Ham and Zucchini Lasagne

 I had big plans for Sunday dinner that included simmering a marinara sauce for an hour. They didn't pan out. Instead, store-bought sauce became necessary and this became a quick weeknight dinner.

Ham and Zucchini Lasagne

2 small tubs of ricotta
1/4 c. parmesan
1 T finely chopped basil and oregano
1 zucchini, sliced,
1 cup diced ham
olive oil
1 c. chopped or shredded mozzarella
1 jar bechamel sauce (or make your own)
1 jar marinara sauce (ditto)
Lasagna sheets

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.

In a bowl, stir together ricotta, parmesan, ham and herbs.

Oil the bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking dish. place a layer of zucchini slices, slightly overlapping. Top with some bechamel sauce. Add a layer of lasagna sheets. Spread half of the ricotta mix on top. Add marinara sauce, then repeat, starting with the zucchini and ending with the marinara. If you want a little more pasta in there, just throw in an extra layer of lasagna sheets somewhere. On the very top, scatter the mozzarella evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes (or according to the instructions on your lasagna box - I used fresh pasta).

Serves 6.

The big girl sat and whispered that she didn't like this food during the entire meal. There was tomato sauce involved. The toddler made a huge mess with her milk, first trying to pour it out, then trying to splash around in it with a spoon, then spooning it into her food. Eventually she ate her food, milk and all. She seemed to like it, but was too busy being a stinker to eat.

Flygande Jakob

 

This is a Swedish dish known as "Flygande Jakob", which means, literally, Flying Jacob. It has always been one of big girl's favorites. Lately, she has gotten it in her head that she won't eat bananas, so instead of adding them in the mix we have to garnish with them afterwards.

Flygande Jakob

1/3 c. creme fraiche (you could probably substitute this with something like greek yogurt.)
scant 1 c. whipping cream
1/3 c. Heinz chili sauce
1 tsp tarragon or herb mix to your liking
a dash of black pepper
1 roasted chicken, cut in bite-sized chunks
2 bananas, sliced
1 package of bacon, cut in small pieces and cooked.
1/3 c. salted roasted peanuts
Rice

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in the creme fraiche, chili sauce, tarragon, and black pepper.

In a glass dish, layer chicken, sliced bananas, bacon, and peanuts. Pour the sauce over, smoothing out a bit with a spatula. Bake for 20 minutes in the center of the oven at 400F/200C. Serve on top of rice.

Serves 4, with a little leftovers.

Tortilla Pizza

Today for lunch, I made tortilla pizzas. I had seen the idea linked on Pinterest and decided to try it, since I generally have most of the ingredients at home at any given time. The big girl was with a friend, and the toddler was sleeping, so I made these for my husband and I for lunch while he was out working on projects. 

Tortilla Pizzas

Feel free to use your own toppings, but this is what I did.

1/2 red onion
1 red bell pepepr
1 minced garlic clove
1 diced tomato
1 ball of mozzarella, chopped
a few sprigs of fresh herbs: oregano, rosemary, thyme
a few leaves of basil, sliced
tortillas
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.

In a frying pan, sauté onion and bell pepper until soft. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Place two tortillas on a baking sheet. Divide the onion and pepper onto the tortillas. Top with tomato, mozzarella, and chopped herbs. Bake for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted and tortilla starts to brown at the edges. Remove from oven and garnish with basil. Serves 2.

Lime Colada Cupcakes

I love limes. I was looking around on Pinterest and found all these recipes for lime cakes and coconut cakes and cupcakes, and had bought a few extra limes at the store 2 days ago, so I proceeded to create something. When you love two things, you should see if they go together. Lime and Pina Colada are a match made in heaven. 

Pina Colada mix and lemon yogurt

Lime juice and zest

Adding food coloring to fondant

Kneading the fondant and rolling out in powdered sugar

A little dab of Coconut marshmallow mascarpone frosting

I cut out the tops and made the decoration using cookie tins

A little glitter icing and some coconut as garnish.

I did some with just frosting - had to pipe it on without a tip due to the coconut in the frosting. 

Cupcake with frosting - and the inevitable, unintentional double muffin cup 

The toddler will shortly be entering a sugar-induced mania.

Lime Colada Cupcakes

Adapted from this recipe.

1 3/4 c. (165 g) flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. (115 g) cool unsalted butter cut in chunks
1 c. (280 g) sugar
2 eggs (room temperature
2 1/2 T lime juice (juice from ca 3 limes)
1 T lime zest (from ca 4 limes)
a few drops of green food coloring
1/2 c. Pina Colada drink mix
1/2 c. yogurt, plain or citrus flavored

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Fill a muffin pan with paper liners. (My batch made 17 cupcakes.)

