Roasted vegetable lasagna

This is one of my favorites. This is a vegetarian dish is a crowd pleaser among non-vegetarians as well.


The main ingredient is roasted vegetables. I roast things like eggplant, peppers and zucchini and garlic. Wondering what the green stuff is? I didn’t want to lose the spinach for its taste and nutrients, but I don’t care for the texture of the stringy, wet leaves in lasagna. So here’s a little secret: I puree the spinach with cottage cheese. Not only does this effectively disguise the texture of the spinach, it gives the cottage cheese a much nicer, smoother texture, similar to that of a ricotta cheese. I use Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, as well. The Mozzarella is a good melting cheese and the Parmesan provides a strong, sharp flavor.

Lasagna takes some work, but it goes a long way: It’s a great way to feed a group, and it’s a meal that can be prepared before guests arrive, so that you are free to socialize instead of sweating over the stove while your company waits. It also freezes well: It can be frozen prior to baking, then baked at a later date; alternatively, it can be baked, frozen, then reheated.

Rustic Baguettes

 

This is sort of an aside. Baguettes are not going to appear in the cookbook. But there's something special about baking bread, and this was the first time that I've made baguettes in my kitchen. I finally got myself a nice perforated pan that bakes five loaves...
I was seduced by a good deal on a pan on the internet: I measured my oven and knew I was cutting it close in size. Sure enough, when the pan arrived, I discovered it was about a half inch too wide to fit in my oven.  In spite it obviously being too big, I made several desperate attempts to jam my new pan into the oven. When that didn't work, I slid it in on an angle. The situation was looking pretty grim. Luckily, my hubby came to my rescue and had the pan chopped, welded and alas, shortened! And it worked like a hot-damn, too.
I like the rustic look added by dusting with flour before baking, but I wish my cuts were nicer. Scoring with the lame is something that takes practice, I have learned. I took the baguettes out of the oven after the required baking time, and forgot to let them sit in the oven with the door open; they could've been crispier... next time they will be!

Phyllo Samosas

…with fresh mango chutney, which is an absolute must. Samosas are simple: The potatoes and cauliflower need to be precooked, then combined with peas, yogurt, coconut milk, butter and spices to make the filling. I use a mixture of olive oil and butter for brushing the phyllo. These are tasty even out of the freezer. The chutney freezes well, too, so I pack a little bit in a snack bag to freeze with each serving. Perfect, because I crave these little morsels like crazy sometimes, and now all I have to do is reach into the freezer!

Red wine & ripe tomatoes

I thought it was time for a facelift (for the blog, not me) and this red is rich; it reminds me of red wine and spaghetti sauce… 

Two years ago, we planted our first vegetable garden, and it produced!  Most notably, we had amazing amounts of tomatoes. From late summer well into the fall, so late that rescued the last big batch of fruit from the cold and piled them onto every windowsill in the house. Every few weeks, I would make tomato sauce, so as not to waste any of the fruit of our labor. It turned out to also be a great way to use up half-drunk bottles of red wine that are no longer fit to drink.

I also put in garlic and herbs from our garden. I froze it in large and small jars, for using as a pasta sauce and sauce for pizza.

Last year, we weren’t so lucky with our garden. Our tomatoes, in particular, caused us some serious grief, and even after replacing dying plants several times, the harvest was minimal, to say the least. And so, in order to replenish our stock in the freezer, we spent a small fortune on tomatoes at a local farmer’s market. 

Granola bars - 1 / Diet – 0

Tonight's two endeavors were both second trials, attempts to tweak and improve upon my first tries. I did indeed improve both recipes to my satisfaction, and was pleased with the end results. 

First was a copy-cat of a local bakery’s granola bars. They’re loaded with seeds (sunflower and pumpkin) and oats. I even added the tinniest bit of Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate chunks, which works well with the bar's chewy, caramel-like texture, created by cooking the butter, corn syrup and brown sugar. What I learned? The bars do not cook for long or at a high temperature. I learned this the hard way the first time and overcooked the bars, so I reduced the baking time to a mere 15 minutes.

