July | 2019 | Thankful Yoga Studio LLC

I really believe that if you’re going to become excellent at anything, from baking to baseball, you’ve got to be willing to try new things and make some mistakes. My success and confidence in the kitchen has come from years of practice and experience and yes, I’ve had my share of failures. As Einstein said, ‘anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.’ This is how we learn.

I had wonderful blueberries. I had pie crust already made. I knew it would be tricky to combine them with frangipane in a tart the way I wanted to, but decided to proceed nonetheless. Frangipane is a sweet filling made from almonds, butter and eggs, and it’s one of my favorite treats. It must be baked, and it really needs to be exposed to the heat (not buried deep in a pie) in order to puff up and brown a little. I did everything right in this recipe, almost. I made sure to blind bake my crust.

I didn’t cover the frangipane completely with blueberries. I baked until bubbly in the center. However,…. it needed 5 more minutes! The edges were perfect with crisp and flaky crust, but the center was not.

If I make this again, I think I’ll put the frangipane on top of the blueberries and let the berries peek through instead of vice – versa. At any rate, my husband LOVED this tart and said the amount of sweetness was just right. Served with lightly sweetened whipped cream, it really was good despite it’s imperfection.

Blueberry Frangipane Tart

Adapted from The New York Times Cooking

1 pie crust – Here’s an old post with a recipe you can use.

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup ground almonds (almond flour)

2 teaspoons all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 stick butter

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Roll out the dough, chill and blind bake. For more information about blind baking click here.
Mix the almond flour, all purpose flour, sugar, almond extract, egg and butter really well. Spread into the pre-baked shell.
Place the blueberries on top, making sure to leave some frangipane filling peaking through.
Bake at 375 F for 35 to 40 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven. If the crust becomes too dark around the edges, cover with a ring of foil and continue baking.
Allow to cool at least an hour before slicing.
YUM!

Here’s an old post about the first time I made a Pear Frangipane Tart.

The only reason I’m posting this is because maybe there’s someone else out there who needs super easy dinner ideas. It won’t work for a last minute meal because it takes over an hour to bake. That’s because you do not have to pre-cook the noodles! This is the most non – technical, adaptable, semi home made recipe I’ve ever posted. It’s really just a method of assembly. Simply layer everything in a casserole and bake, hooray!

The quality of your ingredients still matter in this easy dish, so look for organic tomato sauce that doesn’t have added sugar. I chose to use organic cheeses as well. The ground turkey makes it a little lighter than beef lasagna, but it’s still kinda heavy for the middle of summer. Cucumber and Avocado Salad is a nice cooling side dish, click here for recipe.

The Easiest Lasagna

adapted from my sister’s Spinach Lasagna recipe

1 jar tomato sauce

1 large container cottage cheese (it’s lighter and saltier) OR 1 large container ricotta cheese OR 1 small container of each

freshly ground black pepper

12- 16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

1 box lasagna noodles

1 lb ground turkey

Preheat the oven to 350 F
Brown the ground turkey until done – I used a little oil to get it going
If you’re using a mixture of ricotta and cottage cheese as I did, mix them together in a dish as add some fresh black pepper. I used a whole container of ricotta and about half the container of cottage cheese.
Begin assembly in a casserole dish. I made three layers of noodles but there’s no hard and fast rule here, it’s just how much will fit. I had lots of left over noodles for another day. Start with sauce on the bottom of the dish, then a base layer of noodles. Spoon on about 1/3 of the ricotta/cottage cheese and spread over the noodles. Add a layer of mozzarella, then meat, more sauce, and another layer of noodles. You get the idea. Fill the dish and add all juices from the ground turkey. Finish the top with sauce and mozzarella cheese. You can sprinkle some parmesan on top if you have it.

Cover the dish with foil and make sure it’s tight around the edges. Bake for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and let sit, still covered, for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and have a look. If you’d like to make the top more brown and crispy around the edges, return to the oven and set it on broil. Keep a close eye on it.

I’m feeding a growing boy and he’s HUNGRY and this got very positive reviews. It was originally a Spinach Lasagna recipe, but I was afraid my boy wouldn’t eat it unless it was meaty and not veggie. If you’d like the original recipe, just email me.