food_for_tycho

a bunch of chicken thighs (boneless, skinless) like 3 lbs
chopped onion, poblano
5 cloves chopped garlic
28oz can of fire-roasted tomato
salt, chili powder, cumin, pepper
Liquid Smoke
MSG
veg broth/water/liquid as needed

Cook in a slow cooker for a long time (6 hours)

I thought about calling it something else because evidently Eminem wrote a song with this title about barfing, but this recipe existed before Eminem did so fuck it. Like most of my mom's recipes, it's inauthentic and a little trashy and delicious, especially for leftovers.

1 can large peeled tomato (2 for longer recipe)
1 onion, diced
Some garlic, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 can tomato sauce (omit for longer recipe)
1 can tomato paste
1 jar pre-made spaghetti sauce (omit for longer recipe)
Various spices
Water and/or red wine in all cans and jars

Simmer at least two hours; longer is better. Serve over spaghetti, or chickpeas if you're trying to be healthy for some reason.

Meatballs
1 lb ground beef or Italian sausage
1 egg
Parmesan cheese
Some chopped onion and garlic
1 cup oatmeal
Worcestershire sauce
Ketchup
Salt, pepper

Cook in oven for quick balls; throw in sauce if you're going to be cooking it for at least two hours.

1 pound hamburger. I use super lean. I also recently tried Italian-flavored Neat, and it worked pretty well.
1 jar (26 oz/3 cups) spaghetti sauce. I'm partial to Prego.
1.5 cups of water. I will sub up to most of this with wine, if I've got some around.
16 ounces of cottage cheese or ricotta. I use full fat, because there's not that much of a difference in calories, and it tastes a lot better.
3 cups mozzarella. Store-brand shredded is fine.
1.5 cup Parmesan. Get the shredded stuff from the deli, not the can; the can only brings sadness.
2 eggs. Chicken eggs.
Spices. You can get fancy about it, but in the spirit of the recipe you can go with some garlic salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning blend.
9 lasagna noodles (uncooked).

Brown up the hamburger in a sauce pan. Dump the jar sauce and water/wine on top, simmer for 10 minutes. Here's where you can add any veggies you like; I'll often throw in a bunch of sliced fresh mushrooms. Eric thinks some red pepper flakes and Worcestershire sauce helps, but I'm not convinced.

In a separate bowl, mix up the cheeses, eggs, and spices. Save a few pinches of Parmesan.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Take a 13x9 lasagna pan, put 1 cup of the meat sauce in the bottom. Then three lasagna noodles. Then 1.5 cups meat sauce, and half the cheese mix. Do another layer of noodles, sauce, and cheese. Top it off with three more noodles, the rest of the sauce, and the pinches of Parmesan. Foil up the pan, and put it in the oven for fifty minutes. Take the foil off, and put it back in the oven for another ten minutes. Let it sit for another ten minutes or so after it comes out of the oven, it will set up and not look like so much of a train wreck when you dish it out.

Serve with cheap-ass garlic toast made with sliced bread. You'll have enough for dinner and a couple of days of lunches too. Also good to make for those times when you want to make a church lady casserole.

I keep asking my spouse to write his recipes down, so in case he dies I don't have to go back to eating frozen dinners. But he's a busy guy. So, since this is for me anyway, and since I get some traffic in my LJ that might be interested, I'm going to have him dictate his recipes and I'll post them here.

First off- vegetarian chili; technically a bean stew, but chili is more of a flavor than the presence of meat.

1 can vegetarian refried beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 big can crushed tomato
1 cup of beer
1 each chopped onion, red bell pepper, couple cloves of garlic (tablespoon of chopped), and hot pepper (jalapeño or poblano)
some chili powder, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, Liquid Smoke, salt, and pepper

Drain the beans and corn. Sweat the fresh veggies and deglaze with the beer. Then add the tomato and seasonings and bring it up to a simmer for a bit. Add the rest (corn last) and simmer. Makes a lot. Serve with some grated cheese.