Recipes
I've been baking a lot. Most of it is nonsense. And I'm OK with that. I've got a new dog bone shaped cookie cutter, so I'm making biscuits. Recipes for my lasagna, beef casserole, and dog biscuits are under the cut.
Serves a few. (4-6 maybe?)
4 Tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese or 1/4 a mac and cheese powder packet
salt and pepper
1 green bell pepper (you can use a different color, more peppers, or
less, depending on how you want it to taste. I like it with just one
green pepper, so that's what I used. The pepper gives a nice contrast
to the sweetness of all the cheese, and the blandness of the meat.
Also adds a crunchy texture.)
1 small can tomato sauce
6 lasagna noodles
2 or 3 cups ricotta cheese, depending on how cheesy you like it. I used three.
1 cup mozzarella cheese (more, if you like it REALLY cheesy.)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the green bell pepper in
the oven as the oven is preheating, and let it cook until the sauce is
finished. It's not an exact science, unfortunately. Keep an eye on the
pepper and make sure it isn't burning, scorching, or catching fire.
2. Beuchamel Sauce
Place butter and flour in small saucepan and cook over medium heat,
stirring frequently (almost constantly) until the mixture looks bubbly
(a couple minutes, 3 at max). Add 1/2 cup milk slowly, mixing it in as
you go. The mixture should not be lumpy, but very frothy and almost
gelatinous. Mix until smooth. Add in the rest of the milk (1 cup)
doing the same thing, and cook, still stirring, for about 5 minutes
(make sure it doesn't scorch! It should be very frothy and jiggly!)
Mix in either the 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, or about 1/4 a packet of
mac and cheese powder. Kraft works, but the generic kind is even better. Stir until well blended, and remove from the
heat source.
3. As the sauce is cooking, boil your chicken until it's cooked
thoroughly in a separate pot on a different burner. You can boil it
more, until the chicken is almost falling apart, but who has time like
that? Once it looks done, remove it from the pot and cut the chicken
into tiny chunks. The food processor might come in handy here. I don't
have one, so I just cooked it until it was REALLY tender and pulled it
apart with two forks. Do NOT dump the water you used to cook the
chicken. Just let it sit on the dormant burner for a little while.
You'll use it later.
3. Remove the green bell pepper from the oven after the sauce is done.
Be careful, it's hot. Slice the pepper into strips, discarding seeds
and stem. My pepper gave me about 12 small strips, but your luck may
vary. They should be skinny strips.
4. Boil all six noodles. They should still be slightly firm, but not
crunchy, (al dente) when they're removed from the water. They should
NOT be floppy. I used whole grain lasagna noodles, but any work just
fine.
5. You can cook this one of several ways. I recommend doing it in the
oven, but since I don't have a pan for it, I do it on the stovetop in
a pot. I'll tell you both ways.
LAYERING
Lay down two lasagna noodles
Spoon 1/2 cup of the beuchamel sauce on top of the noodles.
Place the green peppers on top of the sauce.
Cover this with another layer of two noodles
Put down a bunch of ricotta (enough to get a good, healthy
covering...My sources say 3/4 cup ricotta should do it. I used about
1- 1 1/2 cups.)
Lay down a layer of the chicken.
Another layer of beauchamel sauce
Final layer of two noodles
Tomato sauce
more ricotta cheese
COOKING IN THE OVEN
Mix the lasagna in a baking dish.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cover baking pan with foil, and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove the
foil and sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese. You can then either
re-cover the lasagna and let it cool naturally, which will seal the
heat in to melt the cheese, or bake it for another 10 minutes without
the covering if you would prefer your cheese lightly browned.
COOKING ON THE STOVETOP
Try to construct a baking pan out of tin foil. Realize it doesn't
work. Look around for alternate solutions for approximately 10 minutes
and realize that all of your baking supplies are non-existant and
pyrex does not like heat.
Grab a big pot (the one you boiled the noodles in should be fine).
Layer the lasagna.
Cover the pot with a pot lid, and cook on low-medium heat for about
10-15 minutes.
Take the pot away from the heat source, remove lid, sprinkle on
mozarella cheese, replace lid and let sit until mozzarella cheese is
melted.
ALL VERSIONS
Let cool, and eat. This is great to serve with a veggie side dish,
since the portions aren't HUGE but are kind of filling. I'd recommend
serving it with some high protein veggies or a fresh salad, since it's
a pretty carb (and fat) intense meal.
VARIATIONS
You can use whole grain noodles to loosen the carb impact. For a tasty
treat, instead of bell peppers you can use eggplant. Use low carb
spaghetti sauce, or spaghetti sauce with meat. You can use low fat
milk and cheeses to help with cholesterol worries, and if you're
really adventurous, you can skip the chicken altogether and add other
veggies....Portabello mushrooms, eggplant, zuchinni and whole tomatoes
are ALL excellent.
