large handful of basil
9 oven ready lasagna noodles
2 cups ricotta
2 cups mozzarella. grated
1 cup smoked gouda, grated
1/3 cup parmesan
2 tsp thyme
salt
pepper
chipotle hot sauce (optional)


Method
Take sausage out of casings and saute with onions on medium heat til sausage is cooked through - about 15 minutes.

In blender or food processor, blend sauce, garlic, basil and spinach. If desired, blend some of the cooked sausage as well.

Pour sauce into large sauce pan and add wine. Stir till blended. Warm over medium- low heat.

In large bowl, mix together ricotta, 1/2 cup smoked gouda, 1 cup mozzarella, parmesan, thyme, pepper and salt.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place 1/3 of sauce in 9 x 13 pan.

Add 3 lasagna noodles.

Evenly spread 1/2 of cheese mixture over noodles.

Spread 1/3 of sauce over mixture.

Add 3 more noodles.

Spread other 1/2 of cheese mixture over noodles.

Add 3 more noodles.

Spread sausage evenly over noodles.

Pour last 1/3 of sauce over noodles.

Sprinkle remaining mozzarella and smoked gouda over sauce.

Bake in oven for approximately 50-60 minutes, until fork pierces pasta easily.

Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Note: If you don't like browned/broiled cheese (I love it), I would cover with non-stick aluminum foil during baking.

Candy Coated Chocolate Strawberries

Local strawberry season doesn't start till June but I couldn't wait another month when I came across some beautiful organic strawberries at the market last week. After enjoying their pure unadulterated goodness right out of the carton (well, after washing them), I thought I would jazz up the rest with chocolate! And to please the kids we added some sprinkles and sugar...so cute and delcious!



Ingredients:
1 cup milk chocolate chips
12 strawberries
1/3 cup each of various sprinkles and/or sanding sugar
12 lollipop sticks (optional)

Melt the milk chocolate chips in a bowl set over a small pot of simmering water or melt in microwave (full power 30 seconds, stir, reheat for 10 second intervals and stir again if needed) .

Poke a strawberry with a fork or lollpop stick and dip it into the melted chocolate.

Immediately roll in your favorite sprinkles or sanding sugar. Lay on a baking sheet covered in waxed paper or a silpat to set or if on sticks place in mug or glass (strawberry up!) until set.
 
So simple, so delicious. Enjoy!

Tidbit Thursday #2 - All About Chocolate

Chocolate covered strawberries - so easy. Look for recipe on this Saturday's blog post!

This week's Tidbit Thursday is all about chocolate!

The World's Top Chocolate Loving Nations are (lbs/yr):

1. Switzerland 22.36
2. Austria 20.13
3. Ireland 19.47
4. Germany 18.04
5. Norway 17.93

Chocolate Facts

• Chocolate production starts with harvesting cocoa .The seed pods of the cacao tree don't grow from the end of its branches, but directly off the branches and the trunk of the tree.
• Seed pods are about the size of a football and holds up to fifty seeds–enough to make about seven milk chocolate or two dark chocolate bars. Fresh cocoa beans are not brown and they do not taste at all like the sweet chocolate they will eventually produce.
• Cacao flowers are pollinated by midges which are small flies that live in the rotting leaves and other debris that fall to the forest floor at the base of the tree.
• In 1847, Fry and Sons Company of Bristol, England, introduced the first solid eating chocolate. The family–who, like many early chocolate dynasties, were Quakers– boycotted cacao from parts of the world where working conditions resembled slavery.
• Although we tend to think of chocolate as a solid today, for 90% of its history it was consumed in liquid form.
• Chocolate manufacturers currently use 40% of the world's almonds and 20% of the world's peanuts
• 71% of North American chocolate eaters prefer milk chooclate.
• 22% of all chocolate consumption takes place between 8pm and midnight.
• More chocolate is consumed in the winter than any other season.

 Great sites about chocolate:

http://www.sfu.ca/geog351fall03/groups-webpages/gp8/prod/prod.html

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/Chocolate/challenge_interactive/challenge-MX-OSX.html

http://www.20n20s.com/

 

Triple Threat Bars

Oooohs, aaaahs and mmmmmmms will be all that you hear from your friends and families when they bite into these oh-so-delicious layered bars.


I have been making these for years and the recipe is adapted from a recipe I found on a condensed milk can (Eagle Brand , I think). I call them "triple threats" because of the chocolate, peanut butter and caramel oozing from every bite of these decadent treats. They are not for anyone watching their waist line (well, unless you are watching it expand!) - butter, condensed milk, chocolate, caramel, peanut butter ... my mouth is watering ... definitely makes for a bit of a calorie nightmare but we all need a treat once in awhile! A small square or two is worth an extra workout this week. Don't you agree?



Triple Threat Bars


Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups coconut
1 can condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
3/4 cup peanut butter
1.5 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup mini peanut butter cups
1 cup soft caramels (maybe 20 prepackaged caramels such as Kraft)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Place butter in 9 x 13 pan and melt in oven.
2. Remove pan from oven.
3. Sprinkle graham wafer crumbs evenly in pan.
4. Sprinkle coconut evenly in pan.
5. Pour condensed milk evenly over coconut.
6. Place back in oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
7. About 5 minutes before taking out pan, melt peanut butter and chocolate chips in small sauce pan over low heat. Stir constantly to prevent burning.
8. Pour peanut butter and chocolate mixture over hot base.
9.Cool 10 minutes and then sprinkle mini peanut butter cups and cut up caramels evenly over bars. If desired run a knife through caramels once they have had a few minutes to melt to spread out a bit.

