Adventures in Cooking

I like my steaks medium rare. Uncooked red slabs of meat don't make me queasy, nor does dissecting a cat for that matter.

Therefore, there's no sensible reason why I should have such an intense fear of cooking meat. Perhaps it's carnophobia, but wasn't able to cook meat once all last year, and I dreaded making it through another summer battling my fear of raw beef.

The lack of ground chuck in my Publix shopping cart made me panic, and I fled the stacks of meat only to bump my cart into a display of fish fillets and steaks. These would be a breeze with my new Foreman grill, but I dropped the chilly bag like a hotcake and moved on to the muffins.

I overcompensated for the lack of flesh in my cart by stacking it high with healthy treats such as yogurt and Amy's Kitchen natural frozen dinners, bought soley based on the smell of Carrie Hoover's microwaved State News meals.

Looking at my cart, it vaguely looked as though I could pass for a vegetarian, if you didn't notice the chicken bits in my whole-wheat tortellini or shrimp scampi buried under the honey nut Cheerios and Raisin Bran. I even threw in some vanilla soymilk to bolster the ruse.

I felt like such a fraud.

It must've worked. "You've got all the good stuff," Bernadette said approvingly as she checked me out. I promptly decided the gentle middle-aged British woman must've been the sort to accidentally send her children out with one sock, as she surely should have noticed my sketchily unbalanced attempts at buying enough protein to make up for the abandoned hallibut and pork.

Several days later, I mustered my courage after reading through Sara's Betty Crocker cookbook and went back to Publix to buy ground chicken. I turned on Pollyanna on the Hallmark channel to lift my spirits and attempted a meal. It turned out alright, amazingly. I hope you enjoy:

CHICKEN-AND-BROCCOLI-FILLED LASAGNA ROLLS

4 dried lasagna noodles
6 ounces ground raw chicken
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped broccoli
1/4 cu[ water
1 beaten egg
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried thume
1 1/2 cups meatless spagnetti sauce
1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Cook lasagna noodles for 10 to 12 minutes or until tended but firm. Drain noodles, rinse with cold water, drain well.
2. Meanwhile, for filling, in a large skillet cook ground chicken and onion until turkey is no longer pink and onion is tender. Drain fat. Stir in chopped broccoli and water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender; drain.
3. In a mixing bowl stir together egg,rictta cheese and thyme; stir in he chicken mixture. Divide filling mixture into 4 equal portions. Spread a portion over each lasagna noodle; roll up each noodle. Place lasagna rolls, seam sides down in a baking dish. Spoon spaghetti sauce over lasagna rolls.
4. Bake, covered, in a 375 degree oven about 30 minutes until heated through. Uncover and sprinkle with the Parmasean cheese. Makes 4 main-dish servings.

Thank you, and good night.

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