Lasagna Cupcakes

The muffin pan has been getting some more publicity lately. Instead of using them for a traditional muffin or cupcake, people are making smaller versions of all types of foods.  I have seen the muffin pan being used to make chicken pot pie, meatloaf, tacos, eggs, potatoes, and pancakes, just to name a few. This week I decided to give lasagna a try and I think it turned out pretty good.

I have always really liked the idea of cooking smaller individual portions. I personally think it is more fun to make and eat, plus it really helps portion control. Obesity is a huge concern in our nation. According to the CDC, “approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese and since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled.” Additionally, “more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) are obese.”

I am a firm believer everything most things in moderation, otherwise you will probably not be successful. Maybe, this is one small change that could be made to start retraining our bodies to what an appropriate portion should be.

Lasagna Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
Ground meat, ½  lb
Italian seasoning, ½  T
Lasagna pasta,  6 sheets (100% whole wheat if you can find it)
Ricotta, ½ c
Pasta sauce, ¾  c
Mozzarella, 1 c

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start browning meat in a skillet over medium heat.  After a few minutes, mix in Italian seasoning.

While meat is cooking, boil water for pasta. Once boiling, add salt, then lasagna sheets and cook for 7 minutes. This will not be the complete cooking time, because we will be finishing the pasta off in the oven. Once pasta has been cooked for 7 minutes, cut into two pieces.

Better Bonus Tip: If you don’t have time to cut them into two pieces right away, don’t lay them on top of each other or they will start to stick together.

Once beef is completely browned, grease a piece 12 cup muffin pan. Start layering each cup - pasta shell piece, spoonful of ricotta, spoonful of meat, spoonful of tomato sauce and then top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes and then broil for a couple of minutes to brown the top.

If you made basil salt with me a few weeks ago, sprinkle some on prior to serving.

Suggestion: serve with stuffed italian mushrooms and your favorite salad.

What other things have you made in your muffin pan?

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One other thing....

September 30th 2011, I published this blog with a goal to update weekly. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it, but have and have thoroughly enjoyed the journey!. I hope you have too! I thank you so much for following me, because if people aren’t reading it, why would I do it? Having this blog has also really encouraged me to continue to learn and experiment and I thank you for that.

For the longest time, I have wanted to do more. I feel there is so much I want to share all the time! Time is absolutely a factor that is preventing me from doing that at this point. As a solution, I took guidance from some fellow bloggers and decided to develop a Cooking For A Better Tomorrow Facebook Page. If you enjoy hearing from Cooking For A Better Tomorrow and are on Facebook, click on the above link and ‘like’ the page. You could also click on the button on the left sidebar of this blog page. Any updates I share will then show up in your newsfeed.  I am not naive to think everyone is on Facebook, so if you aren’t and would like to receive the information I share on the Facebook page via email, send me a note at cookingforabettertomorrow@gmail.com.

Finally, if you like my blog and the content it shares - tell your friends and thank you for your support and for keeping this blog alive!

Have a relaxing Labor Day weekend!

~Ashley

Mushroom Showdown

A while back I had a request to do a blog on the mushrooms pictured on my homepage. Problem was I couldn’t remember what recipe, if any I used. One of the most common stuffed mushroom is an Italian stuffed mushroom. From the picture that looks like what I had made, so that is what I tried to recreate. Then I decided to take it a step further. Lets make a more elegant mushroom filled with creamy goat cheese and shelled with crispy bacon. Which will be better?

Mushrooms are definitely a food you either love or hate. I personally love mushrooms - all kinds! Roasted mushrooms, grilled mushrooms, mushroom fries, portobello sandwiches and of course stuffed mushrooms. Not to mention the amount of dishes you can add mushrooms to - pasta, stuffed ravioli, salads, thai dishes, egg dishes, etc. There are over 10, 000 different types of mushrooms - a lot of them not edible, but all kinds of variety at the store these days - button, cremini, shiitake, portobello (full size and baby), oyster, and various dried varieties are probably the most popular. Here is what was at my grocery store this week.

