January 4, 2012- Food Blog

Day Four. Today, I was lucky enough to have a session with the incomparable Pam Garcia. However, said session was at 9:30am in Norwell and I have a baby who likes to sleep until 9:30am. So I attempted to drag myself out of bed early but failed miserably and didn’t leave time to make a smoothie. So I gave Quinn a breakfast bar and rolled out of the house near 9:10.

Breakfast

Breakfast fail. No breakfast 😦

By the time Quinn and I got home it was 11:30am so I waited and just ate lunch. Quinn had to nap so she went to sleep and I attempted to pick up my atrocious house and cook while she napped which unfortunately meant that I didn’t get in any elliptical today. 😦

Lunch

Becca’s Lunch Salad

8oz Arugula

4oz Spinach

1 Tablespoon Bleu Cheese Dressing

Quinn was super hungry for lunch but didn’t seem to want anything I had and was having a bit of trouble pooping so I made her some Bean Brownies. Which she loved and did the trick quite quickly. See my Brownies post as I’ll be snacking on them all week.

Quinn enjoys some Bean Brownie batter

Dinner

Lighter Lasagna (NOT Vegan, vegetarian) Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites

2 cups cubed zucchini

1 cup cubed bell peppers

1 cups chopped tomatoes

4 cups sliced mushrooms (12 oz or so)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup dry red wine

3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

10 ounces fresh spinach, rinsed

2 cups low-fat cottage cheese

1 cup grated low fat mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 1/2 cups prepared tomato sauce

1 pound uncooked lasagna noodles

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Combine the zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, salt, and wine, in sauce pan bring to a boil, cover, and the simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes, until all of the vegetables are tender and juicy. Stir in the basil and set aside.

Cover and cook the spinach on high heat in just the water clinging to the leaves for 3 minutes, until wilted but still bright green Drain and chop coarsely. Combine with the cottage cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese and set aside.

Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce evenly on the bottom of a 3 inch deep nonreactive 8×12 inch baking dish. Layer with 5 0r 6 noodles, 1 generous cup of undrained vegetables and 1 cup of the spinach cheese mixture. Cover with a second layer of noodles, 1 cup of the sauce, 1 heaping cup of the vegetables, 1 cup of the spinach-cheese mixture, and a third layer of noodles. Finally, add the rest of the vegetables, the remaining spinach cheese mixture a fourth layer of noodle, and the rest of the sauce. Cover tightly with the foil and bake until the noodles are tender, about 60 minutes. Let sit at least 10 minutes before eating.

Notes: There are several notes on this recipe. First, I hate mushrooms so I left them out. I added more zucchini (I used three), and more bell peppers (I used three) and more tomatoes (I used three). I added a beautiful Pinot Noir for the wine and I added a bit of powdered garlic and dry basil. This seemed to work well but I think I may have added too much Pinot and it was a bit watery as I didn’t measure. I chopped the veggies large and this seemed to help them stay firm and not mushy. But upon eating I think I would cut them much smaller next time. They were a bit big to chew. I added more spinach and I didn’t chop it. Definitely use a tomato sauce you are fond of, any will do but it will STRONGLY flavor the lasagna. Now to the big issue I had. I grabbed my trusty old Pyrex baking dish. But after I got through layer two I realized I had hit the top and would not be able to sneak another layer in. So I dumped all the ingredients in and left out a whole layer of the pasta. The pasta I chose was a whole wheat and delicious.

Josh and I both agreed this was one of the best lasagnas we had ever had. It wasn’t as sinful but it left us both full and satisfied without feeling horrible and greasy on the inside. It was yummy, filling and lacked the fat and meat that so many lasagnas have. I certainly need to work on my recipe and find a better dish for this but again this is a keeper. Although this recipe is not vegan, it only has 218 calories per a 12oz serving, which tempted me to give it a go. That and I LOVE lasagna. Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites so far is awesome. We haven’t made one bad recipe from it.

Till tomorrow! We are making my famous chili.

-Rebecca Garrison