Instead of spaghetti sauce, you can use canned tomatos, tomato puree,
tomato paste, or whole tomatoes, peeled tomatoes. For real tomatoes,
just bake them normally. It should all be OK.
BEEF CASSEROLE
2 pounds of beef chuck shoulder roast
4 whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 cup egg noodles
1 can mixed veggies
1 half of a green bell pepper
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 small can of mushroom slices
Bake the beef at whatever temperature in your oven to whatever desired finish you prefer. I like mine to resemble shoe leather, but your tastes may vary. Cut the beef into tiny chunks.
Cut bell pepper into tiny bits (mince?).
Boil lasagna noodles. Lay down a layer of lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of your baking pan.
Boil egg noodles. Mix well with the beef chunks, mixed veggies, bell pepper and mushroom slices, and layer on top of your lasagna noodles.
Add another layer of lasagna noodles, but do not cover the mixture completely. Pour on condensed soup and cook until everything is warm or hot.
DOG BISCUITS
2 cups expired milk (Buttermilk will work in a pinch. I usually have expired milk on hand, so this is what I use. Since the biscuits are baked pretty thoroughly, the bacteria isn't really a concern.)
6 cups flour. A lot of people tell you to use whole wheat flour, but all purpose works just as well.
1 tablespoon of baking powder. More or less, depending on whether you want them really fluffy and light or crunchy. I opt for crunchy usually, so I only add a pinch or two.
Flavorings (these can include, but are not limited to: 1 cup of peanut butter / 1 cup of beef or chicken broth / 2 jars of banana baby food / granola chunks / vegetables / real meat chunks (these are not conducive to keeping for long periods, but would work awesome for a "doggy birthday" party)/egg, which is excellent for coat health and, again, is perishable so should be used quickly or frozen/ and more)
Mix the flour and the baking powder, and if you are using any dry ingredients for flavorings, add them now. Then mix in the milk and, if you are using wet ingredients, add them. Mix well. The mixture could be anywhere from light and whipped looking to heavy and dough-like, depending on the texture you want for the final product.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If you want, roll out the dough and use cookie cutters. If not, just roll out balls onto an ungreased baking sheet and create hash marks with a fork (sugar cookie style). Bake for 10-15 minutes or longer, until the biscuits are golden brown.
If you are using wet ingredients for flavoring, beef broth for example, you will need more flour. Keep adding it until the dough looks to be the right consistency. Powdered boullion works well, too, without the water added.
Serves a few. (4-6 maybe?)
4 Tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese or 1/4 a mac and cheese powder packet
salt and pepper
1 green bell pepper (you can use a different color, more peppers, or
less, depending on how you want it to taste. I like it with just one
green pepper, so that's what I used. The pepper gives a nice contrast
to the sweetness of all the cheese, and the blandness of the meat.
Also adds a crunchy texture.)
1 small can tomato sauce
6 lasagna noodles
2 or 3 cups ricotta cheese, depending on how cheesy you like it. I used three.
1 cup mozzarella cheese (more, if you like it REALLY cheesy.)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the green bell pepper in
the oven as the oven is preheating, and let it cook until the sauce is
finished. It's not an exact science, unfortunately. Keep an eye on the
pepper and make sure it isn't burning, scorching, or catching fire.
2. Beuchamel Sauce
Place butter and flour in small saucepan and cook over medium heat,
stirring frequently (almost constantly) until the mixture looks bubbly
(a couple minutes, 3 at max). Add 1/2 cup milk slowly, mixing it in as
you go. The mixture should not be lumpy, but very frothy and almost
gelatinous. Mix until smooth. Add in the rest of the milk (1 cup)
doing the same thing, and cook, still stirring, for about 5 minutes
(make sure it doesn't scorch! It should be very frothy and jiggly!)
Mix in either the 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, or about 1/4 a packet of
mac and cheese powder. Kraft works, but the generic kind is even better. Stir until well blended, and remove from the
heat source.
3. As the sauce is cooking, boil your chicken until it's cooked
thoroughly in a separate pot on a different burner. You can boil it
more, until the chicken is almost falling apart, but who has time like
that? Once it looks done, remove it from the pot and cut the chicken
into tiny chunks. The food processor might come in handy here. I don't
have one, so I just cooked it until it was REALLY tender and pulled it
apart with two forks. Do NOT dump the water you used to cook the
chicken. Just let it sit on the dormant burner for a little while.
You'll use it later.
3. Remove the green bell pepper from the oven after the sauce is done.
Be careful, it's hot. Slice the pepper into strips, discarding seeds
and stem. My pepper gave me about 12 small strips, but your luck may
vary. They should be skinny strips.
