More Recipes for Tori.....

But first I wanna say THANK YOU for the support with the exercise, AND with DD's attitude. Whatever we said to her the night before last (probably the bit about how we COULD afford a bigger house if we didn't put her in hockey) got through to her, and she's decided that our house is ok and she does want a couple of her teammates to come over for that sleep-over.

As for the exercise, I can feel a difference already. Not with my weight or the fit of my clothes, but with my energy level. I still mentally feel tired (No, Mom, I don't think I'm depressed, because I don't feel mentally sad, just TIRED.... My brain wants to curl up & sleep), but physically I've gone two days now without that 4 pm slump, and with enough energy to feel like I don't need to sit down every 20 minutes for a 10 second snooze. LOL This morning, instead of Richard Simmons, I pushed the chest/coffee-table out of the middle of the living-room floor & started a pre-recorded half-hour travel show, and kinda zoned out while I walked in place while watching the woman tour Belize. MUCH more entertaining than Richard Simmons!!!! And not nearly so annoying!!!! *grin*

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Now, onto those recipes. First is Lasagna. Tori asked for my lasagna recipe quite some time ago, but I've forgotten about it till now. Please keep in mind that I RARELY do things the exact same from time to time. I generally go with my gut in cooking, and I've had pretty good results.

Family Pleasin' Spinach Lasagna (origional recipe from Woman's World Mag.)

1 tsp olive oil
1 lg onion, chopped
1 can whole, peeled tomatoes, chopped
1-1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp pepper
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen spinach, thawed but not drained
8 oz mozzarella cheese

(I would also add 1 pound of ground beef, cooked & drained, at least 8 oz ricotta cheese or cottage cheese, and 1/2 cup grated parmesan. I may substitute a general "italian seasoning" for the oregano, and would definitely substitute 2 or 3 REAL cloves of garlic for the garlic powder. I also often use a jar of pre-made spaghetti sauce as well as the above ingredients for a richer tomato flavor.)

In med. pot, healt oil over med-high heat. Add onion (and garlic, if using real); cook, stirring till tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, oregano, salt, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and 1 cup of water. (If you're using garlic, leave out the garlic powder, if you use pre-made spaghetti sauce, don't add as much water.) Bring to a boil. REduce heat to low & simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes. (If you use ricotta & parmesan, mix them well with the spinach at this point. May even use a bit of extra milk if this mix looks too dry to spread reasonably well.) Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. In bottom of 13"x9"x2" baking pan, spread 1 c sauce. Arrange 3 noodles on top of sauce. Spread 1/3 of the spinach (or spinach/ricotta mix) on top of noodles. Sprinkle 1/3 of Mozzarella cheese on top of spinach. Repeat 2 times. Pour any remaining sauce over top, then cover tightly with foil & bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil & continue baking another 5 to10 minutes to brown cheese on top. Remove from oven & let stand & set up for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 8.

This next recipe is one I tried just a couple of days ago. Though it calls for Halibut, I would presume than most any light white-meat fish would work, such as cod or sole, possibly even tilapia though the amount of topping on top of the tilapia filet would probably make the fish itself pretty ridiculous. (Have some fish with that topping???? *grin*) This comes from my "Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges" cookbook by Adela Batin.

Sour Cream Halibut

1/3 c butter
2 Tbsp lemon juice
4 to 5 pounds filleted halibut or other white fish, cut into 1/2 pound serving-size pieces
lemon pepper (I also used a bit of dried dill)
2 c sour cream (I only had 1 cup left from tacos last week)
1/2 c plain, unflavored yogurt (didn't use this at all as I didn't have any on hand)
3/4 c mayonnaise
1 c soda crackers, crushed (I used a mix of Ritz & wheat, as it's what I had on hand)

Preheat oven to 375 deg. Melt butter in the bottom of a 13"x9"x2" baking dish. Add lemon juice. Arrange fish in pan and sprinkle with lemon pepper (and dill!). Mix together sour cream, yogurt and mayonnaise. Spread sour cream mixture over top of fillets & bake at 375 deg. for 20 minutes. Top with crushed crackers and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until fish is done & crumbs are a light golden-brown. (If you're using a filet that has skin still attached, be sure to place skin-side DOWN. It may be possible to simple peel the cooked fish off the skin as you serve it, leaving the skin to be dealt with later.)

Serves 8 to 10.

The halibut recipe above is a new one that we rather liked. Halibut is one of those things that we all 3 enjoy, but don't often have the luck to have. (Have I mentioned before what a lousy hunter & fisherman DH is???? He enjoys both activities, but he rarely has much success. I hope we must never subsist on what he can bring home.) The two fillets I used in this dish the other night were gifted to us by our next-door neighbour after a successful fishing trip, in thanks for watering his lawn while he was gone.

Often with this kind of recipe I'll serve something like Rice-A-Roni or a boxed mix pasta. I figure that if I'm making 1 dish from scratch, I don't always need to bother to make them ALL from scratch. (Besides, I don't have a CLUE how to make the sauces that those boxed dishes have.)

Ok. I think that'll suffice for tonight.

Have a Blessed Day!

PS: Possible intermittent snow showers have been predicted for tonight and into the early morning hours. I believe it. And I "called" it! Even if we don't get them tonight, I'm pretty damned sure we'll see snow by Sunday.