Monday's Meals "Simple Sesame Noodles"

Lindsie over on "A Love Worth Waiting For" is having "Monday's Meals" where everybody shares a recipe that they like. It's a great way to get some fresh ideas on what to cook for supper. I've been so lucky to have my mom here helping with the boys so I've been able to cook some this past week. I tried a couple new recipes as well as some of my go to favorites. This recipe is from Pioneer Woman. I love her, I know if I get a recipe from her website that it's going to be delicious. Simple Sesame Noodles are so easy to make. Greg doesn't think it counts as a meal unless there's meat, so I marinated some chicken breast in teriakyi sauce all day and then grilled and it went great with the noodles. Some other recipes that I made this week were Paula Deen's Cheeseburger Meatloaf, Pioneer Woman's Tomato Cream Pasta, Italian Chicken, Pumpkin Cheesecake, etc. I'll try and post the recipes for those later.

Simple Sesame Noodles

Ingredients
• 12 ounces, fluid Thin Noodles, Cooked And Drained
• 1/4 cups Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons Pure Sesame Oil
• 1/2 teaspoons Hot Chili Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Hot Water
• 4 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin



Instructions
Whisk all ingredients (except noodles and green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed.
Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with green onions and toss.

Lasagna

I tried this lasagna recipe from Pioneer Woman Cooks.com a couple of months ago and Greg's been begging me to make it again ever since. So I made it last night for him and made sure to take pictures. It's so good and super easy to make.

Ingredients:

* 1.5 lbs of ground beef (I used ground turkey)

* 1 lb of hot breakfast sausage

* 2 cloves of garlic, minced

* 2 14.5-ounce cans whole tomatoes

* 2 6-ounce cans tomato paste

* 2 tbsp. dried parsley

* 2 tbsp. dried basil

* 1 tsp. salt

* 3 cups lowfat cottage cheese

* 2 beaten eggs

* 1/2 cup grated parmesan

* 2 tbsp. dried parsley

* 1 tsp sald

* 1 lb sliced mozzarella cheese

* 1 10-ounce pkg. lasagna noodles

(add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp. olive oil to pasta water)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, sauasage and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain half the fat; add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons parsley, basil, & salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated parmesan, 2 more tablespoons parsley, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Stir together well. Set aside. Cook lasagna until "al dente".

To Assemble: Arrange 4 cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half of the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly. Cover cottage cheese with single layer of mozzarella slices. Spoon a little less than half the meat mixture over the top. Repeat, ending with the meat mixture. Springle top generously with extra parmesan.

Either freeze, refridgerate for up to 2 days, or bake immediately: 350-degree oven for 20-30 minutes, or until top is hot and bubbly.

I saw this in the freezer section and had this along with the lasgana for dinner. All you do is take it out of the package and microwave it for 5 minutes and it's done. It was really good.

Asian Noodle Salad

I saw this recipe on thepioneerwoman.com and thought it looked delicious. It uses fresh ginger, which is one of my favorite ingredients, so I had to try it. I made a few little changes--for example, I tried to use extra veggies and replaced regular pasta with wheat pasta to make it even healthier. Greg does not like to have a meal without meat, so I made some teriyaki chicken to go with it. Greg and I both loved it.

Asian Noodle Salad

SALAD INGREDIENTS:
1 packages linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled (I used wheat noodles)
1/2 to 1 head sliced Napa cabbage

1/2 to 1 head sliced purple cabbage

1/2 to 1 bag baby spinach

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin

1 small bag bean sprouts (also called “mung bean sprouts”)

3 sliced scallions

3 peeled, sliced cucumbers

LOTS of chopped cilantro—up to one bunch

DRESSING

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup of olive oil

2 tablespoons of sesame oil

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons of fresh ginger, chopped

2 cloves chopped garlic

2 hot peppers or jalapenos, chopped

Mix together salad ingredients. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix with tongs or hands and serve on platter.

*Dressing keeps up to three days before serving*