Artichoke Spinach Lasagna and Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

My in-laws came all the way from Louisiana to New York to visit us last weekend. They hadn’t been this far north before, so I know they had been looking forward to it for a while.

 

The evening they arrived, hubby and I picked them up from the airport. I put dinner in the oven, and we passed the next hour or so sitting on the balcony in the cool air, watching the sun set, drinking wine, listening to jazz, and eating some bruschetta to take the edge off our hunger while we caught up with each other and the puppies stared longingly at the ducks that live on the little pond in our backyard.

It was nice to participate in that without spending too much time in the kitchen. Hubby’s parents are vegetarians, so I had picked out a recipe for artichoke spinach lasagna that I’d found back when I was doing dinner parties for friends back in Pennsylvania.

That was my living room at the time. Grad students living on a stipend don’t have fancy furniture, but they make it their own.

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My dining room was especially awesome.

Okay, moving on. When I found out that hubby’s parents were coming, I though instantly of this recipe. It had been years since I’d made it, but I remembered how yummy it was.

First step, I heated water to boil lasagna noodles.

Then I set about getting everything ready to assemble. First, I took a medium-sized sweet onion and diced it.

Next, I got out some fresh rosemary.

But didn’t take a picture of it after I diced it, because that would have been smart.

So, here’s my onion in a skillet, along with some garlic, softening up.

While that happened, I started chopping up some artichoke hearts. Tried really hard not to snack on them, because that’s a weird snack. But they’re so yummy.

Back to the stove. I added some vegetable broth and that chopped rosemary.

(I almost typed “chicken broth” out of habit. That would have been bad if my in-laws saw that. Definitely used vegetable broth, not chicken!)

Next, I thawed a box of frozen spinach and squeezed out the water.

Ooh! The water’s finally boiling! Add some salt and drop in the noodles.

The broth is boiling, too.

Add the spinach and chopped artichokes.

Then I put the lid back on and let the mixture simmer for a bit.

Here’s my secret ingredient: a jar of Wegman’s spaghetti sauce.

Once it’s all mixed in, this is what it looks like.

And then it’s time to assemble! Just start layering sauce…

…and noodles…

…and mozzarella cheese…

… and more sauce…

… and so on…

… and so forth…

And the last special ingredient: a sprinkling of tomato and basil feta cheese.

And then cover with foil and put it in the oven.

While it was cooking, I decided to try out a Pinterest recipe for Red Lobster garlic cheddar biscuits!

I used pancake mix that has been abandoned in our pantry since hubby doesn’t like pancake mixes that only call for water to be added (he prefers the ones that call for eggs and milk).

Some of that…

And some grated cheddar cheese…

And some garlic powder.

And then milk.

Pretty goopy. I was concerned. So I added more mix before shaping into biscuits and putting the blobs on the tray that fits into the toaster oven.

Mix up some melted butter, oregano, and more garlic powder.

Cook the biscuits…

Then brush with the melted butter/ garlic/ oregano mixture.

Fin!

Okay, so it’s been a while since the lasagna went in, and it’s about time to take it out.

Let it sit for a few minutes, then cut and serve.

Delicious!

Rosemary. Mozzarella. Artichoke. Tomato sauce. Spinach. So many strong, wonderful flavors.

Oh yeah, and garlic!

Everything went over very well. Definitely recommend all of it. The lasagna was much less cheesy than my meat lasagna is, but it worked well. Like I said, there were a lot of strong flavors that worked really well with each other. Warm and delicious.

Now, the biscuits? Somewhat disappointing. I think I did something wrong. They weren’t bad, just not as spectacular as Pinterest would have you believe. I think I’ll try again, though.

Husband-Friendly BBQ Chicken Pizza

I once blogged about my recipe for BBQ chicken pizza. It’s very flavorful, since it’s loaded with tons of pepperoncini peppers, red onions, and cilantro. I made it again recently when a college friend and her new husband dropped in for a visit while they were in town. Afterwards, hubby remarked that while he really liked the meal, he would like it better with far less cilantro and peppers. Previously, he’d said something about fewer onions, as well. I thought that it would probably be better to find a new recipe than simply cut back, since those were the essence of that recipe. So I did some searching online. I kid you not, this is the title of one that popped up:

“Husband-friendly barbecue chicken pizza”

Of course, I picked that one to make.

