This was a casserole I made that was so good I had to share it. I made it with the intention that we could eat on it all week and we polished it off in two days. You can do this three ways, one for meat eater, one for vegetarians and one for vegans.
Italian vegetable "lazagna" casserole
Vegetable layers
1 medium eggplant washed and sliced very thin (about 1/8" with skin).
Slice these first and set in a tub of salted water while prepping
the rest of the dish
1 red bell pepper, sliced into 1/4" rounds
1 lb package baby portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 Zucchini squash sliced into 1/4' slices
1 small onion (about 1/2 cup chopped fine)
1 handful of fresh basil
1/2 lb spinach, washed with stems removed. Leave whole.
1 tsbp olive oil
Filling
Vegetarian version (this is the version I made):
1 can white canelli beans, rinsed and drained
1 pint ricotta cheese
2 tbsp milk or cream
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
For the Vegan version
substitute the ricotta cheese and milk for pureed cauliflower
Sauce
1 large can tomatoe sauce
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
Preheat oven to 375
Make this in a 9X12 covered baking dish that is 4" deep
If you have no cover, aluminum foil will do.
For the filling:
If you are making this with cauliflower, Chop the cauliflower fine and boil in water until soft. Drain, but reserve about 2 tbsp or so of the water to use instead of cream.
Put all filling ingredients in the blender and blend until very smooth. This should be thick like a pudding.
For the tomatoe sauce:
Empty the tomatoe sauce into a bowl, add the seasonings and stir to blend.
For the dish:
Rub bottom and sides of baking dish with olive oil
Arrange spinach leaves to cover the bottom of the dish
Sprinkle on onion
Arrange one layer of eggplant, followed by one layer of zucchini.
Arrange layer of red bell pepper
Layer on all of the filling to form a solid layer
Layer on 1/2 of tomatoe sauce mixture
Add 1 layer of basil, try to cover entire dish with basil
Add the remaining eggplant and zucchini
Add chopped mushrooms
Finish with remaining tomato sauce.
Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese if desired, or nutritional yeast.
Cover and back for 50 minutes.
Serve with salad and garlic bread.
For the meat version
Add 1lb each of cooked italian sausage before the first layer of eggplant and 1 1lb cooked ground beef before the second layer of eggplant.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Do you read tags?
There are tags and labels on everything these days.
Do you still have the tags on your pillows? The ones that say it is illegal to remove the tags unless you are the consumer? What do you thing of those stickers they put on your produce? I usually end up cutting them off because I can't remove them otherwise. When I do, I can see the glue where the sticker was.
What about electric cords? There are so many warning labels and tags on Christmas lights that we have come to see the silvery labels as "bonus Christmas decor".
Then I looked at the warning on the visor in my car about airbags. Man those things can kill a child in the front seat. No calling dibbs on the passenger seat anymore.
Warnings on food wrappers, cans, beverages, alcohol. They are all there. We see them every day.
When is the last time you read one?
I have a waterpick that I got from my Dentist some time in November. I read the instructions, used it daily. I had to unplug it recently and went I plugged it in again, I read the label.
This cord is coated with LEAD. Lead has been shown to cause illness and birth defects. Wash hands thoroughly after handling.
Oh and this... made in China.
Later in the day I read where a product called brown rice syrup (supposedly a healthier alternative to corn syrup) has 5 times the amount of arsenic than the FDA will allow in our water. Arsenic never leaves your system. It just accumulates. The FDA has to allow arsenic in the water or we would not be able to drink it.
Yet again, the same day, I read where some turkey jerkey dog snacks (from China)caused several dogs to die from liver failure just hours after eating the treats.
I remembered when my grandson had on pj's so tight he could barely breathe. The label said, not fire retardant. Clothing meant to fit tight to reduce hazard. So rather than make the product fire safe, my grandson has to sleep in over tight pjs?
I could launch into how unfair it is that other countries can import unsafe products into our country. People or animals have to die before we notice or do anything about it. I could say it is unfair that the USA has to adhere to much higher standards which makes it difficult to compete with other countries. Well I DO think it is appauling that we let countires import their poison into our country and we take it because we want the cheaper product. We are literally destroying our own country by continuing to support foreign countries and not our own people. I am glad we have the standards, or we would start producing products like China all in the name of the greenbacks.
Ok, off the soap box. What the heck do we do?
Well for starters, i am going to wash my hands after using my waterpik.
