World's Best Lasagna...you be the judge

So the hubbie's favorite dish is lasagna. Being the nice wonderful wifey I decide to make some. Also I wanted to make something we could have leftovers with its much to hot too cook everyday. So I scoured the internet looking for the best authentic recipe. LOL well not really, just googled a bit and found this one from allrecipes.com. This recipe has 2,785 reviews and five stars so the rumor on the steet is it must be pretty tasty. Well after making this, i must say this was the best lasagna I have ever had. The combination of th fresh basil, parsley and fennel seeds defianly do the trick. I made this with beef sausage and ground beef also I added more basil than the recipe called for. Yumm. Five stars.

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving ( I baked mine for 35mins uncovered was delish)
   

Lamb Chops with Balsamic Reduction

Wow , I have really been slacking on updating this oh so fabulous blog of mine. Well here I go. I made this dish awhile back using a recipe from allrecipes.com . The lamb chops turned out delicious so tender and juicy with so much flavor. To complete the meal I made fresh steamed broccoli, cornbread muffins and mashed potatoes yummy comfort food and about a billion calories oh well . The hubbie loved these lamb chops so I will probably keep this recipe in rotation in our kitchen.

• 3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 lamb chops (3/4 inch thick)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 1/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• In a small bowl or cup, mix together the rosemary, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Rub this mixture onto the lamb chops on both sides. Place them on a plate, cover and set aside for 15 minutes to absorb the flavors.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place lamb chops in the skillet, and cook for about 3 1/2 minutes per side for medium rare, or continue to cook to your desired doneness. Remove from the skillet, and keep warm on a serving platter.
• Add shallots to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes, just until browned. Stir in vinegar, scraping any bits of lamb from the bottom of the skillet, then stir in the chicken broth. Continue to cook and stir over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has reduced by half. If you don't, the sauce will be runny and not good. Remove from heat, and stir in the butter. Pour over the lamb chops, and serve.

Pineapple Upside down cake

I wanted to try this cake. Actually it was requested for me to make this . But this was my first time making Pineapple upside down cake so was a bit nervous about the whole process lol. Well I used a recipe from allrecipes.com and it turned out great. The original recipe calls for a cast iron skillet to bake it in, I do not have one. So I used 9x 11 pan instead. It came out great, moist and delicious. Will defiantly make again but will try it next time with the cast iron skillet.

The Good Stuff....who knew

Its always a good idea to keep healthy snacks on hand. Most days I end up running late for work and stop by 7-11 or Wawa to buy some over priced protein bar that taste like cardboard. I was beginning to get tired of this routine so I decided to try out these protein bars from Beachbody. Wow , seriously this doesn't even taste healthy . Taste like a candy bar, and the best part is that its so good for you. Its packed with 20grams of protein and 0 trans fat. This is the best tasting protein bar I have ever tired. I was really surprised .I ordered the new flavor chocolate peanut butter and love it. I defiantly plan to keep this in heavy rotation . Great Stuff right here.

The truth about Asparagus

Ok, so pretty much my entire life I have always stayed away from asparagus. I had only tried it once as a kid and immediately decided it was gross and vowed never to eat it again. Well ... never say never. Lately I have been making my usual veggies broccoli and spinach in heavy rotation and decided it was time to give the forbidden Asparagus another try. OMG who knew it was so good and why didn't anyone tell me? I steamed a handful of it , only a handful because I was still weary of the taste and didn't want to waste it if it was bad. I added a few dashes of Mrs.Dash spice, salt, and this yummy Olive oil butter. It was so very good. Seriously I feel jipped , like I have been missing out on asparagus my whole life. Oh well . I will be keeping this in my green veggie rotation now that I love it and am looking forward to trying out some new recipes. Stay posted.

Chicken Shawarma ..umm

Ok so I had some shawarma spice on hand so decided to make some chicken breast. This was so good. Ok first I just want to say I made up this recipe so it has no real authenticity to real Lebanese shawarma besides the fact that i used shawarma spice lol . I took 2 chicken breast marinated them in 1/2 the juice of a fresh lemon, 1 tablespoon Olive oil. and covered the chicken breast in lots of shawarma spice. I let this marinate for a few hours. Then baked covered with foil untill almost done then removed the foil last 15mins. Chicken was nice and juicy. I served with steamed broccoli and brown rice. Total calories for the meal about 400 maybe less.

If you don't have a middle eastern meat market in your area that sells shawarma spice you can make your own. Its made of 1 tablespoon ground coriander 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon ground cardamom 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 teaspoon smoked paprika also fresh garlic to taste.

Fitness is a journey

I'm so excited . I decided to switch up my normal boring workout routine and will be starting slim in six from beach body. Usually I am not one to give in to the late night infomercials , BUT my friend Kenny and beach body Coach, put me on to the whole beach body wonderfulness (which im sure isn't a word ). The beach body has a series of workouts P90x, Turbo Jam, slim in 6, Chalene Extreme , Hiphop Abs , just a few fabulous intense workouts in the series. Once I complete the slim in six program I will be moving on to others in the beach body series. The slim in six is an intense 6 week workout program where you workout for six days a week for 6 weeks. After reading lots and lots of reviews and seeing Kenny's results on the P90x I decided to give the beach body workouts a try. I have ordered it and it should be arriving any day now. I will be updating my blog on the progress. Here is a little video of the wonderful beach body products I will give reviews on the programs as I do them. Also anyone interested in P90x check out Kens blog he is having great results with it.