I’ve been making my own pizza dough for a few months now. When I first made it, I had no problems. I’m not sure what star was shining on me, because I’ve had problems with it ever since. The next time I made it, it was far too gooey and I ended up adding a ton of extra flour to make it work. It was a struggle but eventually worked out. When my friend and her husband were in town recently, I tried to avoid the goopy problem by using less water, but then I felt like the dough was too dry (then again, I also forgot the olive oil because I was trying to talk and cook at the same time, oops).

This time around, I was super careful with every aspect of the dough. As you can see in this picture, I used less than 1 cup and more than 3/4 cup. I also actually measured the temperature to get the best results from the yeast.

When I was done mixing the dough, this is what it looked like.

It didn’t rise a ton last time and I thought that might because I didn’t put it in a warm enough place, so this time I put it outside on my balcony.

Oh yes, that helped!

I’ve started using a sprinkling of corn meal on my pizza stone. I think it helps with texture and keeps it from sticking. Plus, I’m a copy cat and other people do that.

I found that the dough was too elastic for a rolling pin and actually ended up picking it up and using my fists to stretch it out, just like what I’ve seen REAL chefs do. I felt pretty awesome about it. I even thought about taking a video to post here, but then I came to my senses and remembered that no one comes to my blog to see me. So then I didn’t. Anyway, here’s my dough on the stone.

Okay, now to start preparing the toppings. Like my other recipe, this one calls for red onions.

Unlike my other recipe, this one says to caramelize them in olive oil. The other recipe leaves them raw. I knew this way was going to be much better.

When they were about done, I put them aside in a bowl and re-used the pan to fry some bacon. I cut the slices in half just so they’d fit, but ended up using 6 whole strips of bacon.

Okay, time to start assembling!

First, I slathered the pizza crust with some barbecue sauce. I used a combination KC Masterpiece (Original) and Famous Dave’s Devil’s spit, since that’s what I had on hand. Really, I should have made my own, but let’s be honest – this was already a lot of work.

Next, I covered the pizza with leftover chicken from my slow cooker BBQ chicken the night before.

And then the onions, and also the bacon, crumbled and torn into little pieces.

Then the recipe called for a half cup of gorgonzola.

As I sprinkled it on, I tried to figure out the difference between gorgonzola and bleu cheese. I decided that gorgonzola is just an Italian variety of bleu.

The recipe called for some diced, fresh jalapenos. I opted for whole slices from a jar, but not very many. I wasn’t convinced that they belonged on this pizza (and I’m still not).

This part is odd. The recipe called for a tablespoon each of paprika and garlic powder to be sprinkled on.

I couldn’t do it. It just seemed like far too much of both. I sprinkled a lot of both, but not the whole tablespoon. I didn’t want to have gone through all this effort only to ruin the pizza by over-seasoning it.

Finally, top with grated mozzarella. For the first time ever, I bought fresh mozzarella and grated it myself.

Turns out, it’s really soft and moist and hard to grate. The texture was very different from the grated mozzarella I usually buy. I managed though. And ate all the pieces that looked weird, just to save hubby from them.

Here’s the pizza topped with everything:

Popped it in a 425 degree oven and we’re good to go!

I think the temperature was a bit too high, as the cheese didn’t have the texture that I was looking for, but whatever. It worked out.

I liked it, a lot! Caramelizing the onions got their flavor under control and added a sweetness that worked with the tang of the barbecue sauce. The smokiness of the bacon also went well with the sauce.

Hubby said he really liked this recipe. His only complaint was that it was too spicy and left his mouth burning. I suppose that’s what I get for using a barbecue sauce called “Devil’s Spit.” I won’t do that again.

I definitely think that this recipe just nudged my old one out of the rotation.

Oh, and in case you were wondering the crust was perfect!