Lasagna...Mexican Style

The other night I was searching for something "different" to have for dinner, yet something that was somewhat of a comfort food. I went to one of my many trusty food sites for ideas - FoodNetwork.com. After scrolling through a few options, I got lasagna on the brain, but I was still itching for something different. That's when I stumbled across Rachael Ray's Mexican Lasagna recipe.


I already had some tortillas in the freezer that I could use and ground turkey was on sale (which I used in place of the original recipe calling for ground chicken). As far as other changes I made to this recipe - I used salsa instead of taco sauce, left out the black beans, and red onion and added a few of my own touches (garlic, pepper). Ok, so I made a decent amount of changes, but I generally stuck with the concept of it all, which is one I probably wouldn't have thought of on my own. The result? Not your typical lasagna, but still an oh so comforting meal loaded with some spice and plenty of cheesy goodness! I will be making this again!



Mexican Lasagna
(from FoodNetwork.com)



2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground turkey
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspooon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained (I omitted)
1 cup medium salsa
1 cup frozen corn kernels
Salt
8 (8 inch) flour tortillas
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack (I used a combination of both)


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil - twice around the pan. Add turkey and season with chili powder, cumin, pepper, and garlic. Brown the meat, 5 minutes. Add salsa. add corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.

Coat a shallow baking dish (I used an 8x8 dish) generously with cooking spray. Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly.

A turkey burger worth gobbling up....

....get it? The title of the post? Oh I crack me up!

Flipping through my new Rachael Ray "Just in Time" cookbook the other day I was inspired by her New England Chicken Patty Sammies recipe. I gave it a go with the turkey and a few other alterations to the original recipe and wow, what a great burger this was!

I'd like to apologize upfront for my picture. I was obviously too busy drooling over the site of the burgers to really focus on plating it properly with melty cheese hanging all over the plate....nevermind that one of the burger buns is upside down. I've got the bottom bun on top! Oh well, it was worth rushing through the picture taking step so I could down my burger that much faster!


New England Turkey Burger Sammies
(inspired by "Just in Time" by Rachael Ray)












1 package of ground turkey (usually around 1 - 1 1/3 lbs)
Celery salt
Pepper
Onion Powder
Paprika
4 tablespoons EVOO
1 small onion thinly sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
4 rolls of your choice (or go with the English muffin option suggested by RR, I didn't have any on hand)
Sliced sharp cheddar cheese
3 tabelspoons honey mustard


Preheat your broiler.

In bowl, mix turkey with salt, pepper, paprika, and onion powder to your desired taste levels. Form 4 thin patties (I did 3 bigger ones, but you could easily get 4 out of 1 package). Preheat one large and one medium sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of EVOO, twice around the pan, to each skillet. Place turkey patties in large skillet and cook for 5-8 minutes on each side (or until cooked through).

Slice buns in half, place on cookie sheet and into preheated broiler for about 2-3 minutes or until toasty. Take them out of the oven and put them aside.

Meanwhile, add apples and onions to second skillet, season with salt and pepper and cook until tender about 6-7 minutes.

Place a turkey burger on one half of each toasted roll and top them with some of the apple/onion mixture and then 2 slices of cheese. Spread the other half of the roll generously with honey mustard. Slide baking sheet back into the oven for another 1-3 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Deli-Stuffed Eggwich

So I got myself some new cookbooks recently - "Nigella Express" (wow, it looks fabulous, can't wait to try some recipes out of that!) and Rachael Ray's "Just in Time." (Yes, Rachael Ray, Dani, I know you are cringing right now hahaha!).

Well one of the recipes in RR's book caught my attention immediately - "Deli Stuffed Eggwiches" - I thought it was a perfect quick meal idea (which it should be, after all, that is her "thing"). I decided to give it a go the other day for quick and easy lunch. This got rave reviews from the hubby who gave his "eggwich" two thumbs up. I'll definitely making them again, trying it with different meats and condiments. For this one I used some honey mustard on the sandwich. I also want to try different breads (I used a Kaiser roll for this one - RR called for regular bread). Really the options on this sandwich are endless. I tell you, this recipe makes me want a panini press even more than I already did!

So here's my version.....

Deli Stuffed Eggwich
(adapted from Rachael Ray's Deli-Stuffed Eggwiches from "Just in Time")

1 egg
Splash of milk
Salt & pepper
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 Kaiser roll
4 slices of deli ham
2 slices of sharp cheddar
Honey Mustard (amount of which is up to you)
1/2 tablespoon butter

In a shallow bowl beat egg, milk, honey, and salt & pepper to taste. Set aside.*

Spread honey mustard on one side of each bun slice generously. With spread sides facing in, make sandwiches of ham and cheese.

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Dip sandwich in egg mixture - at least 30 seconds on each side allowing egg mixture to soak into bread a bit - and place on skillet. Cook for 3 minutes on each side or until deeply golden brown and warmed through (cheese should be melty). Halve the sandwich and serve hot.

(*Note: I only made one sandwich at the time and had plenty of egg mixture leftover to make at least 1 to 2 more).

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

I really wanted to try to make something a little different for breakfast yesterday morning. So I started searching through some of my "recipe boxes" online to see if anything struck me when I stumbled upon a Rachael Ray recipe that I had saved eons ago for Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes.

I was reading the recipe and realized that she was starting from scratch (flour, baking powder, etc.) and I figured - why do that when I have a box of Bisquick in the cupboard???

So, I set out to "sorta" use her recipe as inspiration then make it my own and this is what happened:

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes










2 cups Bisquick
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 heaping cup of oats (I used quick cooking)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 mashed ripe banana*

Combine all dry ingredients then whisk in wet ingredients until well blended.

Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour batter in pan in approximately 1/3 cup increments and cook at medium heat on each side for 2-4 minutes. Serve with maple syrup or honey.

*This is an RR tip - if you don't have a ripe banana, just place your not-so-ripe banana in the microwave for about 15 seconds (this should make it soft enough for mashing)*


I personally think this recipe would be great with some raisins in it, but my husband doesn't like raisins so I left them out (he's no fun like that sometimes). When I was about halfway through cooking the batch, I added some chocolate chips for something different. Either way, we really enjoyed them, and they are pretty darn oatmeal cookie-ish - at least as close as you'll get with a pancake!