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cook of the week

Cook of the Week: Megan Rice

Name: Megan Rice.

Home: Trenton.

School: Sophomore at Edgewood High School.

How long cooking: She's been cooking since she was very young, when she got her first Easy Bake Oven. It took about three hours to bake chocolate chip cookies and brownies in it. Later, she started cooking with her mother's oven, making homemade lasagna — a family recipe that was passed down from her great-great grandma Gertie.

How often she cooks: Rice cooks every day in the summer for her brother, Chris Blair, and for herself.

Cooking mentor: Rice has had several influences in the kitchen: Rice's mother, Martina Blair, taught her to make lasagna. Rice's grandmother, Judy Williams, of Hyde Park, is teaching her and her cousin, Tommy Williams, of Fairfield Township, how to make holiday dinners, including mashed potatoes. She also enjoys learning how to cook from her Uncle Daryle Dunn, who was a culinary chef at a local restaurant.

Specialty: Chocolate-covered pretzels.

Favorite cookbook or culinary resource: The TV food

network, especially Emeril.

Favorite restaurant: The Habits, in Oakley (suburb of Cincinnati).

Special interests: Color guard member of the Edgewood High School marching band, and hanging out with her boyfriend, Joey.

Two favorite recipes: Grandma Gertie's lasagna and Williams'

quesadillas.

Grandma Gertie's

1 pound hamburger

1 box Muellers pre-cook lasagna noodles (no boiling required)

1 jar Prego spaghetti sauce

1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic

1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 quart cottage cheese

On the stove top in a skillet, brown hamburger. Add minced garlic. Drain grease off hamburger. Add Prego sauce to the hamburger mixture; stir.

In a 9 x13-inch baking pan, put one layer of lasagna noodles in the bottom of a lightly greased pan. (Note: Rice's mother uses pre-cooked lasagna noodles because it saves time. She says it's the best as well as the easiest lasagna recipe she's made.) Spread all of the cottage cheese over top of the layer of noodles. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella over top of the cottage cheese. Put a second layer of noodles over top of the mozzarella. Spread 1/2 of the hamburger/sauce mixture over the noodles. Add a final layer of lasagna noodles. Spread the remaining hamburger/sauce mixture over top. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

Yield: 8-10 servings.

Williams' quesadillas

1 boiled chicken breast

1 cup shredded quesadilla cheese (3 or 4 kinds of cheese in a bag)

1 cup mild cheddar cheese, shredded

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, diced

4 round flour tortillas, or more as desired

1 cup sour cream

On the stove top in a deep saucepan partially-filled with water, cook the chicken breast. Transfer chicken to a bowl and shred. Add jalapenos, quesadilla cheese, cheddar cheese, cilantro, and sour cream. Mix all ingredients together. Spread some of the mixture over 2 tortilla shells. Top each with another tortilla shell. Put quesadillas in a lightly-greased baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cut quesadillas into triangles. (Note: She has leftover quesadilla filling and tortillas from the package, so she refrigerates both for a quick, easy meal later on.) When serving, optional garnishes or sides are: additional sour cream, salsa and/or guacamole dip. Yield: 2 quesadillas.