The One Egg Conundrum

I was really in the mood for some good, homemade lasagna. But as you all know, leftovers are the enemy. I decided I'd give it a whirl to attempt a HALF LASAGNAAAAAA! So luckily my mom started a reciepe book before she passed away of all the recipes that she had that were our favorites, or were family recipes so that we had them all in one place, what a smart lady! In there I found my grandmother's lasagna recipe, all made from scratch (except for the noodles obviosuly).

All was well until I saw egg... what to do when the recipe calls for one egg... how do you half an egg? Hence, THE ONE EGG CONUNDRUM.. I thought I could either use the whole egg and hope it turned out ok, or I'd scrabmle it then scoop half/some out. I ended up doing the second. I'm sure it would have worked if I had used the whole egg though :)

Half Lasagna
Courtesy of Gram Ferrari

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 clove garlic (I used 2 because I'm a rebel)
1/2 lb ground meat (this is what the whole lasagna called for as well but I still used it, again REBEL)
1 1/4 tsp salt
14oz can of diced tomatoes
4 oz of tomato sauce
3 oz of tomato paste

*The above two are sold in 8 & 6 oz cans so I just estimated half of both cans. I put the other half of them together in a rubbermaid, and put in the freezer for next half lasagna night!

6 tbsp of water (strange I know, but its 1/2 of 3/4 cup!)
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp dried parsely flakes
1/2 package of lasagna noodles
1/2 lb ricotta (aka 8 oz)
1/2 EGG
1/2 lb shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup or 1 cup parmesan


Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan, saute onions and garlic about 5 min. Stir in beef and cook over medium until meat is browned. Add salt, tomatoes, sauce, paste, water, basil, oregano, sugar and parsely. Bring to boil, simmer for 45 min. *I figured half the sauce, half the time? That and I didnt have the patience to wait 45 min to cook the damn sauce! I let it simmer for about 20-25 min. My sister insists you must wait the full 45. Will it be better? Im sure it will. Did it taste good after 20-25? Of course!

Cook lasagna noodles, add 1 tbsp of oil while cooking to prevent from sticking.  I used half the box which was about 11 noodles. I ended up cutting the noodles to fit in my 9x9 pan. I made a 3 layer lasagna and had enough noodles, so I guess I only needed 9 noodles. IF you really wanted to you could use less and use the short pieces to make the middle layer.

In bowl blend ricotta and 1/2 EGG. Preheat oven to 375. In pan arrange alternating layers of sauce (yes sauce first), lasagna, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese. Finish last layer with sauce! Like I said, I got 3 layers worth. Sprinkle with parmesean cheese. Bake in oven for 30-ish minutes, let stand for 10-ish before cutting.

I made garlic bread with this as well. But make sure you dont use moldy bread, and not realize its moldy until your putting it up to your mouth like I did :(

If you want to be brave, try adding in pepperoni. Its my secret ingredient and is my fave thing in lasagna!!! But again, the pepperoni I had was moldy. FML, I'm sensing that I dont eat things fast enough?

One day I'll take cooler pics.....

Before

 

After

Chicken par-my-gosssh

We. Love. Chicken. I love Italian, so chicken parmigiana is perfect! So easy to make :) Most of these things you will already have!

1/3 cup chopped onion (frozen onion comes in handy *wink wink*)
1 clove garlic (I used 2)
1 tbsp butter
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes undrained
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
dash black pepper
1/4 cup snipped basil

Cook onion and garlic in butter over medium heat until tender. Stir in undrained tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 10 min, stirring occasionally. Stir in basil. Keep warm and set aside. *When I made this I didn't see where the basil ever went in and so I saved it until the end and sprinkled it on top of the whole dish, but to be honest, it probably would have been just as good without it and I would have saved $2.50ish from not buying fresh basil! Up to you though.

4 skinless chicken breasts
    *I used 2, but they were huge!
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs (it said seasoned but I used plain)
4 tbsp grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp dried crushed oregano
1 egg beaten
2 tbsp milk
3 tbsp cooking oil
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

In between 2 pieces of plastic, use meat mallet and pound chicken lightly to about 1/4 inch thick. In small dish combine egg and milk. In another dish combine bread crumbs and 3 tbsp of grated Parmesan cheese. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then in crumb mixture, evenly coating both sides in each mixture. In large skillet, over medium heat, heat oil and cook chicken about 2-3 minutes per side. *If you do not pound the chicken out, or to 1/4in, it will take longer to cook, which is what happened to me since apparently I missed the day in school on how to measure things in inches! Took about 5 minutes per side, but be careful not to leave it to thick or the breading will start to burn!

Transfer to serving dish (or in this case our plates) and spoon sauce over chicken. Top with mozzarella and remaining Parmesan. Enjoy!

 

Don't pay attention to the dirty table!

 

This sauce is more chunky than saucy, so if your not into eating tomoatoes than you may want to rethink this sauce. I'm not really sure what you would use instead of diced tomatoes, maybe tomato puree instead?