Lasagna Roll-ups

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp. jarred)
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning
15 oz. Ricotta or cottage cheese (see note)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese (divided)
1 large egg, beaten
Fresh spinach (This is optional. I use a good handful)
12 lasagna noodles (uncooked)
2.5 cups shredded Italian blend, or mozzarella cheese



Directions:
Cook lasagna noodles in a pot of boiling water till al dente. Drain and set flat on a greased pan (I used two different pans). Brown ground beef with onions in a skillet. Add in spinach (if using) and garlic cloves right before finished cooking. Drain. Put back into skillet and pour in crushed tomatoes and half of the Italian seasoning. Mix thoroughly and set aside. Combined ricotta (or cottage) cheese, egg, 1 cup of shredded cheese, 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, and the rest of Italian seasoning in a medium bowl.

Place a spoonful of ricotta mixture down the center of each lasagna noodle (leave some space on the sides of noodles). Place a spoonful of meat mixture down the center (on top) of the ricotta mixture. Carefully roll up each noodle from one end to the other. Put 1/3 cup meat sauce in a sprayed baking dish. Place the lasagna rolls in a single layer on top of meat mixture in baking dish seam side down (I had to use an extra smaller dish for mine). Sprinkle the rest of the shredded cheese on top. Sprinkle on the other 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve individually with garlic bread/toast and a salad. YUM!!!

Note: If you use cottage cheese, the texture will be different. Mixing in the egg will help it all hold together. The addition of the spinach is not necessary. I just wanted to use up some that I had on hand.





 

© My Life 0utside The Box 2016-2017. All Rights Reserved. All photos, text, personal videos, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the blog author.

Feminine Friday~ 11/17/17

Hi everyone. It’s time for another Feminine Friday. Today I'm wearing a black (3 way) poncho, thick leggings, and boots. I love when Fall comes around so I can break out these boots my hubby bought me. I shared before how I love wearing ponchos. I wish I had several colors of this one :-) 

© My Life 0utside The Box 2016-2017. All Rights Reserved. All photos, text, personal videos, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the blog author.

Batch {Bulk} Cooking Black Beans, ect…

Hello dear readers. I’m back to share with y’all another batch cooking session. This week I’ll share with you the benefits of cooking dry beans and show you different ways to use them in your cooking. I washed, sorted, and cooked a 1 lb. bag of beans in an electric pressure cooker. I did this with two different types of beans (separately of course).

First I want to share with you that I learned the hard way about cooking beans in the pressure cooker. I normally do them in a crockpot LOW and SLOW. One day I decided I wanted to give the pressure cooker a try. I cooked two different kinds of beans: red kidney beans and black beans. I cooked them each separately. I learned that it’s best to put around 2 Tbsp. of oil in with the water (or chicken broth) and the beans when cooking in a pressure cooker. I had not done that when I cooked mine so I had a huge mess to deal with. There was bean juices spewing out all over the place. It sounded like my pressure cooker valve had gotten stopped up and it caused a big mess for me to clean up. Unfortunately the juices from the black beans left a noticeable stain on my wall :(. Adding the oil helps the beans to cook right so I’ll keep doing that way for now on.

From a 1b. of dry beans I can get several cans worth of cooked beans. Once the beans were done I separated them into 2 cup portions with 1/2 cup of the bean juice (can be rinsed off when thawed and ready to use). I pour the portions into quart sized labeled “Ziploc” bags. I ended up with the equivalent of 6 cans of both the red kidney beans and the black beans. I  flatten them to get out as much air as possible to freeze flat on a baking sheet.


I’m sorry for the way the black beans look in the picture. The bags had a lot of condensation going on inside so I couldn’t get a better picture.  Now what can I use these bags of beans for? If you did not season them up to eat by the bowl, you can do anything that you like using canned beans for. Here are some suggestions if you can’t think of any:

Meal ideas to serve Red Kidney Beans in, or with:

* Chili

* Red Beans and Rice

* Minestrone (Italian)

* any Soup

* and Stew

* Make Bean Dip or Hummus

* Make a Bean Salad (with red kidney beans, black beans, and white beans)

Meal ideas to serve Black Beans in, or with:

