Chicken and Mushroom Enchiladas with Beer-braised Black Beans

Here is a delicious family meal for you Mexican / Tex-Mex food lovers.  The majority of the alcohol cooks out of the beans leaving only the flavor, so it is kid safe.

Chicken and Mushroom Enchiladas
Ingredients

• 1 red bell pepper and 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 sweet onion (peeled, quartered and thinly sliced)
• 1 package of skinless boneless chicken breasts (typically three breasts in a package. Trim and discard any excess fat or gristle. Cut into bite size pieces)
• 4 cloves of garlic (peeled and minced)
• 1 package of fresh wild mushroom blend (typically contains crimini, shitake, and oyster mushrooms. coarsely chop into bite size chunks)
• small handful of fresh cilantro (rinsed, pick leaves off of stems discarding stems, and coarsely chop leaves)
• 1 fresh lime (cut in half to squeeze out juice)
• 1 package of medium flour tortillas (about 8' in diameter)
• 1/4 cup of ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon of ground chipotle pepper or 1 chipotle pepper in adobe sauce minced (increase or decrease amount based on spice preference)
• 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups of shredded Mexican cheese blend (or substitute shredded cheddar)

Method

Roast Peppers: Wash peppers under cold water.  Place on an aluminum-foil lined baking pan that has edges so any juice produced does not run off. Place oven rack near top and turn oven onto broil.  Place peppers under broiler (a few inches of clearance) and broil, turning peppers when the side facing the broiler turns mostly black and blistered.  Continue until both peppers are blistered and black on all sides.  Removed peppers from oven.  Carefully lift the aluminum foil with peppers out of the baking pan and place in a freezer to cool down to be handled.  After 10 - 15 minutes, remove peppers from freezer.  The peppers should be shriveled at this point.  Using your hands, pull blistered skins off the peppers.  The flesh of the pepper should not be black, instead a nice roasted variation of the original pepper color.  Tear open (they typically fall apart some) and remove the top stem part and all seeds.  It takes patience, but it is better to hand remove all of the skin and seeds without rinsing under water (which washes away the great flavored natural oils).  Tear cleaned, roasted pepper flesh into bite size pieces.

Prepare Sauce: Heat small sauce pan over medium high heat. Once warm, add a little oil to the pan to prevent sticking.  Add half of minced garlic and saute for 1 minute.  Add ground cumin and chipotle pepper and saute for half a minute.  Add crushed tomatoes and a healthy pinch of gray sea salt.  Stir well and reduce heat to medium low.  Cook, stirring occasionally for another 5 minutes to incorporate flavors.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Prepare Filling: Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Once the skillet is warmed up, add a little oil to the skillet to prevent sticking. Add onions and saute for 2 minutes.  Add chicken and sprinkle gray sea salt and fresh cracked pepper over chicken in skillet.  Cook chicken and onions stirring occasionally for another 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and other half of minced garlic to skillet and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is just cooked through (another 5 minutes or so). Turn off heat.   Drain and discard any liquid produced in the skillet. Add roasted pepper pieces, chopped cilantro, and fresh squeezed lime juice from both halves of the lime to the skillet.  Stir together.

Assemble and Bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Spread enough of the sauce onto the bottom of a rectangular 9x13 baking dish (such as pyrex) to barely cover the bottom (to prevent sticking).  Using 1 flour tortilla at a time, fill about a 1 1/4 inch diameter line of filling across the center of the tortilla (from one side to the other). Roll the tortilla around the filling to make a cylindrical shaped enchilada and place in the baking dish where the enchilada is going across the short width of the dish.  Repeat until a single layer of enchiladas cover the dish (7 enchiladas total in my experience).  Spread the remaining sauce across the top of the enchiladas in the baking dish such that it is completely covered with sauce.  Spread the shredded cheese all over the top of the sauce.  Place dish in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let it rest for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

Beer-braised Black Beans

Beer, at least interesting tasting beer, adds a great depth of flavor to food.  Pilsners, lagers, or ales could all be used (avoid stouts or porters for this).  I tend to use Sam Adams Light Lager and it has great flavor and I typically have it stocked.  Beer is great in chili recipes as well.

