Lasagna Casserole

Ok, sorry for 2 things: 1, that it has taken me so long to post, and 2 that there are no pictures right now. The next time I make this I will try to remember! My husband says this tastes more like a different pasta, but I can't seem to remember the name. But it looks like lasagna and tastes great!

Prep time: 30 minutes +/-
Cook time: 30 min. to an hour(depending on the pan)
Preheat oven to 375 Deg.
Need one casserole dish, about 11" by 9" give or take. The bigger the pan, the sooner it cooks! (Cooked mine in a 9" round about 4 in. thick, yeah, that took awhile!)

Ingredients:

Corn tortillas (12-20, depending on the size pan you use)
1/2 Fresh Mozzarella (or to taste)-shred or cut to small pieces
15 oz + Ricotta cheese
To taste Fresh Spinach
1 pckg fresh Portabella mushrooms
1LB Sausage (I used turkey)
23-30 oz Tomato Sauce
Herbs & Seasoning
Suggestions: Onion, sweet peppers, and any other meat or veggies you would like! Cook these in step 1

Instructions:

1. Brown meat while you chop mushrooms and any other veggies. Add to meat to soften.
2. Prepare sauce-either use a pre-seasoned sauce or season to taste now. Keep the seasoning of the sausage in mind, as to not over season.
3. Cover the bottom of pan with Corn tortillas.
4. For 3 layers follow pattern: mozzarella, sauce, meat & veggies(mix in some w/ sauce),Spinach, Ricotta, Corn tortillas. Repeat.
5. On last layer of corn tortillas cover with sauce
6. Top with healthy layer of mozzarella.
7. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes, or until Spinach is wilted.

Enjoy!

Oh, the Irony.

So, we have moved into a a new chapter of our lives. DH has been working as a Design Engineer for a company North of the Metroplex, and we are living in a small town 25 miles from his work. We are on the lake which is nice, but we are living in an RV to save money. Engineers just aren't paid like they used to be!

The first 2 weeks we ate as much bread as we wanted, since we were stressed, moving and just didn't have a kitchen really. And boy have we paid for it. That's right, WE. I am now having reactions to Gluten. Oh, yay. Now that I know the pain, I can't BELIEVE that my mom and my husband would purposefully eat wheat!

I haven't done any research on this yet, but I suppose it is because it was absent from my diet for so long.

I have a kitchen again, more or less, just not as big or as well stocked, but I am hoping in the next few weeks to be back on a schedule with recipes and reviews!

I remember, right before I go to sleep...Oh! And a Tip!

Believe it or not, but I DO remember that I have a blog! We are just at a point in our lives that blogging isn't a big priority . My husband just graduated from college with his B.S. in Engineering Technology. He was a non traditional student, so he already had some impressive experience, and he has had a relevant job for the past 2 years. But the job market is so tough! He has applied for over 60 jobs, but that has resulted in only 4 interested responses and 2 interviews. But we are getting better and better at the application process. That's right, WE. Most of my spare 'net time is spent looking for jobs, looking up companies, doing research on products and areas, so when DH comes in from work, I can give him a list of suggestions. Then I help him with suggestions on how to reword our basic cover letter (which I wrote) to tailor it to that company. DH is brilliant, but when you have so many to do, it can be hard to seem "fresh" and "innovative" over and over and over again. And now we are in the process of moving into a family-owned house because we can't afford to live off his $100 a week he gets from his "college" job. So, we have to pack up all our stuff, get rid of all his "project" junk, find homes for a few of our dogs (we have 4) and some of our cats (we have 4, but it's not our fault!).

But what has this meant for our diets? They have been pretty much trashed. We have "cheat" on nearly a dialy basis. And DH and Isak just deal with the consequences. Though DH is learning what he can and cannot have. For instance, he can easily tolerate some stuff with short-lived minimal discomfort(2 Sonic Breakfast Burritos) while other things cause him agony for days (2 belgian waffles). We have been surviving on beans and Cheese Toasties, and man are we getting tired of them!

I do have a tip for you though: If you lightly toast a corn tortilla on both sides, it will NOT crumble! Just like with the Cheese Toasties, preheat a pan (preferrably a cast iron pan) on medium for a dry heat. You can also do this in a toaster oven or regular oven, but I have not tried it that way. You just want to barely crisp the exterior of the tortilla. Afterwards, it tastes like a pita bread! Last night we enjoyed them with Chicken Salad and Pimento Cheese! Before, I thought it was the melted cheese that was holding the tortilla together, I'm so glad to know we now have more options!

