Generic vs. Name Brand

[ClaireBear]

Odd, I can't find it either.

1-2 pounds of hamburger (sue me, I like meat)
1-2 packets of taco spice (reg or spicy, to taste)
12-15 lasagna noodles
1 pound mozerella cheese
1 pound swiss cheese
1 can spagetti sauce (to taste)
1 can whole tomatos


That's it. Cook the 'burger and taco spice per the instructions on the spice packet. Puree the tomatos. In a large sauce pan, add the suace and tomatos, and heat it. Add the meat once hot, and cover. Turn off heat, but leave it on the ring. Stir from time to time. The longer that mix can sit, the better. I like to make up 2 or 3 lasagnas worth and freeze it. (it's seldom there when I go to make the lasagna tho )

Grate both cheeses , but keep them separate. Boil the noodles. In a lasagna pan, begin with a layer of sauce, then noodles, sauce, then some of each cheese, then noodles, sauce, cheese, etc. Here's where you really have to be careful. Too much cheese will make it fall apart when you try to serve it. Until the top, where it's noodle, and sauce. Really cover the noodles well. You don't want them to go hard. Bake for 45 mins at 350. Add the top layer of mozerella and bake another 15. Let set before serving. Serve with a green or ceasar salad.

These can be assembled and frozen unbaked for easy meals later (remember the sauce?). But don't add that last layer of cheese until it's done. Actually, if the sauce and noodles are still hot when you're assembling it, it'll melt the cheese, and you only have to top brown the top layer of cheese and serve. It's all already cooked and ready to go.

Ballpark cost is about $30 for a pan. Swiss is damn expensive cheese. You can substitute Montery Jack.

Just a few questions before I print...

Noodles?

I thought this was lasagne not chow mein!

Do you mean lasgne sheets?

When I do lasagne we get the "no soak" sheets.. basically you layer up and assemble.. (Breaking thems a bitch... watch your eyes! ) then bake.. the moisture does everything to a T... and don't worry if your sauce is a tad runny... it'll soak it up...

And the base pasata (spag sauce)... if I'm not using pre made sauce and doing it from scratch is it a mushroom, extra herb, extra garlic? So I can emulate it...

Oh and is it just cheese... no white sauce/bechemel? (will someone tell me how to spell that!)

Thats it I think..

Oh the taco spice is that the stuff in the Mexican aisle that you sprinkle onto your tortillas or the dry mix for fajitas?

Thats it... I think.

 

[Nixy]

Here you can get sheets but you can also get ones that are about 1.5 inches wide and you use like 6 to cover each layer

 

[Professur]

And this is why I don't talk Scot anymore. Language barrier.

Lasagna pasta is noodles.
If you don't boil the noodles, it takes hours to bake. Basically, you are boiling them, with the sauce. My way's faster.
If you want to make a home made sauce, go for it. That's to taste. I use Hunts thick and zesty red peppers and chili, and the tomatos are alymer herb and spices. Old Elpaso taco spice, simply as a matter of convienience. The first one I ever made was all by hand.

 

[Professur]

Here you can get sheets but you can also get ones that are about 1.5 inches wide and you use like 6 to cover each layer

Actually, the ones I use are 3 inches wide cooked, and 3 to a layer in a standard lasagna pan.

 

[PrincessLissa]

But you see, over here, those who the government deem as "really poor" get food stamps. They get their food free. It's handed to them with no expectation of work on their part. Hence, they can go get anything they want.

I used to work in a grocery store it would bother me so much to see a family come up to the checkout with two buggies filled with deli cut lunch meats, fresh seafood, donuts, frozen pizzas, bags of candy and gum, and other items that are pretty expensive and certainly not needed. Little did they know that the girl behind the checkstand was working there just to be able to afford some mac and cheese and apples for her little girl at home. I made too much money for food stamps, but not enough money for food AND rent. There was one family that really budgeted thier food stamps well. They bought sale items and HEALTHY food. None of that frozen pizza or lobster for them. They bought lots of fresh produce, sandwich fixings for thier daughters lunch, yougurts, the meat that was on sale and stuff to fix with it. I think I found a cake mix ONCE in their cart and it was for the little girl's birthday. They spent their food stamps well and I never once saw them take cash off the card.

