Spinach Lasagna or Rollups

I've been making this dish for a while now for my family and have been actively seeking ways to make it less labor intensive. One day I stumbled upon this Spinach Lasagna Rolls recipe over at Skinny Taste. I thought, "That's something I could totally do here!" Yes, at first glance, you would probably have to make nearly every ingredient from scratch. Let me save you some searching before you think you don't have to--lasagna noodles are a rare find here so just give up on that quest. I did, however, find one short cut... or two. Shortcut one: Don't make cottage cheese. Just buy paneer and squish it into little curds. Shortcut two: Turn yesterday's tomato soup into sauce by adding grated carrots and a can of tomato paste. Shortcut three: Don't pre-boil the pasta. These are totally a hit in our house, but for whatever reason, my daughter seems to eat them in plain lasagna style better than as rollups so I'll go the quicker route from now on. If you've got a day with a little more time and have someone who can help you whip up the individual parts, give it a try!

Spinach Lasagna
9 fresh lasagna noodles (see Pasta recipe below)
1 1/2 cups cooked chopped spinach
Almost 2 cups/425g paneer (check the fridge case or the dairy in your immediate area)
1/2 cup grated cheese (Parmesan or whatever you can get your hands on)
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon salt (less if you use a salty cheese)
Fresh pepper
3-4 cups your favorite pasta sauce (I LOVE this one!)
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated

Preheat the oven to 170C/350F. In a medium sized bowl, mix the spinach, crumbled paneer, grated cheese (not the mozzarella), egg, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine thoroughly. Pour a small amount of tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan just to coat the bottom. If you're doing rollups, place 1/3 cup of the cheese mixture on each noodle and spread it out the length of the noodle. Roll it up and place seam side down on the pan. If you're making plain lasagna, lay out a layer of noodles followed by a layer of the cheese mixture and sauce. Repeat, ending with a layer of sauce over noodles. You should top each roll up with some sauce. Sprinkle the mozzarella over the top of the lasagna or rollups, cover with greased foil, and bake for 40 minutes or until deliciously melty.

Homemade Pasta
1 cup flour
2 small to medium sized eggs, beaten.
Pinch of salt

Put the flour in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the eggs which have already been beaten. Sprinkle in the salt and mix by hand until you've got a sticky dough. Turn it out onto a flour surface and knead until the dough firms up. After about 10 minutes you should have a smooth, elastic ball. If it's too sticky, add more flour. Cover and allow to rest at least 30 minutes before rolling. Cut the ball into 4 pieces. Roll each piece paper thin and cut into flat lasagna noodle shapes (go thinner than you think you need). No need to boil. Just use them straight away in the recipe.

Peachy "Poppy Seed" Dressing

One of my all time favorite summer dinner items is a crisp salad that has fruit in it. I know many people might think it sounds horrible, but don't knock it till you've tried it. Right now, we're nearing the tail end of peach and plum season (my favorite!!) so I put together a simple salad of mixed greens, cucumber, toasted almonds, fresh mint leaves, and sweet peaches last night. Refreshing! When searching for a recipe for a sweet poppyseed-like dressing last night, I came across a few and combined them to make this. Now, you should know the "" marks are because I've never actually found poppy seeds here so my dressing did not include them. Sorry for the lack of a photo, but it was already being wolfed down before I remembered! Slightly overripe peaches are great in this because it doesn't matter if they're pretty.

Peachy "Poppy Seed" Dressing
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoon cider vinegar
4 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons honey (or less if you prefer less sweet)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon mustard
1 juicy peach, skin removed (2-3 little ones)
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Pour everything except poppy seeds into a blender and puree until it is smooth and creamy. Add the poppy seeds if you have them. It almost looks like a mayo based dressing when it's finished. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Top your favorite salad with this.

I think it would also be delicious over fresh fruit.

