10-Minute (GF + Freezable) Lasagna

OK. This recipe doesn’t take ten minutes total with bake time included -- but to prepare? Not even ten active minutes. I always have stuff to make lasagna on hand. It’s one of those quick pantry meals we make when we’re low on groceries. Plus, that’s the beauty of this recipe -- there are no rules. Use what you have, leave out what you don’t, substitute where you can.

Assemble, store, and bake when you need it.

Start by mixing the filling:

In the mix:

• Ricotta cheese (part-skim), one small tub
• Sliced olives
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup or so pumpkin puree
• Couple handfuls chopped spinach
• Salt + pepper

I set that aside and got some no-boil noodles. I decided to try a gluten-free variety made from brown rice, and they were quite good. Any no-boil noodles -- GF or standard -- should do for this recipe, though, a standard package usually includes enough to make a 9 x 13 pan of lasagna.

Just spread the uncooked noodles with the filling.


You’ll want to spread a small amount of sauce at the bottom of your pan. From there, layer your first row of noodles. Top with more sauce and spread to cover. Layer another row. More sauce + spread. Another row, etc. until you’ve used all the noodles. Top with more sauce, mozzarella cheese, and some Parmesan, if you feel so inclined.

I ended up using more than one jar of sauce, just FYI.


That whole part you just did should only take around 10 minutes! From there, you can stick this guy -- covered with foil -- in your fridge until you’re ready to bake (the passive part). Oven temperatures and cook times vary by the type of noodle. I cooked ours at 375 degrees F for around 45 minutes -- taking off the foil in the end stage of cooking to get that mozzarella browned.

We never eat an entire dish of lasagna, so I serve dinner and then refrigerate the leftovers overnight. The next morning I slice the cooled lasagna into squares and individually wrap in plastic wrap and then place the single serve portions in a freezer bag. To serve again, just thaw and bake in your oven (or in your microwave -- just be careful of hot spots!).

What’s your favorite quick pantry meal?

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...

Vegan Freezer Lasagna

Of all the vegetarian freezer meals I made this month, the vegan lasagna was by far my favorite recipe. Actually, I didn't follow a recipe while making it, which might be a reason it turned out so well. It was spur-of-the-moment + tossing-stuff-in-a-dish. I was cooking a bazillion 4 other things and just decided I'd use whatever we had in our CSA basket for the week, which is how the ratatouille sauce came about.

It sounds fancy, right? It's not.

Cooking from scratch doesn't need to be fussy or intimidating or time-intensive. It seems that way, but it's not the case at all. Home cooked food doesn't even need to look particularly nice on the plate in my opinion. So long as a dish satisfies and tastes good, it's mission accomplished. Bellies full. Hearts warmed.

VEGAN FREEZER LASAGNA
This recipe makes 8 sizable portions that are as great for lunch as they are for dinner. 

What you'll need . . .

For the "ricotta" mixture:

• 1 block extra firm tofu, drained well
• 1/2 to 1 cup fresh or frozen spinach
• salt + pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

//  Drain the tofu as well as you can. I actually just used my hands and squeezed over the sink. Then in a small bowl, I combined all the ingredients with my hands and set aside.


For the "ratatouille" sauce:

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 large zucchini or other squash
• 1 large onion
• Several cloves garlic
• salt, pepper, olive oil
• Homemade tomato sauce

//  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Chop eggplant, zucchini, onion, and garlic and -- on a rimmed baking sheet -- toss in some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake in 10 minute intervals until lightly browned. About 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool slightly.

//  Then combine with 1-1/2 to 2 cups tomato sauce (depending on how much veggie mixture you have) in a blender or food processor by pulsing. I left mine quite chunky.


Otherwise:

• 12 sheets no boil lasagna noodles
• (I used Wegmans, fancy cut, no. 15)

//  Lower oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Get out a 9" by 13" baking dish. Layer starting with 1-1/2 cups sauce covered by 4 sheets of noodles then 1/3 of the tofu mixture. Repeat. Repeat again. Top with remaining tomato sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and let bake for 40 minutes.

If you plan to eat right away, remove foil and let bake another 15 minutes and stand 10 before serving.

If you're freezing, just stick to 40 minutes.



Note: If you aren't vegan, feel free to substitute ricotta cheese in for the tofu, about 2 cups. You can sprinkle the top with bread crumbs or parmesan cheese or whatever else you'd normally like on your lasagna, too.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

To freeze, let the cooked dish cool overnight in your refrigerator. Then cut into individual portions and wrap in plastic wrap. I put all my wrapped individual portions in yet another airtight container as an extra measure to ward off freezer burn. Worked very well.


When you want to cook it again, let defrost overnight in your refrigerator (or in an afternoon on your kitchen counter) and bake at 350 until the center is warmed through.

If you're just catching up, be sure to check out these posts!


Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...

