topic Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone. in Kitchen

My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

house_cat — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 15:28:53 GMT

Frozen Stouffer's Lasagna 😧

It's one of my favorite family "recipes", lol. I'm not a fan of lasagna, but I've made it many times because my husband loves it - then one day I got lazy and bought Stouffer's. He didn't even mention the difference, so I never went back.

Do you have a cheat "recipe"?

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

cherry — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 15:30:17 GMT

NO ,but I do frequent restaurants, often

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

QVCkitty1 — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 15:33:27 GMT

I usually make my own spaghetti sauce, but when I'm lazy, I love Rao's. and Mario Batali's sauce. They ave good ingredients and are lower in sugar and sodium.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

BirdieGal — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 15:41:08 GMT

This is mine. I have it posted on a recipe site.

Cheater Berry Pancake Syrup

2 - 18 oz. jar(s)
blackberry jam, seedless (i used smuckers brand)
1 1/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
3/4 jar water (use the same jar the jam was in)
1 tsp lemon juice (optional, only if you find syrup too sweet)

Empty both jars of jam into a medium saucepan.

2Add the 3/4 jar of water. Add warm water and shake to get all of the jammy goodness out!

3Dump your berries into the purple pool.

4Mix using a whisk (yeah, I know...some berries get caught in it, but cooking is an adventure!) until incorporated.

5Heat to boiling while stirring, reduce to a simmer (watch it, you do not want it to boil over...MESSY). I help the berries along a bit and partially smash them while the mixture is simmering.

6Continue simmering until mixture is reduced to a syrup-like consistency.

Taste. At this point add the lemon juice if you think it is too sweet. With the jam that I use, I never need the lemon.

7Remove from heat, syrup will continue to thicken a bit as it cools.

Once cool...serve or put into container of your choice. I use

canning jars.

The picture is what was left after serving syrup over four Belgian waffles.

Enjoy!

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

house_cat — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 15:41:12 GMT

@QVCkitty1 wrote:
I usually make my own spaghetti sauce, but when I'm lazy, I love Rao's. and Mario Batali's sauce. They ave good ingredients and are lower in sugar and sodium.

WHY must they put so much sugar in jarred sauces? Francesco Rinaldi was on sale a few weeks ago, so I bought two jars. I used them last week and we could barely eat it. It was awfully sweet. I've never used sugar in my homemade sauce and don't understand why they need to use it in prepared sauces. I've heard that Rao's is very good, but I can't justify the price.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

Mimi 1883 — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 15:49:10 GMT

@house_cat wrote:
Frozen Stouffer's Lasagna 😧
It's one of my favorite family "recipes", lol. I'm not a fan of lasagna, but I've made it many times because my husband loves it - then one day I got lazy and bought Stouffer's. He didn't even mention the difference, so I never went back.

Do you have a cheat "recipe"?

@house_cat Love Stouffer’s lasagna!

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

KingstonsMom — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 16:11:02 GMT

@house_cat

We love Stouffers Lasagna (Italiano, it has bigger chunks of tomatoes in the sauce)!

We couldn't tell the difference between this and my homemade version, which is much more work and more expensive for the ingredients!

We have this at least once every 2 weeks.

So we 'cheat' together, LOL!

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

VanSleepy — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 16:52:36 GMT

I had heard good things about the Stouffer's lasagna so we tried it. We did not care for it at all. But then we sometimes have On-Cor Salisbury steaks which others probably cringe at the thought lol

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

January121 — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 17:04:53 GMT

Sorry but, you cannot compare homemade Lasagna with Stouffer's frozen Lasagna .... there is absolutely no comparison 😊

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

silkyk — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 17:09:57 GMT

Stouffer's has nothin' on my DH's special lasagna....he adds a layer of hard boiled egg slices for one of the layers and YUM! A great addition! Think I'll keep him....and his cookin'.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

Sweetbay magnolia — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 17:10:04 GMT

Progresso soups. I don't claim that they are "mine", but I doctor them up for DH and he loves it. More of everything goes in the pot.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

QVCkitty1 — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 17:10:12 GMT

@house_cat wrote:
@QVCkitty1 wrote:
I usually make my own spaghetti sauce, but when I'm lazy, I love Rao's. and Mario Batali's sauce. They ave good ingredients and are lower in sugar and sodium.

WHY must they put so much sugar in jarred sauces? Francesco Rinaldi was on sale a few weeks ago, so I bought two jars. I used them last week and we could barely eat it. It was awfully sweet. I've never used sugar in my homemade sauce and don't understand why they need to use it in prepared sauces. I've heard that Rao's is very good, but I can't justify the price.

