Casserole Break

I've been on a casserole break the past couple of weeks.  The first casserole-free week was because I felt like I needed something a little healthier.  That week it was baked chicken, baked potatoes, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower.

A little note about the broccoli-- my brother makes amazing roasted broccoli.  Apparently he douses it in olive oil, salt, pepper, and sometimes other herbs and garlic.  Then he puts them in a hot oven until they're tender and brown.  Mine never turn out as good as his, but I much prefer this over steamed. So tasty!

A note about these plates.  Ugh.  When my brother moved off to college, my mom went to the outlet to get him dishes and this was the most masculine option.  He hated them.  I hate them.  Are they Santa Fe inspired or what?  However, those heinous black and white dishes my food is normally on belong to the bf.  He moved into a new place, went to Target, those were the cheapest, so he got them.  I hate those too.  Well, one of them broke so we only had 3 plates in the house and that wasn't cutting it.  My mom donated the Santa Fe ones to him.  I'm quite certain I'm in china hell.

That's MY plate. Because I pick out pretty dishes.

This week there was no casserole because the bf suggested the most Southern meal imaginable-- meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, mustard greens, and cornbread.  Hello, delicious.

I more or less make Paula Deen's Basic Meatloaf.  However, as you can see on my plate, it's more like meat-scoop than meat-loaf.  I'm always starving and cut it before it's ready.  It still tastes yummy.

I make mean cornbread and mustard greens, too.  The cornbread is more or less the White Lily recipe and the mustard greens are Rachel Ray's.  Mashed potatoes are always a hit.  I like mine nice and chunky, so I boil the potatoes, drain, add cream and butter, and mash by hand.  Mmm, Southern soul food!

Lasagna

Lasagna was this week's one-potter by request.  For the longest time I didn't believe in making homemade lasagna because Stouffer's is so darn good (and I'm not ashamed to admit I'll still eat those single servings they have if I'm alone).  Once I made a fancy Mario Batali version that involved homemade pasta and a bechamel sauce that nearly killed me- oww my arm!  These days, it's all about my easy little concoction.

What you need:
1. My Brother's Spaghetti sauce
2. Cooked lasagna noodles
3. 2 lbs. ricotta + 4 egg yolks + 1 1/2 cups of Parmesan + salt and pepper
4. 2 cups of mozzarella

Start by making the spaghetti sauce from my previous post.  As that's simmering, cook your noodles.  I suppose you could use those "no boil" noodles, but I kind of hate them.  In my experience, parts always stay crunchy and I miss those old-fashioned crinkled edges.  Mix the 2 lbs. of ricotta with 4 egg yolks (or 3 whole eggs... it doesn't really matter) and 1.5 cups of Parm and some salt and pepper.  Then start assembling!  I've never purchased a rectangle pan large enough, so I swear by those disposable ones you get for $2 at the store.  Plus, you don't have to wash it!  Easy cleanup!  Put some sauce in the bottom so it doesn't stick followed by a layer of pasta topped with the ricotta mixture then mozzarella cheese then sauce.  Repeat and be sure to end with pasta + sauce + the remaining mozzarella.  Bake in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes!

We enjoyed ours with salad and bread.  I'm always too impatient to let the lasagna set properly, so I end up getting a "scoop" of lasagna instead of a perfectly layered square.  It'll look prettier when I have leftovers tonight, I am sure!