Secondly, the peanut butter oat bars, which were… amazing.  Another crack at mimicking: this time, a coffee shop dessert bar. Very sweet (and addictive), no-bake, (Callebaut) milk chocolate... There is just no resisting this food – It is too powerful, at least for my willpower.

I barely had the time to take a picture to share with you. Every last trace of these treats was devoured, wrapped up, shipped out or passed in the blink of an eye. 

And the winner is… Flexitarianism

There has been what could be the beginning of a 'development' in relation to my cookbook. I attended a writer's conference this past weekend, mostly intending to gain some insight in regards to the fiction writing I have been attempting. At the last minute, a friend convinced me to propose my cookbook at the conference. My first proposal was a discouraging meeting with an uninterested agent who informed me that I lack credibility since I am not a chef or fitness professional. My first reaction? What I am doing here and what business do I have writing a cookbook? Shortly thereafter, I had a second reaction: Who does he think he is, anyway? I summoned up the last of my courage, gathered up the remaining shards of my shattered ego and booked another meeting. This time, I met with an enthusiastic editor who liked my idea, gave me some great guidance and suggested that when I finish I submit my project to her publishing company. Redemption – what a relief! And while I don’t know what exactly I was expecting from all of this, I think this glimmer of hope was more than I had hoped for. And while there is not yet cause for too much excitement, maybe just a tinniest bit would be okay.

I have been grappling with the theme, feeling like I was close but not quite there, and hoping an epiphany was slowly brewing in the depths of my consciousness. But it actually wasn’t; so it’s a good thing this editor threw me a bone. What she suggested is that my cookbook fits nicely with “flexitarianism”, a new buzz word in the food world which essentially refers to a semi-vegetarian diet, or a diet that includes less meat. And so there is it – my new angle.

One last thought on this: While the notion of flexitarianism pertains specifically to a compromise between vegetarianism and meat consumption, it also parallels the compromises that are found within my own recipe collection: The recipes are not meatless, but they contain less meat; they are not breadless, but contain less bread, and sweet treats are not forbidden, but the amount of sugar is reduced. In short, you can have your cake and eat it, too.

I’d like to shake things up a little and enlist your help as readers. First of all, what do you think of this concept, "flexitarianism"? Is it appealing to you, or if not to you, might it answer to the present trends in health and nutrition? Also, I need to come up with 50 or so more recipes, in addition to those already listed in my proposed Table of Contents. If you have any ideas, anything that isn’t there that should be or could be, I would love some suggestions for recipes to add. They need to correspond with the new theme, but I’m also open to suggestions and variations on this theme. I look forward to your ideas… 

Eat your vegetables!

Fries or salad? More than once I have found myself in a restaurant, staring vacantly into the face of my server, stumped by this perplexing question. While my server and my dining partners wait patiently, I carefully consider this difficult decision. But the answer is obvious... 

Remember the four food groups? You know, those colored charts that have been around since the 1950s…  As retro as they are, they are anything but outdated. Strangely enough, even though we have been fed the information for decades, it isn’t always easy attainting the required 7-10 servings of vegetables a day.  

After my last entry (grilled salami sandwiches), it hit me that I had neglected to mention the ever so important addition of a side salad. The sandwich itself, tasty as it is, does not offer much in the way of vegetables. (A few slices of tomato and a handful of basil leaves are not, unfortunately, going to cut the mustard.)

The side salad is a staple with meals at my house. One might say it is one of the most predictable and boring aspects of my repertoire. (One might say that, but if one were foolish enough to utter these words, one would consequently end up cooking for oneself!) I always use spinach, (a more nutrient rich choice than lettuce), sliced cucumber and cherry tomatoes, all organic.

I don’t fuss much with the dressing, either, but homemade vinaigrette is a quick and easy way to make a light and very flavorful dressing without resorting to the store-bought varieties, which are often high in sugar and full of preservatives. I simply drizzle two ingredients, olive oil then balsamic vinegar, over the salad and mix. It’s  that easy!  

And for the record, after a long, audible “ummmm”, I choose the salad.