Lasagna: Comfort food for a rainy night

Dallas is having a huge storm tonight...much appreciated rain for both the plants and to hopefully get some of this pollen out of the air. I thought it would be fun to have an old fashioned treat for dinner to celebrate the rain by staying cozy and dry inside. Meat, cheese and pasta, that is basically the equation for comfort food, warming and filling. Hopefully you will enjoy this rather easy recipe for a homemade treat.

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Ingredients:
1 pound of lean ground beef
1 cup of chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes, pureed
1/2 cup of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of Italian seasonings
No boil lasagna noodles
1 egg
3 cups of cottage cheese
6 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese
A splash of fresh lemon juice

Steps:
1. Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large saucepan, combine the beef, onion and garlic. Cook until the beef is browned.

3. Add the pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasoning.

4. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes. You want the sauce to thicken.

5. While the sauce thickens, make the filling by combining the egg, cottage cheese, mozzarella and lemon juice.

6. To assemble the lasagna spread enough sauce over the bottom of your baking dish so that the bottom is covered. Layer the noodles on top of the sauce. Then add half the cheese filling over the noodles. Add half of the sauce over the filling. Top the sauce with noodles. Top these noodles with the remaining cheese filling and then the sauce and one more layer of noodles. Finish the lasagna by adding a bit more sauce over the noodles. I actually ran out of sauce, so I used back up canned sauce from the fridge. Then sprinkle a little cheese on top.

7. Bake in a 375 degree over for about 30 to 35 minutes.
8. Enjoy with yummy rolls! We are using Sister Schubert rolls...my absolute favorite!

Oven-Roasted Tomato Soup

So I am not feeling top notch tonight. Certainly feels like the first cold of the season has hit me with all it has got! What better food to make for yourself when you are feeling under the weather than tomato soup? Bunker and I love this recipe because it is so much healthier than the cream filled versions, but it is just as flavorful, especially with the addition of oven-roasted tomatoes. This is a rather easy recipe, but slightly messy because you have to get out the food processor, but very much worth the mess!

We paired our soup with a grilled ham and cheese for Bunker and just a plain old grilled cheese for me! Enjoy on a cold winter night, or when you have the sniffles.

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Ingredients:
2 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half
1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 cups of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of honey
A dash of salt and pepper
A dash of Italian seasoning

Steps:
1. Roast the 2 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. I added a touch of olive oil and a bit of Italian seasoning.

2. Gather the rest of your ingredients.

3. Add the olive oil and garlic to a large pan and saute for about 5 minutes.

4. Add the can of whole tomatoes to the garlic.

5. Add the roasted tomatoes to the tomato and garlic mixture.

6. Add the chicken stock to the tomatoes.

7. Remove from the heat and pour into your food processor.

8. Puree until smooth. Mine still had a bit of texture which is just fine.
9. Add the tomato soup back to the pan and add the honey and seasonings.

10. Pour into serving pieces and enjoy with a toasted sandwich!

Simply Delicious Tomato Sauce

What is your comfort food? What is the one thing that you crave when you need healing, whether that be emotional or physical healing? Mine is pasta, especially pasta with a rich and luxurious tomato sauce. Indeed, this incredibly easy tomato sauce is one of the tastiest and most comforting sauces I have discovered. Do you need some healing or comfort? Sometimes you just do, there might not be an explanation for it, but sometimes you just need to be kind to yourself when the world is not so kind to you. I certainly could use a food hug. This tomato sauce certainly made me feel better.

What is the key to the luxurious texture and depth of flavor? Butter! Butter does make everything better. My husband says using butter in cooking is somewhat like cheating, because whenever you add butter...the food is better. I agree. Everything is better with butter. But, sometimes you just need to cheat and treat yourself to butter! So, indulge yourself with this decadent sauce, that has literally 4 ingredients!

I added chicken, mozzarella and halved grape tomatoes to round out the pasta dish as a full meal. Serve this with a nice green salad, crusty bread, and I suppose a nice bold red wine would pair nicely...but it is 104 degrees outside...so we are having a crisp and COLD Chardonnay from the Carneros Valley, Cuvaison, one of the most beautiful places we have ever been.  

Speaking of beautiful....we were in Malibu this past weekend for one of Bunker's dear friends from college. This friend is a purely kind person with a heart of gold, and I love that he found an incredibly sweet and thoughtful girl. Not only was the wedding venue breathtaking, but also the wedding vows, speeches, and overall aura took your breath away and brought a tear to each and every eye. Much love to Murph and Jackie. 

Bunker taking a conference call for work at a Starbucks just off the beach!

View from lunch! I could live here very easily...

There are just no words...amazing...

At the wedding!

At the wedding...overlooking the ocean!

The happy couple!

Reception.

So....the temperature dropped just a few degrees once the sun went down...chilly!

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Ingredients:

2 28 ounce cans of whole peeled tomatoes in their juices

10 Tablespoons of butter

2 yellow onions peeled and cut in half

Salt to taste

3/4 pound of pasta (I used Penne pasta)

3 chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces

2 cups of grape tomatoes sliced in half lengthwise

1 fresh Mozzarella ball sliced into bite sized cubes (Mine was from the Mozzarella Company in Dallas) 

Steps:

1. In a large cooking pot, combine the two cans of tomatoes, 10 tablespoons of butter and onions. (Do not slice the onions, really just cut each on in half and place in the pot, you will remove the onions later.)

2. Let this mixture simmer for 45 minutes, stirring often. 

3. While the sauce is simmering away (and making your house smell so delicious!) cook the pasta (I used penne but you can really use whatever you prefer), cook the chicken breasts, cut the grape tomatoes and mozzarella and set aside. 

4. Once the tomatoes have broken apart after 45 minutes, remove all of the onion pieces with a slotted spoon. I am keeping mine for something...not sure what...perhaps to top a pizza or something like that. 

5. Puree the tomato sauce until it is to the texture that you prefer, I prefer very smooth, therefore, I pureed mine until it was very smooth, but you should do whatever you prefer. 

6. Place the cooked pasta in a shallow pan and place over very low heat.

7. Add the sauce to the pasta.

8. Add the chopped chicken, tomatoes and mozzarella to the pasta and cook until heated through.

9. Enjoy with a crusty bread and a bright white wine in the summer, or a warm and rich red in the winter.