Pumpkin Rut

I've made so many different soups, stews, breads, desserts, etc. with pumpkin. In autumn, I buy a large can of it nearly every week at the grocery store. I don't even think about it, but it's there in the cart at checkout time.

I sat for a good hour trying to think of something NEW to do with pumpkin. Well, that's not all I did during said hour, but you know how it goes when something's on your mind. You carry it with you.

I decided to ask Google for some help.

I searched "ways to use canned pumpkin" and it yielded some good links:

Bon Appetit's 11 Ways to Use Canned Pumpkin
TLC's 10 Ways to Use Canned Pumpkin (Besides in a Pie)
Self.com's 4 Tasty Ways to Use Canned Pumpkin
Food Network's Leftover Canned Pumpkin 5 Ways
Momadvice.com's 8 Ways to Use Canned or Fresh Pumpkin

If you add in my Food for Runners post with 18 pumpkin recipes, I entertained 56 creative, delicious ideas. But many of these recipes -- pumpkin butter, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cookies, etc., etc., etc. -- are sort of been-there-done-that for me.

What to do?


rolled PUMPKIN LASAGNA 
in a SMOKY PUMPKIN CHEDDAR SAUCE

What you'll need for the pasta . . . 

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1+ cup unbleached white flour
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 
• 1 tablespoon flax meal + 3 tablespoons hot water (= flax egg)
• 3 tablespoons water

Method . . . 

1. In a food processor, pulse walnuts until they become meal. Then add the flours and salt. Pulse until combined.
2. Add in the pumpkin puree, the flax egg, and water. Mix until a dough ball is formed.
3. Take out of processor. If dough is sticky, knead in more flour until it isn't.
4. Let rest at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes. 
5. Then generously flour a work surface and roll out into a large rectangle. Cut into 8 smaller, longer lasagna rectangles (as shown below). 
6. Set aside until ready for use. 
7. Best part: There is no need to boil noodles before baking lasagna rolls.

What you'll need for the sauce . . .

• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or regular milk)
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 to 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Method for sauce . . .

1. Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add in the garlic and let cook for a couple minutes.
2. Then add the cayenne and paprika. Mix until garlic is coated. 
3. Add the rest of the ingredients -- all but the cheese.
4. Once it sauce is well incorporated take off heat and stir in cheese.

What you'll need for the filling . . .

• 1 block extra firm tofu, drained well
• 15-ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 small tomato, diced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method . . . 

1. Simply crumble the tofu into a large bowl, toss with the black beans and diced tomato.
2. Season with the salt and pepper. 
3.  The key is making sure the tofu is as drained as possible. Otherwise you may have some soggy pasta (but it isn't terrible if that happens).

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spritz an 8" x 8" (9" x 9" works, too) pan with some olive oil. Then pour in 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the sauce into the bottom
2. Lay out your lasagna noodles. Spread each evenly with some sauce, making sure that you have a good 1/2 cup or more of sauce left over.
3. Then evenly distribute the filling mixture.
4. Starting at one end, roll the pasta and then place into your baking dish -- one right next to another.
5. When you have finished rolling the pasta, cover with the remaining sauce.
6. You may also choose to add a bit of shredded cheese on top. 
7. Cover dish with foil and place in oven to 45 minutes.
8. Then take off the foil and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. 
9. We actually did this and then turned off the heat and left the dish in there for another 25 minutes while we gave Ada a bath and it turned out great.

My weakness as a food photographer?

Taking photos of cooked pasta dishes. I never, ever get a good shot! The finished pumpkin pasta tastes much better than this photo would lead you to believe.


Anyway, that's how I busted out of my pumpkin rut. And not only did we have a great dinner, we still have half the food left over for tomorrow's lunch. I'll be the first to say that this recipe SEEMS long and complicated, but I assure you -- it wasn't terribly difficult. Even for a weeknight.

Also, if you'd rather use ricotta in place of tofu, that would be delicious! Alternatively, if you'd like to make this recipe vegan, omit all cheese and consider adding in some nutritional yeast for the flavor.

Have you come across any new, fun pumpkin recipes lately? I'd like to make something sweet that I haven't tried before. Hmmm.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...

10 meals for $10: Veggie Lasagna

Now that we've announced our big news (thanks so much for all your congrats!), you may better understand our desire to save money and improve upon our home. They're two of the central themes we had when we first started the blog, but they'll be out and proud from now until November (and beyond!).

One of the most obvious ways I can think of to save money is through lowering our grocery bill each week. Lately, we've been spending at least $80 for food weekly. That's up quite a bit from our old $50 goal. And now that I'm having less morning sickness, I think we can start pinching pennies again.

We've focused our energy on this pursuit before, so if you missed it, check out these posts:

• Eating Well Need Not Cost a Fortune
• Grocery Bills: Progress
• Grocery Bills: Even More Progress
• Grocery Bills: What's Up Now?
• Slashing Grocery Bills: We're Going Strong
• Grocery Bills: Major Fail!
• How to Store Bulk Foods
• Cooking and Baking on a Budget: How To
• How to Bake It Vegan: Common Substitutions

So this week, we took some of our own advice. We sat down together for half an hour and planned out our meals for the week. We wrote down how much of which ingredients we would need. We thought about sensible, healthy breakfasts and lunches. Armed with this information, we headed to Sam's club.

