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Lasagna Rollups

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Makes approx 22 - 24 rolls

Cook lasagna noodles according to directions and cool

Melt:
3 Tbsp margarine

Add to margarine then cook till bubbly:
1/4 cup flour

Mix and microwave 2 min:
1.5 cup milk
1 scored bay leaf
pinch nutmeg

Whisk warmed milk into margarine flour mixture. Cook until boiled.
Allow cream sauce to cool.

To the cream sauce add in...

3 eggs, beaten
2-3 pounds cottage cheese
1-2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 lb grated mozzarella
1/8 tsp nutmeg
cooked spinach (I used one can, drained well)

Mix well to combine

Dump one can (26oz) of spaghetti sauce into a large lasagna pan (think mine is 16")

Lay out a lasagna noodle on the table and and spread filling on noodle (estimate about 1/4c for each noodle, didn't measure, just scooped with my hand). Roll noodle short end to short end. Place rolled up noodle in pan. When pan is full dump another can of sauce over the top. Add 1/2 can of water over the top and jiggle pan to incorporate. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 pound I just grabbed handfuls out of a 5lb bag).

Bake for 1 hour in a 350° oven

Kids were asking to try a meat version...probably add some italian sausage next time

And we have a revision once again.

The lasagna rollups were a hit. I used ma's Canelloni filling as a base. I'm going to post the version I made after I'm done here.

Tom came home Friday night with a treat for us....mahogany clams! Woohoo!! We fired up the 18qt roaster and steamed away. He bought enough of the little buggers that we all had as much as we wanted. Served with real butter...YUUUUUMMMM! Granted I'd prefer if they were littlenecks but that would've cost us a mint.

He also bought steaks which we'll grill on Saturday. It was a really decent deal, 5 pkgs for $20. I think it amounted to 13 steaks, might be 11 (too lazy to get up and count them lol). We'll serve it with sauteed broccoli normandy and baked/grilled potatoes. Lucky for me Tom does all the charcoal grilling (I only do gas lol)

Now to work on a plan for next week that I can stick too!

Oh I hate when that happens!!!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

I had to throw out a WHOLE 8qt pot of chicken and broth this morning!!!! It was one of the richest and meatiest pots I've ever made too. I just want to cry...it could've made at least 2 meals. All that money and work gone. Actually I haven't thrown it away yet, I'm not sure exactly WHAT to do with it. I can't dump it down the drain, can't throw it in the trash. I'll probably have Tom dump it into the weeds. Makes me wish we had animals that could be fed it.

So WHY do I have to toss it? Because I just got up and see it's sitting on the back of the stove. I hadn't bothered to debone the thighs, just threw them in along with the pan drippings which I never do...that usually goes straight to gravy. It simmered all day long and made it smell Yuuuumy in here. I'd turned it off around 3pm so that it could cool enough to allow me to debone it. (figured I'd do it after dinner) Sean was super fussy with a fever and I got stuck in my chair with him. I eventually decided sitting with him wasn't working so took him to bed. Shortly after climbing into the bed I realized the pot was still on the stove. I couldn't get up so figured I'd ask Tom to throw it in the fridge before he climbed into bed. I fell asleep before he came in!!! So the pot sat and sat and sat. And now 14hrs after turning it off, it's trash. :o(

Wish I could console myself with the fact that it's only $.49/pound turkey and we already got one meal out of it (turkey salad tonight), but I can't. It's just too much and would've gone so far. I actually sat here at first and tried to reason that it wouldn't be bad and I COULD use it. Of course nothing is worth that risk to my family's health, not even almost free meals. OK, take that back, if we were starving or going to starve without it, it'd be a different story. Thankfully that's not part of the equation today.

I don't know how I did it

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

I messed up the turkey! I wasn't home at all on Tues so decided to cook it last night, cut it up and stick it in the fridge then it'd be ready for the next day's dinner. (number of days in the fridge were getting too many to wait another day) Everyone kept saying the turkey was done and I kept putting them off. I checked it and saw the doneness gauge on the turkey had popped (I hate those things!) so I stuck it with my meat thermometer. It immediately went up to 190...oh great...a dry turkey. I took it out and let it cool so I could handle it. When I went to process it, it wasn't done! UGH! So I threw all the pieces back into the roaster and stuck it in the oven. Eventually I started dozing off and knew I'd never stay up until the turkey was done. So I turned it off and thought to get up really early and take care of it. I never got up! This morning it was still warm but dried out. :o( So my yummy slabs of moist turkey for sandwiches became turkey salad and the broth gained a bit more meat then it normally would. Not what I wanted but I made do anyways.

Of course you know a revision is coming. We resorted to the meal in a pinch...chicken nuggets. That means Fri meal has to change too. Now I think it'll look like...

Tuesday...Chicken nuggets and baby carrots with dip
Wednesday...Turkey salad, rolls, salad, green beans
Thursday...Lasagna rollups, bread
Friday...Pizza
Saturday...Venison stew, biscuits

Menu - March 30 - April 5

Monday, March 31, 2008

Sunday...Bagel dogs, raviolis, tossed salad, cottage cheese
Monday...Beefy mac and cheese, salad
Tuesday...Turkey, mashed potatoes, sauteed mixed veggies
Wednesday...Pizza
Thursday...Scalloped potatoes, irish soda bread
Friday...Dino chicken nuggets, mixed fruit
Saturday...Venison stew, bread

I have everything I need for these meals, so no shopping needed. :o) I'll still need fresh fruit, veggies, milk and probably eggs (for breakfasts and lunches). I'm not sure on Thurs, but we'll deal with it then if it comes up.

My birthday

Tom was fretting over the fact that we didn't have any cake mix in the house for my birthday cake. He must've asked me 20 times if I'd find him a recipe for an easy cake online. Then the concern was dinner. I informed him that Pizza was on the menu today and I'd make the crust which only takes a few minutes, everything else was in the fridge. He went out back for a while and came in with some money. Seems BIL decided he wanted me to get some things at the store. I was informed to get LOTS of steak and some snacks...other then that, I could spend the money as I saw fit. And I did! Not only did I spend that money, but I spent some of our's too. oops! Michelle was laughing because I was throwing things in my cart that I had in there earlier in the week but decided we could do without (like blueberry muffins lol)

For my birthday dinner I bought...
Steak - bought 2 huge roasts and sliced into steaks myself
Mushrooms,
stuff for a HUGE salad (also have enough for a few more meals)
Vanilla ice cream (Michelle bought toppings for sundaes)
Birthday cake (was going to buy mixes but Michelle twisted my arm on getting this instead)

Other things I bought...
Starburst candies
Blueberry muffins
cream cheese (for bagels and various dips)
velvetta cheese (cheese sauce for EVERYTHING lol)
milk
orange juice
green grapes
frozen strawberries (sundae toppings, smoothies and parfaits)
vanilla yogurt (smoothies and parfaits)
honey roasted peanuts
various chips and pretzels

We were all able to stuff ourselves full of whatever we wanted and had leftovers. The kids cleaned up in no time flat (amazing what you can do when you work together). Michelle had the sundae bar set up really nicely. We had gummi worms, reeses pieces, strawberries, bananas, sprinkles, crushed up cookies, assorted mini marshmellows (fruit flavored), hot fudge, chocolate magic shell, and canned whipped cream. YUMMMMMM! We never ended up eating the cake until Sunday night because we were stuffed from the sundaes.