7-Layer Mexican Lasagna

I've never been a huge fan of lasagna, but given that I've been trying to develop some more casserole recipes that are beef-centric (Nate really doesn't like any other kind of meat), this one seemed worth giving a try.

It wasn't out of this world amazing, but it was definitely satisfying, and kept well for leftovers and lunches throughout the week. Plus, it's super colourful.

7-Layer Mexican Lasagna

6 large flour tortillas
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp. cumin
1 c. enchilada sauce
1 large red onion
1/2 each of green, yellow and red pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp. fajita seasoning
1 pkg. frozen corn
2 c. shredded cheese (I used medium cheddar)
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13" dish and line bottom with 4 tortillas, trimming edges as necessary.



2. Brown meat, seasoning with cumin. Once thoroughly browned, add enchilada sauce and heat through. Set aside.



3. In separate skillet, heat oil, add onion, peppers and garlic. Sprinkle with fajita seasoning. Cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add corn and heat through. Set aside.



4. Spoon meat mixture over tortillas in dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cheese. Place remaining tortillas on cheese. Spoon veggies on top. Sprinkle remaining cheese.



5. Bake for 30 minutes. Garnish with cilantrio and serve with guacamole and sour cream.

(Sorry- forgot to take picture once it came out of the oven! Use your imagination!)

Emily's rating: 8 out of 10
Nate's rating: 7.5 out of 10

Banana Bread

Nate has a really bad habit of buying a large bag of bananas during our weekly grocery shop, and then never actually eating any of them. Instead, they sit on our counter throughout the week getting progressively blacker and squishier. Normally I just toss them out (after berating him once again for having purchased them in the first place), but this week I decided to make some banana bread. I find the darker and squishier the bananas, the more moist and delicious the bread.



Banana Bread

2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 4)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven 325 degrees. Evenly grease loaf pan.



2. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.



3. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to low; alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, occasionally scraping side of bowl with spatula. Beat just until blended.



4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool loaf in pain on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Shrimp Lasagna Rolls

These beauties are courtesy of a great food blog that all of you should be checking out, Annie's Eats. While I made a few adjustments to her original recipe, I am very grateful to have stumbled across this fantastic dish.

Basically, this is kind of a fancy upgrade of the vodka shrimp penne I posted a few weeks ago. Stuffing the lasagna rolls with a shrimp-ricotta mixture takes these to a whole new level; one I would totally recommend!



Shrimp Lasagna Rolls

8 lasagna noodles
1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cloves garlic, minced
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
2-3 tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
pinch of nutmeg
1 3/4 c. vodka sauce, divided
shredded mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.



2. Bring large pot of water to boil. Add lasagna and cook until partially tender, about 8 mins. Drain and set aside.



3. Heat oil in large skillet over med. heat. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Add garlic and shrimp to skillet and saute until shrimp are cooked, about 4 mins. Set shrimp aside to cool, then chop coarsely.



4. Mix chopped shrimp, 1 c. ricotta cheese, parmesan, egg, basil, salt, pepper and nutmeg.



5. In another bowl (bigger than the one I used!), combine 1 1/2 c. vodka sauce with remaining ricotta. Stir until smooth.





6. Spread remaining vodka sauce over bottom of 8x8" baking dish. Using clean work surface, lay out lasagna noodles. Spread shrimp over full length of noodle (I found it best to leave about 1/2" at each end).



7. Roll up and place seam-side down in dish.



8. Spoon creamy vodka sauce over top. Top with mozzarella.



9. Bake for 25 minutes.



Emily's rating: 9 out of 10
Nate's rating: 9 out of 10

Tomato, Chickpea and Arugala Salad

I rarely plan meal-sized salads, simply because I have this mental block that salad can't be filling enough on its own. I logically know this is wrong, but I have a lot of trouble getting over it. Hopefully, salads like this one will help with that. This has more than enough protein and other nutrients to fill me up, but it's still light enough to make me feel good about eating it.



Tomato, Chickpea and Arugula Salad

4 c. baby arugula or other mixed greens
1 (15 oz.) can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 c. walnuts, toasted if desired
1/2 c. ham, finely diced
2 tbsp. red-wine vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. whole-grain mustard

1. Combine lettuce, chickpeas, tomatoes, walnuts and ham. Toss.

2. Whisk together vinegar, oil and mustard. Drizzle dressing over salad immediately prior to serving.

Parmesan-crusted Asparagus

I feel like this is a fairly common staple, but I thought I would post it just in case this beauty isn't part of your regular vegetable rotation. My favourite twist is to drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over the asparagus right before serving.

Parmesan-crusted Asparagus

1 lb. asparagus, washed and trimmed
1/2 c. fresh parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Spread asparagus out on rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Shake pan to coat spears evenly.



3. Sprinkle cheese on spears. Shake pan to coat evenly. Make sure none of the spears overlap.



4. Bake for 20 mins or until parmesan has formed golden crust. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar immediately prior to serving.

Chicken and Lentil Stew

As I'm sure you can tell from the selection of recipes I've posted so far, I really enjoy so-called 'comfort foods'. The problem with most of them is that they're not usually very healthy, so I'm always looking to find dishes that check both the 'comfort food' and 'healthy' boxes. This certainly fit the bill.



Chicken and Lentil Stew

1 tbsp. olive oil
2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
3/4 c. dried lentils
1 (14 oz.) can of chicken broth
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. basil
1 tbsp. lemon juice

1. Heat oil over med. heat. Cook chicken 5 mins on each side. Remove from skillet and set aside.



2. Place onion in skillet. Cook 5 mins. until tender. Mix in carrot and garlic. Stir in lentils and broth and season with salt. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 mins.



3. Return chicken to skillet. Cover and continue cooking 20 mins (add water if too dry). Season with rosemary and basil. Continue cooking for 10 mins. Stir in lemon juice and serve over rice.



Emily's rating: 8 out of 10
Nate's rating: 7 out of 10

Tomato, zucchini and chicken pasta

One of my favourite things to do is scrounge up a meal from the odd-end ingredients I have on end, and this recipe is definitely a success story from that process. I was running low on groceries, but needed to throw together a quick dinner, and came up with this.

Tomato, zucchini and chicken pasta

1 bag wide egg noddles
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
10 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup frozen zucchini, thawed
1/2 cup parsley or 2-3 tbsp. parsley paste
1/4 cup instant potato flakes
salt and pepper

1. Boil noodles according to package instructions.



2. Salt and pepper chicken and saute in olive oil until browned. Add garlic and shallot and cook until chicken cooked through.



3. Pour tomatoes with juice over chicken and bring to boil. Add zucchini and parsley and heat through. Add potato flakes, as needed, to thicken sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.



4. Drain noodles and pour sauce over pasta.



Emily's rating: 9 out of 10