This is what happens when you tell the world you have 8 cups of shredded mozzarella and ask what can you possibly do with 8 cups of shredded cheese!  The overall consensus came back as – “Make a lasagna of course!”.  I have to admit The UnKitchen Diva had her misgivings about this.  How on earth was I going to get a tray – A TRAY! – of lasagna to fit rule #1 (it must be able to broken down into single servings and frozen)?!?  I researched the subject and found that yes there is a way to do it.  By the way the whole cook it in glass vs metal – wow – you people are passionate!!

Ground beef / Italian Sausage Lasagna

1 package Rozoni curly edge lasagna                     1+ lbs of  ground beef

1 32oz of ricotta cheese                                                1 egg

4 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese                    6 sweet italian sausages

2 jars of spaghetti sauce (my friend Lisa will be horrified I didn’t make my own sauce – but hey give a girl a break!)

1) Heat oven to 375˚.  My oven takes foreeeeverrr to heat up so this is really important to not forget or it could be next week before dinner is ready – just saying…

2) Find a pot that you think can hold the meat and 2 jars of sauce – then get the next largest pot.  I always misjudge how much a container can hold.

3) Put all the ground beef into the pot.  Then squeeze all the sausage meat out of the casings into the pot.  You can slice the casing and peel them off but it’s much more fun to squeeze and squish the meat out (yes I am a 3 year old in the kitchen).  Brown all the meat together.  When all the pink is gone pour in the two jars of sauce and simmer!

4) Cook the noodles according to the package directions.

5) Put all the  ricotta into a bowl.  Add an egg and mix it all together.  My Mom always does this and says it make the ricotta smoother and easier to spread – so I did it.

6) Ok I admit it I used an aluminum deep dish pan that I bought at the food store.  It was just so much easier clean up wise!  So, take said pan and put down a layer of sauce.  Then put down 4 pieces of pasta overlapping – this is important to the structure of the whole thing apparently – don’t forget to overlap!!  Put down a layer of ricotta and then a layer of mozzarella.  Repeat until your almost to the top of the pan ending with noodles on top.  I spread the last of the sauce and mozzarella on top here to make it pretty.

Ok so I have a confession here.  I didn’t put the second jar of sauce in the beginning and ran out.  So my top two layers didn’t have any meat and just sauce out of the jar.  Note to self use TWO jars of sauce in the beginning!!

7) Cover with tin foil and place in the oven.  Now my directions said for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly – well it took 1 hour for my lasagna to get hot and bubbly – talk about a slow cooker!!  Then take the foil off and cook for 5 more minutes.

8.) Take out of the oven and let stand for 5- 10 minutes.  Without the wait it is awfully messy – not that I would know of course….

9) Serve with bread – mmmm yummy lasagna!!

Ok so here’s how I got it to abide by rule #1.  I put the lasagna in the fridge to really get it to set – in fact I left it there over night and then had some for lunch the next day.  I cut the lasagna into individual servings, wrapped the serving in saran wrap and then tinfoil.  Apparently saran wrap then tinfoil is a very important rule – having to do with taste and all that.  I then actually put all the pieces into a freezer bag – labeled and froze away.  Not sure exactly how many servings one would normally get with this – I ate 2, gave away some to a friend for his and his families dinner and froze 6.  So I’m guessing 10-12.  Viola – dinner for one, dinner for all!

Yum – Stuffed Peppers!!  Now I have to admit that this is not a new dish for me.  In fact it’s one of the few meals I do well!!  If you read my last UnKitchen Diva post – you know that moving forward with this cooking project I have two rules. 1) Everything must be able to be broken down into individual servings that I can freeze and 2) it must look pretty.  That’s it – pretty simple.  I’m such a visual person I thought I’d show you a meal that I think fits the rules perfectly – stuffed peppers!!