@house_cat, The two I mentioned are high priced, but my grocery store often has them on sale, so I stock up. I totally agree about the sugar, since I started reading labels, I'm shocked at the sugar content of processed foods.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

Mz iMac — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 17:34:39 GMT

I use Parks Hot Sausage instead of hamburger when I make lasagna for myself, SO & famiy. They love it! However, I am a lazy cook so.....

When feeling lazy I buy Marie Calanders 3 meat 4 cheese lasagna.

================

When baking fish I use Campbell's shrimp soup. Everyone thinks I home made the sauce. An aunt taught that trick.

===============

No BBQ sauce....

Heiz ketchup, Accent & Teriaky (sp) sauce. Same aunt.

==========

I can't make gravy so I use water & Argo corn starch. Yup! Same aunt (she hates cooking).

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

momtochloe — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 18:00:47 GMT

@QVCkitty1 wrote:
@house_cat wrote:
@QVCkitty1 wrote:
I usually make my own spaghetti sauce, but when I'm lazy, I love Rao's. and Mario Batali's sauce. They ave good ingredients and are lower in sugar and sodium.

WHY must they put so much sugar in jarred sauces? Francesco Rinaldi was on sale a few weeks ago, so I bought two jars. I used them last week and we could barely eat it. It was awfully sweet. I've never used sugar in my homemade sauce and don't understand why they need to use it in prepared sauces. I've heard that Rao's is very good, but I can't justify the price.
@house_cat, The two I mentioned are high priced, but my grocery store often has them on sale, so I stock up. I totally agree about the sugar, since I started reading labels, I'm shocked at the sugar content of processed foods.

@house_cat I agree with @QVCkitty1 if you can snag a jar of Rao's on sale it's worth a try. They are delicious (and I love Stouffer's Lasagna too!).

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

LolaMontez — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 18:02:33 GMT

Bush's Grillin' Beans, Southern Pit Barbeque flavor. IMO, these taste better than homemade. They are a little bit spicy. I use them as a side dish and also make Beans and Franks with them. I just add a little chopped onion and sometimes chopped green pepper and slced Ball Park Beef Franks. . . stir and bake until bubbly. Serve with some cornbread and coleslaw and the man child is in Heaven.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

RedTop — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 19:07:42 GMT

I often use Barilla marinara sauce for spaghetti and lasagna dishes when I don’t make my sauce from scratch.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

Mominohio — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 19:23:05 GMT

@house_cat wrote:
@QVCkitty1 wrote:
I usually make my own spaghetti sauce, but when I'm lazy, I love Rao's. and Mario Batali's sauce. They ave good ingredients and are lower in sugar and sodium.

WHY must they put so much sugar in jarred sauces? Francesco Rinaldi was on sale a few weeks ago, so I bought two jars. I used them last week and we could barely eat it. It was awfully sweet. I've never used sugar in my homemade sauce and don't understand why they need to use it in prepared sauces. I've heard that Rao's is very good, but I can't justify the price.

@house_cat

@QVCkitty1

Rao's is the very best store bought sauce I've ever tasted.

Sam's Club was carrying huge jars (can't remember the ounces), for the same or less as the normal smaller size in the grocery store, but they stopped carrying it (I hate that about Sam's Club, just get into something and then they don't carry it anymore).

It is ridiculously expensive, but if trying to eat clean it is a really good sauce. I'd never have been able to afford it when raising my kid, but I do treat us to it on occasion now that he is grown and gone.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

Mominohio — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 19:26:21 GMT

@January121 wrote:
Sorry but, you cannot compare homemade Lasagna with Stouffer's frozen Lasagna .... there is absolutely no comparison 😊

I think it depends on what you are used to.

I've had a lot of homeade lasagnas that were simpy horrible.

Not everyone is a very good Italian cook. It takes a lot of ingredients and skill to make a really good lasagna.

To me it is like a good pie. Following a recipe isn't enough for it to be great. You have to have some experience and skill to get one that is super good. Some things just require experience and a 'feel' for it, more so than just a recipe.

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

IMW — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 19:50:05 GMT

Good for you!

Re: My cheat "recipe"... ssshhh... don't tell anyone.

jackthebear — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 20:53:23 GMT

@house_cat wrote:
@QVCkitty1 wrote:
I usually make my own spaghetti sauce, but when I'm lazy, I love Rao's. and Mario Batali's sauce. They ave good ingredients and are lower in sugar and sodium.

WHY must they put so much sugar in jarred sauces? Francesco Rinaldi was on sale a few weeks ago, so I bought two jars. I used them last week and we could barely eat it. It was awfully sweet. I've never used sugar in my homemade sauce and don't understand why they need to use it in prepared sauces. I've heard that Rao's is very good, but I can't justify the price.

Agree, the only jarred sauce I use in Colanna's (sp) could be a regional brand around here, frequently on sale for $1.

it is made with no added sugar, which is one reason I stopped buying sauce and usually make my own, but my kid likes to have a jar for noodles and that is easy.