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Update: I’m happy to announce that this meal will be featured on Shine Food’s One Pot Meals! Check out my dish and other easy one pot meals on their site!
Happy November! Until I came across this skillet vegetarian lasagna recipe, I’d never dreamed of making lasagna on the stovetop. I was surprised and skeptical to see that the noodles don’t have to be pre-cooked. I gathered a little faith and followed the recipe directions and sure enough, they cooked perfectly.
The original recipe is made with ground beef and I made some major modifications to make it vegetarian. The first thing I did was add zucchini and summer squash. The trick to keeping the lasagna from getting too soupy is cooking them seperately and then blotting off the extra moisture before they get added to the dish.
I also added some fake meat. I’ve been cooking more with vegan meat subsititutes lately but I have to admit I’m a little torn. Meat substitutes really contribute texture and protein much more than taste. The thing is, there are so many ingredients on the label that sound like toxic chemicals I’m not certain it’s really any healthier than just adding red meat to the dish.
Skillet Vegetarian Lasagna
Adopted from Koko Cooks (meat version)
originally from America’s Test Kitchen, Pasta Revolution
Ingredients:
2 T. olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 summer squash, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes, with liquid
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 lb vegetarian ground sirloin substitute
10 (curly-edged) lasagna noodles, broken lengthwise and then into smaller pieces
3/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 c. ricotta cheese
3 T. chopped fresh basil
Directions:
1. In a frying pan, heat 1 T. oil over medium heat. Add the summer squash and zucchini and cook until softened, stirring occasionally. Remove from skillet to a plate covered with a towel or paper towel and blot off excess moisture.
2. Heat 1 T. oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook,until softened, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the garlic, pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3. Add zucchini mixture to skillet.
4. Add veggie ground beef to the skillet. Cook, stirring often until warm.
5. Scatter the pasta in the skillet, then pour the crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes over the top. Stir, increase the heat to medium-high, and cover. Cook at a bubbling simmer, stirring often, until the pasta is tender, 20 minutes. Keep the pan covered when not stirring. If the lasagna seems dry, you can add a bit of water at the halfway point. Stir the noodles frequently to keep them from clumping together or sticking to the bottom of the skillet.
6. Preheat the broiler. Remove the skillet from heat. Stir in half the mozzarella, all of the Parmesan, and half of the ricotta. Dot the remaining ricotta over the noodles in tablespoons, then sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella.
7. Transfer to the oven and broil until the cheese melts and is starts to brown.
8. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with basil and serve.
I have my big exam on Wednesday so I’m taking the whole weekend off to relax! Do you have anything exciting planned for the weekend?
I’m so spoiled to live with a man who loves to cook as much as I do. Pat whipped up these fancy sandwiches for a picnic lunch one of my last weekends in Wisconsin. I never would have imagined that carrots and tapenade would be the perfect marriage for a sandwich. The spices were also a good preview for our honeymoon in Morocco next summer. You may have noticed, picnics are one of our favorite summer activities!
As an added bonus, you can make these fancy sandwiches vegan by using hummus instead of sliced turkey!
Fancy Sandwiches – Moroccan Carrot and Turkey with Green Olive Tapenade
Adopted from Epicurious
For carrots
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 lb medium carrots (about 8)
For tapenade
1 1/4 cups green olives (6 to 7 oz) such as Cerignola or picholine, pitted
3 tablespoons drained bottled capers, rinsed
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
For sandwiches
12 slices good-quality pumpernickel sandwich bread
Sliced turkey meat or hummus
Arugula
Prepare carrots:
1. Whisk together sugar, lemon juice, spices, salt, and oil in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved.
2. Halve carrots crosswise on a long diagonal, then, starting from diagonal ends, cut into 1/16-inch-thick slices using slicer.
3. Cook carrots in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 45 seconds. Drain well in a colander and immediately toss with dressing.
4. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, then marinate, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours.
