Simple Italian-Style Meat Sauce

 Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Grade:B-

Make Again: No

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (March 2008)
Recipe Source: Best of ATK 2009


This was a fairly simple recipe but it did involve getting out the food processor to chop some mushrooms, which are there to add meatiness. I don't like mushrooms, but can handle them when processed this way. I don't mind their flavor, just the texture. The sauce was fine, but just not incredible, so I probably won't make again. I think if I want meat with my sauce, I'd like some meatballs instead. I am coming to the conclusion that I just don't love pasta sauces with ground meat.


I will not make this again, but if you like ground meat sauces, you might still want to try this one. It is more a personal taste issue for me, not that the recipe is bad.

Beef and Vegetable Soup

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (Sept 2007)
Recipe: America's Test Kitchen TV Show (Season 9)

No, that picture doesn't have that much to do with my soup. But I couldn't get a good pic and I have to talk about mushrooms, so I thought of this one (taken at Acadia in Maine). I don't like mushrooms. I like the flavor, but I don't like their sliminess. Sometimes, when they are mixed in with things they are are ok, if cut fairly small. This recipe says that the mushrooms are important for contributing to the meaty flavor of the broth, and allows the soup to be prepared quickly.

So, I didn't want to skip them. I tried using less, and also did something dumb. The recipe called for cutting the mushrooms in quarters, but I chopped them really small, hoping they would disappear more into the soup. All that did was make the mushrooms harder to pick out, because I did find them rather unappetizing.

Other than that though, the soup was delicious. The broth was delicious. The meat was delicious. But I had to pick through every spoonful to remove mushrooms. That was not fun. I also should mention I didn't feel like the celery added that much.

I did not add the optional potatoes (since they weren't listed as an ingredient, and I forgot them.) I wish I had. The soup wasn't quite hearty enough for me. In the end, I scooped up all the meat and carrots (picking out the mushrooms) and some broth for leftovers. Then I strained the remaining broth and froze it for later. [Update: I have used the broth again. I basically cooked the meat in the soy sauce, added chopped carrots and potato (slightly precooked in microwave), then added the defrosted broth. I cooked this about 20 minutes then added some frozen peas. This was delicious and mushroom free!

But if I make again, I have a mushroom issue to deal with. I'm not quite sure how I would handle it. Definitely not cut them up tiny though.

Low-Fat Meaty Lasagna

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 45-60 minutes (sauce)
Assemble Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 25-30 minutes
Rest Time: 20 minutes

Grade: A+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (February 2007)

This was better (and easier) than I thought it would be. Lasagna can be a pain, but the sauce was not that hard to put together. I did use less mushrooms (about half) because they only had baby portabella at the store and they were kind of expensive. Plus I don't love mushrooms. But the method of chopping them up in the food processor was easy, and made them very easy to take and fit into the sauce nicely.

I did not cook my sauce enough and it was a little bit watery. Next time I'll let it go longer. The bechamel sauce on top was very easy and tasted pretty good. Overall, I am pretty happy with this recipe. It was much easier to put together than most lasagnas, because it doesn't have ricotta or cheese. I love the Barilla no cook noodles too - they end up tasting almost like fresh pasta, so this is a nice dish and one I would serve to others. They would be surprised it was light. (I think a little over 350 calories per serving.)

Update: I froze 6 servings of this as leftovers, and have been eating them almost weekly since I made this. The reheated lasagna has been very, very good. There is sometimes a slight bit of separation in the cheese sauce, and maybe a tiny bit of grease that seeps out, but it is pretty minor and everything really tastes great still. I like that the Barilla noodles don't get so thick and waterlogged liked some other pastas do when saved for leftovers.

Veggie Burgers

Prep Time: 75 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Grade: A- (would be an A+, but too time consuming)

Make Again: Maybe, but not very often.

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (July 2005)

This recipe makes 12 veggie burgers, which can be frozen. This fact does make the effort almost worth it, because these burgers were some of the best veggie burgers I've ever had. I used to be a vegetarian, and I have tried a lot in my day.

This recipe calls for a lot of ingredients: mushrooms, bulgar, leeks, onions, celery, lentils, panko and more. Luckily I had everything except the mushrooms. I used about half the called for mushrooms, because I am not a big mushroom fan, but you don't notice them at all, so I would probably use the full amount next time.