Kitchen Adventure...

Last week I decided to make lasagna for dinner tonight. Then, when I went to the store, I forgot the lasagna noodles. Don't ask me how, they were on the list. So I thought all weekend about running to the store to buy some But, one $1 purchase just never justified going. Bright idea: why not make them from scratch?

I Googled "lasagna noodles whole wheat recipe." Guess what I found? Nothing. Interesting, because I had recently seen a recipe in a book I got from the library. After much pondering, I decided to take a recipe that called for all-purpose flour and use that, but sub in whole wheat flour. (Side note: I had a LOT of extra flour this week when I ground my wheat, so I figured that even if they failed, I could spare the expense...)

The recipe I decided to use was extremely simple:
2 1/4 C flour
3 whole eggs

I threw the ingredients in the Kitchenaid, and finished putting the granola into the oven. When I got back to the mixer, I noticed that I needed to add some water. Not a lot, maybe 1/8 C. The dough ball formed like it was supposed to (according to the recipe, remember, I had NEVER made any type of pasta before!). I let it get glossy, well, as glossy as I thought whole wheat pasta dough could get. And then I wrapped it in a damp towel and let it rest for 15 minutes (necessary, per the recipe).

Here is the adventurous part... Rolling! Goodness, I had no idea how much work it would be to roll, fold, roll, fold, roll, fold, roll! And, I had to do it 4 times (rolling the dough in quarters was actually a good thing, for lack of counter space). I think I will have sore muscles tomorrow! My arms were limp for an hour afterward.

In the end, I had some noodles left over, so I rolled them into a log sliced it into small pieces and boiled them like regular noodles. Man, were they tasty! I am extremely excited to taste the final product of the assembled lasagna.

After tasting my homemade noodles, I had the thought... It is really pretty sad that we consider these home-made whole-wheat noodles to be gourmet. 100 years or so ago, it would have been all you got! The things we take for granted.

Menu Planning Monday

This week was an easy one for us.

Sunday: We had 15 people over for a family Birthday dinner: Spaghetti, salad, homemade meatballs, and a Boston Cream Pie.

Monday: My husband's Birthday, and he got pizza as a present, so we baked that up.

Tuesday: Brown Jug Soup from fix-it-and-forget-it cookbook.

Wednesday: Mexican Dip, tortilla chips, and carrot sticks

Thursday: Baked Asian Chicken, rice, Green Beans (Asian Honey Chicken recipe from recipezaar)

Friday: Leftovers/MYO

Saturday: Grilled Cheese and Vegetable Soup

I subbed Tuesday and Wednesday meals. Tuesday was supposed to be tofu stir-fry, and Wednesday was supposed to be Hamburger Helper. The Brown Jug Soup was supposed to be on Monday, but the pizza pre-empted it. My husband loudly complained about the Hamburger Helper (I am honestly trying to use up what we have, but I might end up donating it to the food bank...), so we couldn't have that.

Find many more Meal Ideas on Menu-Planning-Monday here: Orgjunkie.com!

Menu Monday!

OK, Here is the dinner menu we had last week. (My weeks will always start on Sunday and end on Saturday. It's just how I do it. I will also be a week behind, because I do my meal planning on Tuesday in my routine.)

Sunday - Baked Turkey, Mashed potatoes, broccoli, cornbread (this is a very budget meal, since the turkey was bought for .22/lb LAST thanksgiving, and was in my freezer all year!)
Monday - Taco Night
Tuesday - Chickpea Cutlets (See the recipe at Recipezaar.com), green beans, rice
Wednesday - Turkey Tetrazzini (modified recipe from the miserly mom), corn
Thursday - Pizza at Papa's Pizza (Son's football party) Disclaimer: only my son ate the pizza there, the rest of us ate leftovers at home beforehand. The prices are crazy there!
Friday - leftovers/MYO
Saturday - Frozen Pizza (Was supposed to be homemade pizza, but got short on time...)


Check out more menus at Meal Planning Monday