Vegetarian Lasagna Rolls

Vegetarian Lasagna Rolls 

Boil according to packaged directions: 
      1 box Lasagna Noodles, al dente. 
Drain and place back in large kettle covered with cold water. 

While the pasta is cooking -

Mix together in a large bowl:

     1 (32oz.) Ricotta Cheese 
     1 (10 oz.) box frozen, chopped spinach -thawed and drained - Squeeze out all the extra water you can to make it as dry as possible. 
     Salt to taste - I use about a teaspoon 
     1 egg - I sometimes add an extra egg white too if I have extra eggs that day. 
     Mozzarella cheese, grated  - about 2 cups

Place a noodle on a clean flat surface. Place about 1/4 cup of cheese mixture onto one end of the noodle.  

Spread out the cheese mixture to cover most of the lasagna noodle leaving the other end uncovered. (That is where it rolls up and sticks together)

Roll up the lasagna noodle starting with the end that has the cheese mixture on it. 

Place the rolled pasta in a greased baking dish. (I used a 10x15 glass baking dish.) 

Cover the Lasagna Rolls with Marinara Sauce. I used a 40 oz. jar that I got from Costco. 

 Use a fork to slide the rolls back and forth a tiny bit to cover each one of them completely with sauce. 

Top with more grated mozzarella cheese. 

Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, about 45 minutes. 

Eat while hot. Refrigerate or freeze any leftovers. 

This cheese filling mixture also works very well to make Jumbo Stuffed Shells or other filled pasta recipes. 

"Nuteena"

Quite a few years ago Loma Linda stopped making Nuteena. Our family just happens to love Nuteena, so this last week I tried a recipe that others claimed to be very similar. I had never made it before and I wanted to give it a try and a review. It tasted very good, but I think that it could be improved upon in order to truly replace Nuteena. I will save that for a future project to try someday, but for now this is quite good in its own right.  

Brown lightly until golden brown:

1 cup flour

Do NOT over brown. Making it too dark can alter the flavor of the recipe. Do NOT use if it is burned. 

Blend together:

2 cups peanut butter, natural only

1 cup water

This step just about made my Vita-Mix Blender go crazy. I don't know if I would want to try it again the way that I did it. I certainly would not try this in a normal blended unless I wanted to burn it up so I could throw it away and get a new Vita-Mix. I think that the water and peanut butter should be mixed together some before they are added to the blender, but I haven't tried that yet. 

Blend everything all together with:

3 cups tomato juice

1 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. onion powder

Pour into 3-4 well buttered pans. I used 4 -15oz. cans. I sprayed mine with cooking spray.

Cover cans with aluminum foil and steam on low heat in a large covered kettle on a rack for 3+ hours with 2-3 inches of water at the bottom of the kettle at all times. 

After they were cooked I cooled the cans and released the edges with a knife. Then the "Nuteena" can slip out of the cans. 

Prepare it any way that you prefer, hot or cold. It is good sliced and used in sandwiches. Some people chop in up and add other fixings to it. 

My family likes it sliced, baked in the over on a greased baking sheet, and served hot with cold applesauce on it. 

Wrap any remaining "Nuteena" in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator. 

 I found this nice retro photo online of an original can of Nuteena. The cans were bigger than the one I used. If the big cans are used in this recipe, I would use three of them instead of four.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jugglerpm/4552303224/

Valentine's Dinner

Valentine’s Dinner

This was always a family favorite with the kids. It got its name because we went to a Family Valentine's Dinner given by our church about 20 years ago and it was served as part of our meal. I got the recipe from the person who made it and adapted it since the original had mayonnaise as an ingredient. My husband refuses to eat anything with mayonnaise, so I changed it up with a bit with extra sour cream. The name Valentine's Dinner just stuck and that is what the kids asked for when they wanted it. It works really good for a quick and easy potluck dish!

Place in to bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish:
        1        can Tender Bits or moch duck, cubed

                        or 1-2 cups homemade gluten, chopped

Sprinkle with:

         2       Tbsp. brewers yeast

Top with:

         1-2    15 oz. can green beans,

 In separate bowl mix together:

         1       can mushroom soup

         1       cup sour cream

         1       Tbsp. lemon juice

Pour over green beans.                                    

