Mexican Lasagne

I got this recipe from my Aunt Brenda in Alberta, Canada. Her son Logan loves to cook and they make this dish a lot. I never usually have seconds of pasta but when I went up there for a visit last year and they made this….I had seconds!

Ingredients:

• 1 box of lasagna noodles
• 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
• 1/2 cup of finely diced onions
• 1 clove of garlic chopped fine
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes (29 ounces)
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce of your choice
• 1/4 cup of taco seasoning
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
• 1 large container of cottage cheese
• 2 bags of shredded mexican cheese blend

Directions:

In a large dutch oven on medium high heat brown the ground beef, onions and garlic together, break apart with fork and add your salt and pepper to taste. Once that is browned add your can of crushed tomatoes, 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, and all the seasonings. Turn down to low, stir well and let flavors blend x 30 minutes. Meanwhile boil some salted water and cook your lasagna noodles to a firm el dente (little more on firm side).

Add the cottage cheese to the meat sauce and stir well. Turn off stove and now it is time to layer our lasagna 🙂

I start off by rubbing a bit of sauce on bottom of my lasagna pan so the noodles don’t stick to the bottom. Then lay down your first layer of noodles.

Next comes the sauce mixture and then top that off with the shredded mexican cheese blend. Repeat this process till your pan is filled and end on the shredded mexican cheese blend.

Top your pan with tin foil and place in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. I then take off the tin foil and cook for 5-7 more minutes to brown cheese on top.

Enjoy! My daughter does not like red sauce at all and I thought she would never try this but I told her it was “cheesy taco lasagna” and she ate it lol

Mexican Lasagne

• Servings: 8
• Time: 2hrs
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 1 box of lasagna noodles
• 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
• 1/2 cup of finely diced onions
• 1 clove of garlic chopped fine
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes (29 ounces)
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce of your choice
• 1/4 cup of taco seasoning
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
• 1 large container of cottage cheese
• 2 bags of shredded mexican cheese blend

Directions:

In a large dutch oven on medium high heat brown the ground beef, onions and garlic together, break apart with fork and add your salt and pepper to taste. Once that is browned add your can of crushed tomatoes, 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, and all the seasonings. Turn down to low, stir well and let flavors blend x 30 minutes. Meanwhile boil some salted water and cook your lasagna noodles to a firm el dente (little more on firm side).

Assemble your lasagne in a pan with the noodles, sauce and cheese, repeating this layering method.  Top it off with the shredded mexican cheese blend.

Top your pan with tin foil and place in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. I then take off the tin foil and cook for 5-7 more minutes to brown cheese on top.

Enjoy!

Beef Leftover’s Barley Soup

I love soup!!!!

OK first off this recipe kind of requires the leftovers from my Crockpot roast beef  recipe.
So please take a look at that recipe post first.

Ingredients:

• left over gravy from the crock pot roast
• left over roast beef
• carrots (1 /2 cups)
• celery (if I had some I would have used 2-3 stalks)
• 1 med sized cooking onion
• 8 cups of water
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup of barley
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

First take your left over gravy from the pot roast and add to a large soup pot, fill with 8 cups of water. Whisk this with salt and pepper to your liking. I use 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of pepper (approximately). Add your soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. These are added to enhance the beefy-ness of the stock. These two items are great to pull out more intense beef flavors when working with beef.

Ok now I take whatever vegetables I have in the fridge to add to my soup. I added 1 yellow onion chopped small.

1/2 bag of baby carrots chopped small.

Cut up whatever roast you have remaining to add to the soup. Now keep in mind my roast was not that big(maybe 2.5-3 lbs) so I had maybe 3/4 cup of chopped up meat. If you have a huge ass roast obviously you aren’t going to chop up and add 4 cups of meat or you will need a bigger pot and more water 😉

Alright now let that boil away like Grizelda’s cauldron  and cackle at your accomplishment so far 🙂 Any Canadian’s who grew up with the Hilarious House of Frankenstein will know I was trying to take a stab at funny there 🙂 🙂

Welllll, as Grizelda would say!! Now that your vegetables are tender and the stock has reduced a bit we have managed to concentrate those flavors!

Go ahead and add your 1 can of crushed tomatoes and 2/3 cup of barley to the soup

Your soup will have a great body to it from the starches in the barley. Stir occasionally and the last ingredient I add is the parsley flakes just before the soup is done to brighten the flavor a bit.

That is about it people. Turn off your stove and you can taste and adjust with any further salt or pepper.

ENJOY!!!!!

Left-over Beef Barley Soup

• Servings: 6-8
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

ingredients:

• left over gravy from the crock pot roast
• left over roast beef
• carrots (1 /2 cups)
• celery (if I had some I would have used 2-3 stalks)
• 1 med sized cooking onion
• 8 cups of water
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup of barley
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

First take your left over gravy from the pot roast and add to a large soup pot, fill with 8 cups of water. Whisk this with salt and pepper to your liking. I use 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of pepper (approximately). Add your soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. These are added to enhance the beefy-ness of the stock. These two items are great to pull out more intense beef flavors when working with beef.

Ok now I take whatever vegetables I have in the fridge to add to my soup. I added 1 yellow onion chopped small and 1/2 bag of baby carrots chopped small.

Cut up whatever roast you have remaining to add to the soup. (I had 3/4 cup)

Let the soup boil and the vegetables cook. Now that your vegetables are tender and the stock has reduced a bit we have managed to concentrate those flavors!

Go ahead and add your 1 can of crushed tomatoes and 2/3 cup of barley to the soup

Your soup will have great body to it from the starches in the barley. Stir occasionally and the last ingredient to add is the parsley flakes.

Turn off your stove and you can taste and adjust with any further salt or pepper.

Enjoy