cheese

Breakfast Bake

We all have holiday traditions, some go out for chinese food, other gather around the tree and share stores, but for my family it involves food. Every year my family gathers together for brunch on christmas morning. All the brunch staples are there, but the crown jewel of the fest is something we call Breakfast Bake. It’s warm, cheesy and delicious. Brunch will never be the same after you have this Breakfast bake.

Ingredients:

3 oz Goat Cheese
4 Strips of Bacon (cooked and crumbled)
2 Breakfast Sausage (cooked and chopped)
2 Eggs
1/2 c. Almond Milk
6 Slices of Bread
Salt and Pepper

Remove the crust from the bread and cut the remaining bread into squares. In a small baking dish, place a layer of bread slices. Crumble goat cheese, bacon, and sprinkle chopped sausage on top of the bread. Make two more layers of bread, bacon, sausage, and goat cheese in the baking dish.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 eggs, and 1/2 a cup of milk. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour the liquid on top of the bread layers and allow the dish to sit in the refrigerator over night.

The next day, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cover the baking dish with tin foil and bake or a half hour.

Chard Roll-ups

Chard Roll -ups

With Summer coming in hot, and my winter bod still hanging around, it’s time to get down to business. The last week was filled with carnival goodies, and summer treats but, after a week of eating greasy delights, I’m ready for a change! This month I am going to be focusing on healthy food that not only fills you up, but also doesn’t make you guilty for having that second piece. And like the Fugees’ once said “Ready or not here I come, you can’t hide. Going to find you and make you want me.” And you are definitely going to want these Chard Roll-Ups.

Ingredients:

1/2 Small Onion
1 Garlic Clove
5 Small leaves of Basil
4 Large Leaves of Chard
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Pepper
3/4 Part Skim Milk Ricotta Cheese
Pinch of Salt
1/2 c. Shredded Mozzarella
Olive Oil

Begin by chopping and sautéing the onion, and garlic. Once the onions are translucent remove them from the heat and place in a medium mixing bowl. Chop the Basil and add it to the onion mixture. Next, add Ricotta Cheese, garlic powder, pepper, salt, and mozzarella to the mixture and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, rinse the Chard leaves and pat them dry. Cut each leaf’s stem away and coat each leaf half with a little bit of olive oil.

Now, it’s time to begin stuffing the leaves and rolling them up. Using the Cheese mixture, that was set aside, spread an equal amount on every leaf and roll them up like a sleeping bag.

Place on a baking pan that has been coated with olive oil and allow to bake for fifteen minutes.

These make great snacks, or apps for parties without all the guilt. Enjoy!

Lasagna Done Right

I have always felt a strong connection to Garfield. Yes, the orange striped cat. I’m not sure if it’s that we both have big eyes or hate Monday’s, or possibly, it’s our undying love for lasagna. Yep, thats it! I mean, that cat knew how to eat! Pasta is good, who doesn’t like pasta? But lasagna, lasagna is a whole other entity. It’s ranks among the greatest inventions ever to come out of Italy. And this recipe ranks above all recipes. Trust me when I say, “Garfield would marry this lasagna and have its babies.” And the truth is, I don’t blame him.

*warning: not suitable for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, gluten free people, and the lactose intolerant. Sorry :-(.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Ground beef
1 lb. Italian sausage
1 package of Lasagna noodles
2 c. Mozzarella cheese
3 cans (28 oz) Crushed tomato sauce
4 Slices stale bread
6 Hard boiled eggs
1 Egg
grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper
Garlic

Begin by adding a small amount of olive oil to a large pot. When the oil is ready add the sausages and fry until they are brown. Once the sausages are browned, add the tomato sauce. Keep the tomato sauce on low heat.

While the sauce simmers, submerge 4 pieces of stale bread in water. Once the bread is soaked, squeeze out all the excess water and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the 1 pound of ground beef, 1 egg and thoroughly mix. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Form medium sized balls with the ground beef mixture. In a frying pan, coated with vegetable oil, fry the meat balls until they are browned on both sides. When they are finished cooking, place all the meatballs into the sauce. Allow the sauce to simmer for 1 to 2 hours.

As the sauce simmers, hard boil 6 eggs. After the eggs are cooked, allow the eggs to cool. Roughly chop the eggs and set aside to use later.

After 2 hours your sauce is ready and the meatballs and sausage are ready to be removed. Remove the meatballs and sausage from the sauce. Roughly chop the meat. Then, boil water to cook the lasagna noodles. Once the water is boiling, add the noodles and cook for about 10 minutes. Once the noodles are cooked, remove the pot from the stove and add cool water to it so that the noodles will be cool enough to handle.

Use a large baking pan to assemble the lasagna (Depending on how large the pan, will determine how many layers your lasagna will have). Begin by ladling a small amount of sauce on to the bottom of the pan. Follow the sauce with a layer of noodles. Next, layer the chopped meats, hard boiled eggs, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. Once the first layer is down, ladle more sauce on top and begin the next layer. Continue until you are out of noodles or reach the top of your pan.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake the Lasagna for about 35 minutes and enjoy.