My cousin gets food stamps and takes cash off the card all the time. They give her the cash allowence for items that are not considered grocery such as diapers and Desitin. She spent it on booze and drugs.

 

[tonksy]

i agree! that being said i am a food stamp recipient. they give me alot to work with and since i can't stand prefab food (and rob can't eat it anyway) i buy alot of fresh food with my food stamps...funny thing is is that it works out to be the same price as the premade shit. cooking from scratch is always cheaper and you can make a nicer end product.

 

[PrincessLissa]

I agree. I pefer to eat a good homemade meal that is made with fresh stuff rather than frozen entrees. It's healthier too.

 

[Sharky]

creamed chip beef on toast! *drool

Known in the Navy as "shit on a shingle", right?


And it's surprisingly tasty.

And the little jars the dried beef comes in make excellent double-shot glasses.

 

[tonksy]

Known in the Navy as "shit on a shingle", right?


And it's surprisingly tasty.

And the little jars the dried beef comes in make excellent double-shot glasses.

shit on a shingle aye!
tell me, do you drink your beer from a mason jar too?

 

[Sharky]

shit on a shingle aye!
tell me, do you drink your beer from a mason jar too?

*snork*

Sometimes, you betcha!! One with a little handle on it . . .

 

[tonksy]

*snork*

Sometimes, you betcha!! One with a little handle on it . . .

don't feel bad...i've a few in the pantry myself.

 

[abooja]

Generic pasta??

It's only Barilla, DeCecco or another good imported Italian brand for me.

Heathens.

 

[Sharky]

Generic pasta??

It's only Barilla, DeCecco or another good imported Italian brand for me.

Heathens.

Barilla makes outstanding sauces, too - if there's not enough time for homemade.

 

[abooja]

Barilla makes outstanding sauces, too - if there's not enough time for homemade.

Agreed. I'm a big fan of their tomato with basil.

 

[BeardofPants]

Generic pasta??

It's only Barilla, DeCecco or another good imported Italian brand for me.

Heathens.

Barilla pasta is awesome!! We also have a delicatessen here that makes its own dried/fresh pasta, and that seriously kicks butt as well. Expensive though.

 

[Gato_Solo]

creamed chip beef on toast! *drool

AKA SOS, or Shit on a Shingle...

I know some folks swear by that tasteless goo, but I'd rather have powdered eggs.

Okay...sue me. I didn't read past this quote before adding my reply.

 

[abooja]

Barilla pasta is awesome!! We also have a delicatessen here that makes its own dried/fresh pasta, and that seriously kicks butt as well. Expensive though.

Fresh is good too. I've made my own pasta on various occasions since I was a kid, and bought it fresh numerous times at local pasta stores in Brooklyn when I lived there. (Yes, there are entire stores devoted to the stuff there!) I used to like eating it raw. Mmmm... However, I still prefer the boxed, imported variety. Fresh pasta never stays al dente enough for my tastes.

 

[BeardofPants]

Corned beef is a class above Tonks... once tried NEVER forgotton.. its ambrosia!

Corned beef would have to be one of the single most disgusting things that I have ever had the misfortune to ingest.

 

[abooja]

Corned beef would have to be one of the single most disgusting things that I have ever had the misfortune to ingest.

If you're talking about something you can buy in a can, I completely understand.

However, you haven't tried true corned beef if it didn't come from a Jewish deli or an Irish kitchen.

Now, this is real corned beef.

 

[BeardofPants]

I'm talkin' both in a can, and home-made. Ugh. And the SMELL of it cooking. *retch*

<edit>(my ex-flatmate was Irish, and used to make it)