This year marks the first year that my husband and I will host the family Christmas event at our own home. It’s our first Christmas out of an apartment and in our home, so needless to say we are both pretty excited about it, but while I am worrying over seating and decorations he has one thing on his mind…food. He is in charge of the meat for this get together, and he has seriously been obsessing over it for over a week. The decision he made was to go with a standing rib roast.
When I make Mexican food at home, it is essential to have guacamole lathered on every dish in excessive amounts. It is the perfect addition to cool down an extra spicy burrito or to add some kick to plain chicken nachos, depending on what ingredients you choose to mix in. I am constantly experimenting with new additions and varying recipes to customize my dip and find all new flavors to enjoy.
Everybody knows that Panera Bread makes the most wicked, creamy, delicious macaroni and cheese currently available to Earthlings. Unfortunately, it is also among the most expensive substances known to man. If you only had the ultimate, gooey, cheesy top secret recipe yourself, just think how great it would be to be able to reconstruct the art that is Panera Bread macaroni and cheese in your own kitchen! Well, it’s possible, or darn near it, thanks to our technicians who spend a good part of the weekend creating the ultimate copy-cat recipe for this coveted dish.
For those of you who do not yet know me all that well, just know this, I love breakfast. This is no normal love. Seriously, I wake up to a growling stomach each morning. After I am pretty much awake, the cravings start. Each day the cravings are different. Some mornings I could go for a bowl of oatmeal, other mornings I want a biscuit, but unfortunately I am usually stuck munching on dry cereal while driving to get to work in a hurry. This means that about one weekend a month I splurge.
Now, don’t laugh, but as a former vegetarian, I have days where I feel bad about even considering eating meat. I’m not sure as to why, but a guilt comes over me. With that said, I have been trying to go back to meat-free meals, but it proves to be pretty difficult when I have to not only cook for myself, but for my meat loving hubby too. I have been seeing recipes recently where squash replaces lasagna noodle in lasagna, and I thought this would be a great way to get in some more veggies and cook a meat free dinner. My no meat, no noodle squash lasagna was delicious. Now, my husband was a little bit disappointed, and next time I know not to tell him that we are having lasagna for dinner. He expected serious fattening and meaty lasagna like his Italian trained cook of a mother makes. He ate it though, and I think he enjoyed it as mush as I did. So, here’s the recipe for my vegetarian no-noodle squash lasagna:
Kakiage is a fried mixture of sliced vegetables like sweet potato, green beans, carrots, and radish, and can also contain small shrimp or pieces of roast pork if desired. The vegetables are made into very small groupings and dipped into tempura batter, then deep fried using chopsticks to hold them together in little packets while they cook. During the time they are held together in the hot oil, the tempura batter glues them to one another, while providing a golden exterior crunchiness to the vegetables.