Top with: 

         mashed potatoes -

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Bake at 350 degrees until heated and bubbly. Serve hot.

         

Asian Pineapple Cashew Fried Rice

I am not going to be really specific on ingredient amounts for this recipe. There is a lot of room for flexibility so add what you want. It really is fun to make just the way you want it.  

 Saute any type of vegetarian meat chunks you want to use in olive oil and chopped onions. 

Scramble 2 eggs (salted to taste) or egg whites in a pan and set aside. 

 In a large pan or wok place frozen mixed vegetables. Start to heat on medium heat.  

 While it is heating, keep adding ingredients. 
Add pineapple chunks (I cut my pineapple chunks in half) I used a better part of a can. 

Add a handful or two of roasted cashews. (I cut mine up a bit).  
        
Add a bit of pineapple juice to help steam the veggies. 

Heat until veggies look like they are almost cooked.

 Add cooked rice. ( I made mine in a rice pot) 
           2 cups Jasmine Rice 
           4 cups water
              salt to taste

This time I used white Jasmine sometimes I use brown rice. It is all good. 

Add 1 package SunBird Fried Rice Seasoning Mix 
     (This one was Hot and Spicy. I get them at the grocery store in the Asian food aisle or at a general Asian market. They are about a dollar. )

Add oil as desired to fry the rice. This time I used olive oil. 

Add other Asian spices if desired. 
       I like ginger powder, five spice powder and ground star 
       aniseed powder. I got these at an Asian market. 
Add soy sauce if desired.

Mix it all together covering the rice evenly. 
Add salt to taste after all your spices are mixed together. 

Add in the scrambled eggs and fried veggie meat. 

Heat everything. Serve hot. 

Homemade Spreadable Butter

Homemade Spreadable Butter

I decided to make my own spreadable butter so I played around with a few ingredients and this just works prefect every time. 

Mix together in a small bowl:

     1/2 cup (1 cube) salted butter at room temperature
     1/2 cup olive oil

I used a KitchenAid hand mixer, but sometimes I just mix it with a fork or spoon if the butter is very soft.

Just starting. 

 Keep mixing until it is smooth. 

Pour into a sealed container and place it in the refrigerator. 

It might seems a bit on the runny side at first, but it sets up beautifully in the refrigerator. 

All done! It is quick and easy. 

Fast and Easy Vegetarian Spinach Cheese Manicotti

Cook according to pkg. directions - set aside:

          1        box  manicotti noodles - about 14 pasta shells

Mix together in large bowl:

          2        cups ricotta cheese

          ¼       cup parmesan cheese

          2        Tbls. dried parsley

          ½*     tsp. salt - *add 1 tsp. if spinach and egg are added.

          ¼       tsp. pepper

         1-2     cups mozzarella cheese, shredded  -plus extra for top.

         1        10oz. frozen spinach (thawed and drained well) - optional
         1         4oz. can mushrooms - optional

         1        egg - optional

Now here is the secret trick that makes manicotti fast and easy! 

Split each cooked pasta down the side and stuff with filling mixture. That is it... simple and easy. 

 I decided that trying to stuff this kind of tube shaped pasta was ridiculous. It takes forever to try and shove cheese mixture into cooked pasta tubes! It occurred to me that no one would know the difference if I just split them open and sealed them up again. So far no one has figured it out, they just like the fact that I make it more often.  

Place "stuffed" manicotti noodles close together in a single layer in a greased 9”x13” pan.

Pour your favorite Marinara Sauce OR Homemade Red Sauce*  over all.

Bake  at 350 degrees covered for ~ 40 minutes.

Sprinkle on top:   

         1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated.

Bake  ~15 more minute, uncovered until bubbly. 
  I actually put my cheese on before I start any baking and just bake it completely. The package directions have you do it this way so I added them here just in case there is a good reason for doing it. I personally don't like fussing with hot dishes in the middle of baking.   

*Homemade Red Sauce  - mix together

1   26½ oz. can/jar spaghetti sauce

1   14 ½ oz. can tomatoes, peeled, diced

1    tsp. basil

¼   tsp. oregano

¼   tsp. black pepper

¼   cup water