Shrimp and Veggie Lasagna! Eat em up.

What up my peeps. So...confession. I kind of sort of really A LOT stole this recipe question mark? I mean not that most of my recipes are original, but I do manage to tweak something in some way to feel a little bit better about posting it on my blog. But this one legit stole. Like probably should be arrested electronically. It's only missing one ingredient from the original recipe and that's only because my Mom decided to weigh the tomatoes and then leave them on the scale....somehow they did not make their way to our house.

Therefore, please excuse my blatant copying disgressions when viewing this post. Also, contrary to recent posts, I decided to use all fatty mcfat ingredients instead of the healthy stuff. Mostly because I was with my family and I'm trying to secretly fatten them all up...bwahahaha...

Shrimp and Vegetable Lasagna

What ya need: THE FILLING

-1 lb lasagna noodles


-1 medium red onion, diced


-1 tomato, chopped
 (ours is still waiting at Stop and Shop)

-1 bunch of asparagus (cut)


-2 cloves garlic, minced


-1 lb shrimp


-1 block mozzarella cheese


-olive oil

What ya need: THE SAUCE

-4 Tbsp butter


-6 Tbsp flour


-2 cups skim milk


-1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese


-2 cups ricotta
cheese

-1 tsp garlic powder


-salt and peppa

What ya do:

*Boil two pots of water- one for noodles, one for shrimp. Boil both until they are done. In the meantime, do your veggie chopping.

*

When the shrimp are pink but not curled up, remove them from the water and let them cool off. Chop the shrimp into bite-size pieces. Grate the mozzarella cheese. Next, saute the asparagus, red onion and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350F and set the prepared ingredients aside.

*For the sauce, we're going to be making a little roux. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a paste. Add the milk and stir over medium heat until sauce starts to thicken....it should get more difficult to stir and you should feel the sauce resisting. Add parmesan cheese, ricotta, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir until smooth and remove from heat. After the sauce has thickened, put a layer of it in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Cover with a layer of noodles. Spread the veggies and shrimp over the noodles, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Add another layer of sauce, followed by noodles, followed by shrimp and vegetables, followed by the cheese, and repeat this layering until you can't repeat it anymore!. Bake the lasagna for 30-45 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

This was incredibly tasty and indulgent. I got this recipe from a friend of a friend...her website is www.foodboogie.com. Try it out! Happy eating everyone :)

My favorite kind of meal.

Hey everyone! So I have some recipes on the back burner, but the meal I made last night was too good not to publish it for all to see. It had all my favorite qualities for a meal: healthy, easy, quick, and not too many ingredients.

Chili-rubbed Salmon with corn salsa

What ya need:

4 filets of salmon (or however many you need, I only got 2)

2 teaspoons chili powder

salt and pepper

2 zucchini

1 package cherry tomatoes

1 10 oz package frozen corn

Scallions

1/2 cup salsa

Olive oil

1 clove of garlic

What ya do:

*Make sure the oven is set to Broil, with an oven rack at the highest level.

*Wash the salmon and rub with salt and pepper. Sprinkle one teaspoon of chili powder over the salmon. Cut up the zucchini into strips, and place around the salmon on a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up. I also included some tomatoes, but feel free to throw in any other veggies you want roasted with the salmon. Just be careful not to burn them!

*Place the baking sheet in the oven, and broil for approximately 8-10 minutes. Make sure the salmon is opaque throughout and the zucchini is tender.

*While the salmon, zucchini, and any other veggies you my have included are broiling, saute the frozen corn with 1 tbl of olive oil and the chopped up clove of garlic. After corn has browned (about 5-8 minutes), take off heat and add in chopped scallions and salsa and stir.

*Serve salmon and veggies with corn on the side, and garnish with lime wedges.

This was the perfect summer meal :) Easy, inexpensive and absolutely delicious.

Engagement Chicken

WHOA IT'S BEEN AWHILE. So sorry my blogger folks, I finished finals and then flew home for a whirlwind 10 day trip to spend time with my family. The result is neglected blogging, but man do I have a back-up of posts for you! I'm trying to balance my schedule of summer classes and work currently, but will try to keep up with my blogging to supply you with everlasting recipes. However, when I started this blog I wanted to make sure it was a tool to give me a break from busy graduate life and not something to stress even more about. So I guess if I do neglect sometimes...sorry I'm not sorry? :)

So Engagement Chicken! Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) calls it this, because I guess this dish is SOOO tasty that if women make it for their boyfriends they end up receiving a proposal. Since that is not something I'm looking for at the moment, I made it with my family. This was a new challenge for me because I've never worked with a WHOLE chicken before, but it turns out it's quite easy.

Engagement Chicken

What ya need:

1 (4 to 5 pound) roasting chicken

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 lemons

1 whole head garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise

Good olive oil

2 Spanish onions, peeled and thickly sliced

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

What ya do:

*Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

*Remove and discard the chicken giblets. Pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken.

*Cut the lemons in quarters, place 2 quarters in the chicken along with the garlic and reserve the rest of the lemons. Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle the chicken liberally with salt and pepper.

*Place the chicken in a small (11 by 14-inch) roasting pan. (If the pan is too large, the onions will burn.) Place the reserved lemons and the sliced onions in a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Pour the mixture around the chicken in the pan.

*Roast the chicken for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and a thigh. Remove the chicken to a platter, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 10 minutes while you prepare the sauce, leaving the lemons and onions in the pan.

*Place the pan on top of the stove and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the wine and stir with a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits. Add the stock and sprinkle on the flour, stirring constantly for a minute, until the sauce thickens. Add any juices that collect under the chicken. Carve the chicken onto a platter and serve with the lemons, onions, and warm sauce

This dish was incredibly juicy and tender. If it results in any proposals...let me know! Happy eating :)