Mushroom Lasagna

Well.  I was nervous about making this one.  It was a bit of work with a toddler who didn't understand that I cannot stop stirring a Bechamel sauce or it will burn...but I managed...one arm around toddler, one arm stirring.

After setting up some Thomas Trains I continued to make this Lasagna and it was amazing.  Andrew loved it.  It is by no means low fat but what a filling meat alternative.  It was WAY cheaper to make my own mushroom lasagna than to buy a premade lasagna.  And let's just face it, frozen lasagnas are gross.  They      are grainy and taste like freezer burn.   I will never be afraid of the lasagna making again.  I will make a few of my own additions if we feel like having meat but this is a great place to start.

Taken right from Smitten Kitchen

Mushroom Lasagna
Serves 6 to 8 (more as a first course)

Salt
Olive oil
3/4 pound dried lasagna noodles
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 cups whole milk
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used less, because this seemed like a lot)
1 1/2 pounds cremini or portobello mushrooms
1 cup freshly grated parmesan

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Bring a large, wide (if you use a wide one, you can save a dish later and saute your mushrooms in the bottom of it) of water to boil with salt and a splash of oil, that will help keep your noodles from sticking together as they drain. Add the lasagna noodles and cook for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Make béchamel: Bring the milk and garlic to simmer in a saucepan, or heat it in your microwave, and set it aside. Melt 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook for one minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. Pour in the hot milk, a little at a time at first and stirring until combined. Once you’ve added half of it, you can add the second half all at once, along with 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt, the pepper, and nutmeg. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring or whisking frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until thick. Set aside.
Prepare mushrooms: Discard portobello mushroom stems and/or trim the ends of the cremini stems. Slice mushrooms 1/4-inch thick. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter over medium in the bottom of the large, wide pot you used to cook the noodles earlier, or in a large sauté pan. Cook half the mushrooms with a couple pinches of salt for about 5 minutes, or until they are tender and release some of their juices, tossing to make sure they cook evenly. Repeat with additional oil and butter, and remaining mushrooms.
Assemble lasagna: Spread some of the sauce in the bottom  9 x 13 baking dish. Arrange a layer of noodles on top, then more sauce (about 1/4 of what remains), 1/3 of the mushrooms and 1/4 cup grated parmesan. Repeat two more times then top with a final layer of noodles, your remaning sauce and last 1/4 cup of parmesan.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.
 

Books to Share

I love books.  I have been reading on Organic cooking all week.  The library is a great place to try out cookbooks.  If there is one where I like more than half the recipes, I think about buying it.

This is one of those books.
My children love to eat popsicles any time of year.  I mean they LOVE popsicles. And the ones at the store have so much fructose and dye in them....yuck.  Cosette and I are excited to make more than half of these ice pops in this book.  Simple, and YUM!

Ice Pop Joy by Anni Daulter

I cannot wait to get this book for summer.  All natural, healthy and fun.

Another book I really love is Kitchen Seasons by Ross Dobson

I love his introduction and I made the sage pork chops from this book (they were so yummy)  Here's a the recipe, simple and great (he made them with Kale potatoes)

For 4 chops:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 eggs (i used 2 and thought it was plenty if you are using large eggs!)
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4-6 fresh sage leaves chopped finely
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 cup finely grated parm cheese
1/2 cup veg oil

Put flour on a flat plate.  Mix eggs and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.  In a seperate bowl, combine sage, breadcrumbs and parm.  Press chop into the flour, coating evenly, then the egg mixture then the breadcrumb mixture.  repeat for all chops.  Cook in veg oil 7 mins each side approx (depending on thickness)

More to review later!

Happy Cooking!

Farm Fresh YAY!

I am so excited.  I spoke with Cheryl Williams about ordering a monthly meat box and we are signing up for a years worth of meat shares.  I even ordered the Easter ham.

Local, free range meat from a Nova Scotia farm.  I  am thrilled to have had a wonderful conversation with Cheryl today.  We receive our first box at the end of March just before Easter.

Her and I did some price comparisons to what i spend weekly on meat and this so worth it!! Also I learned about duck eggs.  We are receiving chicken and duck eggs monthly. (Organic Eggs in the grocery store are very overpriced so I was so happy!)

Andrew is on board as well and is supporting my endeavors for our family.  He loves the idea of eating with the seasons and so do I.

The best part?  Local organic food to our door WITHOUT running over budget and travelling downtown to the farmers market without a car!

Thank you Shani's Farm!

Learning as I go

Well you will notice this blog is not fancy.  I cannot photograph anything, let alone food.  So it will all look so humble.  But isn't that the point?  Simplify!  (yes that is my excuse for horrible pictures)

This week has been a bit rough with a toddler who is otherwise pleasant but it is now getting his two year old molars.  He has literally been teething most of his life....you know what?  I would be in a bad mood too!  It is hard on me as well because my pleasant little boy is now throwing fits (to put it mildly) so...not as many recipes posted.   I will try to catch up a little.