Make tapenade and assemble sandwiches:
1. Pulse olives with capers, parsley, anchovy, zest, lemon juice, and pepper in a food processor until coarsely chopped, then scrape down side of bowl with a rubber spatula.
2. Pulsing motor, add oil in a slow stream and continue to pulse until mixture is finely chopped (do not pulse to a paste).
3. Spread tapenade on half the bread, layer with sliced turkey or hummus and arugula, then carrots.
I made this Spicy Caramel Bacon Popcorn Recipe from A Cozy Kitchen for our backyard movie night last weekend. My first thought was that it sounded too good to be true. Sweet, salty, bacon, caramel? All in one recipe? My second thought was, “wow that’s a lot of sugar!” This almost derailed my plans, especially because I’m doing a pediatric endocrine rotation right now and I’m seeing a ton of kiddos with Type I diabetes that are counting carbs right now. In the end, bacon won out and I proceeded with the recipe. I didn’t make too many changes, other than increasing the cayenne pepper, which gave my popcorn the deeper brownish color and made it even spicier!
In other news, I am going to be doing my next blog giveaway this week! Stay tuned for more details!!!!
Spicy Caramel Bacon Popcorn
Adopted from A Cozy Kitchen
6 slices of bacon
3 T vegetable oil
5 c. of popped popcorn (1/2 c. kernels)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (originally 3/4 tsp)
3 c. sugar
3 T unsalted butter
2 tsp fine sea salt
1. Line bacon side-by-side on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, until crispy and brown. Remove and place on paper towels to drain. Press the tops with another layer of paper towels. When cool, cut into small pieces.
2. Mix the baking soda and cayenne pepper and set aside.
3. Prepare a large mixing bowl (I used my kitchenaid bowl) by spraying generously with cooking spray. Also coat two spatulas with cooking spray. Dump the popcorn in the bowl.
4. Combine sugar, butter, salt, and 1/2c water in a medium saucepan. Cook without stirring on high heat, until it becomes light golden-yellow caramel. This takes about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and add the soda/cayenne mixture. Careful, as the mixture will bubble up! Add the bacon bits.
5. Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn and toss until coated evenly. Pour the popcorn onto a large baking pan and flatten and separate into small pieces. Cool to room temp and store in a well-sealed airtight container.
6. The popcorn will keep up to four days in the fridge.
The verdict? In moderation, it was worth.every.teaspoon of sugar! Holy tastebud overload!
Pat and I went for a little picnic in the country this past weekend. I’ll post more photos and recipes later, but my macbook – and photoshop – is in the shop this week (sad face). Part of the menu was greek yogurt apple dip. Greek yogurt makes this super healthy and the recipe couldn’t get any easier! I didn’t really measure, I just added a scoop of this, a squirt of this, a pinch of that. The recipe is pretty flexible and you could use almond butter instead of peanut butter, or brown sugar instead of honey.
On another note, I was overwhelmed by the response to my med school post yesterday. I had a unexpected amount of really nice emails from med students and people who are thinking about medical school. It was awesome to know that my tips were so well-received!
Oh, and one last thing. One of my favorite companies ever, Brooks, is having their end-of-season sale right now! Now is a great time to stock up on running gear or buy that pair of shoes that you’ve been pining after! This link goes directly to the sale stuff, or you can visit their main site at brooksrunning.com. As an added bonus, the discount code ‘HEADSTART’ will get you free shipping until July 17th! (No benefit to me if you check it out, I am just a loyal fan).
Here is the approximate recipe:
Greek Yogurt Apple Dip Recipe
- 1 cup of Greek yogurt or strained plain yogurt
- 2T peanut butter (or more if you want it creamier)
- 1T honey
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy with the apple or fruit of your choice!
Berry season is upon us and I’ve been gorging myself on nature’s bounty – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries…. To celebrate, I threw together these cute little fresh fruit tartlets using my new Wilton Cookie Bowl Pan. I used a basic recipe for tart dough from Smitten Kitchen and a mascarpone-based filling. The filling was especially easy because there was no cooking involved. Just mix three ingredients and voila, you’re done! I really loved the result, and the Wilton Pan made things pretty slick. I’m going to try to use if for other projects, such as homemade ice cream. You could also use a muffin tin to make your tart shells.