Mushrooms have a lot of great health benefits. They are low in calories, fat free, cholesterol free and high in various vitamins and minerals. Additionally, mushrooms have been said to provide immunity and have been known to be effective in preventing breast and prostate cancer. Somehow despite me telling you the health benefits, if you don’t like mushrooms or had them once and hated them I bet you won’t even finish this blog - that is okay, no offense taken :) If you want to give them a try again, keep reading.

Check out my previous entry on tips for cleaning and removing the gills.

Better Bonus Tip:  The stems are completely edible. Consider adding the chopped up stems to the stuffing mixture, adding to eggs later in the week or keeping them whole and adding to some broth while cooking your favorite grain. 

Now onto the cooking...

First up, probably the most popular stuffed mushroom - Italian Stuffed Mushroom

Italian Stuffed Mushroom

Ingredients
Baby portabella mushrooms, 8 oz package
Onion, ¼ of a small onion
Garlic, 1 clove
Parmesan cheese, grated ⅛  c
Italian bread crumbs, ¼  c
Fresh parsley, 1 T
Dried thyme, ¼ tsp

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Chop onion and garlic and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until tender. 

While onion and garlic are cooking, gently clean mushrooms and remove stems. Lay out caps with stem side up.

Mix onion, garlic, cheese, bread crumbs and herbs in a bowl.

Spoon mixture into mushroom caps. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.  To get the tops brown, broil on low for an additional 1-2 minutes. 

Better Bonus Tips:The amount of stuffing mixture will vary based on what size mushrooms you have. If you end up with some left over, this would be a great coating for some chicken or fish.

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Next, onto my fancied up version - Bacon Wrapped Goat Cheese Stuffed Mushroom. You could really use any cheese to stuff the mushroom. Also, feel free to use deli ham, prosciutto, pancetta, any variety of meat to wrap your mushrooms with. I just used what I had at my house this week.

Bacon Wrapped Goat Cheese Stuffed Mushroom

Ingredients
White button mushrooms, 8 oz package
Goat cheese crumbles, ¼ - ½ c depending on size of mushrooms
Bacon slices, 1 slice per two mushrooms

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Gently clean mushrooms and remove stems. Lay out caps with stem side up.

Stuff the mushrooms caps with goat cheese, gently smashing and evening with top of caps.
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Wrap each mushroom with half of a slice of bacon. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Broil on low for 3 - 5 more minutes.

Which do you like better?  What is your favorite type of mushroom to make?

Better Bonus Tips: Other suggested stuffing ingredients: crab, shrimp, sausage, feta cheese, blue cheese, gorgonzola cheese, cream cheese, roasted red peppers. Also, a friend just shared his favorite way to make stuffed mushrooms - with hummus, sounds delicious!


~Ashley

Tips and Tricks in the Kitchen

When I started this blog, I knew one thing I wanted to do was share tips and tricks as often as I could. My goal was to share at least one in each entry. For those of you that follow me regularly, you know I decided to add them as my Better Bonus Tips. Sometimes the Better Bonus Tip is encouraging you to experiment or different suggestions to try. Other times it is simply a cooking tip to help you along the way. I personally feel cooking tips are the little things that make life in the kitchen a little easier.

Today, I decided to do a little summary of some of the cooking tips I have previously shared, in addition to some new ones.  Most all of my tips I have learned from someone else, so I don’t take any credit for inventing these. Food Network has been my personal teacher over the years. Also, last Christmas I received a subscription for the Food Network magazine from my husband, which has tips and tricks scattered throughout the magazine. Before I get to the list, I wanted to share a tip I read in the issue I received earlier this month.

For some reason, despite the heat my basil is growing at a rapid pace. Since my tomatoes aren’t doing too well (although getting better because the temperature has been in the 80s instead of 100+), I can’t seem to keep up with my basil. I can only use basil so many times a week. When I saw this in the September issue of Food Network magazine, I thought it was great idea - Basil Salt! I plan to use this for all sorts of food - cooked veggies, sprinkled on fresh sliced tomatoes, any type of potato or protein, pizza or maybe even as a drink rimmer for a refreshing summer cocktail. I think you could really do this with any of your herbs.

