February 16, 2013

This, Saturday morning I was watching the usual shows on Food Network and Ree Drummond came on and she made her lasagna.  Well, that got me thinking about lasagna and I decided to make a batch of my meat sauce a big batch so that, I could freeze some to have on hand when I needed spaghetti sauce.  I never got to make lasagna because, I didn't have all the ingredients but, they are on my grocery list.

                                                         My Spaghetti Sauce

2 pounds ground chuck
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, grated (for sweetness)
2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes with basil
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
2 (4 oz) cans mushrooms, drained and chopped (optional)
Garlic, chopped, diced, minced, sliced anyway ya want and as much as you want.  I used 9, grated.
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. oregano, crushed
pinch of cayenne
3 Tbls. dried parsley
4 c. beef stock
       salt and pepper to taste

Brown meat, drain if necessary.  Add onions, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves cook until fragrant.  Add mushrooms, oregano, cayenne, parsley, salt, and pepper.  Stir to combine.
Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and stock.  Stir to combine, bring to a boil.  Cover turn to simmer and let cook for 1 hour stirring occasionally.
Remove bay leaves adjust salt and pepper if needed.

If freezing let cool completely and store in freezer bags or any other container that can go in the freezer.   Most spaghetti sauce recipes that I have looked at all call for sugar to balance out the acid of the tomatoes that is why I use carrots and if I don't have them I use around a tsp. of  honey.

Since it was about lunch time I cooked some shells according to the package directions, drained added about 4 ounces of cream cheese and 2 cups of my sauce.  I then, put that mixture in a
9 x 9 baking dish lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Topped that with cheese and baked at 375 for about 20 minutes until it was hot and bubbly.   I also, made some garlic bread using pizza dough, butter, garlic powder and lots of cheese.  Mix the garlic and butter together spread on the pizza dough top with cheese and roll it up.  Bake according to the directions let sit for a bit and cut into slices.

I now have sauce in the freezer for that lasagna or whatever else I wanna make :)  After cooking most of the morning I decided I would just make something simple of dinner.  My parmesan chicken thighs are just that.  Since, we both had been busy most of the day this was a simple dish that we could munch on while watching Saturday night t.v.

                                                     Parmesan Chicken Thighs

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 c. parmesan cheese, the bottled stuff works fine here because it's super fine
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
pinch of cayenne
ground black pepper about 5 turns
    I do not add salt because of the cheese itself is salty
Mix all ingredients well

Heat enough oil in the bottom of a non-stick pan to medium-high.  Dredge the chicken in the cheese mixture coating each piece really well.  When oil is hot place chicken in pan and do not mess with it until it is time to turn and that will be when the oil side starts browning, flip and let cook until brown, flip again for just a few minutes, flip again for a few minutes more.  They really don't take long to cook.  I bet you could do the same thing with chicken tenders or cutlets.  Sometimes if I have buttermilk I will, soak the thighs in buttermilk and some hot sauce for a couple of hours drain them really well and dredge in the mixture and fry them up.  Serve with marinara, honey mustard and or ranch dressing.

They truly are delish and I have made these time and again sometimes with a side and sometimes as something to munch on.  Enjoy!!!