Note: If you don't have different vinegars around, white vinegar would probably be a completely fine substitute.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

In my years overseas, I have failed to ever bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie, chewy with a hint of crunch. Even the cookies I've eaten at other people's houses seemed to have the same problems that mine did--lots of spread so they were too crunchy. And then, behold, the perfect chocolate chip cookie literally drops right in front of my face (well, in my sidebar) as I was reading another recipe at Family Feedbag. She even has instructions for making these as a dry mix for gifts at the bottom of the recipe. I tried these out for the Mother's Day getaway my friend and I had this weekend. After all, two moms on a break need some cookies! They were wonderful...so good, in fact, that I made them again tonight so I could share photos with you. Look no further for a chewy chocolate chip cookie that takes very little effort. Even though the recipe says it makes 14-16 cookies, I got about 20 out of the batch using my 1.5 oz cookie scoop (makes 2 inch balls).

I dare you not to eat them all!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt plus a pinch more 1/2 cup oats 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 3/4 cup/192g butter, melted (warm, not hot) 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the over to 170C/350F. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients from the flour to the sugar and stir really well to combine. Melt the butter and add the vanilla to it. Add the butter/vanilla and beaten egg to the dry mixture. Stir to combine until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Roll into balls (don't flatten them) and keep 2 inches apart on the pan because they will spread some. My oven runs hot, and baking for 10 minutes is perfect. Keep an eye for 10-12 minutes until you see the edges become golden, but the top is still soft. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.


Note: To make these egg-free, you can use a mixture of 1 Tbs. ground chia seed or flaxseed plus 3 Tbs. water and substitute the mixture for the egg. I have made them without egg both times since I just happened to not have any eggs in the house.

Summer Treats: Cheesecake Popsicles

Here's another fruity treat that you can use to cool off when the mercury rises. You can use any kind of fruit "topping" for the cheesecake popsicles that would make a good flavor combination.

Capture the essence of this in popsicle!

Cheesecake Popsicles
1/2 cup (140g) cream cheese  or thick drained yogurt
1/2 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1/2 cup milk
Splash vanilla extract
Squeeze lemon juice
1/2 cup frozen fruit (e.g. strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
Graham crackers or digestive biscuits

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients but the cookies in a blender. Blend on high until you get a smooth consistency. After blending, add roughly crumbled crackers/biscuits to the batter, gently folding in so they won't turn into powder. Pour into popsicle molds, ice cube trays, or cups and freeze for several hours.

Notes: If you're using yogurt, use plain yogurt drained over a cheese cloth for 3-6 hours. If you use sweetened yogurt, adjust the sugar accordingly. If you're feeling particularly decadent or up for some fancy presentation, you could use canned pie filling in place of frozen fruit and layer it with the cheesecake mix in the popsicle molds. Not really an option for those of us over here, but any readers in developed countries could try it.

This recipe filled my 6-piece popsicle mold and 2 small disposable cups.

Guest Post: Impossible Pie

Yay! We have another guest post from Megan. When she sent me this, it totally reminded me of something I would have had back home. If you're a fan of coconut pie, but don't like all the work, this is the perfect recipe for you! I gave it a try, too, to test my blender and couldn't believe how easy it was. Thanks for sharing this, Megan! She says, "It's so ridiculously easy and delicious (if you like coconut). I've tried making it dairy-free using coconut milk, and it tasted good but didn't look as pretty as the dairy version."

Quality late-night snacking!

Impossible Pie
4 eggs
2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup grated dried coconut

Put all ingredients in blender. Put on high speed and count to ten slowly. Pour into well greased pie plate. Bake at 40 minutes in a 170C/350F oven. After it is baked you have a definite crust, a custard filling, and a rich buttery coconut topping.

Megan also noted, "I found that I had to bake mine about 5-10 minutes longer for whatever reason." My oven runs pretty hot so the 40 minutes was sufficient, but just keep an eye that your golden brown doesn't become burned brown.

