veggie lasagna

Okay, ignore the almost invisible amount of cheese in the photos.  As 99.8% of the country is OBSESSED with cheese, and I am not... well, let's just say I'm playing to the vegan or lactose intolerant crowd and leave it at that, shall we?  In short, there is only a tiny bit of Parmesan pictured, but feel free to smother this with Parmesan and mozzarella for yourself.  No hard feelings.  I'm posting this recipe anyway because it is amazing and I could probably eat it daily.

We've all eaten that pasta dish at one point or another where the veggies were just tossed in with the noodles raw and they become mushy and tasteless?  This is not that dish.  The veggie roasting is essential.  The veggies are not total mush, and this really brings out all the flavor.

I like seasonings.  I really do.  I would love to have them all fresh all the time, but kids, schedules, etc. happen.  I'm not a snob.  I will use fresh or dried.  I keep hearing people complain that dried herbs have no flavor  Well, eat a dish unseasoned, and eat the same dish with only dried seasonings.  Get back to me on that about how NOT THE SAME they tasted.  Yeah, I thought so.

Anyway, I'll get down to it, shall I?

Yummy.  Don't mind my drool...

Sorry about the photo.  I am absolutely hopeless at neatly picking anything up with a spatula.

Place your chopped and seasoned vegetables (I used onion, garlic, tomato, red bell pepper, and zucchini) in a pan together and roast for 45 minutes.

Lasagna assembly is such a messy process.  At least it is for me.  My layers include marinara sauce, lasagna noodles, extra seasonings, roasted vegetables, and Parmesan.

It really doesn't matter the order you assemble this, but putting marinara on the bottom voids the need for cooking spray, and generally the top is smothered in cheese.

Yeah, this photo is pretty bad, but still, LASAGNA!

This looks like heaven to me.  This smothered in cheese probably looks like heaven to you.

See that white blob in the top left corner under the top noodle?  Yeah, that's a huge clove of garlic.  This tastes great, but probably don't kiss anyone directly after eating.  PSA.

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veggie lasagna

by Liesl June-25-2014

lasagna with roasted vegetables

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 tbsp basil (divided)
• 1 tbsp oregano (divided)
• 4 cups marinara sauce
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 1/2 cup Parmesan
• 2 cups mozzarella (optional)

Instructions

1. Chop the vegetables into even sizes and roast in a 9x9 oven safe dish with the olive oil and 1/3 of the seasonings for 45 minutes at 400 degrees F. Leave the oven on. 2. Begin assembling the lasagna. Sauce on the bottom, then 3 noodles, then some seasonings, then veggies, then Parmesan. Continue layering until your run out of materials, ending with the Parmesan (or mozzarella if using) on the top. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and everything looks fully cooked (or melted). Let sit for 10 minutes, then enjoy! Makes for great leftovers too.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 1 hour 20 mins Total time: 1 hour 30 mins Yield: 1 9x13 pan

chocolate overnight oatmeal

Try this.  You will thank me.  I guarantee.  If you like breakfast that tastes like dessert, this will be your new favorite.  I LOVE sweet breakfasts.  They taste delicious, but tend to be far to high in sugar, and far too low in protein.  This solves those issues.

This is sweet with great texture, and is easy to eat on the go.  Even better, it takes 5 minutes to make with no prep needed, and you've made three breakfasts (one batch equals three servings).

Fantastic, right?  Seriously, I have yet to see a down side to this recipe.  This texture alone is heaven.  Thick like pudding, and though I originally thought the oatmeal chunks might taste strange, they actually taste like little pieces of melting chocolate.  Don't know how that's possible, but it is delicious.  Seriously.

Note:  I do try to list recipes that require only standard ingredients that you'd probably have at home anyway.  This recipe uses protein powder, but trust me, if you don't have any already this recipe alone is worth getting some.  There are many other uses for protein powder too, so don't shy away from trying some.

Did I forget to mention that an 8 ounce jar full of this oatmeal is less than 300 calories and almost 20 grams of protein?  Yeah.  You heard me.

This all started when I was looking up new healthy breakfast ideas because I get bored so quickly eating the same old things.  I kept seeing recipes for overnight oatmeal.  It sounded weird at first, but I decided at make a chocolate version.  I'm so glad I did!

 This recipe perfectly fills three 8 ounce mason jars.

 I'm now even going to show photos of the process because honestly, it'd just be a photo of a bowl with this same oatmeal mix in it.  All you do is dump all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until evenly incorporated.  It is really that fast and easy.

Fresh out of the fridge the next morning.  Cold and refreshing.  And full of chocolately goodness!

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chocolate overnight oatmeal

by Liesl June-23-2014

Sweet and healthy overnight oatmeal full of chocolately goodness.