Adding the chopped red onion uncooked at the end add a great texture in addition to the flavor.  Adding the uncooked, cold tomato also adds an interesting and delicious dimension to this dish. I surprised myself with how delicious this turned out.

Ingredients

• 2 cans of black beans (drained)
• 2 cloves of garlic (peeled and minced)
• 1 beer
• 1/4 cup of small chopped red onion
• 1 large ripe tomato (diced)
• small handful of fresh cilantro (rinsed, pick leaves off of stems discarding stems, and coarsely chop leaves)
• 1 fresh lime (cut in half to squeeze out juice)
• 1 lb pepper jack cheese (shred)

Method

Heat medium sauce pot over medium high heat.  Once warm, add a small amount of oil to prevent sticking. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.  Add black beans, a healthy pinch of gray sea salt, and enough beer to barely fill to the top of the beans.  Turn heat to 75% and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until beer is mostly reduced to a very small amount of liquid in the pot. Turn off heat and mix in chopped red onion, diced tomatoes, chopped cilantro, and fresh squeezed lime juice.  To serve, spoon braised black beans on plate and sprinkle shredded pepper jack cheese on top.

Linguine and Clams with Caesar Salad

I love, love a good linguine and clams.  The pasta must be al dente with the perfect bite to it ("toothsome" quality).  This is a pasta dish that I always use a quality pasta and skip the healthier variations (whole grain, etc.).  It just is not the same without a great standard pasta (my favorite widely available brand is Barilla) -- the healthier variations of pasta do not yield the same level of al dente bite as the standard white pasta.  There are several keys to cooking a great pasta:

• Start with a quality pasta -- not all pastas have the same resulting al dente quality when properly cooked; some have no bite no matter how well prepared.  I suggest you try different brands until you find the one the works for you.  As I stated above, of the widely available brands, Barilla seems to perform the best on this front in my experience.
• First heat your large pasta pot full of water to a full boil
• Once boiling, add a large handful of kosher salt -- another key to success is the pasta water should have the same saltiness as sea water.  A large handful is around 3/4 cup, give or take.  It may seem like a lot of salt, but remember the water is discarded once the pasta is cooked -- and you will notice the improvement in pasta flavor.  Keep a box of kosher salt in the pantry for salting water.  Adding the salt after the water is boiling helps it dissolve better.
• Never add the pasta to the cooking water until it is at full boil and well salted. The salt should be fully dissolved in the boiling water first before adding the pasta.
• Never add oil to the pasta water -- it will prevent any sauces from properly coating the pasta
• When the pasta is cooking, stir regularly to prevent the pasta from sticking together
• It is imperative that you do not overcook the pasta and lose the al dente quality (becomes mushy).  Generally cook until a minute before the suggested cooking time based on the pasta type.  At this point, start checking the pasta regularly for doneness.  I pull out one pasta strand or shell and tear it in half.  You want the center white part to just have disappeared (meaning fully cooked) as an indicator it is done.
• When just done, strain the pasta immediately.  Do not allow it to sit in the water any longer.
• Never rinse the pasta 

These suggestions may seem trivial, but you will be delighted in the improvement in taste and texture of a properly cooked pasta.

