Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna

Lest you think I dropped off of the face of the Earth or stopped cooking, don't worry, I didn't! Earlier this month, I was trying to decide what to do with all of my veggies and stumbled across this recipe and made a few modifications. Since I'm borderline vegetarian at times, I loved it. My husband thought it was ok until he had some leftovers the next day and then he thought it was really good! It reheated REALLY well. Next time I think I'll add more tomatoes because they really added a nice flavor. Yum!

Original recipe, here.

Prep Time: 35 min
Cook Time: 45 min
Ready In: 1 hour, 20 min

Ingredients:

• 12 lasagna noodles
• 2 Tb olive oil
• 2 heads fresh broccoli, chopped (I think I only used one since it was big - I also used a food processor)
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced (I used a food processor for this too)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 2 small zucchini, sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
• salt, to taste
  
• pepper, to taste
• garlic powder, to taste
  
• basil, to taste
• oregano, to taste
• crushed red pepper, to taste
  
• 2-3 cups of fresh spinach (the recipe called for frozen, but I used fresh and just guessed how much to use.)
• 1 (8oz) container small curd cottage cheese
• 24 oz ricotta cheese (I used less ricotta and more cottage cheese, since it is cheaper. Even then, I think I used less cheese overall and it was still plenty.)
• 2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I don't think I used this much. I just kind of guessed and used what I had on hand. I did use some mozzarella and some Italian blend, including Parmesan, but it was all kind of guesstimated).
• 1 tomato, sliced (I added this per one of the suggestions and in the future would probably add more tomatoes and include them between the layers.)
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish. (I used a foil-lined stoneware casserole dish that I had. This makes a really big lasagna, so I'm not sure a regular 9x13 would be large enough.)
   
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. Heat 1/2 of the oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot add broccoli, carrots, onions, bell peppers, and 3 cloves of garlic. Heavily season veggies with basil, oregano, salt (several large pinches), pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Saute for 7 minutes; set aside.
4. Heat remaining 1/2 of the oil and add zucchini with remaining 2 cloves of garlic. Season the same way as the other veggies, saute, and then set aside.
   
5. Place flour in a medium saucepan and gradually whisk in milk until well blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook 5 minutes, or until thick, stirring constantly. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and garlic powder (to taste) [can also add a little butter]; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in spinach. Reserve 1/2 cup spinach mixture. In a small bowl combine cottage and ricotta cheeses; stir well.
6. Spread about 1/2 cup of spinach mixture in the bottom of the prepared pan. Layer noodles, ricotta mixture, vegetables, spinach mixture and 2 cups mozzarella cheese, ending with noodles. Top with reserved spinach mixture, tomatoes, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.
   
7. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Cool for approximately 10 minutes before serving.

Serves: 12

Winter Pesto

My friend, Rebecca, is a fabulous cook and so when I want to try something new, I usually steal a recipe from her blog. I have been wanting to try pesto for a while and since she had a recipe for it on her blog, I decided to give it a try. Yum! This is so quick and easy and is a nice alternative to red pasta sauce. I also loved it because my one year old seemed to like it! I've heard you can use pesto on bread and crackers as well. This recipe makes a decent amount of pesto, but it keeps well in the fridge if it is covered with one tablespoon of olive oil.

Recipe from here.

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups tightly packed triple-washed fresh spinach, stems removed
• ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup walnuts (optional - we didn't have any, but I am curious to try it with walnuts next time)
  
• ⅔ cup olive oil
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used an Italian cheese mix)
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft (we only had salted and it worked fine)
  

Directions:

1. Combine the spinach, parsley, basil, garlic, salt, walnuts, and oil in a blender (preferably) or food processor and process until it is a smooth puree. Turn off the machine and scrape down the sides as necessary.
2. Pour the pesto into a container with a tight-fitting lid and stir in the cheese and butter by hand until well blended. If the pesto is to be used as a sauce for pasta, stir in a few tablespoons of boiling pasta water to thin it out before using.

Get those leafy greens! I love spinach!

Butternut Squash Risotto

Well, this is my third squash post in a row! Can you tell that we had a lot of squash from our farm that we needed to eat?! I decided that we should probably eat something OTHER THAN soup, so I decided to make this risotto. So far, risotto has been one of my favorite types of meal to eat and this one was no exception. YUM! I wonder how it would taste with some sauteed greens mixed in?

Original recipe, here.

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 35 min

Ready In: 45 min

Ingredients:

• 2 cups mashed butternut squash (Easy to mash once you cook it - see previous two recipes for both an oven and microwave method)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1 cup rice, cooked in chicken stock
• 2 cups hot chicken stock (I changed the recipe a little because I cooked the rice first, so I'm not 100% sure how much chicken stock I used. I think I used about 2 cups - not including the stock used to cook the rice.)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

**I've started to add sauteed spinach to this as well. I just saute it separately in olive oil and garlic and then add it at the end. Both of my little boys will eat it this way! Yay!**

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir for 2 minutes until the onion begins to soften, then stir in the rice. Continue cooking and stirring until the rice is glossy from the butter, and the onion begins to brown on the edges, about 5 minutes more.
2. Pour in 1/3 cup chicken stock, stirring constantly, until it has evaporated. Stir in the mashed squash and remaining hot chicken stock; reduce heat to medium. Continue stirring until the risotto is creamy. Finish by stirring in the Parmesan cheese, and seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves: 4

Quick Quiche

Original Recipe, here.

Way back when Jeff and I were newlyweds, I made him quiche for our one month anniversary. It took FOREVER and didn't turn out so well (although I did make a smiley face on top and that was cute). After that and making this, I don't know if I'll ever tackle "real" quiche again. Especially since THIS is SO quick and SO easy and SO tasty. I definitely need to make this again.

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 35 min
Ready In: 50 min

Ingredients:

• Diced tomato, spinach, chopped/cooked ham, blanched/chopped broccoli (whatever you have on hand!)
  
• 4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.
2. Line bottom of pie plate with cheese and other "fixings." Combine eggs, butter, onion, salt, flour and milk; whisk together until smooth; pour into pie pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, until set. Serve hot or cold.

Serves: 6

Tossed Salad with Citrus Dressing

Original recipe, here.

Quite possibly my favorite salad of all time...at least so far. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 cups torn fresh spinach
• 1 small can of mandarin oranges
  
• 2 TB thinly sliced radishes (or kohlrabi)
  
• 1 whole avocado, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 c feta cheese
• 1/4 c toasted walnuts, chopped
  
• DRESSING:
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 Tb honey
  
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. In a salad bowl, toss the spinach, oranges and radishes/kohlrabi. In a separate container, combine the dressing ingredients; whisk until blended. Serve with salad. Refrigerate any leftover dressing.

Serves: 8

Feta Cheese and Arugula over Penne

As usual, I got the original recipe from www.allrecipes.com.

This is easy and delicious! It's so quick that I was able to whip it together for lunch today!

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Ready In: 25 min

Ingredients:

• 5 1/2 ounces feta cheese
• 2 cups coarsely chopped arugula (or spinach), stems included
  
• 1 cup diced tomato
  
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (I actually forgot to add this ingredient when I made it and it was still yummy!)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces penne pasta
• Handful of grated Parmesan cheese
  

Directions:

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of water until al dente.
2. Crumble feta cheese into a large serving bowl. Add arugula, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper.
3. Drain pasta, top with Parmesan cheese, then toss with feta cheese mixture.

Serves: 6