Lasagna only has 5 ingredients

(This is not a food blog. This is not a food blog. This is not a food blog. This is not a food blog. This is not a food blog. This is not a food blog. This is not a food blog. This is not a food blog.)

5 things, BAM! lasganga!

Beef lasagna:

(15 minutes prep, 35 minutes bake)
Stuff you need to buy:
1.Ground Beef (as lean as you can get it) where’s the beef?? I tried it with ground turkey, but it wasn’t as good.I like meat, but you can substitute meat with cooked spinach, veggie medley or other protein of your choice
2. Mozzarella part skim (1 bag pre shredded, or you can be fancy and shred your own)
3. Ricotta (whole, part skim, skim, whatever. Buy the smaller one, you don’t need much)
4. Spaghetti sauce jars x2 (Newman’s Own Tomato Basil Bombolina is the best, and it has a cute picture on the front. Go ahead, judge a pasta sauce by it's cover..
you can try to use one jar, but I like mine saucy. Or you can make your own
5. No boil lasagna noodles (I didn’t even know they made these. They are a miracle. They come flat or with ripples. Whichever ones you want. I like the flat ones. Or you can buy the regular ones that need to be boiled, but that is a waste of time.
Stuff you should already have:

9inch pan

Pam! or other non stick spray (olive oil flavored for Italia!!)

baking pan with 1 inch sides

foil

Steps.:
1. Turn on oven (take those unused pots and pans out first ) to 350 degrees
2. Take your 9 inch pan and brown and drain the meat (10 minutes) If you decided to be fancy and buy the lasagna noodles that have to be boiled, you’d better be coking those now.
3. Spray the baking pan with pam.
4. Layer in your 5 ingredients like this (5 minutes):
Sauce (on the bottom of the pan), noodle, meat, Dots of ricotta, 1/4th of the mozzarella
1/4th of the sauce, noodle, meat… etc.
when you reach the last layer do noodle, sauce, noodle, sauce, mozzarella… (a bunch to cover the top)
Hint: because it is magic, the "no boil lasagna noodles" soak up the moisture from the sauce to not be hard (oh! that's how that works!!) Make sure every inch of the noodle is covered in sauce and then some to keep the lasagna from being too dry, thus I use 1.5 jars. You cannot do that with regular lasagna noodles (well you can.. but it is not recommended)
5. Then spray the foil with more pam and cover the whole concoction with it (this mysteriously keeps the top cheese from burning.
6. Bake for 20minutes
7. Then take the foil off and bake for 15 more minutes (or until the cheese looks pretty on the top)
Done.

I usually make a big pan, eat what I want the first day, then put it in the fridge. The next day, I cut it up and wrap it in individual foil packets and put them in the freezer. I take it out of the freezer in the am and it is thawed enough to nuke for 90 seconds when I get home from work. It is a nice surprise when you are broke and at the end of the pay cycle and find a brick of lasagna in the freezer! ;)

2 tomato chicken pesto

(It's been a long time. Here is a new post!)

Because I am not a chef, when recipes call for more than 5 things (and more than 10-15 minutes “prep”) I cannot deal. Also, I hate going to the supermarket. If I can remember 5 ingredients to make a decent meal it is a miracle. I also am not a fan of making any thing from scratch (except marinara). The title is a lie, yes there are 2 tomatoes, but the pesto is basil. YAY

I used to make this on a hot plate in my dorm (with pre-cooked, preservative filled chicken)

I made it tonight, and dare I say, I put my foot in it:

You need all the ingredients listed in the title!!

1.GRAPE tomatoes (not cherry, however you can add a bunch of other different types of little tomatoes if you are trying to be fancy)

2. Sun dried tomatoes (not in oil)

3.CLASSICO brand basil pesto sauce (I have tried other brands, Classico is the best, unless you buy a Magic Bullet® and make your own)

4. Box of Penne pasta (or whatever other pasta you have lying around. Mine is fiber fortified, the whole wheat will taste like cardboard no matter what you do)

5. Chicken breast tenderloins. (frozen or fresh whatevs. I used to buy chicken fresh then freeze it, but decided that was silly. I have a giant bag of frozen chicken tenderloins in my freezer. It takes me 2 months to get through it. I take out 6-8 pieces in the am before I go to work and put them in a plastic bag in the fridge. They will be thawed enough when I get home. If you are too tired to cook when you get home you can leave them in the fridge for at least 2 more days…don't ask me how I know)

6. (optional) shredded parmesan cheese. (not the powdery kind in the canister)

Stuff you should already have:

Pot to cook pasta in

Colander (spaghetti strainer)

Great big bowl (from when you thought you would make cupcakes…)

9 inch pan

Pam

Cutting board

Knife

15-20 minutes

Get to cookin good lookin:

1. Set that pot to boil. I dunno how big your pot is so I don’t know how long it will take. If you are making the whole box of penne you need 5 quarts of water (the biig pot), just know a watched pot never boils.

2. Pam that pan then Brown that chicken (12 minutes? I never really count, I am usually watching NCIS/Law and Order..) Watch it, when it turns white on one side, then flip it to the other side. When it turns white on the other side flip it again until it gets a little golden singe on both sides. When the chicken is done (cooked not burned but not pink) take it out of the pan and let it “rest” (cool the freak off) on the cutting board.

side note: I prefer to cut up my chicken after it is already cooked because I am afraid of spreading salmonella around my kitchen. If you are brave, and you want to cut up your chicken first to make it cook faster, be my guest. Wash your hands!!

3. Your pot should be at a rolling boil now (like a mini Jacuzzi). Pour the whole box of penne in that bad boy. No need to salt the water, don’t put any oil in. The pesto has salt and oil enough.

4. While that pasta is cooking dice up the chicken and throw it in the big bowl

5. Dice up about 10 sundried tomatoes, put em in the bowl

6. Rinse off the grape tomatoes and throw them in the bowl (I cut mine in half, you do you)

7. Ooo your pasta is done! Drain it in the colander. Rinse the starch off, if you like, then Throw it in the bowl

8. Spoon half the pesto in the bowl and a healthy sprinkle of the cheese (1/2 cup) The whole jar of pesto is too much. Try it if you must.

9. Now, stir it all together, et voila! (or you can put the colander over the bowl and shake the crap out of it like I do)

I think this is delicious hot or cold, for lunch or dinner. But I haven't tried it out on anyone else.

Feel free to take out the chicken if you are a veggie-tarian and add protein of your choice.