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt three times. Set aside.

Using stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between. Add lime juice and zest, then food coloring until it reaches the color of your liking. I had about 5 drops. 

In a measuring cup, pour 1/2 c. Pina Colada drink mix, then fill the rest of the way with yogurt, totaling 1 cup. Stir.

Add the flour mixture by thirds, taking turns with the yogurt mixture. Beat on low, combing. Scrape the bowl down and mix until just combined. 

Pour into muffin cups, making them 3/4 of the way full. Put in oven and turn down to 325F/160C. Bake for about 23 minutes until the top springs back when you press down lightly. 

Coconut marshmallow mascarpone frosting

1 jar of marshmallow creme/fluff
1 tub of mascarpone (250 g)
1/3 c. shredded coconut

Beat together until fluffy and use. 

Curry-coconut chicken with tropical pico de gallo

Yesterday was a stressful day. The toddler has had a fever, likely a result of her vaccination a week and a half ago. She has slept like crap and therefore I have slept like crap. I tried to convince the big girl to go to her school's day program anyway, but if the toddler and I were going to be home, she was too. The toddler was out of diapers, so I had to drag everybody to the grocery store and get some, so therefore tried to make a list and pick up a few meals as well. 

It started out well. The toddler was being a trooper despite having a low grade fever and being slightly whiny, and the big girl is generally good about helping me keep her sister safe and busy. Unfortunately, this particular shopping trip quickly spiraled into disaster. Well, I suppose disaster is relative. Nobody got hurt, but my stress-o-meter was off the charts due to the involuntary insomnia. 

The toddler just had to get out of the cart, and was preparing herself to climb out unless I removed her, so I let her down. The big girl was given the task of following her while I tried to quickly collect all the produce I needed. On this particular trip, the big girl was in a begging mood. You know the kind. "Mom, can I get this?" over and over and over. I am okay with begging for produce. Even expensive produce. You want a Lychee? Sure, toss it in. However, the incessant whining and begging was starting to drive me nuts. Besides making me insane, she wasn't doing as good a job of corralling her sister as she usually does, which meant the toddler decided of her own accord that it was sample day. She bit a nectarine. She bit a passion fruit. She bit a couple bell peppers. She bit a chili pepper in half. I was trying to keep an eye on her while fending off the whining and shopping for what I needed, but I was always just a little too slow to prevent it. Since I am a person with conscience, I had to go with the "you bite it, you buy it" policy. So we bought all sorts of stuff that I hadn't intended on buying. The result? Tropical fruit pico de gallo. 

The lychees that the big girl had to have, then refused to eat. I even thought it looked like an eyeball once peeled, but it tasted good. In it went. 

The mango I did actually mean to buy was kept company by the previously bitten nectarine and peach. 

The chili pepper the toddler bit in half.

Silver onion

Straining the passion fruit the toddler bit.

Rolling a lime to release the juice

One last surprise strawberry from our patch outside

Along with a little cilantro from the garden

A little salt, a stir, and voilá

A can of coconut milk

A tablespoon of curry powder and 1/8 tsp. cayenne

1 minced mild onion and the juice of 1 lime

Poured over chicken and baked at 350F/175C for 45 minutes until done in center.

Mama needed a drink after that day, so I made myself a Pina Colada. 

Previously bitten Tropical fruit Pico de Gallo

1 mango, chopped
1 passion fruit, strained
2 lycheese, chopped
1 mild onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1-2 minced chili peppers
juice of 1 lime
Strawberries (optional)
2 peaches or nectarines, chopped
a few tablespoons cilantro, minced
salt to taste

Combine and let rest a while. Stir before serving. The salt draws more liquid out of the fruit as it rests.

Curry-coconut chicken

1 can (400 ml) coconut milk

1 T curry powder

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

1 finely chopped onion

juice of 1 lime

3-4 chicken breast filets

White rice

Combine first 6 ingredients. Lightly oil an oven-safe form or spray with cooking spray. Place chicken in the form and pour sauce over. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, until cooked through. Boil white rice according to directions on package and serve topped with chicken and sauce. Serve with Tropical pico de gallo or mango chutney if you prefer, and vegetable of your choice. 

During the ill-fated shopping trip, I told big girl to stop whining. She told me "This isn't whining, this is complaining." Then: "Now this is whining" and proceeded to whine in a manner reminiscent of fingernails on a chalkboard.