Food for comfort: Vegetable Lasagna

Food for comfort: Vegetable Lasagna: At it again in the kitchen. Last week my friend and I had a craving for pasta....and white sauce. After much googling/blog stalking I decide...

Vegetable Lasagna

At it again in the kitchen. Last week my friend and I had a craving for pasta....and white sauce. After much googling/blog stalking I decided we should make a veggie lasagna. As always I ended up making my own creation using many other recipes as guides. This lasagna is stocked full of veggies, and I don't think you will miss the meat! Feel free to use/substitute any vegetables of your choice. :) Note: This is NOT a quick meal to make, so prepare to spend at least an hour prepping. 


Ingredients: 


1 yellow squash, diced
1 zuccini, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 container of baby bella mushrooms
1 medium onion, diced
1 large can whole tomatoes
1 head of garlic: 4 cloves minced, 4 cloves smashed
1 box frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
1 container of ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella 
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan(not the powdered nonsense....the real thing!)
1 cup white wine of your choice
1 box no cook lasagna noodles(my box had 12 noodles in it)
2 eggs
4 tbs butter
4 tbs flour
2 cups milk
2 tbs EVOO
13 x 9 glass pan


Directions:


Preheat oven to 375. Spray 13x9 pan with Pam. 
In large skillet over medium heat saute squash, zucchini, onion, pepper,and 4 minced garlic cloves in 2 tbs EVOO. Add mushrooms last. DO NOT add salt until mushrooms have sauteed. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour in 1/2 cup white wine. Using your hands, crush whole tomatoes into veggie mixture. Careful! This is messy! Cook for another 5 minutes then turn off heat. 
In sauce pan add 4 tbs butter and heat on low heat with 4 smashes garlic cloves. Low heat is important since you do not want to burn your garlic. This process will allow the garlic flavor to infuse throughout the butter. YUM! Once butter is melted, sprinkle in 4 tbs flour and stir. Increase heat to medium and add 2 cups milk. Whisk constantly until mixture becomes thick. Add 1/2 cup white wine,1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer. (you have just made a beschamel sauce!)
In small mixing bowl combine drained spinach with container of ricotta and 2 eggs. 


In bottom of 13x9 pan spread 1/4 of your veggie mixture. Place 3 noddles on top. Spread 1/3 ricotta mixture over noodles, 1/4 veggie mixture, 1/4 beschamel sauce. 2 layers noodles, ricotta, veggies, sauce. Last layer is noodles, beschamel, and your mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. You should have 4 layers of noodles, 3 noodles per layer. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. After 30 min, uncover and cook for 10 more minutes. If the cheese doesn't brown like you would like, turn the broiler on for 5 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes after removing from the oven. 

This is so decadent it is worth taking the time to make!

It's Pumpkin time!

Another pumpkin recipe! Just made this one tonight and it is quite tasty! It is a recipe for mini chocolate pumpkin brownies. Once again I married pumpkin and chocolate together. :) If you think you aren't a pumpkin lover, try either of my new recipes. I might be able to change your mind. The following recipe makes 15 mini brownies. 


Pumpkin Brownies:

Ingredients

2 Tbs  unsalted butter
4 squares bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
sprinkle of cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 c plus 2 Tbs sugar
1 large egg
1/2 Tbs pure vanilla extract
1/4 c plus 2 Tbs pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 c chopped pecans
1/4 c mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray. In microwave safe bowl melt chocolate and butter. (about 1 min) In small bowl combine flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. In another bowl combine egg, vanilla, and sugar. Beat with mixer for a couple of minutes. Add flour mixture and stir to combine. Divide the batter adding half to the melted chocolate and the other half add pumpkin and cinnamon. (you should have 2 bowls now. 1 with chocolate batter, and 1 with pumpkin batter.) Fill the muffin pans with brownie mixture first and top with pumpkin batter. Sprinkle with pecans/mini chocolate chips. Bake for 20 minutes. 

Pictures to come later! :) 

Eggplant Burger!!!

Ok here is the recipe for the long awaited eggplant burger. For you non eggplant lovers, give this a try! I promise you will love it! For anyone with kids, this is a great way to get a veggie in them:) What truly makes this dish is the "remoulade" I made to go along side it! I served mine with homemade baked potato chips and fresh greens. 


Eggplant Burger(for 1 with leftovers or for 2)


1 eggplant, chopped 
2 scallions diced
1/2 cup mild cheddar cheese, shredded- take the time to shred your own, it makes a difference
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tsp diced garlic
salt/pepper to taste
EVOO


Preheat large skillet to medium heat and add 2-3 tbsp EVOO. Add diced eggplant and saute for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low/medium and cook for 15min or until eggplant is completely soft. Remove eggplant from heat and add 5 other ingredients and mix to combine. Form 2 equal size patties, and place in fridge for about 15 minutes. Reheat skillet to medium and add 2 tbsp EVOO. Place patties in skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. Serve alone or on bun along side yummy remoulade. If you serve on a bun, make sure you toast it. :)


Caramalized Onion Remoulade
1/2 onion sliced
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp sour cream


In small skillet heat butter and EVOO on medium heat. Add onions and saute til translucent. Once they are, turn down to simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or until caramelized(brown). Mix onions with mayo and sour cream. This is so freakin' good....it tastes just like the french onion dip you buy in the grocery! For you health nuts, you can just caramelize the onions and serve them on top of your burger alone. 


Home Made Potato Chips
1 baking potato
EVOO 
salt/pepper


Thinly slice potato. Toss with evoo and salt/pepper. Place slices on cooling rack on top of cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes or until brown and crispy.


