Totally Excessive...and Delicious!

So I ran across a recipe for Buffalo Chicken Lasagna a while back when I was cruising the many food blogs I have bookmarked. I thought, "Hmmm...that sounds interesting." However I have a loooong list of "recipes to try"--like I needed another one! So I made a list of dinner choices for the boyfriend and he immediately handed it back, choosing this lasagna.

Now when I make normal lasagna I go all out. Double the amount of cheese, double the amount of meat--I buy one of those XL foil disposable pans to contain it all. In keeping with the tradition of excess, I totally butchered the original recipe. Here's what I ended up with (this recipe will be modified next go-round, you'll understand as you read--see story below!):

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

(adapted from Laney's Goodies)

12 whole wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked
3 lb. skinless chicken Breast, cooked & shredded (I used my food processor)
2 cans Hunt's Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce
3 jars Hooter's Mild Wing Sauce (yes, you read that correctly!)
1 large container ricotta cheese
1 bag finely shredded mozzarella cheese
1 small bag finely shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook noodles according to package directions and strain. In a large bowl using a whisk (or in a food processor), mix together the wing sauce and spaghetti sauce until smooth. Reserve 1 cup of sauce. Spread a thin layer of combined sauce on the bottom of a deep dish 9X13 pan. Arrange 4 noodles over the sauce. Stir ricotta in container until smooth. Spread 1/2 of the ricotta over the noodles. Layer 1/2 of the shredded chicken over the ricotta, then top with 1/2 of the sauce and half of the mozzerella. Arrange 4 more noodles, the remaining ricotta, chicken and sauce. Layer 4 more noodles, then top with the reserved 1 cup of sauce and the parmesan cheese. Cover loosely with foil and bake 50-70 minutes, or until dish is bubbly.

To accompany the lasagna, I made some of Farmgirl's Beyond Easy homemade bread, found here. It really is beyond easy! I've never made a "real" bread before in my life. I fear using yeast and punching/kneading dough. With this recipe you don't have to do any of that--the "yeast" is a can of beer! (I felt really weird buying beer.) I added dried basil, oregano and some parmesan cheese--and then didn't photograph it, but Farmgirl has a gorgeous picture of this great tasting bread on her link. Mine wasn't as pretty as hers anyway!

HOLY HEART-ATTACK IN A PAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I cut and removed the first piece, the empty space filled up with quite a bit of "grease", much to my horror. The boyfriend (who is an ultra-lean bodybuilding-type who eats 99.9% healthy) is all for me cooking something "unhealthy" once a week, but this was horribly way out of line. Heehee! We just dabbed the grease with some paper towels. Anyway, about that "grease". Now when I opened the jars of wing sauce, I was suprised to see the "sauce" was solid and I had to heat it a little to pour it. I didn't recall it being like that when I'd bought some years and years ago, but I went on my merry way cooking. It was only after we cut the first piece when the boyfriend asked, "Well how much fat was in that wing sauce?" I stopped, thought about it and replied, "Um, I bet it was all fat." Retrieving a jar from the trash can, this is what the nutrition stats were. And may I remind you that I used 3 jars of this in there! That homemade bread came in handy as a grease-dabber for the stuff the paper towels didn't get!

Oh boy, sometimes you just gotta laugh. (and then go get your cholesterol checked!) Anyhoo, that's funny the "fat" thing didn't occur to me when I saw how congealed the wing sauce was while in the jar. Soooo...for next time I'll be looking for a reasonable wing sauce to use!

All said and done though, this was delicious. Glad I didn't make a dessert!

A Very Good Supper!

Seafood Tortilla Lasagna

(Adapted from Taste of Home Magazine)

1 (20-24 oz.) jar picante sauce

1 lb. uncooked small/medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, (thawed & drained)

4-6 cloves garlic, minced (I used jarred)

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (or to taste, I used homegrown red pepper flakes)

1 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 (14.5 oz.) can chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

18 (6-inch) corn tortillas

1 1/2 lbs imitation crabmeat, flaked

1 regular sized bag shredded Colby/Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 375°.
In a skillet, cook shrimp, garlic, and cayenne in oil until shrimp turn pink, about 3 minutes. (I cut my shrimp into thirds because I don't like "chunks" in my lasagna.) Remove shrimp and liquid* and set aside in another dish. In the same skillet, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat. Stir in heavy cream and picante sauce; heat through.

Spread a thin layer of sauce in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. (I did not grease mine and nothing stuck.) Layer with 6 tortillas, 1/2 of the shrimp, crab and sauce, and ~ half of the cheese. Layer 6 more tortillas, the remaining shrimp, crab, and sauce, reserving ~ 1/2c cheese. Layer 6 more tortillas and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake, covered for 30 to 35 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting (it makes a world of difference if you let it settle/cool).

*Even though I thawed/drained my shrimp, a lot of water came out of them when cooked. So when adding the shrimp layers, I just used a slotted spoon to scoop the shrimp.

This dish was wonderful! It has been on my lengthy list of "recipes to try" for a long time, but I've been afraid to go ahead and try it. Seafood, corn tortillas, and picante sauce sounds like sort of an odd combination. But is isn't--I swear!

8/16/07

I can't believe I've neglected this blog for so long!
Over the holidays I got that horrible stomach flu.
After the holidays is our busy season (at both jobs).
I haven't cooked or baked very much at all.
Time has just flown by.

But now I hope to be back!

Photo of the Day 12/8/06

The rarely seen Mekoh, resting on the boyfriend's boot.

