Be Thankful...........

Hope you all have a thankful kind of day.

Later,

sandy

Caprese Lasagna Roll Ups

I've noticed a theme in the recipes I see posted on Facebook and just in general it seems.  They all seem to be cheese related--stuffed with it, covered and smothered with it or mixed in with it.

Now don't get me wrong--I truly love cheese in all it's ooey, gooey goodness.  The problem lies in the fact that cheese doesn't love me very much.  I do save a few of the recipes here and there.  A lot of them I just sit and drool over.  Some I definitely will make and while my hubby can sit and eat his fill, I'll be eating a little tiny serving along with my huge plate of veges.  I love veges also, but it just makes the job of cooking meals even more exhausting when I have to make hubby's food and then my food or at least make one entree and then make all separate veges and sides.  Oey!  Hey I'm at least very thankful to have the veges that you can now buy in the self steaming bags.......makes life a little easier, with both the cooking and cleaning up.  I wait for them to be on sale and stock up!

Ok, this recipe looks yummy and I hope everyone that can eat their fill of cheese enjoys it.  I can even see me eating at least one or two roll ups with a plate of brocolli :-)

Caprese Lasagna Roll Ups -

Loaded with Mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil

Ingredients

8 lasagna noodles, uncooked
14 oz freshly shredded, low-moisture part skim Mozzarella cheese, divided
3/4 cup Ricotta cheese
1 large egg white
1/3 cup freshly, finely shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/4 oz)
freshly ground black pepper
3 - 4 medium Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/6 inch thick slices)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish
1 cup marinara sauce, recipe follows
Simple Marinara Sauce
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to directions listed on package to al dente. Drain pasta (DO NOT rinse with water) and align lasagna noodles in a single layer on a large sheet of parchment or wax paper.

For filling, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese and egg white until well blended. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Mix in 12 oz. of the Mozzarella cheese and season with black pepper to taste (I wouldn't recommend seasoning with salt just because the cheeses already have plenty of salt).

Place 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture over each lasagna noodle and spread into an even layer, going from one end of the lasagna to the other. Align 4 thin tomato slices over cheese mixture then sprinkle fresh basil over top. Snugly roll lasagna noodles to opposite end. Spread about 1/4 cup pasta sauce in the bottom of an 11 x 7 inch baking dish. Align lasagna roll ups, seam side down in dish. Top each roll up with about 2 tbsp of the pasta sauce (covering edges of pasta so they don't dry out while baking). Sprinkle top with remaining 2 oz. shredded Mozzarella. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Remove from oven, plate pasta and garnish with plenty of basil ribbons. Serve warm.

Simple Marinara Sauce

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add onions to hot oil and saute about 3 minutes until soft, adding garlic during last minute of sautéing. Pour in crushed tomatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture just to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and allow sauce to cook for about 25 - 30 minutes (which will allow some of the water in crushed tomatoes to evaporate) while you prepare pasta and lasagna filling (you can freeze or refrigerate left over sauce in a small airtight container for later use, adding fresh basil if desired).

Later,

sandy

French Onion Soup.........Oui Oui!

I'm gonna definitely try this out.  I had the misfortune to eat French Onion Soup at Panera Bread.............ugh is all I can say.  The broth was extremely salty and tasted like they simply had dissolved beef bouillon cubes in water and there weren't even very many onions, just a little on the top under the bread and cheese.  The bread and cheese were the only things I would call decent tasting.  I was really disappointed.  I've only eaten there a couple of times, the other time I ordered some type of chicken sandwich that was great, only not very filling..........good thing I had the apple to eat :-)  They talk so much about only cooking from 'scratch' so I was surprised with the broth in the soup simply being bouillon cubes in water.  Maybe one of these days (when we can afford to eat out) I'll give Panera another try.  But until then, this looks like it would be a much tastier alternative.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 8 cups thinly vertically sliced sweet onion
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 8 cups less-sodium beef broth
• 1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 8 (1-ounce) slices French bread
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyere cheese

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions to pan; sauté for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in sugar, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat to medium; cook 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Increase heat to medium-high, and sauté for 5 minutes or until onion is golden brown. Stir in wine, and cook for 1 minute. Add broth and thyme; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours.
2. Preheat broiler.
3. Place bread in a single layer on a baking sheet; broil 2 minutes or until the slices are toasted, turning after 1 minute. Remove the bread.
4. Place 8 ovenproof bowls on the baking sheet. Ladle the soup into each bowl. Top each with a slice of bread and cover the bread with the grated cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.

Later,

sandy