* Add to Soup, Chowder, or Stew

* Add to Chili

* Make Hummus or a Bean Dip

* Make Cuban Beans and Rice

* Make veggie burgers

* Tacos (or taco salad)

* Burritos/bowls

* Enchiladas

* Flautas

* Quesadilla

* Tostadas

* Mexican casserole

* Make bean and corn salsa

* Serve with nachos

* Mix into Brownie batter

These are just some examples of the many things you can do. Other types of dried beans can be pressure cooked too. I’ll have to try more soon. If any other things come to mind, I may come back to add to this list later. What can you think of that I haven’t added to the list? Please fee free to let me know in the comments below. I will be back with you in two weeks with another bulk cooking session. Thanksgiving is fast approaching us. Turkey Day will be here next week. There is so much to be thankful to our Heavenly Father for. I pray you take time out to give Him thanks. May you and yours have a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday!

Batch {Bulk} Cooking with Pumpkin & Butternut Squash

I’m back to share with y’all another batch cooking session. This week I’ll show you different ways to cook and use pumpkin and butternut squash. I had 3 butternut squash and 1 medium sized pumpkin. Preheat your oven to 375-400 degrees.

I started off by thoroughly cleaning the outside of all 3 squash and the pumpkin. You’ll want to use a big cutting board or spread a towel over your counter surface to put the squash and pumpkin on. I used a big sharp knife to cut off the tops and down the center of each individually. Be VERY careful doing this. They are hard to cut and you don’t want to hurt yourself doing this. I used a spoon to help me dig out the guts and seeds. I kept a bowl nearby for placing them in. Once the innards are out I washed the inside of the squash and pumpkin to be sure I got it all. I cut the top parts of the squash and peeled the skin then cut into bite sized cubes. Those got tossed in some olive oil and roasted on a baking pan for about 30-40 minutes.


Now I placed the rest of the squash cut side down on baking pans or in aluminum pans that are big enough. Rub olive or vegetable oil all over the inside and out. You can put up to 1/2 cup of water in if you think it’s needed. Cook the squash about 45 minutes or more. Once the squash was fork tender I scooped the flesh out and put in a pan. Throw away the peeling. I used my hand held emersion blender to puree the squash. I did the same with the pumpkin (cooked it on a different pan for an hour and scooped out the flesh to puree). I was left with two medium bowls of squash and pumpkin puree.

I divided the squash (also the pumpkin) into 2 cup portions in labeled quart sized Ziploc bags. I  flatten them to get out as much air as possible to freeze flat on a baking sheet. As you can see in the pictures I ended up with 5 or more bags of each puree. I poured the roasted squash cubes into a container to use in meals for the week. Now what can I use all of this squash and pumpkin for?

Meal ideas to serve butternut squash puree in, or with:

* Use as baby food (Yes you read that right. You can make it as thin or thick as needed)

* Make a Pureed Soup/ Bisque

* Stir into a sauce for pasta

Meal ideas to serve roasted butternut squash cubes in, or with

* Add to Curry
* Add to Soup

* Add to a Salad
* Add to a Stew

* Serve with other roasted vegetables (like carrots, potatoes, Brussel Sprouts, ect.)
* Serve in a Rice Pilaf

* Mix with roasted sweet potato cubes (to serve as a breakfast Hash)

Meal ideas to serve pumpkin puree in, or with:

* Mix into pancake batter

* Make sweet breads/muffins

* Make cookies

* Make cake/cheese cake

* Make Pie

* Make Pumpkin Butter

* Mix into cornbread batter

* Make Pureed Soup/ Bisque

* Stir in Chili

* Use in a smoothie

* Use in a dip for cookies or fruit

* Use in place of sweet potatoes in a dish/meal

These are just some examples of the many things you can do. If any other things come to mind, I may come back to add to this list later. What can you think of that I haven’t added to the list? Please fee free to let me know in the comments below. I will be back with you next week with another bulk cooking session.

Feminine Friday~ 11/3/17

Hi lovely readers. It’s time for another Feminine Friday! Today I'm wearing another maxi dress with a gray shirt and flats. I’m headed out to run some errands on this foggy day. It would love to see more ladies joining with us in showing that modesty still exists in this day and age. True beauty comes from within and showing how you represent Christ.

© My Life 0utside The Box 2016-2017. All Rights Reserved. All photos, text, personal videos, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the blog author.