Linguine and Clams

Ingredients

• A box of quality linguine pasta
• 4 shallots (peeled and sliced)
• 1/2 cup of diced pancetta (pancetta is italian bacon. Unlike standard bacon, pancetta is not smoked.  Smoked bacon is a strong enough flavor that it can overtake the flavor of the clams.  Pancetta is often found sliced thinly as round discs.  If you can find it, this recipe works better with pancetta that is in small cubes)
• 3 cloves of garlic (peeled and sliced thinly)
• 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flake (adjust amount to personal taste)
• 24 littleneck clams (discard any clams that are open before cooking.  Using your thumbs, scrub each clam well under running cold water)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of white wine (use an inexpensive Italian pinot grigio)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 small handful bunch of Italian flat-leaf parsley (curly parsley is for decoration only; flat-leaf parsley has much better flavor.  Rinse the parsley under cold water.  Pick leaves and discard any large stems--small stems are okay.  Coarsely chop parsley)
• 1 lemon (cut in half -- the fresh lemon juice will be used)
• 1/4 cup of quality extra virgin olive oil (there is a big differences in the taste of extra virgin olive oils.  Try tasting different brands until you find one you really like.  Cooking/heating olive oil dulls the flavor, so taste them uncooked)

Method

Cook the Pasta: Use the method described in the intro above to properly cook the pasta.

Cook the Clam Sauce:  Heat 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter in a large skillet with an available lid over medium plus heat (60%).  Once butter is melted, add shallots and pancetta to skillet.  Saute, stirring occasionally, for about 4 minutes.  Add garlic, red pepper flakes, and clams to skillet.  Saute for another 2 minutes, carefully stirring contents.  Add wine and bay leaves to skillet and turn heat up to medium high (75%).  The wine should come to a light boil and begin to cook off the alcohol.  Continue to cook, carefully stirring the contents (careful to not break the clam shells) to allow clams to take turns cooking in the center where it is typically hottest.  Cook until all clams have opened (or most clams; clams that refuse to open should also be discarded as they were dead before cooking).  During this process, after the strong alcohol smell has dissipated from the steam coming off the skillet (meaning the alcohol is mostly cooked out), cover with a lid to accelerate the process of the clams opening.  Once all the clams have opened, immediately turn off the heat (over cooking clams will make them rubbery).  Remove the bay leaves and stir in the parsley, 1 tablespoon of butter, and fresh lemon juice from half of the lemon.

Assemble:  Using empty pasta pot, add cooked pasta and clam sauce.  Carefully mix together.  Add fresh  lemon juice from other half of lemon and the extra virgin olive oil.  Stir and serve (depending on preference, fresh cracked black pepper goes well with non-tomato based pasta dishes).

Caesar Salad

Ingredients

• 1 head of romaine lettuce or 2 - 3 heads of bibb lettuce or a mix (washed and spun dry -- lettuce that is not dry will not allow the dressing to properly coat--do not crush or bruise the lettuce when drying; torn or cut into bite sized pieces)
• About 2 - 3 cups worth of cubed bread for making croutons (pick any loaf bread that seems interesting to you.  Cut into bite sized cubes)
• 1 small clove of garlic (peeled and minced)
• 1 heaping tablespoon of dijon mustard
• 1 half lemon
• 5 anchovies (the amount can be adjusted up or down depending on preference.  These are incorporated in the dressing and add a great flavor.  People who typically do not like anchovies do not detect/taste them in the dressing as it is a standard component of caesar dressing.  Mince anchovies)
• 1 egg yolk or 1 heaping tablespoon of light mayonnaise (the egg yolk is the traditional method, as mayonnaise is made from egg yolk, oil and lemon juice--you can substitute mayonnaise if you are uneasy of the raw egg yolk or want a lighter variation.  The citric acid in the fresh lemon juice chemically cooks the egg yolk)
• 1 - 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• About 1/4 cup of quality extra virgin olive oil
• Shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (use a vegetable peeler to peel a block of Parmigiano Reggiano)

Method

Make Croutons:  Place bread cubes on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet and place in a 350 degree (F) oven.  Bake until bread is just hard on the outer crusts.  For me, perfect croutons have a crunch outside, but a soft inside (instead of hard all the way through).  You can check by carefully touching the bread with you finger to see if the outside feels hard, but not solid through.  Generally should take 10 - 15 minutes in the oven.  Allow croutons to cool before adding to the salad bowl.

