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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Pull Here, Lasagna and Game Night

Ever happen to you?

pull here (4)Try to tear open one of these packages which read pull here to reveal a zipper type closure inside for resealing the contents.pull here (1)

After struggling with these every time, my much easier solution – scissors.

The cheese was needed for lasagna dinner. Grenville made a loaf of rustic Italian bread – kneaded by hand – and put chopped fresh rosemary from our resident plant.

bread 0502 (1)My meal contributions were home-made tomato sauce, meatballs, and lasagna. It was our turn hosting a game night get-together with friends, M & B.  This week’s game choice was Catch Phrase.

IMG_6421Because I’ve made this meal for years ,and don’t measure the ingredients, the following is more descriptive than exact.

Sauce: 3 large (28 oz.) cans of crushed tomatoes, seasoned with dried basil, marjoram, salt, pepper, chopped fresh oregano, which returned to the herb garden in abundance. I sautéed a chopped, small onion, 2 chopped garlic cloves, and some fresh chopped mushrooms and scallions. Sauce was brought to a boil and simmered for about 2 hours. Add more salt or herbs as needed after a tasting.

Meatballs: 2 lbs. of chopped meat, 3/4 C bread crumbs, 1 egg, basil, oregano, chopped onion, garlic powder. Mix together and meatballs0501roll into balls (size, your choice). Some folks (myself included) bake vs. frying. This time I added some olive oil to a deep and cooked them on top of the stove, turning often to brown all sides evenly. The meatballs were then drained on  paper towels and refrigerated while the sauce was cooking. The meatballs were added to the sauce before the lasagna was started. Putting them in the sauce flavors it and cooks the meatballs.

Lasagna: cook enough lasagna noodles for 3 layers to fit in a 9x13-inch glass. Prepare Ricotta cheese filling while noodles cook. My recipe calls for a large container mixed with grated cheese, 1 egg, and parsley. The egg holds the cheese together, grated cheese flavors it, and the parsley is just colorful.  Heat oven to 350°

After cutting open the grated Mozzarella cheese package, it was put it in alasagna0501 (4) bowl. There were also a bowl of grated cheese, and one of tomato sauce. When the noodles were cooked and drained, the countertop resembled an assembly line. with layers of noodles, Ricotta, Mozzarella, and grated cheese and sauce. (No Ricotta on the top layer.) Then into a 350° oven lasagna0501 (5)uncovered for 40 minutes. If you can, it’s best to cook the lasagna early, then let it cool – much easier to cut. Putting hot sauce on each serving will heat it quickly.

Finished dish with enough for leftovers this week!

lasagna0501 (1)Almost forgot about dessert?  It was the cheese cake recipe first tried last December and repeated several times since. 

9 comments:

Elaine said...

The bread and lasagna look wonderful, and cheesecake too!! Oh, my!

I very seldom can get the pull-here things to work, and espeically not the ones that have the zip closure. I usually don't even bother trying and go straight for the scissors and then put any leftovers in another package. I'm not sure why they don't just say cut here.

Anvilcloud said...

Homemade lasagna is a wonderful thing. I can say that with certainty after eating supermarket stuff last night.

MadSnapper said...

i am up 10 pounds just reading your post. I LOVE all of this YUMMMMMM eeeee!
i keep scissors in the drawer in the kitchen because i can not open the dog bones, the cheese the anything at all that says tear here, the people who invented the tear here must think we keep super man in he kitchen. i have to cut the dogs pills out of each container and my husbands pills come each pill in a separate thing and i have to cut all of them. oops i am venting... sorry

Out on the prairie said...

Oh my goodness I would be in heaven at your home for this meal.I always clip and save frustrations.

Anonymous said...

Those packages are just impossible to open up!!!! and now days they have it like that on everything!!!

Your meatballs are very similar to ours over here, but I doubt one will find basil and oregano in ours :-) But I´ll try it next time I´ll make meatballs!

Have a great day now!
Christer.

grammie g said...

HI Beatrice..."look" if you keep posting these delicious looking meals that I am gaining weight just looking at, and yes then stick on top of that my favorite dessert "cheesecake"..and I don't care what kind it is...I will have to remove you from my follow list!! hahhahaha !!
It truly is a pain opening those darn things and I like you say... forget it and grab a knife or scissors!!
Dinner looks great, just teasing!!

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Good to know that I am not the only one confounded by those plastic enclosures, even the supposedly easy open ones. Scissors do the trick nearly all the time;some hard plastic encased items sometimes require something stronger.Sorry to have tempted you all with this post, the invite is always open for dinner guests. As you can probably tell, we are BIG cheese fans here.

Elaine, the cheesecake is now a favorite dessert and easier than some other desserts and sooo very creamy...take my word for it or try the recipe and taste for yourself.

Sandra and Grammie G, sorry to have tempted you so much by just reading this post. Would a post on exercise help?

AC, never tried the supermarket kind (thankfully).

Steve, we were in heaven too, especially after dessert.

Christer, no basil and oregano? Those are among my favorite Italian seasonings. I have had Swedish meatballs made by others and they seemed very mild compared to my own. Everyone seems to have different methods and tastes.

Carole Barkett said...

Looks great, I wonder how it would taste with Soya cheese? hmmm

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Hi Carole, don't know anything about Soya cheese; most likely it would not be availabe in the grovcery stores in this area - limited choices.