Mmmm!  Lasagna Roll-ups with meatballs, cheezy bread, and lots of great conversation.  This should heat up our cold winter night. 

To begin my dish I made the meatballs, then the lasagna noodle filling, the tomato sauce, and lastly, I stopped at Marco’s Pizza for THE best cheezy bread I’ve eaten in Fishers.  So let’s begin…

Italian Meatballs

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 3 ounces pepperoni
• 3 ounces pimento peppers
• 1/2-1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4-1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
• herbe de provence, salt, pepper; seasoned to taste

Combine the ingredients to thoroughly mix.  Form the mixture into round balls.  Big or small is your preference.  I prefer tiny, my husband and daughter prefer huge. 

I do not bake my meatballs.  I find themto  turn out too crispy.  So I boil water that I add some spice and olive oil to.  I usually add bay, rosemary, parsley, salt, pepper, and chives.  Drop in the meatballs.  They will sink to the bottom and about 10 minutes later they will float to the top.  That alerts you that they are done.  Double check by removing a meatball and cutting it open.  Remember, they will continue to cook when the dish is fully assembled, so a little pink is fine.  You just won’t release all the fat of the meat in the water and you will end up with some of it in the final dish.

Secondly, while those meatballs are rolling in the water, I add ingredients to my food processer, with a chopping blade, as follows:

• 8 ounces low-fat cream cheese
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• 1 lb cottage cheese
• grated Italian cheese to taste
• parsley, pepper, salt, chives, rosemary and dried red peppers (I dehydrate them during summer harvest)

Blend well in the food processer making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl at least once.

Okay, so you have your meatballs and your cheese mixture.  Now you need to boil your noodles until they are softened, but not fully cooked.  Drain those noodles, and now your ready to assemble tonights dinner.

In a deep casserole dish, 9×13, spray the bottom and sides with an olive oil.  Take a noodle, spread some of the creamed cheese mixture covering the top, roll the noodle and place into the dish, with the open side down.  Continue to do this until all the noodles have been rolled.  Then take your meatballs and place them in between the rolled noodles. 

Now you can put together your sauce.  I use two quart jars of my canned tomatoes we grow in the garden.  They tend to be a little watery, so I add 6 ounces of tomato paste to that.  I simmer my sauce for about an hour on low.  I add the following to make it taste less tomatoey (really!):

• garlic
• onion powder
• herbes de provence
• salt
• pepper
• crushed red and green bell pepper (that I’ve dehyrated)
• brown sugar
• parsley

Take a taste of the sauce after an hour to make sure the sauce is to your liking.  Adjust the spices and then ladle over the noodles.  Top with grated parmesan and mozzarella cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes covered.  While it is cooking, you’ll need to run to Marco’s to pick up your cheezy bread.  During the last 10 minutes, remove the cover and let the cheese brown.

Enjoy with a glass of red wine and your Marco’s cheesy bread.    Life is good!  Food makes it better!

(sorry no pictures.  my daughter has my camera and is in France for the next four months)

Recently, I took my annual trek to the hills of Brown County to share a weekend with God, the fall colors and the sounds of friends chattering away.   The biggest question of the weekend  is “Who is going to cook?”.    I took it upon  myself to bring a healthy dish that is light and nutritious.   I served Fish Tacos with Asian Slaw.

In my slow-cooker pot I mix the following marinade:  13.5 oz coconut milk, 2 T cumin, 2 T smokey paprika, and 2 T garlic paste.  You will notice the fish does not take on much of the flavoring, so you can be pretty generous with your spices.    Add to that 1-2 pounds white fish (perch, tilipia, cod).   Refrigerate overnight.   Fish Tacos  could be pan fried or baked in the oven, in a shorter amount of time, but you should marinade the fish at least 12 hours prior to cooking.  

 I recommend making the Asian Slaw a day ahead of time.  

                                     Asian Slaw

• 6 oz shredded napa cabbage (must be napa)
• 2 T cilantro
• red onion sliced thin                                                                                                              
• 3 t olive oil
• 3 t lime juice
• 2 T sesame oil
• 1/4 c rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 t soy sauce

Combine all  ingredients in a sealed bowl and refrigerate.

The following day, drain the fish of the marinade.  Return the fish to the slow-cooker  pot and turn  on high for 2 hours.   Serve the fish roughly flaked along with corn tortillas,  asian slaw,  chopped cilantro,  green onion, and aioli sauce.   Enjoy and watch the food disappear.

The husband will be firing up the grill this weekend, so I thought I would get a jump start by preparing the chicken a day ahead so that it can marinate in a Greek-style sauce overnight!    This will take you about 20 minutes total, but wake up extra early to get it done.  You won’t be sorry tomorrow when you are eating dinner! 

 Mmmmm, the rosemary smell is intoxicating and the lemon is freshening the air.   I always wash the chicken thoroughly and pat it dry before applying the rub.  The rub is a mixture of  sweet paprika, salt, ground lemon peel, dried garlic clove and ginger.  Apply it generously getting into the crevices.  I then cut about four springs of rosemary and a bunch of garlic chives, tie them together and stuff into the chicken cavity.  I also addto the cavity  half of a lemon and a lime cut in two.  Tie the two chicken legs together to keep everything from falling  out of the chicken.  Place the chicken into a bowl.

For the greek-style marinade, I use olive oil, garlic cloves, bottled  lemon juice, and oregano.  I will add a few needles of rosemary and squeeze the other half of the lemon into the olive oil as well.  Pour this over the chicken in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate over night.

 See you all tomorrow at the grill!  Bon apetit