I made the BEST homemade lemonade tonight.  (Those were some mega huge lemons Homegrown Organics! lol!) Here is where I got the link:
Simply Recipes

(what is different is that I used organic lemons and cane sugar) Seriously...I am going to use this as a base and mix it up a bit and sit outside for the summer (looking forward to it!) Makes one excited that the weather is warming up.

We are still with the winter produce though and I made this soup: (I am linking as I am catching up..;)
Smitten Kitchen

This was SOOOOOO good. The kids thought it had too much kick and it did.  But it was so tasty, it made lots and it was filling.  Better the next day.  The great thing about this soup that attracted me to try it was that you don't need to begin with a salty broth or cream of something soup.  It was great to sop up with krusty bread and good to send the winter packing with a great finish.

I am afraid to make the Mushroom Lasagna I have planned for Andrew.  I have actually NEVER made a Lasagna so we shall see what happens. (I will report!)

Next post:  Book reviews.  I have been reading up on local produce, organic meat and cooking and there are some beautiful books I would like to share!

On a side note I am happy to report that I am noticing small changes.   I am noticing some changes in my health that are positive. I am noticing that Andrew is less sluggish.  There is less sugar around here and the kids are munching on things that are better for them.  We still have some work to do.

Happy Eating!

Catching up

I have a nice long post to write when I have some time to myself....there are so many things I have learned.  I have some books to review on Organic cooking for kids (fun!) some recipes to share.....I am looking to make some homemade lemonade, apple sauce and salad dressing.  I hope it works out.  I purchased some healthy flour for my cookie monsters and some cane sugar.  I read what is in those famous 'bear paw' cookies.  WOW.  Things I cannot pronounce.  Sad really.  Cute bear on the front.  But he gives the kids bad things.  He's a bad bear! lol.  Sorbitol, corn syrup and things I don't think I have the patience to type because they are long and when you look them up...they are bad.  My new philosophy:

If you cannot find out what it is or cannot pronounce it, don't eat it.

Got some beautiful produce this week and we are looking into buying some meat shares from a farm. (Delivered monthly!)  This is so much more economical and awesome as the meat is raised on a local farm and not in a factory.  (when i purchase and like I will give a shout out to the farm ;) Normally a person purchases a whole year of shares with the farm (so they know what to grow and raise) and there is NO way we could afford this so they have agreed to a monthly payment (a very reasonable one - actually less than I am spending now on meat for the grocery store meats!) and THAT is such a blessing.  The only thing I will have to go to the store for is lunch items and baby items.  Awesome.  More time to plan meals and spend time with my family.

This week:
Mushroom Lasagna
Pork chops with Kale 'potatoes'
Chicken and Bok Choy
Whole Organic Roast Chicken and root veggies
Lentil Sausage soup with swiss chard and black kale
and more...

I have 3 huge Zuchinnis so we might see some more bread. lol

Happy Monday, posts will be up this week!

(I don't know who reads this but I know people do because of the amount of views.  Please feel free to share and comment at any time.) 

Lemon Zucchini Bread

Lemon Zucchini Bread

I noticed the new food box this weekend has lots of zucchini.  The cooked texture of zucchini has never appealed to me much.  I don't mind it shredded.  I made this Lemon Zucchini Bread and it was DELICIOUS.  My little guy would not touch zucchini but he didn't know a whole organic zucchini went into this bread and he gobbled it. ;)

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.

 In a bowl, beat together the zucchini, sugar, egg, and oil. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder; stir in the cinnamon and lemon zest. Stir the flour mixture into the zucchini mixture until blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from heat, and cool.

We loved it so much that I want to make a much healthier version and see how it turns out.  On a side note I felt the recipe could have used more lemon zest!  Don't be stingy with it or you won't taste the lemon.

A healthier version could involve whole wheat flour, applesauce to sweeten and some organic sugar.  You could add nuts or cranberries.  

Sweet Pepper Pasta Toss with Kale (or Swiss Chard)

 Sweet Pepper Pasta Toss with Kale (or Swiss Chard)

 

half a package of bacon

leftover chicken

 1 (8 ounce) package uncooked farfalle

(bow tie) pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 cup roughly chopped kale

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 pinch dried basil

1 pinch ground cayenne pepper

salt and ground black pepper to taste

8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

 

(I cooked some bacon in a pan first but you can easily make this veggie.)

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in red pepper, yellow pepper, kale and garlic. Season with basil, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Cook until vegetables are tender.

Sprinkle with feta upon serving.