Now, as to DH's job hunt: He went in this morning to talk with the VP of the company he works for to see if they an find a full-time "career" position for him, and I will find out how that goes later I guess, he forgot his phone this morning! Then he is supposed to have an interview with another company a few hours away from us and he has a recruiter trying to get him to send in a resume for a job that would take us to the unpleasently cold part of the country. But DH knos the company and LOVES the product, it would be a dream job for him! Sooooooo....yeah, just a little bit of stress here, not knowing where we will be at the end of the month!

Tuesday Recipe: Fake-adillas! AKA Cheese Toasties!

This one comes from my older sister, muchas gracias to her! She calls them "Cheesy Toasty Thingies" for, while my family is very well-read, we seem to have an aversion to proper nouns whilst at home. I have dubbed them as Fake-adillas (as in fake quesadillas) or, for my non-Mexican cuisine initiated, Cheese Toasties! If you happen to read this, please, comment on the blog which name you prefer!

Do you have picky GI kids (or, in my case, husband) who miss the ease of the sandwich or hotdog? Can't seem to reconcile yourself to the fact that Tapioca bread is the closest thing you will ever get? What started as my sister's easy snack has turned into our lunch-time solution. While it doesn't have the fluffiness of bread (But neither does the Tapioca "bread") it has the convenience that we were missing.

What you need:
Corn tortillas
1/8 cup +/- shredded cheese per Toasty, or one slice of sandwich cheese
filling of choice
Pan (I prefer cast iron since it must be cooked on a dry heat)

Instructions:
Heat pan to medium-low heat, place 1 corn tortilla (Or more, depending on pan size) flat on UN GREASED pan. You aren't frying it, just crisping it. If your cast iron pan is drying out too much or smoking, a small amount of Crisco rubbed in should fix it.


Place cheese evenly to edge of tortilla, add filling of choice. Allow cheese to melt, checking periodically to make sure tortilla is not burned. You want the tortilla crispy, not too crunchy. Fold tortilla in half, remove from pan. Enjoy!

No, really, that's it. It is so simple, so versatile! As you can see, we chose just 2 ingredients for the filling, ham and avocado. Very tasty! But I ran out of cheese and avocado before I made a second one for me, so I used a cheese stick (un-strung) and some red bell pepper. You are only limited by your imagination and the contents of your pantry!

This would be a great way to eat leftovers, too. BBQ, the chicken that you just can't make another soup out of, leftover casserole, seafood, leftover veggies, etc. As long as it goes well with cheese, it will work! By not frying it, adding salsa or traditional Mexican seasonings, this doesn't come off as "Mexican Food". We are going to try this with hot dogs this week, something I have REALLY missed!

A word about corn tortillas: Be picky. try several different varieties in small packages before you go ahead and buy a 50 pack. I find that the Wal-Mart brand Great Value white corn tortillas not only taste great, but last a long time in the bread box. Some corn tortillas will dry out quickly, making them a crumbly mess. I find that the yellow corn tortillas are the worst at that.

So, how are you liking the blog so far? What would you like to see me do? I am open to suggestions!

Recipe Tuesday..on Thursday. But, hey COOKIES!

Sorry to anybody who happens to be reading this (There is at least one of you, right?) but I had to go and visit family suddenly, and they have dial up at home. I am at my Grandparents, and while they have DSL, they had guests and updating your blog while guests are present is extremely rude, and, my snarky younger sister has informed me, VERY geeky. Oh well.

There was almost no recipe for this week. I mean, I was going to give a sad little paragraph (see above) and beg your forgiveness. BUT, my mother, who is also gluten intolerent, saved the day! I present to you:

Momma's Gluten Free Apple Oatmeal Cookies.

Preheat oven to 350 deg.

1 cup Sugar

½ cup Crisco

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1 ½ cup Oatmeal

1 cup Pamela's Biscuit Pancake Baking Flour (Contains Baking Powder, or other GF Flour)

1 tsp Cinnamon

½ Shredded Apple

Cream-to consistency

Mix together until it resembles thick, creamy oatmeal.

