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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Veggie Treasure Lasagna

Veggie Treasure Lasagna

My husband is extra picky about lasagna! He doesn't like the thick texture of ricotta cheese so I use half ricotta and half cottage cheese and find that to be a great solution! I love throwing in colorful veggies like squash, spinach and zucchini. Lasagna is so versatile you can change it up to however you like it! Add some red pepper flakes for an added kick or throw in some carrrots and broccoli florets for even more wholesome goodness!

Ingredients:

12 Uncooked Sheets of Barilla Rolled Flat Lasagne Noodles (these are the ONLY noodles I use! You just take them out of the box and layer them, no boiling required and they look and taste like handmade!)



(Sauce)

1 tsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped yellow squash
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1 14.5 oz can peeled diced tomatoes undrained
1 small can tomato paste
2 small 6.5 oz cans of plain spaghetti sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp pepper
pinch of white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup red wine (optional-or add water in place of wine)
1 tsp Olive Oil

(Filling)

8 oz small curd cottage cheese
8 oz part skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup grated mozzerella cheese
8 oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
1/2 tbsp parsley
1 egg
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 large zucchini sliced
1/2 large yellow squash sliced

(topping)

1 cup mozzerella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
dash of parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray

Pour 1 can 6.5 oz pasta sauce on bottom of pan

To make the sauce in a medium saucepan combine olive oil, onion & garlic and cook over medium heat. Once fragrant and soft, add squash and zucchini. Cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally.



Add diced tomatoes, remaining can of tomato sauce, tomato paste, seasonings, water and/or wine and olive oil. Let simmer on low heat stirring occasionally while you prepare the filling.



To make the filling use a large bowl and place the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, parmesan, mozzerella, spinach, parsley, egg and garlic powder in the bowl. Combine ingredients until mixed well.



Slice the zucchini and squash in thin large circles.

Layer 4 noodles over sauce in pan



Layer sliced zucchini & squash over the noodles



Layer 1/2 cheese mixture over the veggies

Follow with 1 cup of sauce


Layer 4 more noodles over the sauce

Follow with remaining mixture

Top with 1 cup of sauce

Layer 4 noodles over the sauce

Top with remaining sauce



Place foil over baking dish and place in oven approx 40-45 minutes until bubbly

Remove foil from pan and top with remaining cheeses and parsley

Place dish in oven uncovered and bake an additional 10 minutes until cheese is melted

Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.



Makes approx 9 servings



(Note-The photos show me using a large pan - we like to make extra since we are a large family plus we pack leftovers for the next day's lunch!)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Great Easy Recipe!



It's called Chicken Nugget Casserole, but it is more like an easy version of Chicken Parmesian!

With just five ingredients, tossed into a baking dish to cook for a half hour, this dish gets rave reviews from me!

I used 14 oz Tyson Chicken Nuggets, 26 oz Organic Marinera, 1/3 cup shredded parmesian and 1/3 cup mozzerella cheese and some italian seasoning.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a greased casserole dish, place frozen nuggets, then add parmesian cheese, top with sauce, then sprinkle with mozzerella and italian seasoning. Place in oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is nice and bubbly!

Seriously, my 6 year old can make this!

I served this with a salad for dinner. It was really tasty! Definately a nice change from the naked nuggets with dipping sauce! Try it and let me know what you think!!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Hearts for Tuesday



Please visit my blog by clicking this picture to learn about Tuesday and how to send a message of strength to her family.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Free stuff from Kashi!

I love Kashi! They have great organic food that doesn't taste like cardboard. Kashi seems to be genuinely interested in keeping their products wholesome, healthy and tasting great! A while back when they were having their "Steal a cookie" campaign, I joined their website community and it wasn't long before they sent me a teaser in the mail saying I was getting a surprise from them. Their slogan was "Let's Keep It Real" on the letter. I was really excited to find out what it was, I even blogged about it on my main blog!

Just a few days ago I got this package from Kashi!!



Hmm...I wonder what is inside??



Oh goody! That Blackberry Graham bar looks SO Yummy!!



Heck Yessss! I get a FREE BOX of Kashi Soft Baked Bars!! Plus there are a TON of $2.00 off coupons! I'm supposed to share them with friends, but I am not sure I will because I want these all to myself!!

So now I really really love Kashi. Deep, faithful love. I bought a box of their Strawberry Soft Baked Bars and they were fantastic! Best of all, I can give them to my 11 month old without feeling like he is eating junk. I feel better about giving him Kashi cereal bars and crackers than I do about giving him some of those snacks designed for babies because they have so many artificial ingredients in them!

Oh and the Blackberry Graham bar? That was delectable. Yum Yum! I had to wrestle it from my husband, we were both fighting for that sucker! I ended up giving him a little piece and then I savored the rest of it. With Kashi you can taste the healthy. Does that make sense? It tastes good for you and tastes delicious at the same time!

So here is a little morsel for you! You can get your own $2.00 coupon right now! Heck you can get 10 if you want! Just print it off the Kashi site HERE!

Also you can check out their informative Ingredient Decoder! This handy little booklet gives you descriptions of many of the most popular artifical ingredients in foods today. This helps you understand what exactly you are consuming!

So get moving!! Visit KASHI now! If you want to get cool stuff from them, make sure you sign up for their community!!

I promise to post more recipes and fun stuff soon! My main blog is hogging all my foodie time!!