Quickie Veggie Lasagna (with cheese)

Sorry, these pictures are really not that appetizing. Who am I kidding, none of my food pictures are that stellar. But this stuff is really good and easy. The easiest part is using spiral pasta instead of lasagna noodles. I keep trying different lasagna concoctions. This one is the easiest and tastiest (because, cheese). The cheese makes it less healthy but, of course, more yummy.

1 bag spiral pasta, cooked and rinsed
1 1/2 jars marinara sauce
1 tsp freeze dried Italian seasoning
1 16 oz container lowfat cottage cheese
2 small/medium zucchinis
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
2 handfuls chopped, fresh spinach
1 8 oz bag Italian cheese mix or Mozzarella

Mix cottage cheese with chopped spinach (I used a food processor) and Parmesan cheese (yes, I just used the sprinkley kind). Spread on the bottom of a 9x13 glass casserole dish. Peel and slice the zucchini into thin oblong strips and layer on top of cottage cheese mixture. Mix 1 tsp of Italian seasoning in marinara sauce and spread half of it on the zucchini. Spread pasta evenly over the sauce and spread the rest of the sauce over the pasta. Spread the Italian cheese over the sauce. Bake @ 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Gluten Free Recipes

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but my daughter, Isabella, has celiac disease, so I cook mostly gluten free. I'm going to start posting my gluten free recipes whenever I come up with one, just because it's handy. I admit they may not be really healthy, it's just that this is an easy place to find them all. First this:

Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking Mix

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup cold butter (or Smart Balance spread like I use), cut into pieces

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Mix it all together and press into the pan

Cheesecake:
 3-8 oz bars of cream cheese, softened
1-8 oz bar of  neufchatel cheese ('cause it cuts the fat a wee bit)
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla

Mix it all together well and pour in pan. I don't use a cheesecake pan because, well I don't have one. So I just use an 8x8ish glass dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then, turn off the oven and leave it in there for another 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a while then refrigerate overnight. Top with whatever you like, I like cherry pie filling or just plain is good too.

*This crust recipe can also be used for layer bars. You know, those bars that have the crust and chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut and sweetened condensed milk poured over the whole thing and baked at 350 degrees for 25 minutes in a 9x13 pan.

And this:

Gluten Free Energy Bars

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup honey
• 3/4 c almond pieces (or other nuts you like)
• 1 cup dried fruit (I used dried cherries and cherry flavored craisins)
• 4 cups GF brown rice crispie cereal
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper

Mix dry ingredients

In a large saucepan melt peanut butter with honey over medium low heat. Stir and watch carefully to prevent scorching. When the mixture is smooth and bubbling cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add salt and vanilla and stir to combine. Use a large spatula to stir in nuts, dried fruit and cereal. Stir until all ingredients are coated with nut butter mixture. Spread out on parchment paper. Let cool and cut.

I also added mini M&Ms. Next time I might add some ground flax seed to make it healthier. If you wanted to try them and didn't need gluten free you could use regular rice crispy cereal instead of the gf brown rice variety. These were so good! We ate them all up super fast!

Things I Found

This is handy. I am really bad at reigning in the grocery budget. The only problem is I may need new glasses after I read it all (blurry!)

Let's see if I can crack the blurry code:

Vegetarian Foods
Eat more vegetarian foods (done). Meat can be expensive while legumes, beans, rice and veggies are less so and can be a great source of satisfying protein.

Buy In Bulk
Buy in bulk when possible,Items such as rice stay good for a long time (even brown rice, people, just use it regularly) and cost less when bought in bulk. (If you have Winco, it's a great place to buy bulk.)

Eat More Fiber
More fiber, less refined sugars and hydrogenated oils increase our appetite and therefore our spending on food. Fruits, veggies and nuts however are packed with fiber therefore filling us up and ultimately decreasing our spending on more food.

Pack your lunch
Pack your lunch. Always cheaper and healthier than a restaurant. (We always do this.)

Water Bottle
Carry a water bottle with you everywhere. This prevents you from buying water, soda, juice, etc.

How cute would this be at a spring or summer picnic or other get together. Just add some sort of dip. It looks easy and fun for kids to make.

Foam Roller

I got this foam roller for Christmas, I told Brent I wanted it. It is so great! I wanted it for my lower back issues and it is good for that and so many other areas too. It helps stretch your arms, legs, back, even feet and you can position it to put pressure on sore spots. It came with a poster that shows a bunch of different stretches. I'm loving it so far!

My Anti-inflammatory Smoothie

I think I have arthritis in my knees. I've decided it's okay to self diagnose yourself with ailments and find natural remedies because all doctors ever do is throw ibuprofen and omeprazole at stuff. Maybe that's just my doctor. But I have these knees that creak every time I bend them. I think that is called crepitus. It is a little bothersome and seems to be getting progressively worse. Anyway, the smoothie is healthy so it can't hurt to try.


-1/2 scoop protein powder (this has whey so it makes it vegetarian but if you use hemp or soy protein it would be vegan)
-1 small orange
-kale or spinach
-about a teaspoon of chia seeds
-frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)
-1 tsp freeze dried ginger (or fresh)

 You could also add  ground flax seed (omega 3s are helpful), turmeric (which would possibly taste gross), a teaspoon of olive oil, cantaloupe or whatever else you come up with that might fit into the anti-inflammatory category.

Tarragon Pasta Salad

Recipe for this:
A box of pasta, cooked
1 cup grapes, cut into quarters
1/2 small red onion
2 celery ribs, cut into small pieces
About 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
Mix into yogurt:
1-2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a dash of red wine vinegar
1 tbs fresh tarragon, finely chopped
a dash of pepper
Stir the yogurt mixture into the other ingredients
Chill and eat!

Vegan Hawaiian Haystacks

This dish is nothing short of phenomenal! I found the recipe from this woman on facebook who lost 100 lbs eating plant strong. It's Hawaiian haystacks. Usually this has cream of chicken soup (I've mixed mine with sour cream), chicken and those crunchy noodles on top. This version is much healthier. It does have some soy sauce, so sodium, but not that much.

Vegan Hawaiian Haystacks
brown rice
mushrooms
canned pineapple
sliced olives
chickpeas
green peas
red onion
celery, diced small
thinly sliced carrots
unsweetened, shredded coconut
soy sauce

Cook your rice and top as you like with toppings cold or at room temp. You can add other things like tomatoes or green bell peppers or cashews or whatever you think would be good. Just drizzle a little soy sauce on top, you could use low sodium soy sauce.  I found my unsweetened coconut at Winco in the bulk section, it was shredded very fine. Brent loved it and the kids liked it. I thought it was pretty great, and so easy too. I'm all about easy, if you haven't noticed.