Make Caesar Dressing:  Use a mortar and pestle when making salad dressing with garlic (or with fresh herbs).  Smashing garlic develops greater flavor than a blender or simply stirring together.  A real caesar salad traditionalist would have a large wooden salad bowl that is reserved for making caesar salads only. The garlic would be smashed against the inside of the bowl using the back of a spoon (over repeated making of caesar salads, the wood would become "seasoned" with the garlic and enhance the flavor of caesar salads made in the bowl).  This wooden caesar salad bowl becomes sacred (hand wash only) and it is a real treat to make authentic caesar salad for your family and friends with a well seasoned bowl.

Add garlic, dijon mustard, lemon juice, anchovies, egg yolk (or mayonnaise), balsamic vinegar and some fresh cracked pepper (fresh cracking pepper directly into the other ingredients will allow the natural oils from the black pepper to incorporate into the dressing) into the mortar (if using the traditional wooden salad bowl, smash the garlic around the insides of the bowl first before adding the other ingredients).  Using the pestle (or heavy wooden spoon if using a wooden bowl), smash and grind the ingredients until well incorporated.  While rapidly mixing the contents with the pestle or wooden spoon, slowly add the olive oil.  Continue to mix until the dressing is fully incorporated and emulsified.  

Assemble:  In a large salad bowl (or the same wooden salad bowl if used to make the dressing), add the lettuce, croutons, and dressing.  Using your clean hands (the best mixers for this job) carefully mix the salad until the dressing is well incorporated and coating the lettuce (do not crush or bruise the lettuce when mixing).  Add the shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and mix some more.  Crack fresh pepper over the top and serve.

Side Variation: Broccolini with Fontina

The broccolini from my prior post Fish With Broccolini, Forbidden Rice, and a Salad With Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette was such a hit with the kids ("trees") that I decided to make it again.  However, using what I had on hand, I made a new variation that was delicious.  It is essentially the same recipe except with Fontina cheese instead of the pine nuts.

Broccolini with Fontina
Ingredients

• 1-2 bunch(es) of broccolini (amount depending on how many are being served. Wash broccolini under cold water, trim off very ends of stocks, and remove any leaves)
• 1 large shallot (peeling and sliced into thin slices)
• 1 large clove of garlic (peeled and thinly sliced)
• 1 small lemon (cut in half and remove any loose seeds visible on the cut halves)
• 1 cup of shredded Fontina cheese

Method
Blanch Broccolini: This blanching step makes a big difference in the tenderness, color, and flavor of the vegetable (you will be amazed at how vibrant green, green vegetables become when properly blanched).  Bring a large pot (like a pot for cooking pasta) of water to full boil (much more water than broccolini as it is important that the addition of the broccolini to the water does not lower the temperature too much), add a large handful of kosher salt and bring back to a full boil. Add broccolini to boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  While the broccolini is cooking in the boiling water, separately in a large bowl add 1 - 2 cups worth of ice and fill most of the way with cold water (the "ice bath").  After the 2 minutes, turn off the heat and pull the broccolini out of the water with tongs or a slotted spoon, shaking off excess hot water; place broccolini in the prepared ice bath (this will arrest the cooking process and "set" the vibrant green color).  After a few minutes when the broccolini feel completely cold to the touch, remove broccolini from the ice bath and set aside on top of paper towels to drain.

Cook Broccolini: Heat medium to large skillet (depending on amount of broccolini) over medium heat.  Once the skillet is warm, add a few tablespoons of olive oil, the shallots, and place the two lemon halves cut side down in the skillet (sauteing lemon changes the flavor).  Saute the shallots for a few minutes until they become slightly translucent.  Add the broccolini, garlic, a pinch of gray sea salt and some freshly cracked black pepper to the skillet.  Continue to saute.  Carefully lift up the lemons to check if the cut side is slightly caramelized (colored from cooking); once slightly caramelized, remove from skillet and side aside to cool.  Saute broccolini for about 4 minutes total.  Turn off heat and add shredded Fontina to the mix.  Mix broccolini and cheese until cheese melts (from the residual heat) and coats mixture.  Carefully squeeze one lemon half over hand or strainer over skillet to catch any seeds while the juice goes into the skillet on the broccolini mix.  Mix broccolini side and serve.

