If You Like Food, Oh My Are You In For A Treat

It's no surprise to most of you that I love to prepare food. Cooking and baking are a huge part of my life for many reasons.

I am kind of a foodie- not a stuck up one- just one who knows what she likes. I prefer my food to be as natural as possible, especially produce that appears on the dirty dozen list, because I don't want my family ingesting unnecessary chemicals into their bodies.

I truly enjoy food;

I love shopping for it at the farmer's market and roadside stands.

I love smelling a large skillet of fresh peppers, onions, and garlic sauteing.

And I really love tasting all the flavor. And I'm getting better at expanding my tastes.

In fact, recently our family has been branching out of our norm by trying to include 2 vegetarian meals into our weekly rotation. Since I'm the main cook and I do the shopping I guess this was pretty much my decision; but it does affect our entire family. The biggest reason I chose to do this is because it saves mucho deniros; it is quite healthy too!

One of my new favorite recipes is for spinach lasagna. In all honesty, I wasn't thrilled to try this recipe. I simply included it in our meal plan for that week because all I needed to buy was ricotta; hence, it was a cheap meal for me to prepare! But Lordy, Lordy, this one is a tasty, easy, fast, healthy make-ahead weeknight meal. In fact, this meal is making an appearance every Tuesday because I can make it during nap time and go to yoga at 5:30. I put it in the oven when I head out the door and it's ready to eat when I get home.

So,without further adieu-
Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 (15 oz) container of low-fat ricotta
1/2 t salt
3/4 cup 2% Italian cheese blend (or use Parmesan), divided
1 jar organic spaghetti sauce (I really like tomato basil, or you can make your own)
9 whole wheat lasagna noodles (don't buy precooked noodles and don't precook these)
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
about 5-6 cups fresh spinach

Process
Preheat oven to 350.

1) In a large bowl beat eggs, ricotta, salt and about a 1/4c Italian or Parmesan cheese.

2) Grease a 9x13 baking dish and put enough spaghetti sauce to lightly cover the bottom.

3) Run noodles under water to moisten them (this will make for a great texture for the noodles when the lasagna is done).

4) Layer 3 noodles on top of the spaghetti sauce. The spread 1/2 the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Continue by lightly layering mozzarella cheese atop the noodles. Top with about 2-3 cups of fresh spinach.

Repeat layers again starting with the sauce. End with last 3 noodles and 1/2 cup of Italian or Parmesan cheese.

Cover and bake for about 1 hr.
*************************************************************

I want to share one other recipe with you. This is a rather healthy desert-- at least as far as deserts are concerned. My family and I love this one and it's full of fresh fruit!

Fresh Fruit and Crumbles

Ingredients
3 apples/peaches/pears; peeled, cored and sliced (don't slice thinly or fruit will become mushy)
*2/3 c oats
2/3 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1/2 c butter, softened but not melted

Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Add butter and beat until the dry ingredients are all blended with the butter.

Put 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Layer fruit and then top with the remaining crumble mixture.

Bake at 350 for about 30 mins.

*Here's the secret though. If you really like a little extra crumbly topping here's what you need to do (yes, this is the way I make mine)!

When you are making the crumbly stuff, use this for your measurements;
1 c oats
1c whole wheat flour
3/4 c brown sugar
a little more than 1/4 t cinnamon
a little more than 1/8 t nutmeg
3/4 c softened butter

You should use the same amount of fruit; like duh, you want extra crumblies not fruit, right!

Now, if you throw in a green salad and some yummy *whole wheat garlic bread you've got one super awesome and very satisfying meal with desert included.

*If you are like me and can't find frozen garlic bread that suits your hearty, whole grain taste here's what you do.

Take your everyday bread (granted it's a whole grain/whole wheat/free of high-fructose corn syrup) and toast it in the oven right after your lasagna comes out--leaving your oven set at 350. Check it in about 4-5 mins and see if its toasted to your liking. Meanwhile, melt a few tablespoons of butter in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds. Add a few shakes of some garlic salt to the butter and spread over toasted bread.

I swear I'll try to take some pictures of these tasty creations before they disappear when I make them this week. Then I'll come back to post them with the recipes!

Enjoy!