Sunday, February 7, 2010

Cozy Comfort Casserole and Lazy Lasagna

Wow—what a week! It seems as if each month I keep getting busier and busier! I have definitely been improving my time management skills. I usually just leave my daily planner stuffed somewhere and keep track of everything mentally, but I recently dusted it off and started writing stuff down which has been really helpful. How do you stay organized when life gets hectic?

I taught my first cooking class through the Community Education programs this past Thursday. It was beyond fun to share some tropical recipes with the class! I also had a few fun little food quizzes with tropical gifts like hint of lime chips, tropical salsa, pina colada drink mix, and some tropical mixed jelly beans. The menu, some pictures, recipes, etc. will all be up by next week on a new tab I am making called “Cooking with CaSaundra”, so you’ll be able to access that right underneath my cookbook on the right hand side—so stay tuned for that!

Anyway, like I said weeks like the past one make me really appreciate a 48 hour weekend of r&r, and although I don’t mind being in the kitchen “relaxing”, I do tend to lazy it up a bit if I’m not in the mood to whip up something extravagant, so in this case I will probably be making one of my go-to lazy/comfort one pan meals. Less fuss & less mess!

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Lazy Lasagna

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4  cups  marinara sauce
  • 1  20-oz. package refrigerated cheese ravioli OR 20 oz frozen ravioli which is cheaper, just be sure to thaw it out prior to using it.
  • 1  10-oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry OR 5 oz fresh spinach (I am not fond of frozen spinach so I used fresh)
  • 8  ounces  shredded part-skim mozzarella
  • 1/4  cup  grated Parmesan
  • Feel free to add in mushrooms, onions, or anything else you’d like!
  • Directions:

    • Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch-square baking dish. Spoon 1/4 cup marinara sauce over bottom of dish. Cover with half of ravioli. Spread half of remaining sauce over ravioli. Sprinkle on spinach and then half of mozzarella. Repeat with remaining ravioli, marinara and mozzarella. Sprinkle top with Parmesan.
    • Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until bubbling, about 10 minutes longer. Let cool for about 5 minutes before slicing.

    Italian Bisquick Bake

    Recipe by me

    Serves: 4

    Ingredients:

    • 2 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
    • 1-8oz can tomato sauce
    • 1 small zucchini,sliced
    • 1/4 diced red onion
    • 1/2 c sliced button mushrooms
    • 1 c fresh spinach
    • 1 chicken sausage (I used these)
    • 2 eggs
    • 1/2 c milk
    • 1/2 c sharp cheddar cheese
    • 1/2 c parmesan reggiano cheese

    Directions:

    • Preheat oven to 350 F. Slice potatoes horizontally into thin pieces. Meanwhile, take a skillet with cooking spray and sauté potatoes until tender—remove, but keep heat on. Add onion and sausage and cook until tender (5-8 minutes).
    • Mix Bisquick, milk and eggs thoroughly in separate bowl.
    • Layer potatoes evenly in the bottom of the pan. Top
      with sausage and veggies. Then evenly spread can of tomato sauce followed by the cheese and topped with the Bisquick mixture.
    • Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

     

    Enjoy the Super Bowl if your watching!!! :-)

     

    12 comments:

    Jenny said...

    I am a slave to "to do" lists.. they keep me accountable and so organized!

    I am craving italian food like crazy right now!

    Kim said...

    I'm not organized at all. I write to do lists, but then I lose them! I tell my 8 year old to remind me of certain things. She's much better at remembering than I am.
    So cool that you hosted a cooking class. Good for you!
    Love the ravioli bake. I make something similar to that when I'm in a hurry too!

    Krista said...

    I love making lazy lasagna for my family! They love it, too.

    I am a HUGE list person. If I can't put it on paper I get very anxious. Anal, anybody?? :)

    Kat said...

    I love lazagna. My hubby is not that fond of it, but he does eat it. Im thinking this might make a quick go to meal when I need one. At least my tast buds will be satisfied ;) Keep the faith

    Sook said...

    Oh I made some lasagna last night too. :)

    The Healthy Hostess said...

    Love the Lazy Lasagna recipe!! I can't wait to make it for an easy dinner!

    Jamie Walker said...

    Lasagna is one of the best meals when you're tired, cold or just plain starving!

    Jamie said...

    This looks fantastic...especially because I can be super lazy! :(

    Erica said...

    AH! So glad to hear the cooking class went well! I can't wait to read about the rest of them. The lazy lasagna sounds like my kind of meal. To stay organized, I keep all of my events on an outlook calendar, I also have a weekly to do list separated by day in a notebook. It may be old school, but it feels so good to actually cross items off the list!

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