I took the fresh fruit tartlets to Concerts on the Square, which happens every Wednesday here in Madison, all summer long. The Madison Chamber Orchestra plays a free concert on the lawn of the capitol and everyone turns out to sit in the grass and enjoy snacks and wine. Needless to say, they were a hit! To get them to the square safely on our bikes, I ended up packaging each on individually into glass leftover containers (like these from Lock & Lock, which I have and absolutely love!)
Sweet Tart Dough for Fresh Fruit Tartlets
Adopted from Paris Sweets, Dorie Greenspan via Smitten Kitchen
Makes enough for six approximately 1-cup mini tart crusts
1 1/4 sticks (145g) unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 c (75g) powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 c (35g) almond flour or ground blanched almonds, lightly packed
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, room temp and stirred with a fork
1 3/4 c (245g) all-purpose flour
1. Process butter in a food processer until creamy. Add powdered sugar and process to blend well.
2. Add the almond flour, salt and vanilla and process until smooth.
3. Add the whisked egg with the machine running and process for a few seconds, scrape bowl.
4. Add the flour and pulse just until the mixture starts to clump together and form a ball. Don’t overmix. Gather into a ball and flatten into a 1/2 inch thick disk. Wrap in plastic and refridgerate 4 hours to two days. You can also freeze it for up to a month.
5. Roll out dough between two sheets of plastic wrap. Flip dough often and lift the plastic wrap to make sure you don’t roll creases into the dough. If it becomes too soft, put it in the fridge, still in plastic, for a few minutes.
6. To make the individual tarts, I used a bowl that was the right side for my (greased) Wilton Cookie Bowl Pan as a stencil. You can also use a greased muffin tin or actual designated tart dishes. Just cut your dough to the appropriate size. Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Use a fork to gently lift your crust out of your mold/muffin tin/etc and transfer to a rack to cool.
Fresh Fruit Tartlets with Mascarpone Cream
Adopted from Little Upside Down Cake Blog
1 c (227g) mascarpone cheese
1 c sour cream
1/2 c (30g) powdered sugar
1. Mix all three ingredients
2. Fill your tart shells 2/3 full
3. Garnish with fruit. Wasn’t that easy?!
I am excited to announce that I’ve been chosen (out of over 500 people!) to be one of the recipe testers for The Cupcake Project Blog‘s Quest for the Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake. The idea is that she has 50 bloggers and bakers with various experience levels make a recipe and give feedback until the recipe is just perfect. I received the recipe this weekend and immediately baked it for a housewarming party we attended. Although I can’t share the recipe or my review just yet, there is a picture below, as well as the frosting recipe I used, which is also from The Cupcake Project.
My Favorite Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
From Stefani Pollack of The Cupcake Project Blog
- 8 ozs cream cheese, room temp
- 1/4c unsalted butter, room temp
- 4c sifted powdered sugar
- 1/2c cocoa powder
- Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
- Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
- Mix in cocoa powder.
Ok, ok, so techically this isn’t ratatouille. But if ratatouille and vegetable chili had a love child, this would be it. I love ratatouille, but it doesn’t have the protein I need to support my active lifestyle. This is the perfect recipe for a hot summer day when you don’t want to be anywhere near a stove or oven (which has been pretty often in Wisconsin the last few weeks).
Slow Cooker Three Bean Ratatouille
adopted from Badger Girl Learns to Cook
- 2 summer squash, chopped
- 2 zucchini, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 sweet peppers, chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 T Italian seasoning
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 can kidney beans, rinsed or 1/2c dried kidney beans, softened
- 1 can black beans, rinsed or 1/2c dried black beans, softened
- 1 can garbanzo beans, 1/2c dried garbanzo beans, softened
- Crumbled feta, optional
1. Combine all ingredients in a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Top with feta if desired. That’s it!
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