Fish With Broccolini, Forbidden Rice, and a Salad With Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette

A delicious and fairly healthy meal (save for the blue cheese in the salad and a little bit of butter to make the dishes).  The kids called the broccolini "trees" which made it fun for them to eat, even the very picky six-year old.  The forbidden rice (sometimes called black rice) may be difficult to find as it is a specialty rice.  You can substitute another rice such as brown basmati, or other.  Be sure to follow the instructions that come with the rice in terms of cooking time.  But definitely try the forbidden rice if you can find it (Whole Foods has it, Giant Eagle occasionally carries it).

Forbidden rice is a treat. Black "forbidden rice" is so named because originally it was considered the Emperor's (of China) rice and was literally forbidden for anyone else to eat it. This heirloom rice is high in nutritional value including iron. It is a deep black color and turns deep purple when cooked. According to a study presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), "one spoonful of black rice bran contains more anthocyanin antioxidants than a spoonful of blueberries and better yet, black rice offers more fiber and vitamin E antioxidants, but less sugar." Perhaps more importantly, it has a delicious, nutty flavor. Truly a superfood.

I must thank Chef Hartmut Handke for the inspiration for the Salad with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette. Dining at his fine restaurant (before sadly closing in 2009) also turned me on to the deliciousness of using fresh chives and more use of onions (of all types) in dishes.  I also "borrowed" (reverse engineered) his delicious chive potato mousselini (a delicious variation that elevates mashed potatoes to a celestial level; but that is for a future blog posting).

Forbidden Rice side
Ingredients

• 1 cup Forbidden ("Black") Rice (see above for more info)
• 1 3/4 cups chicken stock (I generally prefer buying stock over broth; broth is reconstituted with water whereas stock is in the same form it was made to)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 large clove of garlic (peeled and minced)
• 1 bay leaf

Method
Place butter in small cooking pot (that has a tight fitting lid available) and place on medium heat.  Once the butter has mostly melted, add garlic and saute for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add rice, stock, the bay leaf, and a healthy pinch of gray sea salt.  Stir pot contents and turn heat up to medium high.  Once a small boil starts, stir once more, cover with lid, and turn heat down to low.  Simmer for 30 minutes and then remove from heat.  Let it sit, covered, for another 10 minutes before discarding bay leaf, fluffing with fork and serving.

Fish With Broccolini
Ingredients

• 1-2 bunch(es) of broccolini (amount depending on how many are being served. Wash broccolini under cold water, trim off very ends of stocks, and remove any leaves)
• 1/4 cup of pine nuts (place nuts in a dry non-stick skillet on medium heat; allow to toast, shaking skillet occasionally to turn pine nuts.  Once the pine nuts have slightly browned and have a toasted smell, immediately remove from heat and set aside.  Be careful as pine nuts can burn easily.  This extra toasting step is well worth it for the flavor boost it provides)
• 1 shallot (peeling and sliced into thin slices)
• 1 large clove of garlic (peeled and thinly sliced)
• 1 small lemon (cut in half and remove any loose seeds visible on the cut halves)
• fillets of Tilapia or other fish of choice (I often use Tilapia because it is inexpensive, easy to prepare--no bones or skin, mild in flavor for the less adventurous seafood eaters among us, and sustainable if from America or Central America -- avoid Tilapia from China or Taiwan.  Get as many fillets as people being served--the recipe is assuming no more than 8 fillets.  Rinse fillets under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle each side of fillets with gray sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper)
• unsalted butter (amount depends on amount of fish to cook)