OK. That's something new. We're trying out Sam's Club for 10 weeks on a special promotion they are running. 10 weeks for $10 -- and if you're interested, you have until June 5th to sign up. However, after walking the aisles that first day, I don't know if we'll extend our membership beyond the trial period. We scrutinized the prices of various goods and didn't see significant savings. And much of the food there is packaged -- stuff we don't typically munch on.

We left Sam's with a case of Chobani (at $1.00 per cup versus $1.19!), two LARGE jars of peanut butter, two loaves of wheat bread, big bags of onions and potatoes, and some lemonade (which is my current magical nausea cure).

The total was $51. Ack.

Onto Wegmans, where our list proved to be an excellent tool. At least at getting us in and out much faster than usual. We had some higher-ticket items we needed to purchase, like maple syrup and tahini -- so the total came to $75. However, this price also included some food for a weekend meal, which goes into another budget. We're going to track our food expenditures over a month versus on a week by week basis, because I think this week's haul will be significantly less. But we'll see!

Something new we're trying is making meals that last for several days. We started with this vegetable lasagna, which makes enough for 10 servings. I totaled all the ingredients we used in its creation and came up with $10. That's only $1.00 per serving, if we can spread it out over 5 days. So far, we're on day three and it's still tasting good, but getting somewhat boring. It is extremely nice to know when I go home that dinner is already prepared, though!


VEGGIE LASAGNA

What you'll need . . .

• 1 package whole wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked
• 1 medium zucchini, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium eggplant, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 (24 ounce) jar of spaghetti sauce
• 2 lbs of ricotta cheese
• Shredded mozzarella

Method . . .

1. Cook the lasagna noodles to the package directions.
2. While you wait for water to boil, pasta to cook -- prepare your veggies.
3. Then saute the veggies on medium-high heat for 5 minutes (or until softened). Toss in the pasta sauce and cook for another couple minutes. Switch heat to low, cover, and keep warm.
4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
5. When pasta is done, drain and rinse with cold water. Then in a 9 x 13 inch glass baking pan, spread 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom. Layer with 3 of the noodles (length-wise), and cover with a layer of ricotta. Then add another layer of noodles. Another layer of sauce. Another layer of noodles, etc.
6. End your layers with a layer of the sauce/veggie mixture. Then top with some shredded mozzarella (however much you wish to use -- I think we used half a cup). And cover with foil.
7. Cook for 45 minutes, until cheese and everything else is bubbly.

***Recipe is straight from the box of Ronzoni Healthy Harvest lasagna noodles. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Today on (never home)maker, baby! we talk all about how we found out about the pregnancy. It wasn't all hugs and kisses, I'll tell ya that much!

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...

Roasted Eggplant Lasagna

I'm not even one-sixteenth Italian. And this lasagna recipe hasn't been in my family for generations. In fact, I doubt my parents (or grandparents for that matter) would enjoy this dish for its lack of meat, noodles, etc. But we like it quite a bit. It's healthy and full of the nutrients needed to keep us going. Too bad she doesn't photograph well . . . or you'd see her delicious layers of roasted eggplant, gooey ricotta, tomatoes, and spinach.

Good news, though. You can see her for yourself! Why not Sunday night? It's a date.

What you'll need . . .

• 3 1-pound eggplants, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch thick pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds part-skim ricotta cheese
  
• 2 handfuls baby spinach
  
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 to 2 containers sauce (we used Newman's Own Roasted Garlic and ended up using a bit of a 2nd container)
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella
  

Method . . .

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush two baking sheets with olive oil.
2. Prepare your ingredients.
   
3. Transfer eggplant to prepared sheets. Toss with 2 tablespoons oil. Roast eggplant until tender, about 25 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Set aside.
   
4. Mix ricotta cheese, spinach, shallots and rosemary in a food processor. Pulse only until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Oil 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce in dish. Arrange 1/3 eggplant "noodles" in single layer in dish. Spread half of ricotta mixture over noodles. Spoon about 1 cup sauce over that. Now 1/3 of the mozzarella. Arrange another 1/3 of eggplant over that. Add another layer of the ricotta mixture. Spoon another 1 cup sauce over. Arrange another 1/3 of the mozzarella over the sauce. Repeat layering 1 more time. Spread remaining sauce over. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover tightly with lightly oiled foil.
   
6. (Can be prepared a day in advance; just be sure to chill properly.)
7. Bake until lasagna is heated through, about 45 minutes. Uncover; bake until cheese begins to brown and sauce is bubbling slightly at edges, another 15 minutes.
   
8. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
   

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts and be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever <3

Read more...