Mom's Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those comfort foods that always seems to do the trick. Layers of cheese, pasta and bolognese are hard to resist, especially on a cold evening or after a long hike. Sometimes, though, you don't need a reason at all and it tastes just as good. Earlier this week my mom made her lasagna, the same recipe she's used since I was a kid, and I finally decided to help out and take some notes.

You can tweak a lasagna in so many ways and it is still delicious. This is just one of the many, many options out there, but it's straightforward and it's one that I love. As much as I love vegetables, I have always preferred meat lasagna over a vegetarian one. Maybe it's because I've never had a really good vegetarian variation before, but I haven't actually attempted to make one from scratch. For now, I will stick with this meat version.

The sauce can be made using a combination of two parts beef to one part turkey, or all beef. You can use lean meat if you want to keep part of it healthy, but with all the cheese you'll be adding, I wouldn't consider this a healthy meal. I used the no boiling required lasagna sheets, but if you use the traditional pasta, make sure to cook it beforehand or while making the sauce. Hopefully you can enjoy this with a glass of wine in front of a fire. But like most of us, it will probably be gobbled down in 5 minutes.
Pin It Now!

Coffee Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

The ice cream obsession continues as every member in my family buys an ice cream maker (which I then adopt and temporarily claim as my own). Growing up, my dad's favorite ice cream flavor was coffee, which meant the freezer was always stocked with a tub of the stuff. It also meant that my whole family has grown to love coffee ice cream. While reading through my sister's copy of The Perfect Scoop last week, I saw a coffee ice cream recipe in there and knew I had to make it for my dad.

In my first ice cream making lesson, my sister taught me the trick to getting soft, creamy ice cream: liquor. I decided that I wanted to stick with that texture (how can you not love creamy ice cream?) and added some Kahlua to the ice cream. And because I can be a 5 year old sometimes, I threw in some chopped chocolate. You can omit the Kahlua if you're really against it, but the ice cream will get pretty hard. You don't actually taste the Kahlua, but you will appreciate the ice cream consistency it creates. At this point, I think I will add liquor to most of the ice cream I make (when it's appropriate). Having tried various ice cream consistencies, I prefer the "spiked" ones.

I'm currently snacking on bowl number 2 of this goodness as I type. It's addictive, and possibly slightly dangerous in my hands. Anyone that knows me is aware of how hyper I can get, especially with the addition of caffeine and sugar. You can buy decaf coffee beans if you're not into the caffeinated ice cream concept. You can also add lots more chocolate if you want, but I prefer the surprise bite of chocolate here and there over 10 chocolate chips per bite. So before I start bouncing off the walls, I will give you this oh-so-good recipe. It rivals Haagen Dazs, which is considered the best coffee ice cream in my book (sorry Haagen Dazs). Have I talked you into an ice cream maker yet?
Pin It Now!

Israeli Salad

Today we had a slightly hot 83 degree day in LA and it finally felt like summer. I made a batch of ice cream (recipe to come soon) and had one of my all time favorite hot weather meals: Israeli salad.* Well, the salad itself was not the entire meal, but it was the highlight. Along with the salad I had some bread, kalamata olives, Israeli pickles, and cheese. The best part of the meal: dunking chunks of bread into the remaining salad dressing after everyone has finished eating. Maybe that's slightly rude, but try it once and you'll temporarily forget your table manners.

This is one of the most refreshing salads and I have often lived off of it during really hot summer days. It's quick and easy to make and typically I have all of the ingredients at home. Once you start making this salad a few times you'll realize that you don't really need a recipe and can just throw things in as you go along. You can tweak it in many way and it's still great. Some people prefer red onions over scallions, you can throw in an avocado or some bell pepper if you feel like it, omit the parsley if you don't like the taste, etc... You get the point, this is so simple and straightforward that anyone can successfully make this and change it to their liking. Israeli salad also keeps well, so if you make it in the morning and take it to work for lunch, your salad won't end up mushy or soggy (like many others do).

The one thing you want to make sure of is that you have ripe tomatoes. With such a simple dressing, the ingredients need to be flavorful. I used a Meyer lemon (from the yard) in this and to be totally honest, I didn't feel the difference. But when I've made it with slightly unripe produce it tastes much less exciting.

*Yes, I realize that different cultures and countries have their own name for it, but since I have no clue as to where this salad originated, and I grew up calling it Israeli salad, I'm sticking with that.

Pin It Now!

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

My sister recently got an ice cream maker attachment for her KitchenAid and has been on a homemade ice cream kick ever since. When I first came to visit her, she had made an amazing zabaglione ice cream that was very addictive. This weekend we decided to tackle frozen yogurt (it's healthy, right?) since we had tons of strawberries in the house. Not only is making frozen yogurt pretty easy, but it actually tastes like the fruit it is made of.

Store bought strawberry frozen yogurt from often tastes like artificial flavoring, but this tasted like real (macerated) strawberries. This recipe is a perfect refreshing summer treat. It's texture is similar to sorbet and is not as soft as a frozen yogurt, unless you eat it straight away without completely freezing it. Once you give this a try, you'll realize that you've been missing out on the homemade frozen sweets phenomenon.

This recipe is from David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop, which is filled with tons of inspiring desserts. He has recipes for everything from avocado ice cream to cantaloupe sorbet to butterscotch pecan ice cream. Looking through that book, I wanted to try everything at once. If it's in your budget to get an ice cream maker this summer, I highly recommend it. Not only will your ice cream be delicious, but you'll know exactly what's going into it.

Pin It Now!

Mushroom Ragout

The Passover leftovers are finally (almost) all gone, which means it's time to start using up the veggies that never made it into a dish. I'll admit we overestimated everyone's eating capability for the holiday, leaving my sister with a massive bag of onions, fingerling potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery and mushrooms. Not to mention the hundreds of garlic cloves. If only we actually felt like making veggie soup...

To begin tackling this veggie surplus, we made a dinner of side dishes last night. It was actually really good, and surprisingly filling. My sister made roasted sweet potatoes and a salad and I made a mushroom ragout (although she did help with that too). Mushroom ragout always remind me of Thanksgiving because its one of my mom's yearly side dishes for the holiday. But that doesn't mean these mushrooms aren't delicious year round. They're quick, easy and use simple ingredients. It's one of those dishes that you can throw together after a long day and still have the energy to make. If the slicing or chopping is uneven, it really doesn't matter. Enjoy this as a side dish, or even over some fish (in which case you may want to cook the fish in a white wine/butter sauce).

Pin It Now!