Lasagna is a sore spot with me, and has been for a number of years. I'm obviously like you and make it from scratch, heck I've even been known to make my own noodles for it. However, so many people can't be bothered and just by the frozen stuff (Stouffer's is good, I will admit that) which is so much more expensive by portion. A couple years ago I offered to teach a woman I know how to make it (and a lot of other things) herself in order to save money. To this day she still buys all prepackaged crap and people wonder why she and her kids are obese and her husband has heart problems. She just refuses to learn how to cook. If it can't be thrown in the oven or the microwave she doesn't buy it.
She has a 12yo and a 7yo. The 7yo outweighed my 12yo when she was 4, and now outweighs me. Her 12yo outweighed me when she was 8 and outweighed my husband by the time she was 10.
And people wonder why I make so much from scratch, rather than prepackaged.
We use the Costco/Kirkland brand. I did the math on it and it is WAY cheaper to buy that in bulk there.
Unfortunately, I live out in the boonies and have no easy access to any of the "club" stores. The nearest Sam's Club is 50 miles and Costco is over 100 miles. I do what I can with my local supermarket and WalMart.
Hint.
The Mexican markets make excellent mozarella and farm cheeses similar to ricotta and sell them cheap cheap cheap.
They also make some nice german style cheeses as a lot of German Mennonites(Mennonita is actually similare to provolone) settled there.
Queso anejo is a decent substitute for Romano at a 1/4 of the price
BTW, Making your own noodles is easy.
I dont even use a pasta machine.
Thats for show.
Gotta rolling pin and a knife? Yer good to go!
You don't have to boil them. I know they make no boil noodles, but I always found it to taste starchy or pasty. This didn't. I think its because the 15 minutes of soaking in hot water released some of the starch.
| Lasagna |
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| 1 lb of sweet Italian sausage 1 lb of ground beef 1/2 cup of chopped onions 2 cloves of garlic chopped 1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes 2 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce 2 (6 oz) cans of tomato paste 1/2 cup of Water 2 T white sugar 1 tsp fennel seed 2 tsp fresh basil leaves chopped |
4 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley chopped, divided 1 tsp salt (optional) 1 tsp Italian Seasoning 1/2 tsp ground pepper 23 oz of ricotta cheese 1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg 1 egg 1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese 12 lasagna noodles |
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Brown the ground beef, Italian sausage, onions and garlic in a pot at med low heat. It takes about 6 to 9 minutes to brown the meat. Add the following: tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, 1/2 cup of water. Gently stir this into the cooking meat. Add the following: white sugar, fennel seed, basil, 2 T Italian parsley, salt, Italian Seasoning, ground pepper. Gently stir these seasoning into the sauce. Cover the pot and let the meat sauce simmer. Simmer on low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Soak 12 lasagna noodles. The lasagna noodles need to be soaked in hot tap water for 15 minutes. While the noodles are soaking you can make the cheese filling. Put the following in a mixing bowl: ricotta cheese, nutmeg. Add the following: 1 egg, 2 T Italian parsley. Mix these ingredients together with a spoon. Now we start building the lasagna layers. Use a 9×13 inch baking pan. Spread 1-2 cups of meat sauce on the bottom of the pan. Remove your lasagna noodles out of the water bath. Shake water off wet noodles. Lay 6 noodles across the layer of sauce. Spread half of the ricotta cheese mixture over the layer of noodles. Spread 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese over the ricotta layer. Sprinkle half of the Parmesan cheese over the mozzarella layer. Spread 1-2 cups of meat sauce over the cheese layer. Lay down the next layer of noodles. Spread the remaining ricotta mixture over noodles. Spread the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses saving some cheese for the top of the lasagna. Put the last layer of meat sauce on the cheeses. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Cover with foil. Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for approximately 15 minutes. Serves 12 |
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Interesterified fats are not trans fats. However, they were developed to take the place of trans-fats in commercially produced baked goods and snack foods. Interesterified fats have been chemically or enzymatically altered to improve their texture or nutritional profile. They're produced by combining stearic acid, found in chocolate and considered a relatively safe saturated fat, with vegetable oils containing unsaturated fat.We really don't know much about these new fats yet, and their short and long term consequence on health have not been well researched. However, a study published in the January 15, 2007, issue of Nutrition Metabolism found that interesterified fats and trans fats had similar, negative effects. Both increased total cholesterol, raised "bad" LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol and lowered "good" HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol. Another negative: the interesterified fat also raised fasting blood glucose by almost 20 percent. Because the study was small - only 30 individuals participated - the American Heart Association took the position that the "safety profile of interesterified oils and shortenings isn't as well understood as that of natural fats and oils" and that more research is needed. Since this is an unsettled issue and because there's some reason to believe that these fats may have negative health effects, I would recommend staying away from products containing interesterified fats until we know more.
Why can't these corporations just provide healthy foods instead of wasting their money trying to create new ways to kill us.
Homemade lasagna noodles are the best! I especially love making a bolognese sauce and mini meatballs to throw in. Fresh whole milk ricotta, mmm! It’s heaven in a dish.
Have you tried making your own ravioli? The last time I made 5 cheese ravioli my husband and I polished off two casserole dishes full. I baked them in the oven with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. My husband wants me to make pierogis next.
Pretty tough to teach people good homemaking skills unless they have a real big inner drive. Forget the health advantages, or the financial savings- It is another layer of the “poor pitiful me, I am such a victim” mentality. blended with don’t expect me to do anything- certainly not something to help myself or my family.
Never throw out anything you can use or reuse. Boil those bones for broth. When draining veggies, save the juice. Put both those into freezer containers to use for later. Great for soups.
Supposedly, adding a spoon of vinegar to bones will leech out the calcium.
Speaking of vinegar, save pickle juice to add to your baking soda mix instead of vinegar next time you clean your drains. Slice cumbers into pickle juice to make new pickles - remember they don't have a long fridge life. It's also great in a pot roast: Crockpot Roast Put a beef roast into the crock pot. Add a chopped onion, a cup of pickle juice, pepper, garlic powder, and water to cover. Cook several hours until done. Yes, the pickle juice sounds awful but you don't taste pickles but it adds a little sumpin' sumpin'. Don't salt the roast because the juice is probably salty enough.