Sausage, Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna Rolls

I have seen these Lasagna roll ups here and there and decided I wanted to give them a try.  There are probably 200 different things you could fill them with, I just kind of used what I had. If you wanted to make them meatless, it would be really easy.  Or use white sauce instead of red.  Basically any way you make lasagna, you could roll instead of layer.  I was even thinking of making thanksgiving leftover lasagna roll ups.  Kam might explode with excitement over that one though....

Sausage, Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna Rolls
What you'll need:
8 Lasagna noodles cooked according to package (make 10 just in case one tears beyond repair)
1 package ground sausage (you could use ground beef, turkey or chicken too)
2 cups sliced mushrooms
4 cups fresh spinach
1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (remove most of the oil and chop into smaller pieces)
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup parmesan reggiano
2 cups pasta sauce (if I wasn't making this after work I would have made homemade, but I went the quick rout today)

Begin boiling water and cooking noodles.  In a large frying pan, cook sausage until no longer pink. Remove some of the fat leaving about a tablespoon. Add onions and saute until tender and translucent.  Add mushrooms, spinach, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, pepper and oregano and cook on medium low until most of the moisture is out of the spinach and mushrooms.  About 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Lay 3 or 4 noodles onto a glass cutting board (or your counter will work too).  Spread a small layer of the meat mixture over each noodle. Leave about 2 inches of noodle bare.  Spread about 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce over meat and a thin layer of mozzarella.  Now starting at the end of the noodle with meat, fold the noodle over a tiny bit and begin to roll the bare end which will be the bottom.  If you work slow and steady, you shouldn't loose too much filling out the sides of the rolls.  Now use a spatula to transfer the roll into the pan.  You should have room for 8 rolls in your pan.  Cover each roll with 2 or 3 tablespoons more sauce and remaining mozzerella and parmesan reggiano.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, removing foil for the last 10 minutes.

Love this flower pepper!  Love it!

This was a great dinner.  Lasagna with a different presentation.  They were even better the second day!  I think these would be really fun to serve guests.  Kam was my assistant for this one and when I have about half done rolling them, I asked him if he could do this.  He shook his head in a funny Kam way and said NO, No, no.  He was pretty stoked to eat them though! Enjoy!

Snow finally blanketed Spokane.  Now I hope we get 12 inches before Thanksgiving so we can go sledding at our friend's Eric and Julie's.  We are spending the beloved turkey day at their house this year, and they have THE BEST sledding hill!  Here is a photo of us from last year's sledding adventure.  We love them!

Happy saturday amigos!

Portuguese Sausage Panzanella with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

Long name, tasty results.  I've just recently become aware of this particular style of salad. There is this awesome little pizza place here in Spokane called South Perry Pizza, and on their facebook updates one day they mentioned the special was Panzanella.  So I researched it and have seen different recipes here and there, so I decided it was time I try it for myself.  I was planning on making a pasta salad with a left over Portuguese sausage link I had, but I figured it was time to give Panzanella a go.  I'm glad I did.  It's really sort of like fancy croutons, but different in some way.  I don't know, just try it!

What you'll need:

1 large or 2 small Portuguese Sausage link/s (or any sausage) cooked or grilled

1 cup cherry tomatoes halved

1 cup black olives halved

1 cup diced cucumber

3-4 cups fresh spinach (I could only fit 3 in my bowl, use 4 if you can)

1 cup white beans (any sort like cannellini or great northern)

1 cup feta crumbles

1 cup fresh basil leaves, lightly packed

1 small loaf sourdough or french bread

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Slice off ends of bread and cut into 1 1/2 inch thick slices.  Mix olive oil and granulated garlic together and brush over each side of bead.  You can either grill on the bbq with your sausage or broil in the oven, just make sure its nice and toasted!  In a large bowl add all other salad ingredients.  Whisk together dressing and allow to sit for a few minutes.

Once sausage and bread are nice and grilled, allow to cool enough to handle.  Slice sausage into bite size pieces. Add to bowl.  Break bread into smaller pieces, only using crusts and discarding center. When you toss with dressing, the parts with no crust turn to mush.  Add about 3 cups of crusts to bowl.  Toss with dressing.

My sorry excuse for a garden.  My tomato plant is looking pretty good tho, it's not pictured. 

Who knew Jalapeno flowers were so pretty.

If I were (or when I do) to make this salad again, I think I would remove the center of the bread before I grilled it, that way it could get toasty on 4 sides.  Trust me on discarding that center part.  Other than that, this salad was delicious.  You could skip the sausage and have it for more of a side dish, or use any other meat you choose.  As you know, I'm a big fan of the one stop meal deal!  Also, if you have leftovers, remove any of the left over bread before refrigerating. The bread is yummy, but it's only a one time shot type of yummy.  Other than that, go for it!  Enjoy!

Strawberry Basil Pasta Salad

I love anything that you can turn from a dish into a meal.  Throw a few little extras into a simple salad, and in no time you have a side dish gone full meal deal.  This salad had a lot of different flavors going for it, but they all seemed to work together nicely.  I will definitely make this again.

