Spinach Lasagna w/ White Sauce...yuuuuuuuuuummmm!

I made this lasagna for my coworkers a while back and it was a hit! Not only does it call for lots of veggies, it replaces the traditional marinara with Alfredo sauce. Purchasing all of the ingredients for a homemade lasagna gets a bit pricey but seeing my friends' satisfied faces made it worthwhile.



Ingredients
* 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
* 29 ounces Alfredo-style pasta sauce
* 1/2 cup skim milk
* 1 (8 ounce) package lasagna noodles
* 1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese
* 1 egg
* 8 ounces shredded carrots
* 8 ounces diced red onion
* 8 ounces diced broccoli
* 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
* Cooked, shredded chicken (optional)
* 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a 10x15 inch lasagna pan with cooking spray.

2. Place the spinach in a medium bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 4 minutes. Mix in ricotta. Beat the egg with a wire whisk, and add it to the spinach and ricotta. Stir well to blend.

3. Combine pasta sauce with milk in a medium bowl. Mix well.

4. Spread about 1/2 cup pasta sauce mixture evenly in the bottom of the dish. Place 3 uncooked noodles over the sauce. Spread half of the spinach mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle with half of the carrots, onions, broccoli and mushrooms. Add chicken if desired. Place 3 more noodles over the vegetable mixture. Pour 1 1/2 cups sauce over the noodles. Spread the remaining spinach mixture over the sauce, followed by layers of the remaining carrots, onions, broccoli and mushrooms. Place 3 more noodles over the vegetables. Pour remaining sauce evenly on top. Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil, spray side down.

5. Refrigerate overnight

6. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Turn oven off. Remove dish from oven, uncover and place it back into the warm oven for 15 more minutes. Serve at once, or let rest until ready to serve.

ENJOY!

The original recipe, though modified here with my own personal touches, comes from allrecipes.com

Absolutely...

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
— Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words)

PB & Boysenberry Bars

This past weekend I put two more dessert recipes to the test and I (along with my 'taste-testers') loved 'em both! The first is a twist on the ol' PB&J sandwich with a peanut butter and boysenberry preserves treat. It's sooooo tasty!

Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen

* 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
* 3 cups flour
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups boysenberry preserves
* 2/3 cup roughly chopped nuts, if desired

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter/spray, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly using your fingers. Using spatula, spread boysenberry preserves on top of peanut-butter mixture.



3. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of boysenberry and again, use your fingers to spread out mixture evenly. Sprinkle with nuts if desired.

4. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Cool fully before cutting into bars.

ENJOY!!!

Note: original recipe (though very slightly modified here) from Marthastewart.com

6-Layer Bars - Easy and Excellent

Last week's baking included my hand at these 6-layer bars (originally 7-layer but I decided against the nuts). They were simple...and simply excellent! However, I will try to play around with the recipe, as the base of these bars was far too thin...maybe I'll include some oats in the next go 'round.


Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces chocolate chips
6 ounces butterscotch chips
6 ounces coconut flakes

Directions:
Melt butter in bottom of 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Press graham cracker crumbs into pan. Pour can of sweetened condensed milk over graham cracker crumbs. Sprinkle chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and coconut over mixture. Bake at 350F degrees until coconut browns, (approximately 15 minutes). Let cool.

Note: original recipe (though very slightly modified here) from CDKitchen.com

PB & Chocolate Cake -- double delish!

Sunday was my baking day; one of my new dessert recipes included the following: a super moist PB&Chocolate Cake. My taste-testers enjoyed it, so I hope you will too!

~~ The Cake ~~

Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Generously grease bottom of large 12-inch round cake pan with shortening or cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, water, 1/2 cup peanut butter, the oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely.



The icing is a simple homemade chocolate butter-cream. Be sure to use real butter (no margarine here!) and mix well for a creamy, whipped texture. Apply generously.




If desired, top with chopped peanuts, almonds, walnuts or even crumbled peanut better cups. What a delicious finishing touch!


Note: original recipe (though very slightly modified here) from BettyCrocker.com

Chewy S'mores Bars -- mmmm'mmmmm!!

Spent the better half of Sunday in the kitchen, trying my hand at a few new dessert recipes. They turned out to be De-lish so I thought I'd share...

Ingredients:
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2 large egg
* 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cup crushed graham crackers
* 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoon baking powder
* half a bag of milk chocolate chips
* a jar of marshmallow creme

Instructions:
1.Grease an 9-inch-square baking pan. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2.In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the crushed graham crackers, flour, salt, and baking powder and beat until well mixed, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl.
3.Spoon half the dough into the pan and spread evenly with your fingertips. Break the chocolate into pieces and arrange over the dough. Spread a layer of marshmallow creme over the chocolate. Flatten the remaining dough into pancakes and lay them over the marshmallow.
4.Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let the bars cool before serving.

Note: original recipe (though very slightly modified here) from Disney Family Fun Magazine