Note:
I had made a batch of pistachio caramels that turned out too hard so I melted them down with a bit of cream and used them in this recipe. I'm sure premade soft caramels would work too - I would just cut them in half and sprinkle on top while still warm so they will melt. Dollups of ice cream sundae butterscotch would work if you are serving them on a plate as a dessert but the sauce would be a bit too messy if you were to serve them as a cookie bar meant to be picked up with your hands.


Enjoy!

Tidbit Thursday - Did you know?

It's Tidbit Thursday! A new Within the Kitchen weekly feature where I'll share a few interesting (at least to me) bits of food and cooking information that I've learned during the week. If you have any tidbits you want to share send them to me at withinthekitchen@gmail.com and I'll feature as many as I can.

Tidbit - noun
Definitions:
1 : a choice morsel of food
2 : a choice or pleasing bit (as of information)

Tidbit Thursday - Did you know?

• Lemons are picked when they are green by most commercial producers of the fruit. Their colour changes when ethylene gas is added to the storage bins.
• According to the Sunkist(tm) website, the Meyer lemon, actually a cross between a lemon and possibly an orange or a mandarin, was named for Frank N. Meyer who first discovered it in 1908. 
• 3 tbsp of juice can be squeezed from an average lemon.
• 2 tbsp of juice can be squeezed from an average lime (persian limes not key limes which are smaller).
• Eight strawberries will provide 140 percent of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C for kids.
• The strawberry is the only fruit with the seeds on the outside of the fruit.
• Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated.
• 25% of an apple's volume is air. That's why they float.
• The first pie recipe was published by the Romans and was for a rye-crusted goat cheese and honey pie.

Pie Pops are mini pies on stick!

Click for recipe.

Hope you learned something new...check back next week for more Tidbit Thursday!

Pucker-up Lemon Loaf

This is adapted from my Mom's amazing lemon loaf recipe. The sanding sugar (sugar with large granules) produces a great crisp-like topping that adds a great crunch to this beautifully moist loaf. It also keeps it crunch after the lemon glaze is added.

Ingredients
1.5 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 tbsp cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp lemon rind

Glaze
Juice of 1 -2 large lemons
1/3 cup sugar

Optional
Sanding sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 5 loaf pan.

1. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy about 3 minutes.
2. Beat in cream cheese for another minute.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Add vanilla and rind.
5. In another bowl sift or whisk flour, baking powder and salt.
6. Alternating with buttermilk, mix in dry ingredients in three additions (start with milk).
7. Pour batter into greased 9 x 5 loaf pan.
8. Bake for 60-70 minutes.
9. Cool for 10 minutes. Poke loaf all over with tooth pick or skewer.
10. Mix lemon juice and sugar until sugar is mostly dissolved. Pour evenly over loaf.
11. Wait another 10 minutes so juices can soak into loaf. Remove loaf from pan and cool completely.

Enjoy!

Note:
Do not over beat dry ingredients into wet. Mix until just incorporated to avoid a "tough" loaf.

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM

It's the weekend which means there are usually items in my fridge that are about to pass their expiry date if not used quickly. This week my large carton of half and half  is on the chopping block. For those who aren't familiar with half and half - it is a popular dairy product that is equal parts milk and cream. The fat content is usually around 10.5 - 18% . I use it with my coffee and it is also used with strawberries and breakfast cereals.

I found an ice cream recipe that sounded delicious and since the kids have been begging to use the ice cream maker it was the one chosen.  But I have to admit it did not freeze! I have no idea why - maybe my ice cream thingy wasn't cold enough. I told the kids it was strawberry "soup" instead - they loved it!!!

But I needed to prove to myself that I could produce a frozen ice cream! So I tried again - I altered the recipe even more by adding caramel, lemon zest (the zest adds a bright, summer flavour) and real vanilla to my version for a decadent cheesecake ice cream. And since we used half and half instead of full fat heavy cream, I don't even feel too guilty about having a second scoop!


STRAWBERRY  CARAMEL CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM

Ingredients

1/2 cup granulated sugar

8 ounces softened cream cheese

3 large egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean

3 cups half-and-half

1 heaping tsp. fresh lemon zest, grated

1 1/2 cup strawberries

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp caramel sauce

Method

1. Beat sugar and cream cheese together until smooth and creamy.

2. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla (if using liquid); set aside.

3. Dice strawberries and mash a few times with fork or potato masher.

4. Mix strawberries and brown sugar in small bowl; set aside.

5. Pour half-and-half into heavy saucepan.

6. If using vanilla bean, splice in half and scratch out inside of pod. Add to half and half.

7. Bring half and half to a low simmer.

8. Slowly mix the hot cream into the cheese mixture.

9. Pour mixture back into saucepan and heat over medium - low heat. Stir constantly until custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to boil or the egg may will scramble. About 5 minutes.

10. Remove from heat.

11.Allow mixture to cool for 20 minutes or so.

12. Add lemon zest.

13. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or longer.

14. Stir chilled custard; freeze in your ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions.

15. Add strawberries when ice cream is semi-frozen and allow machine to mix in.

16. Add caramel sauce in slow stream to machine at very end - the sauce will probably end up mixing in rather than forming a "ribbon" but that's ok - still tastes great!

17. For firmer ice cream, transfer to freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 2 hours.