What you'll need:
6 cups dry pasta (Your favorite kind. I bought mine in bulk, so I have no idea how many ounces it is)
1 small cucumber diced, about 2 cups
3 cups sliced strawberries
1 can white or navy beans rinsed
1 3oz package prosciutto thin sliced
15 medium to large fresh basil leaves sliced into strips
3/4 cup feta crumbles
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cracked pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
Bag of baby spinach

Cook pasta, rinse with cold water and set aside.  In a large bowl, add diced cucumber, sliced strawberries, beans, prosciutto, and basil.  Toss until combined.  In a small bowl combine pesto, olive oil, pepper and salt.  Once pasta is cool add to large bowl.  Pour pesto dressing over pasta and toss until everything is well coated.  Serve over a bed of spinach.

This was really quick and full of flavor.  I love the contrast of the salty prosciutto, the sweet strawberries, and the creamy beans.  Enjoy!

Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf

I was more excited to cut into this thing and see how it looked than I was to eat it.  Kam thought I was nutzo, but hey, I'd never stuffed a meatloaf before!  And, not only did it look awesome, but it tasted just as good as it looked!  Double bonus!

What you'll need:

For the Loaf:
1 package extra lean ground turkey
4 medium mushrooms sliced
1/2 onion chopped
1 egg
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup white wine
2 teaspoons mushrooms gravy mix from packet
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Italian Seasoned)
1 cup baked potato chunked (Optional. I had it left over from the filling from the hollowed out potato breakfast)
Pepper

For the Filling:
1/2 cup frozen spinach after water is squeezed out (I only had fresh on hand, so I steamed it for 5 minutes, ran it under cold water, then squeezed and pressed it into a fine mesh strainer until all the water was out. Same end product.)

3/4 cup feta

1/2 cup ricotta

Pre heat oven to 350.

First, place onions and mushrooms into a medium skillet over medium high heat, add wine and a splash of olive oil and saute until everything is nice and tender and all liquid has reduced.  Add garlic and saute for another minute or until garlic is nice and fragrant.  Remove from heat and place into a large bowl.  Allow to cool for a few minutes.  Once cool enough, add potato, bread crumbs, egg, pepper and gravy. Mix with a fork until evenly combined.  Add turkey.  I mixed this everything together with my hands, use whatever tool you prefer, just make sure it's well combined.

In a smaller bowl, combine spinach, feta, and ricotta. Set aside.

Grab your favorite loaf pan and spray with cooking spray so you loaf will come out easy and not fall apart.  Place half of you loaf meat in pan and press down, working meat up the sides about 1/2 inch and flat in the middle to form a moat for filling.  Next, scoop filling into center, and spread out evenly.  It's ok if its a little heaped.  Next pile the remaining meat on top and evenly distribute to cover filling.  Make sure you take you time pushing the meat around the edges to try and seal the two halves together.  This well help you remove the loaf from the pan without it falling apart. Cover with tin foil and place in oven for 40 minutes, then remove foil and continue baking for about another 20 or until meat is fully cooked.

Remove from oven and let set for about 5 minutes.  Use your favorite method to remove the loaf from the pan.  I ran a knife around edges to loosen it, then was able to place my hand over loaf and quickly flip the pan over so the loaf was in my hand, then set the loaf on a cutting board.  Done. Slice into 1 inch pieces and serve with some steamed veggies and a salad, or a baked potato, or whatever you feel like.

This thing turned out awesome.  I was thinking that beef meatloaf filled with sautéed mushrooms and onions would be heavenly too.  Enjoy!

(Update: Had the left overs tonight, better the second day!!)

You can stuff my steak any day!

I am still impressed by this tasty little rolled up gem that I made last night.  It was so creamy, salty, garlicky and delicious that I will never be able to look at a piece of flank steak the same way again.

What you'll need:

1 fairly thick london broil or flank steak
6-12 cloves garlic (more or less depending on how much you love garlic)
1 large handful of baby spinach
1 cup of your favorite white melty creamy cheese (I used the mexican Cajeta cheese, but anything from mozzarella to gruyere would work perfectly)
2 tablespoons Capers (optional)
Olive Oil
Toothpicks or Butchers Twine

First rub your whole garlic cloves with olive oil and place on a baking sheet.  Put them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 - 20 minutes or until nice and toasted.  I flipped mine over half way through.  The smaller ones got a little more dried out, but they still tasted just as good. Your house will smell like so much garlic goodness by the time you take them out of the oven, its was wonderful!

While those are roasting, take your sharpest knife and butterfly your steak.  Just take your time, this was actually my first time butterflying a large steak like this.  I did cut through a little in the center, but it wasn't that big of a deal.  Just go slow and you'll do fine!

Place your spinach, capers, and if you're using a crumbly cheese into a bowl.  If using a cheese more like mozzarella, cut into slices, and set aside.  Once your garlic has finished roasting, allow to cool and chop into pieces.  No need to mince to fine. Using about 10 garlic gloves was fairly garlicky, so if you aren't a big garlic lover, maybe cut it down to 5 or 6 cloves.    Add your yummy garlic into the bowl with spinach, capers, and cheese and toss until well combined.  Evenly spread your filling over steak.

Now grab one end of your steak and begin to roll.  You may have to tuck spinach and cheese as you roll.  Stick toothpicks through end and to hold together and place roll on the baking sheet you roasted your garlic on.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes depending on how done you like your meat.  We like medium rare, but I was nervous and left mine in the oven closer to 30 minutes.  It was a little too long so the meat was more done than we like, but still tasted great!

Cut into 2 inch slices and serve with steamed veggies, rice, or potatoes. Enjoy!

PS. Don't forget the red wine =)