I am going to read labels better and go for the more expensive product if there is an unacceptable warning label on the cheaper one. For that matter, I am going to make sure that at least 1 in 5 things I buy are made in the USA. I know I can't buy exclusively items made in the USA. For one I am in the market for a flat screen and none are made in the USA!
I will pay more attention to those annoying labels and tags and take heed. I will start readin about the ingredients in food and be wary when I can't pronounce it or know what it is.
I read the labels on some beans when I was at the store today. One can had about 15 products that I could not pronounce. The other said "beans, water, salt". I bought those.
I am going to pay attention to the little stickers on the produce. That is not necessarily a good thing. We know that California has had their share of E Coli in produce the last few months. Lets not forget the Catalope fiasco. However I am going to be more prudent about washing produce before cutting. I bought some vegetable spray just for cleaning vegetables. I bough a colander that sits in a bowl. I can give my herbs a bath then let them drain several times.
As for the pets, I plan to find some recipes and learn to make my own dog treats.
There is a product called Charcoal that one can take to reduce the heavy metals and poisons in the body. The amount to take for a few weeks is about 5 times the recommended dosage. I don't recommend this for pets because I really don't know if it is safe. However if my dog turned ill with liver failure, I might give it a shot.
Do you still have the tags on your pillows? The ones that say it is illegal to remove the tags unless you are the consumer? What do you thing of those stickers they put on your produce? I usually end up cutting them off because I can't remove them otherwise. When I do, I can see the glue where the sticker was.
What about electric cords? There are so many warning labels and tags on Christmas lights that we have come to see the silvery labels as "bonus Christmas decor".
Then I looked at the warning on the visor in my car about airbags. Man those things can kill a child in the front seat. No calling dibbs on the passenger seat anymore.
Warnings on food wrappers, cans, beverages, alcohol. They are all there. We see them every day.
When is the last time you read one?
I have a waterpick that I got from my Dentist some time in November. I read the instructions, used it daily. I had to unplug it recently and went I plugged it in again, I read the label.
This cord is coated with LEAD. Lead has been shown to cause illness and birth defects. Wash hands thoroughly after handling.
Oh and this... made in China.
Later in the day I read where a product called brown rice syrup (supposedly a healthier alternative to corn syrup) has 5 times the amount of arsenic than the FDA will allow in our water. Arsenic never leaves your system. It just accumulates. The FDA has to allow arsenic in the water or we would not be able to drink it.
Yet again, the same day, I read where some turkey jerkey dog snacks (from China)caused several dogs to die from liver failure just hours after eating the treats.
I remembered when my grandson had on pj's so tight he could barely breathe. The label said, not fire retardant. Clothing meant to fit tight to reduce hazard. So rather than make the product fire safe, my grandson has to sleep in over tight pjs?
I could launch into how unfair it is that other countries can import unsafe products into our country. People or animals have to die before we notice or do anything about it. I could say it is unfair that the USA has to adhere to much higher standards which makes it difficult to compete with other countries. Well I DO think it is appauling that we let countires import their poison into our country and we take it because we want the cheaper product. We are literally destroying our own country by continuing to support foreign countries and not our own people. I am glad we have the standards, or we would start producing products like China all in the name of the greenbacks.
Ok, off the soap box. What the heck do we do?
Well for starters, i am going to wash my hands after using my waterpik.
I am going to read labels better and go for the more expensive product if there is an unacceptable warning label on the cheaper one. For that matter, I am going to make sure that at least 1 in 5 things I buy are made in the USA. I know I can't buy exclusively items made in the USA. For one I am in the market for a flat screen and none are made in the USA!
I will pay more attention to those annoying labels and tags and take heed. I will start readin about the ingredients in food and be wary when I can't pronounce it or know what it is.
I read the labels on some beans when I was at the store today. One can had about 15 products that I could not pronounce. The other said "beans, water, salt". I bought those.
I am going to pay attention to the little stickers on the produce. That is not necessarily a good thing. We know that California has had their share of E Coli in produce the last few months. Lets not forget the Catalope fiasco. However I am going to be more prudent about washing produce before cutting. I bought some vegetable spray just for cleaning vegetables. I bough a colander that sits in a bowl. I can give my herbs a bath then let them drain several times.
As for the pets, I plan to find some recipes and learn to make my own dog treats.
There is a product called Charcoal that one can take to reduce the heavy metals and poisons in the body. The amount to take for a few weeks is about 5 times the recommended dosage. I don't recommend this for pets because I really don't know if it is safe. However if my dog turned ill with liver failure, I might give it a shot.
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