Photo of the Day 12/7/06

My entries for the local paper's "Best Baker in the County" contest--Peanut Butter Cupcakes, Tousled Turtles, and Peanut Butter Pie. When I dropped off my entries (15-min before deadline as I was told to drop off late since the pie is quite perishable), there were a lot of blue-haired ladies in Buicks dropping off their tried-and-true favorite desserts. Gulp. Guess I had a lot of competition (and obviously didn't win or I would have heard). Ah well, something to cross of the list of things I've always wanted to do and hadn't yet--enter a baking contest!

Photo of the Day 12/6/06

A fresh pan of "Chocolate Pecan Caramels". They don't look so appetizing in the pan, but once cut they were gorgeous. And delicious, to say the least. The recipe called for boiling the ingredients up to 248 degrees, the firm ball stage, but the temp on my batch kept hovering around 238. That is a fine temperature for fudge. Every time I'd turn the heat up, the mixture would start to scorch, so I just gave up and poured the caramel into the pan. I'm glad I did. It came out velvety soft - just firm enough to not be runny, but soft enough to need not chew. Perfection! I brought a few plates of this to work today as my birthday treat.

Tomorrow the local paper is holding a "Best Baker in the County" contest. I've never entered any type of baking contest before. I am taking 1/2 day vacation and entering:

Peanut Butter Pie,

Peanut Butter Cupcakes, and

The Caramels above.

However, I want to think of a catchier name than "Chocolate Pecan Caramels". It seems most people see the word "caramel" and back away claiming some sort of dental work issue. I don't want that to happen, because these really aren't like caramels. They're actually slightly softer than fudge. So I was thinking something like "Tousled Turtles" or just plain "Better Than Turtles". Guess I'd better decide soon!

Photo of the Day 12/5/06

Colossal peanut butter cupcakes.

The local newspaper is having a baking contest later this week. I was only going to enter one category - pies- but decided to try a couple of new recipes to see if they'd be worthy. Well this one most certainly IS. The batter has peanut butter and a little bit of cinnamon. The frosting has peanut butter, powdered suger, honey, and milk. I decided they needed a little touch of chocolate, so I added splotches of milk chocolate frosting. Mmmmm...I brought these to work today.

Photo of the Day 12/4/06

(sniffle)

You're going to work? Can't we have another snow day?

Another Photo of the Day 12/1/06

A snow day? I'm all for that!

Now come back to bed, Mommy!

Photos of the Day 12/1/06

Just after 4am.

I got lucky, and the drifts weren't too bad next to the car. I thank the shed for blocking the snow.

Daylight! Shoveled out and cleaned off.
Driving through town on Sunday. The local trucks have to plow toward the center with this much snow.

We got 19 inches, the most snowfall from the storm. The photos just don't do it justice. It was just wild. Most everything closed for the day (I think WalMart and the grocery store were open). Six of our 8 county snow plows were stuck and stranded by 8am. That's how much snow, and how windy it was. The interstate and the county highways were closed, too. The banks opened later in the day--which is good for those who get a live paycheck and have items clearing (not me I have direct deposit), but it was unwise in that it put people out on the road to get there--getting in the way of the plows.

I vaguely remember the blizzard of '79 and somewhere there are polaroids of me @ 4 years old bundled up like an eskimo out playing in it. Anyway, I am very thankful that all we had was the snow. A LOT of people lost power due to the snow starting out as serious ice in their neck of the woods. Heck, days later some people still don't have power, and it's been in the single digits overnight. I can't imagine having to somehow uproot my 3 cats and find some place to stay that has heat. So all in all, we were very lucky!

Photo of the Day 11/30/06

A terrible photo of a beautiful rose. My hunny said I was sounding blue and needed a rose. I really like the little Chritmas greens that are with it. Although it appears, after seeing this photo, that I've arranged them poorly.

Photo of the Day 11/29/06

There's a new duck in town. Or at least I've never seen it. A white duck has appeared in the "flock". (Is that what you call a group of ducks?) This is the lake on the outskirts of the town I work in. It is always full of ducks. Spoiled rotten ducks. Everyone feeds them (although the food probably isn't the best for them), and they know the drill. As soon as cars pull up, they go to the driver's side window, and they want you to take their orders.

And a swan! I've never seen a swan among the geese. There are typically geese at the lake, but usually only a dozen or so. At this point there seems to be hundreds here on a break from flying south. They'd better get a move-on, a storm is supposed to be coming!

Photo of the Day 11/28/06

"Mommy, all this wrapping is making me sleeeeeeepy."

Yes, I've already wrapped presents a put them under the tree. This year I started shopping for the boyfriend early. It's much easier on the budget--had I waited until November's end, there wouldn't be enough "spare" cash. I went ahead and wrapped everything, one-to get something under the tree, it looked bare, and two-because my place is so small, it seemed like at every turn he was a foot away from finding one of his gifts.

Photo of the Day 11/27/06

Meet Bruiser.

I was just falling off to sleep for a Saturday evening nap (because my Saturdays are all eventful like that) when there was a knock on my door. My neighbor was standing on the stairs holding this adorable little puppy, asking me to watch it for a bit while he went to the store. Within 1 minute of waking up, I was standing in my doorway, holding a puppy and wondering what I'd just agreed to. Me? and a dog? The two just don't really mix. I puppysat for about an hour and a half. He wouldn't let me out of his sight, but I did not want him on my carpeting. So I sat on the floor with him until he fell asleep, then I crept away to do chores and take this pic. He was an adorable little dude--a long haired chihuaha (did I just butcher that spelling?), but I still don't want a dog.

Photo of the Day 11/24/06

It's the day after Thanksiving! I'm ready to wrap and decorate!