Notes: If your blender is not of great quality, you might want to grate cold butter into the blender before blending to keep the blob from just spinning and not mixing. You can find dried coconut powder in the spices section of grocery stores, but most small shops also sell whole dried coconuts if you like more texture. You just have to peel the skin off with a vegetable peeler and grate it. To make quick work of it, you could also use the peeler to make coconut shavings since they will get chopped up in the blender anyway. Because the coconut is not sweetened and dried, you might also consider 1/4 cup more sugar, but I found the sweetness to be fine for my taste.

I really liked this recipe, Megan! It was amazingly easy, and the payoff was tasty. That's my kind of dessert. You can find the original recipe and lots more kitchen-spiration here.

Hello Summer!

As I opened the window in my living room today to let in a little afternoon breeze, I began to feel that familiar warmth of summer. Our house seems to catch the summer heatwave a few weeks later than many other people so it's not yet hot indoors, but this feels like the time of year for barbecues, salads, and cool popsicles. Despite the fact that my glorious spring break will be over tomorrow morning, I will aim to share a summery recipe each week once I'm back at work. If you have a favorite you'd like to share, email me or leave a comment.

First, on the list? Popsicles. My kids think that they should have one every day that it's summer. I fondly remember my dad bringing home these banana "Banjo" pops from the town mini-mart on summer afternoons, and they were glorious. I think my mom hates them, but they were this deliciously creamy combination of fake banana and sweet cream. This comes from a person who otherwise has a general dislike for all fake banana confections. This recipe is my attempt to recreate those afternoon pops with an ingredient list I can pronounce.

Someone is already a fan of these pops.

Creamy Banana Popsicles
3-4 ripe bananas (small local ones or 1-2 big Chaquita style)
1/4 cup cream
1 cup milk
Scant 1/4 cup sugar/honey/maple syrup

Put it all in a blender and blend on high until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds or small cups and freeze until firm. If using cups, add popsicle sticks or spoons when the ice cream is partially frozen then freeze further. Makes enough for a 6-8 piece popsicle mold.

Notes: To save on cream, I strain the thick stuff off our boiled milk and refrigerate it. By the end of a week, I have more than enough for a small batch of popsicles and no waste. I promise it doesn't have any weird smell and has not gone bad in that amount of time. Also, if you plan on cutting back on sweetener, make sure you add enough for the mixture to taste sweeter than you'd like. The sweetener seems to magically reduce during the freezing.

Chinese Takeout: Beef with Broccoli

Chinese food is a cuisine we have found to be quite different here than at home. I am fully aware of the fact that most Chinese food in the West bears little resemblance of the real thing, but still some of those dishes are so darn tasty! Here they are usually some kind of interesting "gravy" with globs of cornstarchiness unless you can find a real "no English" kind of place.

A few months ago my husband wanted to make a vegetable side for an Asian dinner and discovered this recipe for stir-fried broccoli. Since that time we've adapted the recipe to make Beef with Broccoli, and it has become a family favorite. It comes together really quickly so you can make dinner in a flash--especially if you're quick at chopping! I think you can probably use this recipe with any combination of vegetables, too.

Beef with Broccoli

Beef with Broccoli

1 large head broccoli, chopped into 1" pieces

500g beef steaks, thinly sliced

1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt

1/2 cup chicken stock (OR 1/2 cup water+1/4 stock cube)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup vegetable oil

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, sugar, salt, stock, and soy sauce. Heat oil in a wok over medium high heat. Stir fry onions and garlic, stirring continuously, for about 2 minutes. Add beef and fry until cooked through (about 2 minutes). Put onion and beef mixture into a separate bowl. Add broccoli and a few tablespoons of water. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the beef mixture back to the wok and pour the sauce over. Cook over medium low heat for 2 minutes. Stir continuously until sauce becomes thick. Serve over rice. 

Note: To make slicing the beef easier, cut it when it is still just barely frozen. Also, I use a very salty soy sauce so this amount of soy sauce is enough for us, but depending on your soy sauce brand, you might want to check for seasoning right before serving.