Bake 10 minutes at 350 deg.

Now, you will note, I'm sure, the difference in the amount of instruction from my mom's recipe and my Calzone recipe. I tend to document everything, and she says "I just dump until it looks right." My mom's cooking method is more of an art, than science. But, whether you get your a little thick, or a bit on the thin side, they WILL be tasty!

Product Review:PowerBar Protein Plus® 30g Chocolate Brownie

PowerBar Protein Plus® 30g Chocolate Brownie

States Gluten Free: No

Gluten containing ingredients: No

Allergy Warnings on label: ALMOND, MILK, PEANUT

AND SOY INGREDIENTS. MADE ON EQUIPMENT

THAT ALSO PROCESSES WHEAT.

Purchased at: Wal-Mart Super Center, Pharmacy department

Price: $1.98

From the PowerBar website:

PowerBar ProteinPlus 30g protein bar — key features:

* Contains 30g TriSource protein blend

* Help build a lean body and provide sustained energy

* Contains leucine, a key essential amino acid for muscle protein synthesis

*No preservatives or artificial flavors

My Review:

$$$$$$$$$$

7 of 10 for:

Pros: Availability, taste

Cons: Possible allergen, too supplement rich

So, you may be wondering why I would choose to have a protein bar as my first review. One thought for you:Skinny husband. We still aren't sure to what extent DH is Gluten Intolerant, some of his symptoms are near Celiac Disease, but he doesn't seem to be as sensitive as most CD sufferers. He can tolerate 1 glutening a week with only mild discomfort. But if you are familiar with CD, you will know that it prevents the body from properly absorbing nutrients. DH has always been skinny. Even early in college when he was eating what seemed to be half a cow a day while in Weight Training class, he barely formed any muscles, just some toning. So he is a big fan of Protein bars and routinely will eat one instead of, after or with a meal. He thought he was going to have to give them up all together until we discovered that PowerBar has at least TWO lines of Gluten Free-ish protein bars. I will review the other in a separate post to pad my blog to give it a thorough review.

While it gives the warning of “Made on equipment that also processes wheat”, DH has never had a problem with them. The bars themselves look like a big candy bar, and the chocolate coating tastes just like normal chocolate and has a nice, not overly-sweet taste. The bar itself is rather dense, not fluffy as it looks like it should be and is a bit on the chewy side. My husband compared it to the Little Debbie brownies that were a gas station-snack favorite of his, which is one thing he has really missed on our road trips to see family. Not to say it taste “just like” a brownie. It definitely has that “I have a whole bottle of vitamins in me” taste. Not candy-sweet at all, but not near as bad as some others. A great option for the GI athlete, and I would say that it is tasty enough to be a snack for the non-athletic as well, in moderation. But with it's high protein content and “good-for-you” taste, not one for the kids. Though IE LOVED it, we would only give him one or two small nibbles, kids just don't need that much supplement in their diet.

A little housekeeping note: I will be moving Product Reviews over to Friday to give me one more day to procrastinate in case something comes up.

This is my own personal opinion, I received no samples or other compensation for this post.

Recipe Tuesday: Gluten Free Ham and Cheese Calzone

This recipe is out my desperation for something other than pizza that seemed "normal". Bob's Red Mill GF Pizza Crust Mix ($4.16 at Bob's Red Mill and available at some HEBs) has become a regular fixture in my home, but each package makes two 12 inch pizzas. You can only eat so many pizzas! So I went on a search for something to do with the other half of the dough. I modified a few other recipes and was pleasantly surprised when this came out right the first try. The next time I do it I will try making four calzones, as one of these big boys fed two adults and one hungry toddler. While the filling suited my family's taste, this could be easily modified to anyone's tastes, as long as there is something to keep the filling from drying out (IE cheese, dressing, sauce, etc). Enjoy!

Ham and Cheese Calzone

Preheat oven to 350F deg

1/2 pound cooked pork, cubed
1 1/2 cup cooked broccoli
2 cups shredded cheese
1/2 cup Ranch dressing, or dressing of choice

1/2 package Bob's Red Mill Pizza dough(follow directions on label)


Also:
Lightly Greased baking sheet
LARGE cutting board
Plastic Wrap
Large bowl
Mixing Spoon

Brown pork in pan with spices of choice, I used salt, pepper, ground mustard and balsamic vinegar.