Basil Salt
From the Cooking for a Better Tomorrow kitchen, courtesy of Food Network Magazine

Ingredients:
Equal parts salt and basil leaves

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Blend salt and basil and then spread on a baking sheet. Bake at 225 degrees until dry, 30-40 minutes, tossing halfway through.

Let cool and pulse again in food processor or blender to make a fine powder.

Easy as that!

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Now onto those other tips and tricks I promised...

Eggs

• Will float in water if spoiled.
• Crack in a separate bowl in case you get a spoiled one - you don’t want to ruin the rest of what you are making.
• Add a little bit of vinegar to the water you are boiling eggs in to help with the peeling later.
• Run under cold water when peeling hard boiled eggs to help remove the shell easily.

Meat

• Let your steak come to room temperature before cooking to allow for more even cooking temperature.
• Cut your steak against the grain (the little lines) to make it more tender and easier to eat.
• Make an indention in your hamburger patties with your thumb, to avoid a bulge in the center when it starts to cook.
• Don’t smash your hamburgers with a spatula while they are cooking. Doing this squirts out all the delicious juices.
• Put salt in a skillet, instead of oil to help the meat from sticking.
• If making chicken cutlets, easier to cut through still slightly frozen breasts than completely thawed ones.

Produce

• Place fruits and veggies in a paper bag to speed up the ripening phase.
• Freeze fruit on a baking sheet so it doesn’t stick together, then transfer to a sealable container and keep for up to 1 year.
• Place onions in the fridge to help prevent the tears (aka crying - it’s okay, don’t be ashamed) when cutting. Keep in mind refrigerating will make the onions spoil faster because of the moisture.
• Make sure to puncture your larger root veggies when placing in the oven - potatoes, squash, etc. This will help prevent bursting when the heat rises.
• Squeeze out the juice from your tomatoes to avoid a soggy salad. This allows you to still get tomato flavor and texture with the flesh, but your salads won’t be runny. Consider using the tomato juice for a base of a dressing.
• Use a grater or microplane if you want the flavor of an ingredient, but not the consistency or actual pieces. Onions and garlic, are two great examples - you either love them or hate them!
• Use a spoon to remove the skin from fresh ginger.
• Add grated zucchini to dishes when you can for extra nutrients. Ground meat dishes and baked desserts are great opportunities.
• Tie string around an herb bundle and place in soups when cooking. This allows for easily removing once done cooking.
• Squeeze your citrus cut side up to avoid seeds falling out into whatever it is you are making.  
• Roll your citrus on the counter and/or microwave for a few seconds to get the juices flowing.

Boiling

• Always salt your water.
• Add potatoes to water prior to it boiling to allow for more even cooking temperature.
• Use all broth or half water/half broth when making grains, veggies, etc. for added flavor.
• Add citrus peels for extra flavor.
• Slowly add liquid when making arborio rice, otherwise known as risotto. If you add it too fast, the rice will cook on the outside and not the inside. If you add it too slow, the rice will get mushy.
• Use the water that veggies were cooked in for a base in sauces or soups.

Utilize your freezer

• Store fresh ginger in a plastic bag in your freezer to prolong life.
• Store nuts in freezer to prolong life.
• Fill an ice tray with left over broth, baby food, pesto, applesauce, or yogurt and fruit. This allows you to not have to throw away leftovers, and pull out what you need when you are ready to use again.

Misc

• Drizzle oil on cooked pasta until ready to mix with remaining ingredients. This helps to keep the pasta from sticking together.
• When measuring something sticky...honey, molasses, peanut butter, etc....spray your measuring container with cooking spray for easy cleanup.
• Use cooking spray on top of the dish to help it brown in the oven. This is especially helpful with anything using breadcrumbs.
• Use a wine bottle in place of rolling pin.
• Use a ziploc bag with the tip removed for drizzling any cream based sauces.
• When making a grilled sandwich and no panini maker in sight, place a second skillet over the sandwich and a can on top to apply pressure.
• Try steam frying - instead of butter or oil, use water or broth. Make sure you have a very high temperature on your pan and continual movement to avoid sticking. Check out a video demonstration here.

Check out Tips & Techniques tab for more information. There are links to working with tricky foods, in addition to other previous blog entries.

If you have other questions, let me know and I can do my best to answer them!

~Ashley