Spinach and Shrimp Lasagna Rolls with Alfredo Sauce

Sometimes you just have to cook something special!  Michael called yesterday afternoon and was in kind of a funk.  Knowing that showing affection through food is something that will often cheer him up I went on a search for a special recipe.  You all remember the great Lasagna episode from last week...well I had some cooked noodles left over.  In the freezer was also 1/2 a bag of spinach and some shrimp so off to the Internet I went! 

Red sauce doesn't always cut it for me, for some reason it often makes us get up from the table feeling over full so the thought was a white sauce.  I perused many, many recipes but none worked for me.  Either the ratings just weren't good or after reading the ingredients it just turned me off so, using a bit that I had read (mostly the cooking time and suggestions on the amount of cheese to use) this recipe was born.  I was going to include pictures of the new herbs growing merrily in their new pots but the camera has decided it once again needs new batteries.

Ready to go in the oven!

Spinach and Shrimp filled Lasagna Roll Ups with Alfredo Sauce

Lasagna

6 lasagna noodles pre-cooked (do not use no cook noodles)

1 box frozen spinach (cooked and squeezed to get all the water out)

¾ lb raw shrimp (de-veined, peeled and coarsely chopped)

1 ½ cups fat free cottage cheese

1 cup Mozzarella shredded

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 egg

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1 tablespoon basil

1 tsp kosher salt

2 cups (or more) Alfredo sauce

Alfredo Sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 cup Parmesan cheese

2 cups fat free milk

Prepare Alfredo sauce, to do so melt butter in a medium size sauce pan over a medium heat than add the flour. Allow flour to cook for about a minute while stirring it. Add about half the milk, stirring constantly. Add remaining flour and reduce heat to a medium low temp stirring constantly until sauce starts to thicken. While stirring, add the cheese and allow to cook for about 5 minutes.

Mix all ingredients together except noodles and sauce. Stir thoroughly to incorporate all ingredients.

Lay noodles out on wax paper (made clean up much easier) put a good sized spoonful of the mixture on each noodle and spread down the length of the noodle. You want to leave some space at the top of the noodle to allow for closure. Roll the noodles from the bottom up and place open side down.

Cover the bottom of the pan with about ½ sauce than put the noodles in the pan with the open side down once again. Pour remaining sauce over noodles (you can add additional cheese at this point if you would like). Cover with foil and place in 350 degree oven for ½ hour, remove cover and allow to bake an additional 25 minutes or until the tops begin to brown.

Yes that is a new dinner plate in the picture.  Have you ever noticed that when you have something you don't care for it never breaks or tears! That was my old dishes....they weren't really ugly, I was just tired of them.  There is a sale going on at World Market right now on dinnerware, buy 4 mix and match and get 20% off.  That alone was not enough to tempt the cheapskate in me but when you add in my 40% discount and the $10 off coupon that I had, I was sold!  I have been debating about these dishes for more than 2 weeks.  I couldn't decide whether to get all 8 matching or mix an match.  I knew that the salad plates just weren't coming home with me but found some great green plates that worked.  The old dinnerware is packed up in the car ready for the trip to the youngest daughters house. 

It's Pasta Night!

Pasta Drying

First I would like to thank my eldest daughter for moving out of the country.  When she left on her backpacking adventure through South America she left me some exciting kitchen gadgets.  They are her pasta maker and her emersion blender.  Dinner tonight would not have been quite as tasty with out the assistance of those two items.  Second, I would like to thank my wonderful husband who sat and separated each strand of pasta assuring that we did not wind up with glob o pasta (been there, done that).

So we needed an escape from chicken, I think we might both be starting to grow feathers we have been eating so much of it.  I had toyed with pasta a few times earlier this year and had used a tasty white flour recipe.  We are trying to watch our carbs as the husband is working on his weight so I went on the search for a whole wheat pasta recipe.  I stumbled upon a good one on allrecipes.com.  I did need to make a few adjustments due to the weather and lack of humidity.  If you have never made pasta from scratch I can tell you it is amazingly simple and doesn't take much time.  If you do not have a pasta machine like I do just use your rolling pin to flatten the dough and a pizza cutter to cut it.  I actually did that the first few times and tonight was the first time I used the cutter attachment.

Whole Wheat Pasta

serves 4

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2  tsp sea salt (I used kosher salt)

4 eggs

2 tsp olive oil

Stir the flours and salt in a medium bowl.  Make a hollow in the center and pour in the olive oil.  Break the eggs in one at a time while mixing quickly with a fork until the dough is wet enough to come together ( this didn't work, I mixed for a bit with the fork and then just jumped in with my hands, mushing the dough until it came into a ball.  I also added a tablespoon or so of warm water. If you need to add the water to get a dough consistency, do it a very small amount at a time).  Knead on a lightly floured surface until the dough is stiff and elastic (no longer crumbly, probably about 5 minutes or so).  Cover and let stand for about 30 minutes

Roll out the dough by hand with a rolling pin or use a pasta machine to achieve the desired thickness.  Cut into desired width.  Allow the pasta to air dry for at least 15 minutes to avoid having it clump together.

Bring large pot of water to a rolling boil, add pasta and allow to cook approx 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

Drain and serve with the sauce of your choice

So with this I made my first ever Alfredo Sauce.  It was not as difficult as I thought and really had a minimal number of ingredients.  It was this recipe that caused me to say thanks for the immersion blender as the cheese turned into one giant glob in the middle of the sauce. 

Alfredo Sauce with Sauteed Mushrooms and Green Peppers

serves 4

4 Tbs Butter

1 Cup Skim Milk

1 tsp Corn Starch

1-1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 clove garlic minced

1/2 large pepper chopped

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1 Tbs olive oil

Put olive in saute pan over medium heat.  When warm add green peppers, stirring occasionally, when starting to brown slightly add mushrooms.  Reduce heat to medium low and allow to continue to cook still stirring occasionally.  Place butter in medium sauce pan over medium heat, add milk and corn starch.  Stir until butter is melted.  Slowly whisk in cheese (this is where the blender came in handy) Once the cheese is melted add garlic and sauteed veggies.  Serve over hot pasta.

If you have never experienced home made pasta, you will be amazed at the difference between it and the store bought dried pasta.  It is lighter and you don't leave the table feeling all weighed down.