Lasagna Roll-Ups

I like this tasty recipe as part of our meatless meals plans - it's filling and hearty without meat or beans. Taken from an original recipe in Cooks Country, I made a few changes that I think punch things up a little bit (though the changes probably knock it out of the 30 minute meal category into a 45 minute meal).

8-10 no boil lasagna noodles
15 oz. container ricotta
1 block mozzarella, shredded 8 or 10 oz. (approx 2 cups?)
1.5 cups grated parmesan cheese
1 cup cheddar, shredded
1 large egg
1/2 cup chopped basil (or 1/4 dried basil)
1/2 tsp salt
1 can, 20 oz, crushed tomatoes
2 onions, chopped
3 tsbp olive oil
2 tbsp minced garlic

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the noodles in a microwave safe dish with hot tap water, enough to cover noodles. Microwave until noodles are softened, 3 to 6 minutes. Discard water. Dry noodles on clean towel.
2. Combine ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 1 cup cheddar, 1 cup parmesan, egg, salt, and half the basil in a bowl.
3. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until onion is soft. Remove from heat, add crushed tomatoes and remaining basil. Spread half the tomato sauce in a 9x13 dish, set the other half aside.
4. With the short side facing you, dollop 1/4 cup of the ricotta mixture on each noodle, roll up. Arrange seam side down in the dish. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over all.
5. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top the rolls, cover with foil and bake until heated through, 10-12 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5 additional minutes, or until cheese is browned. Let stand 5 minutes and serve.

This makes a pretty hefty portion...but it freezes and reheats well, and makes great leftovers for lunches.

Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

This was a post-Thanksgiving recipe, but I just tried it out now - I made the stock from just the carcass of a turkey breast I had roasted, rather than doing a whole turkey (a breast is like 1/20th of the work!) and the stock came out just fine. For 2 or 3 people I cut the recipe in half...anything more than that and go for the full recipe. It reheats well. :-)

Turkey Broth 2 tbsp butter 2 chopped onions 1 celery rib 1 leftover turkey carcass, chopped into 4 pieces 3 cups white wine 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Soup 1 cup wild rice 4 carrots, peeled and chopped 2 celery ribs, chopped 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 c all purpose flour 1 cup heavy cream 3 cups chopped cooked turkey salt and pepper

1. For the broth - melt butter in a large dutch oven over med high heat. Cook onions, celery, and carcass until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add wine and broth and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Strain broth, discard solids.
2. For the soup - wipe out the dutch oven (or if you have 2, lucky you!) and toast the rice over medium heat until it begins to pop, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in turkey broth, carrots, celery, thyme, and baking soda, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until rice is tender, about 1 hour.
3. Whisk flour and cream in a bowl until smooth. Slowly whisk flour mixture into the soup. Add turkey and simmer until slightly thickened, 10 mintues. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

If you find it easier to make in two steps - broth first, refrigerate, then soup the next day - that works too.