Ingredients

• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup chocolate protein powder

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour into 3 8oz. mason jars and cover. Store overnight in the fridge. Eat cold straight from the fridge. Enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: Total time: 5 mins Yield: 3 8oz. mason jars

peach iced tea

This is heaven in a glass.  To me it tastes like summer.  Whether you like your iced tea barely flavored or sickeningly sweet, you will love this tea.  Okay, the actual tea part is entirely up to you.  This drink is made up of two parts: iced tea of your choosing and peach simple syrup.

This syrup is great because it really takes after its name.  SIMPLE.

You need two ingredients.  Three if you include tea bags (or loose tea).

• granulated sugar
• water
• peaches (2 peaches, plus more slices for serving)
• tea

Yes, it really is that simple.

This recipe calls for a cup of water, a cup of granulated sugar, and two cups of peaches.

My favorite part about this syrup is that it can be made with either fresh (and peeled) fruit, or you can easily substitute frozen.  I used peach, but really, you can use any fruit.  I think I'll try raspberry next...

Pour the water and sugar into a small pot and heat on medium until the sugar has liquefied.

Add in your fruit (peeled of course).

Stir the fruit until it has softened with a wooden spoon.

Crush the fruit against the side of the pot to release all the juice.

After the fruit has softened in the pot for 5-10 minutes turn off the heat and set aside for 30 minutes to steep.

The mixture should be syrupy (obviously) and smell very peachy and overly sweet.

Now for the fun part.  Pick out a pretty bottle and insert a funnel and a fine sieve into it.  Pour the peaches into the sieve slowly to prevent spilling and clogging.  Push as much liquid down as you can.

Work in batches to get all the liquid down into your bottle if your sieve and funnel is too small to hold your entire fruit batch.

My pretty bottle is huge, so I didn't fill it by a long shot.

My bottle is the size of a wine bottle.  This is my whole batch of syrup and my byproduct, which is peach compote.  Sweet.  Two products in one.  And "compote" just sounds much more impressive than "fruit syrup byproduct" don't you think?

The compote tastes quite yummy too.

 Liam insisted on helping me make iced tea to go with the peach syrup.

I'm the only adult in the house who likes iced tea, so I just made a small batch.  The syrup can be added separately, which I love.  My tastes run the gambit of "barely sweetened" to "OMG, I'm pretty sure I just gave myself diabetes".

As always with iced tea, add pretty of ice, then enjoy!

This is just another picture of the syrup (because its just so pretty!) in a bottle that is much more size appropriate.

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peach iced tea

by Liesl June-22-2014

Peach simple syrup is wonderful mixed into iced tea. A delicious summer drink.

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups peaches, peeled (fresh or frozen)
• black tea

Instructions

1. Heat the water and sugar in a small pot, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. 2. Add the peaches, peeled (fresh or frozen is fine) into the pot. Hit the peaches against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon releasing the juice for 5-10 minutes, or until very soft. 3. Take the pot off the heat and set aside to steep for 30 minutes. The juice should now be very syrupy and overly peachey sweet smelling. 4. Attach a funnel and sieve over your syrup bottle and slowly pour the peach mixture into it. Push the liquid down into the bottle with your spoon. As the sieve fills up, dump the byproduct (peach compote) into an airtight container to use later. 5. Your syrup is now complete. Mix into black iced tea in a glass full of ice. Use as little or as much as you'd like per serving. Enjoy! Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Details

Prep time: Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 45 mins Yield: 1 small bottle of syrup

lazy pasta

This pasta is great when you're starving and want to eat something healthy enough you won't massively regret later.  This is fast and has veggie and protein (peas and pine nuts), and is a much better quicker option than say, a bag of chips, or some other quick fix meal that will only make you feel full for a few minutes tops.  This will keep you full, tastes yummy, and generally I have all the ingredients for this in my pantry at all times.

Although it isn't necessary, if you want to be super proud of yourself you can make this dish with whole wheat pasta.  I don't have a choice, Jeff gets miffed if I try to buy non-whole wheat pasta.  It's all good though, I like 'em both.

It works best if you mix everything together in the pasta pot once you have drained your pasta.

 Frozen peas are such a great buy.  They're cheap, fresh, and easy to add to any dish for extra flavor, nutrients, and color.  Add them to the pasta two minutes before you take it off the heat to drain and they defrost quickly without turning to mush.

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lazy pasta

by Liesl June-20-2014

A quick, easy, yummy and healthy enough pasta dish. My go-to comfort food dish made just with pantry staples.

Ingredients

• 4 ounces whole wheat shell pasta
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp parmesan
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp basil
• 2 tsp garlic

Instructions

1. Boil a small pot of water, then simmer and add the pasta. Cook until al dente, then add the peas. 2. Drain pasta and peas and put back into the pot (off the heat) 3. Add in the rest of the ingredients and evenly distribute. I use dried basil and powdered garlic because this is a quick meal, able to be made with everyday ingredients. I always keep dried seasonings around for dished like this.

Details

Prep time: 2 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 12 mins Yield: 2 bowls