MIL's Red Beans & Rice

My husband got this recipe from his mother and brought it along when we got married. It's on a stained index card that we just keep hanging on to. It takes several hours to make, but there's enough for a party...or to freeze for another day when you only have time to make rice and cornbread!

1 pound dried red beans, rinsed
1 large ham hock
2 quarts water
3 cups green onion, chopped
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 T salt
1 t red pepper
1 t black pepper
1/4 t dried oregano
1/4 t dried thyme
1 T Worcestershire
3 dashes tabasco (optional)
4 oz. tomato sauce
1 pound any smoked sausage, cut into 3/4" pieces

hot cooked rice

1. Place rinsed ham hock in soup pot with the beans and the water. Salt the water if desired and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook about an hour.
2. Remove ham hock to cutting board. Set aside.
3. Add vegetables, seasonings and tomato sauce to pot. Cook slowly for another hour.
4. Add sausage and cook another 45 minutes. Remove bits of ham from the ham bone and return to pan; cook another 10 minutes and serve over hot rice with tabasco to taste.

Too-Easy Lasagna

I'd always made lasagna "the long way" until I found this recipe in Food & Family magazine, Winter 2008. While not quite as authentically Italian, perhaps, as my old recipe, this one is so much faster...takes so many fewer pans...and is eaten just as enthusiastically by the whole family!

1 pound ground beef
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 C shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided
1 15-oz container part-skim ricotta
1/2 C grated or shredded parmesan, divided
1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped
1 26-oz jar spaghetti sauce (I like Newman's Own marinara)
1 1/4 C water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked (regular noodles, not the "no-boil" kind...whole grain works fine!)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray lasagna pan with non-stick spray.
2. Brown meat over medium-high heat; drain.Add spaghetti sauce to meat; put water in jar, cover and shake well. Add water to pan. Stir well.
3. Mix egg, 1 1/4 C mozzarella, ricotta, 1/4 C parmesan and parsley until well blended.
4. Spread 1 C of sauce in bottom of pan. Top with 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture and 1 C of sauce. Repeat two more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles and the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and then parmesan cheeses. Cover pan with greased foil.
5. Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil; bake another 15 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Makes 12 servings.