4. Boil all six noodles. They should still be slightly firm, but not
crunchy, (al dente) when they're removed from the water. They should
NOT be floppy. I used whole grain lasagna noodles, but any work just
fine.
5. You can cook this one of several ways. I recommend doing it in the
oven, but since I don't have a pan for it, I do it on the stovetop in
a pot. I'll tell you both ways.
LAYERING
Lay down two lasagna noodles
Spoon 1/2 cup of the beuchamel sauce on top of the noodles.
Place the green peppers on top of the sauce.
Cover this with another layer of two noodles
Put down a bunch of ricotta (enough to get a good, healthy
covering...My sources say 3/4 cup ricotta should do it. I used about
1- 1 1/2 cups.)
Lay down a layer of the chicken.
Another layer of beauchamel sauce
Final layer of two noodles
Tomato sauce
more ricotta cheese
COOKING IN THE OVEN
Mix the lasagna in a baking dish.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cover baking pan with foil, and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove the
foil and sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese. You can then either
re-cover the lasagna and let it cool naturally, which will seal the
heat in to melt the cheese, or bake it for another 10 minutes without
the covering if you would prefer your cheese lightly browned.
COOKING ON THE STOVETOP
Try to construct a baking pan out of tin foil. Realize it doesn't
work. Look around for alternate solutions for approximately 10 minutes
and realize that all of your baking supplies are non-existant and
pyrex does not like heat.
Grab a big pot (the one you boiled the noodles in should be fine).
Layer the lasagna.
Cover the pot with a pot lid, and cook on low-medium heat for about
10-15 minutes.
Take the pot away from the heat source, remove lid, sprinkle on
mozarella cheese, replace lid and let sit until mozzarella cheese is
melted.
ALL VERSIONS
Let cool, and eat. This is great to serve with a veggie side dish,
since the portions aren't HUGE but are kind of filling. I'd recommend
serving it with some high protein veggies or a fresh salad, since it's
a pretty carb (and fat) intense meal.
VARIATIONS
You can use whole grain noodles to loosen the carb impact. For a tasty
treat, instead of bell peppers you can use eggplant. Use low carb
spaghetti sauce, or spaghetti sauce with meat. You can use low fat
milk and cheeses to help with cholesterol worries, and if you're
really adventurous, you can skip the chicken altogether and add other
veggies....Portabello mushrooms, eggplant, zuchinni and whole tomatoes
are ALL excellent.
Instead of spaghetti sauce, you can use canned tomatos, tomato puree,
tomato paste, or whole tomatoes, peeled tomatoes. For real tomatoes,
just bake them normally. It should all be OK.
BEEF CASSEROLE
2 pounds of beef chuck shoulder roast
4 whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 cup egg noodles
1 can mixed veggies
1 half of a green bell pepper
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 small can of mushroom slices
Bake the beef at whatever temperature in your oven to whatever desired finish you prefer. I like mine to resemble shoe leather, but your tastes may vary. Cut the beef into tiny chunks.
Cut bell pepper into tiny bits (mince?).
Boil lasagna noodles. Lay down a layer of lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of your baking pan.
Boil egg noodles. Mix well with the beef chunks, mixed veggies, bell pepper and mushroom slices, and layer on top of your lasagna noodles.
Add another layer of lasagna noodles, but do not cover the mixture completely. Pour on condensed soup and cook until everything is warm or hot.
DOG BISCUITS
2 cups expired milk (Buttermilk will work in a pinch. I usually have expired milk on hand, so this is what I use. Since the biscuits are baked pretty thoroughly, the bacteria isn't really a concern.)
6 cups flour. A lot of people tell you to use whole wheat flour, but all purpose works just as well.
1 tablespoon of baking powder. More or less, depending on whether you want them really fluffy and light or crunchy. I opt for crunchy usually, so I only add a pinch or two.
Flavorings (these can include, but are not limited to: 1 cup of peanut butter / 1 cup of beef or chicken broth / 2 jars of banana baby food / granola chunks / vegetables / real meat chunks (these are not conducive to keeping for long periods, but would work awesome for a "doggy birthday" party)/egg, which is excellent for coat health and, again, is perishable so should be used quickly or frozen/ and more)
Mix the flour and the baking powder, and if you are using any dry ingredients for flavorings, add them now. Then mix in the milk and, if you are using wet ingredients, add them. Mix well. The mixture could be anywhere from light and whipped looking to heavy and dough-like, depending on the texture you want for the final product.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If you want, roll out the dough and use cookie cutters. If not, just roll out balls onto an ungreased baking sheet and create hash marks with a fork (sugar cookie style). Bake for 10-15 minutes or longer, until the biscuits are golden brown.
If you are using wet ingredients for flavoring, beef broth for example, you will need more flour. Keep adding it until the dough looks to be the right consistency. Powdered boullion works well, too, without the water added.