Busted!

Getting your family to go along with meat-less entrees can be a challenge.  I started when my kids were young, but I got busted.

Everyone I know loves lasagna .  While my kids were still young and innocent I made meat-less lasagna so that I could eat it with them. It was tasty enough I got no complaints. . .  Until the day daughter Casie stayed for dinner at her friend’s house.  When she came home her eyes had that “what do you mean there’s no Santa Claus?:” look.

“Mom,” She exclaimed. “her mom put MEAT in her lasagna!”  Busted! Of course Italian sausage ramps up lasagna from an 8 to a 10.  Here I had forced her to suffer through meat-less lasagna her entire short life. So from that day on whenever I make lasagna I have to make two pans one with meat and one for me. Here are my two recipes. I think the meat-less one is fine, I hope you will too.

If you have a favorite lasagna recipe you can follow that and just leave out the meat. My version gets high praise from guests and my husband even eats the meat-less dish and likes it.

You’ll include the standard five steps

Noodles
Cheese mixture

Mean and/or spices

Marinara

Mozzarella cheese

Noodles Use a full box of dry  lasagna noodles

I have yet to find no-cook noodles that actually perform well, plus they break when layering in the dish.

Cook per label instructions just short a couple minutes so they are pliable but not soft. I add salt and olive oil in the boiling water. This helps flavor the noodles and seems to discourage them from sticking to each other as they dry.

Cook the Noodles well ahead of time so they can cool off and you won’t burn your fingers.

Cheese mixture

In a large bowl combine
1 ½ cup of ricotta cheese

One pound package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and wrung dry

Two eggs, slightly beaten

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Minced garlic

A handful of dried parsley

1 teaspoon of dried basil or oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Stir well, This mixture should be on the dry side.

 

Meat

Brown a pound of Italian Sausage, sweet, mild or hot, whatever you prefer. Break up the links as they brown.

Spices

To the meat-less version I also add two spices that remind me of Italian sausage:  a pinch of dry red-pepper flakes and about a tablespoon of caraway seeds.

Marinara

You can make it from scratch, but I think lasagna takes long enough and uses enough pans and dishes without adding this step.  I use a good store-bought sauce. At least two jars.

Mozzarella
You can use fresh, packaged, slices or grated. They all taste wonderful

Assemble in two separate casserole dishes in layers

½  of the Noodles

Dot with  ½ of the cheese mixture

Cover with ½ of the meat or spices

Pour 1 jar of marinara sauce evenly over the top

Sprinkle ½ of the grated mozzarella cheese

Repeat.

Note: for the top layer if you sprinkle the mozzarella before pouring the marinara, you'll avoid getting a burned cheese top.

Bake both in the same oven 350 degrees 30 -40 minutes. 

Allow to cool before serving.

Two pans can serve 12 people, but my family seldom stops at one serving.

Noodles, cheese mix and meat

Noodles, cheese mix and spices

First layer: meat

First Layer, no meat

Yummy lasagna

Meatless lasagna

.

Eat Your Spinach

Ask anyone who’s ever watched Popeye cartoons, spinach will make you strong. Alas,as  with many cartoon created conceptions, spinach will not give you big sailor muscles.  Nor can you  get flattened by a truck, get back up, shake yourself out and keep on running.

But, spinach is good for you. One cup has only 7 calories and little more than 1 carb. It delivers 11 vitamins and is especially high in A and K. .  You’ll also get 9 minerals from each cup of spinach.

Growing up at my house, it was served boiled and the best we could do was cover with salt or vinegar, ick. According to my parents, and probably yours, starving children in China would love my un-eaten spinach. And probably like you, I offered to send it to them.

Times have changed,  First those Chinese kids eat pretty well these days. We have found spinach is great in calzones, artichoke dip, Hidden Valley dip and creamed . It’s a good thing there are only 7 calories in a cup of spinach because all those dishes add lots of calories and fat. Here’s a way to get your family pumped up on vitamins and minerals without all the calories and fat.

Spinach Pesto

You might be familiar with basil pesto. Replace with spinach to make it more cheaply, more healthful and spinach is available all year long.

You’ll need a food processor for this.  I was able to make it in my Bullet/mini food processor. This will yield about a cup of pesto..  It’s like magic. You’ll put in more than 2 cups of ingredients and end up with a smaller volume.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh baby spinach.
Juice of ½ lemon

1 clove garlic, chopped

2T chopped nuts (walnuts or pine nuts)

Olive oil

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (use freshly grated hard cheese. Soft cheese will gum up the blades)

Salt

Pepper

1/8 t ground nutmeg

Grind up the spinach with the lemon juice. Add garlic and nuts. Process until fine. Slowly add in olive oil, you may use up to ¼ cup.  You want to add the olive oil slowly until the pesto is a smooth consistency, or as you like it.

Add the Parmesan  cheese slowly, again watch for desired texture.

Mix in nutmeg

Add salt and pepper to taste

Of course your family won’t want to eat this with a spoon like oatmeal, You’ll need to serve it over some thing.  I used a package of fresh tortellini (sold on dairy aisles)

Cook per package directions. During the last few minutes, I dropped in a handful of broccoli florets. When pasta is done and broccoli is slightly cooked, drain. Put back into dry, hot pan. Stir in a few slices of roasted red peppers. (You can roast your own, or buy a jar already roasted) .  Turn the heat on low. Add the pesto, stir til warm.

When ready to serve, grate a little more Parmesan over the top.