Method
Blanch Broccolini: This blanching step makes a big difference in the tenderness, color, and flavor of the vegetable (you will be amazed at how vibrant green, green vegetables become when properly blanched).  Bring a large pot (like a pot for cooking pasta) of water to full boil (much more water than broccolini as it is important that the addition of the broccolini to the water does not lower the temperature too much), add a large handful of kosher salt and bring back to a full boil. Add broccolini to boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  While the broccolini is cooking in the boiling water, separately in a large bowl add 1 - 2 cups worth of ice and fill most of the way with cold water (the "ice bath").  After the 2 minutes, turn off the heat and pull the broccolini out of the water with tongs or a slotted spoon, shaking off excess hot water; place broccolini in the prepared ice bath (this will arrest the cooking process and "set" the vibrant green color).  After a few minutes when the broccolini feel completely cold to the touch, remove broccolini from the ice bath and set aside on top of paper towels to drain.

Cook and Assemble Broccolini Side: Heat medium to large skillet (depending on amount of broccolini) over medium heat.  Once the skillet is warm, add a few tablespoons of olive oil, the shallots, and place the two lemon halves cut side down in the skillet (sauteing lemon changes the flavor).  Saute the shallots for a few minutes until they become slightly translucent.  Add the broccolini, garlic, a pinch of gray sea salt and some freshly cracked black pepper to the skillet.  Continue to saute.  Carefully lift up the lemons to check if the cut side is slightly caramelized (colored from cooking); once slightly caramelized, remove from skillet and side aside to cool.  Saute broccolini for about 4 minutes total.  Turn off heat and add toasted pine nuts to the mix.  Carefully squeeze one lemon half over hand or strainer over skillet to catch any seeds while the juice goes into the skillet on the broccolini mix.  Mix broccolini side and set aside.


Prepare fish:  This is a standard method for preparing delicious white fish (such as tilapia).  In a non-stick skillet, melt 4 tablespoons of butter until it begins to turn brown (a "brown butter" sauce).  Add fish and cook until the flesh is opaque half way up the side of the flesh; flip the fish and cook the other side until completely opaque (roughly 3 minutes per side depending on thickness of fish).

Final Assembly: Place a fish fillet on a plate, top with broccolini side and squeeze a little lemon juice on top from the other lemon half.

Salad With Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 2 heads of butter or boston lettuce (I prefer the red over the all green but either will work great.  Hand tear lettuce into bite sized pieces discarding thick center ribs.  Wash under cold water and spin dry -- it is important for lettuce to dry as much as possible for the dressing to properly coat it)
• 1 large or 2 medium shallots (peeled and sliced; slices pulled apart into rings)
• 1 heaping tablespoon of dijon mustard (the secret weapon for tasty salad dressings)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh chives
• 1/2 cup plus of shelled walnuts
• a small amount of broken up blue cheese (amount depending on personal preference; gorgonzola or other blues can be used)

Method
In small skillet, add olive oil and shallots and saute ("roast") over medium heat.  Once shallots are starting to brown, turn off heat.  Stir in mustard, vinegar, and chives.  Stir vigorously until dressing is consistent ("emulsified").  In salad bowl, add lettuce, walnuts, and blue cheese chunks.  Once the dressing is completely cool, dress salad well and crack fresh black pepper over before serving.

Delicious Healthy Lasagna

This lasagna offers a healthier variation than the standard lasagna, but is balanced to offer great flavor.  Options to make it even more healthy:

• substitute turkey-based italian sausage for the normal pork italian sausage (or skip the sausage all together and substitute additional mushroom types and/or diced eggplant.  If skipping the sausage, add a tablespoon of fennel seed and a 1/4 cup of finely chopped flat-leaf italian parsley to the mixture while cooking in the skillet)
• skip the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and use less of the low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella (low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella is about 70% of the calories and fat of Parmigiano Reggiano, the "undisputed king of cheeses", but doesn't come close from a flavor perspective)
• (for the real adventurous) use large, thin, roasted slices of zucchini or eggplant instead of the pasta sheets (roasted to remove the natural liquid in the zucchini/eggplant that would otherwise make the lasagna watery)
• substitute low-fat, 1% milkfat cottage cheese for the low-fat ricotta (48% the calories, 12% the fat of the ricotta)
• skip the egg
• skip the white wine
• try to eat smaller portions ;-)