In large bowl combine broccoli, cheese, cubed pork. Mix well. Add ranch dressing, mix until all is thoroughly coated. Set aside

On a large cutting board, layout a large piece of plastic wrap, app. 1 ft long. Place 1/2 of dough on plastic(it helps with removal later if the underside is slightly wet before it is placed). With wet hands, press as flat as possible without misshaping too much.


Rinse hands of "slimy" feeling, with wet hand, make smooth semicircular motions while pressing out, turning the board to keep the dough even.

Smooth until about 1/8" thick, with edges thinner. Place 1/2 contents of bowl on one side of the dough, leaving 1/2" from edge free.

On the free side of dough, take the corners of the plastic wrap and gently, but firmly pull to cover filling.

Press on the edges of the dough through the plastic to seal. Carefully pull plastic back from the top, and gently cradle in both hands as if a newborn.

Carefully rotate until you can lay it on the greased pan, as it stays where it lands! Repeat process for second calzone, using a new sheet of plastic wrap.

Bake at 350 deg. for 30 minutes

Gluten Free: Sticker Shock and Kitchen Phobia

When I was younger, I thought allergies were a lot like fashion trends: there always seemed to be a new "trendy" allergy. I can remember watching my mother mournfully explain to other moms how my two sisters were "lactose intolerant", watching the reactive condolences with equally mournful expressions. Then came the peanut allergy, the MSG allergy, and, I now feel bad about this, I actually laughed when I met some one with a Soy allergy, because I found it so ironic that they had been replacing peanuts with soy in so many products, that now they find people are allergic to it as well! The latest "fad" allergy seemed to be the Gluten Allergy. I pretty much ignored all my mom said about how she had "discovered" she was Gluten Intolerant and what wonders it did for her and blah blah blah. She had said the same thing about MSG! But she kept saying that my husband of (at that point) 2 years seemed to have similar symptoms. He and I both brushed it off...preposterous! But I started watching...and noticing that once again, my mother was right *grimace*

It took a lot of convincing, but my Darling Hubby (DH from here out) finally agreed to go 1 week without a single hamburger, pizza, or Italian dish. And in just a few days, he felt the difference. No abdominal cramps, no "issues of Gastronomical proportions", he seemed to be free of his IBS symptoms. It took another week, but we decided to go Gluten Free 100%, so much to the point that I gave away all my wheat products, instead of the original plan of eating through them and not replacing them. We then discovered that our 18-month-old son (IE from here on out) was also Gluten Intolerant. Oh joy. I am apparently the only one not afflicted. And yet, to a degree, I am the one with the biggest burden. I am responsible for feeding our little trio. Needless to say, I no longer think of allergies with such off-handed amusement.

As soon as we were on the bandwagon, my mom started sending in recommendations, I scoured the web for recipes and blogs. What I found both shocked me and intimidated me. HAVE YOU SEEN THE PRICE FOR THIS STUFF? A loaf of GF bread is nearly $6! And a tiny bag of flour is $4! I went on to search for alternatives, and here in came the blogs. Women armed up to the hilt with Kitchen Aid mixers, milling machines and pantries full of exotic sounding flours that they mix together by the 1/8 cup. *sweat dripping down my forehead*

Don't get me wrong, I love to cook. I am actually rather good at it, despite pretending to be completely Kitchen Phobic all through High School. But still, I rely on things from the local grocer and avoid things that are too extravagant (but don't ask about my Norwegian cuisine obsession that calls for things like Cardamon...) So asking me to drop the breading off the baked chicken, the biscuits off the Country Chicken Casserole and totally forget waffles seemed like a death sentence to DH and a nervous break down to me! But, slowly I have found a few ways to cut costs and even discover a few new things that DH loves but never would have tried before. (Oh, and it turns out much of Norwegian cuisine is GF, hehe, major win for me!)

What my hope is for this blog to chronicle what I have learned, to follow me as I continue to learn and hopefully bridge the gap for those, who like me, are a little intimidated of milling my own flour or restricted on what we can spend for what boils down to luxury items like crackers and cookies.

I plan on updating twice a week, hopefully a Tuesday & Thursday schedule with one recipe and one product review a week.