Whipped Cream

Whenever I need whipped cream, I make it myself. I figure, I'm already having something decadent, I may as well go full-throttle. Homemade whipped cream is extremely simple and well worth your time and prepared brands don't even compare.

Ingredients:

• Heavy whipping cream
• confectioners sugar to taste
• vanilla to taste

An entire pint of whipping cream makes a whole heaping lot of whipped cream. If you plan to use the whipped cream for something like a 13 x 9 cake, I'd say you need about 2/3 the carton.

Take your bowl and beater and place it in your freezer for 15 minutes. I believe this is helps the cream whip better.

Beat whipping cream on med-high for about 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Use a spatula to add vanilla and sugar. You can make this as sweet as you like. For this amount, I add about two heaping tablespoons of confectioners sugar and a couple teaspoons of vanilla.

If find this is best to use the whipped cream within the next 24 hours. I wouldn't make this far ahead of when I plan to use it.

Roasted Chickpeas

I love these as a salad topper and also as a snack on their own. They’re super easy and you can vary the seasoning to your liking.

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans 
• 1 tsbp olive oil 
• garlic powder (about 1 tsp)
• Mrs. Dash all purpose seasoning (about 1 tsp)

Preheat your oven to 400. Rinse the chickpeas. Throw them in a small baking pan. I drizzle about a tablespoon or two of olive oil over them, sprinkle some seasoning on top and use my hands or a spoon to mix everything together. I actually don’t measure the seasoning. I just eyeball it. The beans should be well coated with seasoning. Roast these for about 35 minutes and enjoy!

Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups

While I may not be culinarily-creative enough to make my own recipes, I do like to adapt where I can. Especially for freezer options and health reasons. Pinterest has no end to the fabulous recipes just begging to be reworked to my taste. 

For example, this Lasagna Roll Up recipe from Cooking Classy just looks divine, but I've never been a fan of chicken with red sauce. Plus, I like to substitute for meatless when I can, since I can sneak in my greens. So I played with this recipe a little, subbing frozen spinach for chicken, and stretching to make two more meals out of it. Check it out!

Lasagna Roll Ups

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup finely chopped onions (optional)
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (I like Fire-Roasted)
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I like Prego HeartSmart)
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 box frozen spinach, squeezed of excess liquid
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• 1 (15 oz) container Ricotta Cheese
• 1 large egg
• 2 1/4 cups grated Mozzarella Cheese, divided
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
• 1/3 cup freshly, finely grated Romano Cheese
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Start that water boiling! And cook noodles according to directions. I like to cook those things while I do everything else so I'm not waiting for them. They can wait for me, darnit!

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and sauté onions. I'll be honest: I didn't have an onion, and they're really not my favorite. So I skipped this part. It's ok!

If you sauteed onions, transfer them to a medium-large saucepan. Add crushed tomatoes, minced garlic,  oregano and jar of spaghetti sauce.  Season sauce with salt and pepper and cover with a lid to simmer over low heat.


When lasagna noodles are cooked, drain and immediately line in a single layer on waxed paper or cookie sheets.

In a large bowl, combine Ricotta cheese, egg, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Add in 1 3/4 cups grated Mozzarella Cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese and 1/3 cup Romano Cheese, stir mixture until well combined. Add spinach to cheese mixture until combined.

Confession: I had no romano cheese. So I threw in extra mozzarella. I love mozzarella.

Stir sauce and spread in the bottom of your pan. You have options here. If you're making the whole batch, or almost whole, use a 13x9 inch baking dish. I opted for a 9x9 inch baking dish, and two 9 inch round aluminum foil pans for the freezer. It's just the two of us and a baby, and even with leftovers, we wouldn't eat a whole batch. But by freezing the other two pans, that's two more nights coming up that I don't have to cook, but still get a tasty, hearty meal. Heckuva deal.


Spread two heaping spoonfuls of cheese mixture onto each cooked lasagna noodle, then spoon sauce over.  Roll noodles up and arrange seam side down in your dish.  Cover rolled noodles with remaining meat sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and a little more oregano.  For the dish you're baking, tent with foil (don't allow foil to rest on cheese or it will stick you just want to loosely tent to prevent the cheese from browning) and bake for 35 minutes, removing foil for last 5 minutes.

For freezing, cover and freeze flat with nothing resting on top. Once frozen, they can be stacked. On eating day, move the dish to your fridge for 12-24 hours, just to soften. Remove lid and tent with new foil, bake at 375 for an hour or until hot.



Adapted from: Cooking Classy