Running Mama Cooks

This recipe caught my eye while I was browsing through my friend Lauren's blog. I feel like I've been in a little bit of a food slump lately and was looking for ideas. I love basil and tomatoes (and pasta of course!) so this went on my agenda for this week.

I liked it, but there are definitely a few things I would do differently. I would make it in a smaller baking dish (I used 9x13) and stack the lasagna a little higher. I will also dice the tomatoes next time instead of slicing them. I think my family would enjoy them more that way.

I will post the recipe as is, but I did use regular lasagna noodles instead of oven ready, so I cut the baking time to a half hour, followed by 5 minutes of broiling.

Caprese Lasagna
Recipe from Rachael Ray by way of Lauren's Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken stock
A few grates of fresh nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles
4 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
Half a bunch basil, chopped (about 30 leaves)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

Pre-heat the oven to 375ºF.

Place a large saucepot over medium-heat and melt the butter. Add the garlic to the pan and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the butter and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk the milk and chicken stock into the butter-flour mixture and bring up to a bubble. Add the nutmeg, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and simmer until thickened, 3-4 minutes.

Assemble the lasagna by ladling a small amount (about 1/4 cup, just eyeball it) of the sauce into the bottom of a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish and laying three lasagna noodles over the sauce. Top the noodles with about a third of the sliced tomatoes, a third of the basil, 1/4 cup of sauce and about a third of the shredded cheese. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, topping the lasagna off with a final layer of sauce and shredded cheese.

Cover the pan with foil and bake the lasagna for 30 minutes. Remove the foil from the baking dish and bake another 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly. When ready to serve, top with the remaining chopped basil leaves

ZACH'S RATING - ***

On Friday night we had our good friends the Maizel's and Luciano's over for a little BBQ. Since the Maizel's had to re-home their awesome grill due to a townhouse ordinance, and we benefited from this, we decided there was no better way to thank them then to have them over for dinner!

I made a simple Caprese Salad as an appetizer. So simple, and so pretty. I love the colors.

Caprese Salad

Ingredients:

Vine-Ripened Tomatoes
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
Fresh Basil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Slice the tomatoes and the cheese. Arrange on a platter with fresh basil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil

For dinner I made Grilled Chicken Kabobs. The amounts below made plenty for 5 adults and 3 kids, which left overs.

Grilled Chicken Kabobs

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenders, cut into uniform chunks
4 bell peppers (red, green or yellow)
2 onions
1 lb baby bella mushrooms
20 oz can chunk pineapple, drained
Italian Salad Dressing (I used Kraft Fat Free Zesty Italian)
Wooden Skewers

Directions:

Cut peppers and onions into large uniform chunks. Place vegetables and chicken into ziplock bags (I like to keep them separate) and marinade with Italian dressing

Soak skewers in water to help prevent burning. Arrange veggies, chicken, and pineapple on the skewers. Grill until chicken is cooked through

The Grill in Action:

We also had some shrimp on skewers that I marinated in the Italian dressing. On the side I served Roasted Potatoes, prepared using Lipton Onion Soup Mix and Olive Oil. The recipe is right on the back of the box of the soup mix, and these potatoes always come out awesome!!! We also had some bread and Allison's delicious Asian Noodle Salad, which I regrettably don't have a picture of!

The potatoes: It was a fun night! I am looking forward to many more BBQs now that the weather is nice!

Love my crockpot, have I said that enough? Nothing better than throwing a couple ingredients in first thing in the morning and having dinner basically done at the end of the day!

This tomato soup was very tasty, and I loved that it used fresh tomatoes instead of canned. I replaced the heavy cream with fat free evaporated milk and sour cream, so it is also very low fat. Great meal to have before hitting the gym for boot camp class tonight!

I served it with a bunch of croutons for some crunch.

Crockpot Tomato Soup
From The Crockpot Lady by way of Lauren's Kitchen

Ingredients

•3lbs vine-ripe tomatoes (I used about 10)
•1 onion, chopped
•2 cups tomato juice
•1 cup cooking sherry
•3 tablespoons sugar
•1 chicken boullion cube
•2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
•2 cups heavy cream (I used 1 1/2 cups of fat free evap milk and 1/2 cup sour cream)
•salt and pepper to taste

Wash all of your tomatoes, and cut them in quarters. Nope, we're not going to peel the tomatoes, yay! To save your counter top from tomato gook, put your cutting board on a cookie sheet with sides. The juice will then stay inside the cookie sheet.

Put all the tomatoes in your crockpot.

Chop up the onion, and add it. Cover with the tomato juice and sherry, and drop in the boullion cube. Stir in the sugar and chopped basil.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

If you'd like your soup to have chunks, go ahead and stir in the cream. If you'd prefer a chunk-free soup, CAREFULLY use an immersible blender to soupify, or blend in small batches in a traditional blender. Then stir in the heavy cream.

All the ingredients (minus the cream) ready to go in the morning