Dad's Favorite Turkey Lasagna

I like to use all Trader Joe's products, sans the turkey and mushrooms. 

1 box Tj's Lasagna noodles (I love that these are flat, no ridges on sides)

1 jar three cheese sauce 

1 pint cottage cheese 

1 pint ricotta cheese

6 large button mushrooms

1 lb ground turkey 

1-2 cups shredded parmasean and mozzarella cheese

Salt, pepper and onion flakes. 

1 teaspoon butter

Preheat oven at 350. 

In a skillet brown the turkey with 1 tsp salt and pepper and onion flakes to taste. Cook through, set aside. ( I like to remove any oil from cooking)

Dice mushroom into slightly larger chunks and brown in saucepan with butter. Once cooked through add turkey and jar of sauce. (Keep a small amount of sauce to add thin layer to lasagna pan. 

Heat for about 5-10 minutes on medium. 

Use a 9 by 12 glass pan, place very thin layer of sauce, then place 3 noodle uncooked vertically across pan. (The tjs noodle are no boil, but make sure you are using this kind, otherwise precook the noodles) 

Use half turkey sauce mix and apply layer over noodles. 

Then spread a mix of ricotta and cottage cheese on top sauce/meat mixture (You will use 1/3 of containers)

3 more noodles, repeat meat/sauce, cottage/ricotta cheese. 

3 more noodles, use the last 1/3 of cottage/ricotta cheese and apply on top noodles. 

Sprinkle parmesan and mozzarella on top. 

Cook for 20 minutes at 350 with foil 

Remove foil and cook an additional 20 minutes. 

Let cool before eating. 

Mirepoix soup starter

This is a recipe for my favorite kind of soup starter, it's the perfect base for a variety of soups, like chicken noodle, dill pickle, chowders and more!

Ingredients:

5 carrots, diced
5 celery stalks , diced
5-7 potatos depending on size (you can use any variety of potato, I like to change it up depending on soup but typically use red potatoes, or yukon golds I prefer to leave the skin on)
4 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper ( I like to use a mix of sea salt and himilayian salt)
2 chicken breasts (Optional if you want this soup to be vegetarian you can make without chicken)
1 small yellow or red onion or 2 small shallots
1 packet knorr homestyle soup starter Chicken or vegetable (This is kinda cheating but I love these!!)
http://www.knorr.com/product/category/245804/homestyle-stock-
8 cups water

Soup pot:
Add 8 cups of water and 1 packet knorr soup starter to a large pot, cube the potatoes and add.
Boil potatoes at medium-high heat for 20 minutes.

Frying pan:
In a frying pan, add butter, carrots, celery, onions (or shallots) salt and pepper.
Start with a teaspoon each of salt and pepper, add more salt and pepper to taste during simmer phase.
Simmer vegetables and butter for 20 minutes.


While the veggies cook shred the chicken, I use rotisserie chicken for my husband, and leave the soup vegetarian for me. You can use any kind of chicken breast though.

Once 20 minutes have passed check your veggies
The potatoes are ready if they slide off a fork when poked.
The mirepoix is ready when the onion/celery looks translucent.

At this point you can increase the heat on the frying pan and brown the veggies for a few minutes, if you prefer unbrowned veggies skip this step.

Add the frying pan contents to the soup pot, add the chicken, and salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer for another 20-45 minutes, and enjoy! Stay tuned for ways to expand upon this recipe.