Working Girl Cooks!

We just got back from Twain Harte and are back in the city and getting ready to get back to work tomorrow. We had such a wonderrful weekend and I did not want it to end. :( My grandparents have a cute little pair of cabins right on the lake. It was beautiful there and surprisingly warm this weekend. It is so different up there compared to the city. It is quiet and so peaceful. The shops are so small and so cute. I have never seen so many antique shops in my life. And the people…well the people are definitely small town people!

I was able to do some writing this weekend but not nearly as much as I had hoped. But I finally finished my final pumpkin recipe! YAY! This is a very good way to use up leftover pumpkin puree and leftover turkey. It’s a recipe I made up on my own and it turned out really good (at least I thought so!).

I Just made a small one because my family only consists of two people and I do not want to be eating left over lasagna for a week! To begin, I boiled half a package of lasagna noodles according to package directions and greased a 9x9 pan.

For the filling I took some leftover pumpkin puree (about 1 1/2 cups) and some leftover ground turkey that I had seasoned and used to make burgers earlier in the week. This recipe would also be very good with leftover turkey from thanksgiving, or chicken, or no meat at all! For the filling, I mixed the pumpkin puree, ground turkey, some ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon together. Then I seasoned it with a little bit of salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble the lasagna, I layered three lasagna noodles on the bottom of the pan, topped it with half of the pumpkin-turkey mix, and topped this with mozzarella cheese. Then I repeated this with the second layer, then topped that with a final layer of noodles and cheese. My noodles were a little longer than the pan so it’s not exactly the prettiest lasagna. I’m still working on aesthetics!

Next I made the walnut pesto cream sauce that would top the lasagna. The ingredients for this are: 1/2 cup olive oil, 3-5 cloves of garlic, 2 cups of toasted walnuts, two pieces of bread soaked in milk, and a cup of parmesan cheese.

To make the pesto, throw the walnuts and garlic in a food processor and pulse until crumbled. Then add the milk soaked bread, and olive oil. Pulse until a thick, creamy texture is achieved.

Place the pesto in a bowl and mix in the parmesan cheese by hand. This makes way more pesto than you need. I used about half of it for the lasagna and saved half for some pasta I made the next week.

To finish making the sauce for the lasagna place half the walnut pesto in a sauce pan over low heat and thin with a little cream. Pour sauce over the lasagna and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30-45 minutes until the sauce is set and the cheese is warm and bubbly. Sprinkle the lasagna with a little parmesan cheese and allow to cool before serving. Lasagna is best served reheated the next day.