Stuffed Peppers

1 1/2 lbs ground beef                          1 onion, chopped

1/4 tsp salt                                            1/4 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp oregano                                       can of tomato sauce

4 peppers

1) Brown the ground beef.  While this is going on I measure the spices and put them in one of those small glass bowls.  Except this time I couldn’t find the garlic salt but I did find garlic powder – what the heck, couldn’t be that different, right?? I then chop the onion – or at least hack at it until it’s in several different pieces….

2) Add all the ingredients (but not the peppers!!! – for those of you who are literal like me…). Mix well.

3) I kind of let it bubble and stew a little bit here – no idea why – getting the flavors to blend better?? Really, I don’t know why.

4) Clean and cut the top off the peppers.  Wash out the insides of the peppers.  Is any one as fascinated as I am that there can sometimes be a small pepper like thing growing inside, no?  Anyway, once they’re washed place them in an oven safe dish.

5) Stuff peppers with meat mixture and bake for 1 hour @ 350˚.

6) I usually start the wild rice at the same time I put the peppers in the oven.  They roughly take about the same amount of time.

7) Place cooked, wrinkly pepper in the center of the plate.  Spread rice all the way around the base – making a ring of rice.  - so pretty!!

*Here’s how I make it fit rule 1.  I only fill and cook one pepper. I also only make enough rice for one serving.  I use 3 cup size tupperware pieces to freeze the rest of the meat mixture.  Viola – single servings and pretty!!

So here it is – I’m outing myself – I am a single women in her 30′s who has absolutely no idea how to cook.  I have all sorts of excuses – I’m single, cooking for one is no fun, have you ever tried eating beef stroganoff 6 days in a row (seriously – no fun!) and the list goes on.  My dinners are often eggs (scrambled and sunny side down), hamburgers and baked chicken breast.

Lately I find myself thinking unthinkable thoughts – I actually want to learn a thing or two in the kitchen.  Now don’t get me wrong – I can’t see me ever aspiring to be a Kitchen Diva of the highest order.  I’m fairly sure that the Unkitchen Diva in me is healthy and strong but I’m feeling a pull to try something new.

Take today for instance – I made individual puff pastry frittatas – well sort of.  I tried making individual frittatas a few weeks ago – I would not term it a success.  They stuck to the muffin pan, deflated like a pricked soufflé and generally did not look pretty at all.  They were however edible, which is a vast improvement over some of my past experiments.  I decided to tackle them again but this time with a pastry type shell.  When I whipped open the oven door, as the timer was going off, I was very pleasantly surprised.  They looked pretty even!!

Right then and there I made a decision.  I would try new recipes this year and share my triumphs and more than likely failures with you.  I don’t know where I’m going with this.  I have no cuisine picked out, nor do I know how often I’ll be doing this but I have decided there are some rules.  I need to be able to break the recipe down into individual servings.  I hate wasting food – but also hate eating the same thing every night until it’s gone – so individual servings that I can freeze is a must.  The second rule is  - it has to look pretty!  Hey I’m a visual girl!! Other than that I’m fairly open.  I would love if you all had any recipes to share and will post my attempts at them.  Hopeful at the end of this I’ll learn how to cook some new dishes (and become a better food photographer – wow, so much to learn there!!)!

So here’s how I made the frittatas – 5 in all:

1) Rolled out 1 sheet of store bought puff pastry and cut to fit into an extra large size muffin tin.  I had enough for 5.

2) Cut up 1/2 a green pepper and 1/2 an onion. I tossed handfuls of each into the bottom of each cup. Note: I have tons of leftover diced pepper and onion – not sure what I’m going to do with them yet…

2.5) Put handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese into each cup.  Yeah… I forgot to do this.

3) Stirred/scrambled(??) 9 eggs with some salt and pepper.  Poured into each cup until almost full.

4) Stick in 350˚ oven for 40 minutes.  During this time turn on the oven light 42 million times to see if anything is really happening.

5) At the end of 40 min take them out (or here’s were you melt the cheese on top if you forgot to put it in) and cool.

Viola!