Wine recommendation: a nice Italian red of course

Delicious Healthy Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 lb or 2 - 3 links of sweet italian sausage (it using links, remove and discard the outer casing)
• 2 large portabella mushroom caps or 6 oz package of sliced portabella mushrooms (small dice)
• 1 medium sweet onion (small dice that should equate to 1 to 1 1/2 cups of diced onion)
• 4 cloves of garlic (peeled and minced)
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine (such as pinot gris)
• 14.5 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 28 oz can of peeled whole plum tomatoes (drain and discard surrounding liquid)
• 6 oz can of tomato paste
• 1 bunch of fresh basil (discard stems, chop into small pieces)
• 15 oz container of low-fat ricotta cheese
• 1 egg (crack into bowl removing any shell; beat to a smooth consistency)
• 1 package of frozen chopped spinach (remove spinach from bag/box and place in small mesh strainer;  run under hot water to completely thaw; shake as much liquid out of spinach as possible while in strainer; fold three large paper towel sheets onto themselves, place thawed spinach in center, close paper towel around spinach and carefully squeeze over sink to move most of the liquid; repeat with another dry set of paper towels to completely remove liquid from thawed spinach)
• box of whole grain lasagna pasta sheets (pasta should be brown if whole grain)
• 16 oz bag of shredded, low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (parmesan cheese is really no comparison to Parmigiano Reggiano in terms of flavor; no matter what, do not use the stuff in the large green tube)

Method

Prepare "meat" mixture: In a large, non-stick skillet begin to brown italian sausage on medium high (6 on a 10 position heat scale) (non-stick allows us to avoid adding any oil).  As sausage is browning, chop into very small pieces (using wooden or plastic tool; do not use metal on your non-stick cookware). After about 4 minutes, add mushrooms, onion, and a small dash of gray sea salt to skillet and continue to cook. After about 3 minutes when the mushrooms are looking partially cooked (become darker in color and slightly smaller in size as they give off liquid), temporarily remove skillet from heat in order to carefully drain and discard any sausage grease and mushroom liquid from skillet. Return skillet to heat and stir in garlic. After 1 minute of cooking, add white wine to skillet and cook until the wine is almost completely evaporated (the wine will add a depth of flavor to the mushrooms).  Add the crushed tomatoes, the plum tomatoes (add one tomato to skillet at a time, using hands to pull apart the tomato over the skillet into small pieces), the tomato paste, the basil, and another dash of gray sea salt.  Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and then turn off heat.

Prepare ricotta mixture:  In a medium to small bowl, mix ricotta, egg, spinach and a small dash of gray sea salt until well mixed.

Assemble and bake:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).  In a 13 x 9 pyrex or similar bakeware, spread a thin layer of the meat mixture to barely cover the bottom (should be about a cup of mixture or so), add a single layer of uncooked pasta sheets (you may need to break off some corners to neatly fit corners of bakeware; do not precook the pasta sheets--they will be cooked in the oven).  Spread half of the remaining meat mixture on top of the first pasta layer.  Spread half of the ricotta spinach mixture on top of the meat layer.  Spread half of the mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano on top of the ricotta spinach layer.  Add the second layer of uncooked pasta sheets to cover the first cheese layer. Spread the remaining meat mixture over the second pasta layer, followed by the remaining ricotta spinach mixture, followed by the remaining cheeses.  Use the flat of your open hands, gently press down lasagna in bakeware to pack and make level.  Tightly cover with aluminum foil and make in the oven for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!