Greens:
yummy fresh greens from the grocery
grape tomatoes 
scallions
cheese of your choice






Want a healthy sweet treat to end your evening? 


1 frozen banana
2 tbsp cocoa powder


In blender combine 2 ingredients and you will have a quick "sorbet" for dessert! 

Stir Fry for 1!!

Hello friends! It has been quite a while since I have blogged.....I have been in Maine the past 10 weeks! Back to the grind this week and back in the kitchen. While in Maine I did not have access to my farm fresh veggies, so I loaded up the day I got back into town. The other night I made a stir fry that was super easy and better then take out. A great week night go to if you ask me! This recipe will be for one, but you can easily make it for 2, 3, 4, etc. I also stuck with just veggies but you can add chicken, pork, beef, or seafood. So so good, you must make it!


Ingredients:


1/2 red bell pepper
handful of broccoli
1/2 sliced onion
handful of mushrooms
handful of shredded carrots
1/2 cup uncooked jasmine rice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp chopped garlic(or however much you like)
2 tbsp chicken stock
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes


Bring 1 cup water to a boil, add rice and pinch of salt. Set to simmer and cook 30 minutes.Chop and prepare your veggies. ( you can do whatever veggies you want.....don't feel you have to stick to mine!) Mix together spices and liquids in separate bowl. Once there is 10 minutes left on your rice, preheat pan to medium heat and add about a tbsp of EVOO. Add veggies and saute for 5 minutes.(be sure to put lid on to help in cooking process!) After 5 minutes add your "sauce" and heat through for 5 minutes. Serve on top of rice. When cooking for 1, this recipe makes enough for dinner and leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day. This is better then take out, trust me! 




Chefs Note: If you should want to add a protein here are my directions. Cut your meet into bite size pieces and toss with some cornstarch and soy sauce. Pre heat pan to medium and add some EVOO. Cook meat through about 10 minutes, depending on size. Remove meat from pan, then follow above directions to cook veggies. Add meat last after you have added the sauce. I recommend cutting pork and beef length wise into strips. If you have pork chops on hand, these are perfect and you can stretch a buck using 1-2 pork chops. If you use chicken, one chicken breast can feed 4 when cut into pieces. Fresh shrimp would be delicious as well!




Stay tuned for my eggplant burger recipe..........

Update from Maine

So it has been at least a month since my last blog. I am sad to say there won't be any new recipes for the next 7 weeks. I am currently working in Maine, and trying my best to eat "healthy" with camp food. Not easy. So many carbs AND milk and cookies every night. There is a salad bar but it got old after the first night.
Do you know how hard it is to resist fresh baked cookies with ice cold milk every night?! 
The food is actually all very fresh and homemade but a lot of it is not the best for you and I am craving some fresh veggies. I am also missing my southern summer veggies right now. No vine ripe red tomatoes up in Maine. I wonder if they even know a good tomato up here? I am craving fresh tomato, onion, cucumber, squash and field peas. If any of you can figure out how to Fed Ex some of that to me that would be awesome! :) I do have one recipe for you guys, and if you all want to try it or attempt to try it and let me know how it goes that would be great! The chef here at camp, Angelo,  is freakin awesome and he gave me a guide as to how he makes his chicken curry.....yes we get chicken curry here at camp! 
Angelo's Chicken Curry:
Season chicken with salt and pepper, curry and garlic and let sit overnight.
When preparing the next day, cut chicken into pieces and saute in EVOO. 
Add diced carrots, red onion, and any other veggie you desire. (eggplant, zucchini, etc.) Sprinkle with curry. (Angelo suggests you shake your curry a bit before you use the spice.....wakes it up a little!) 
Add heavy cream to make your sauce. (He says you can use yogurt to make it healthier but it won't taste as good as with cream) 
Serve with white rice and a fresh green veggie. 


This was so so good. I will try to blog a few times while here with some other "camp" recipes! haha 
On a Maine note, I had lobster mac and cheese my first night in Maine......I  must say I could make better mac and cheese. I guess southerners know best! Haha 
Okay off to work. If you make the curry let me know what you think! 

Black Bean and Corn Cakes

So my awesome cousin, Claire, hooked me up with a black bean burger recipe a few months back. I of course, have played around with the recipe and concocted my own creation. Last night was by far my favorite result so far! I recommend serving these cakes with some yellow rice and fresh tomatoes on top! 


Black Bean and Corn Cakes


1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ear of corn, corn cut off
1/2 bunch scallions
1 jalapeño diced
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 egg
salt/pepper to taste


In small skillet saute corn and jalapeño for a couple of minutes in some EVOO, just to heat through. In small bowl, mash black beans and add egg and bread crumbs. Slowly combine corn to bean mixture, you really have to temper the mixture since the corn is hot. Add scallions to mixture last. Ingredients should be rather thick. Try to divide mixture into 4, as you should be able to make 4 cakes out of this recipe. 
Heat small skillet to medium heat and add 2 tbs EVOO. Drop 1/4 mixture into skillet and slightly flatten it to look like a cake. Cook 3-4 min on one side and flip. If you want a little something on top, sprinkle with pepper jack cheese after removing from skillet. One cake, with rice is a serving. Delicious!!! 


Note: If you don't want big bean cakes, you can always make smaller patty size cakes and then you would have 2 small cakes per serving. Those of you with men if your life :), they might like 2 large cakes a serving. 
To reheat, you can heat in the microwave, but they taste better heated in a toaster oven.