One day, while surfing Foodbuzz’s “Daily 9”, a photo called the Greatest Vegetable Lasagna in the World caught my eye. I clicked on it and scanned the recipe, the blogger was from Iceland (if I remember correctly) and linked to two sites that inspired her adaptation. The photo at Ezra Pound Cake resulted in a Pavlovian response of instantaneous salivation and made me determined to develop my own mouth-watering rendition.

Preparing all the components for lasagna can be time-consuming, but if you love losagna, it’s totally worth it! I had a rainy afternoon to dedicate to it and there are shortcuts* that can save you time, yet don’t sacrifice taste. This dish is meatless but is chock-full of flavor with a bit of a punch from the Arrabiata sauce.

Veggie Lasagna with Arrabiata Sauce

1 pkg. organic oven-ready lasagna*
2 -25 oz. jars prepared organic Arrabiata Sauce*
(one for additional sauce at the table)
1-16 oz. container part-skim ricotta cheese
½ c. prepared pesto sauce
2 T. olive oil
8- oz. grated mozzarella

Vegetables:
2 medium eggplants, cut crosswise into ½ inch rounds
4 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise into ¼ inch slices
2 red or yellow peppers, cored and seeded
½ onion, sliced
¼ c. olive oil
1-16 oz. pkg. prewashed spinach, steamed and drained

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two cookie sheets with oil. Brush the vegetables with olive oil. Roast in batches, turning once – about 5 minutes per side or until softened. The peppers need to roast until the skin is blackened. Allow to cool, then remove the skin and slice into strips.

2. In a glass bowl, mix the ricotta with pesto sauce and 2 T. olive oil.

3. Spray a 13×9 baking or lasagna pan with oil. Spread sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Layer with lasagna, overlapping the pieces. Then a layer of ricotta – use a rubber spatula to spread. Followed by a layer of vegetables, then topped with half of the grated mozzarella. Spoon more sauce on top and repeat layering, ending up with mozzarella and spoonfuls of sauce.
Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, allow the lasagna to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

I served the lasagna on a bed of spinach which was meant to be included IN the lasagna Heat additional sauce to spoon over lasagna at the table.

Enjoy

* Note: these are shortcuts that can make preparation of this dish less labor intensive. Also, I always suggest buying organic for all ingredients.

Have loved you for so long!  Fragrant dumplings, velvety with broth, tastebuds trigger faint memories of crisp winter nights growing up in the boonies pastoral beauty of the Ozarks.

Chix and Dumplings

(adapted from Comme C̹a via Tasting Table)

For the soup:

2 T. butter

1 T. canola oil

3 carrots, chopped *

2 celery stalks, chopped

½ onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ c. Wondra flour

2 quarts organic, free-range chicken broth

2 c. frozen peas*

2 c. cooked chicken breast, chopped into bite-size pieces

¼ c. heavy cream *

* Changes I made: We like lots of peas & carrots, so quantity here is double the original recipe. I eliminated the cream – gave it up in my home cooking a long time ago (the flour in the dumplings will thicken the soup a bit).

Heat the butter and oil n a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, cook for another minute. Stir in the flour until it coats the vegetables, stirring continuously, about 2-3 minutes until the roux is golden-brown.

Add the broth a cup at a time, stirring. Add the peas and chicken, bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer until the soup is slightly thickened.

Meanwhile, in a glass bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dumplings:

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 c. buttermilk

1 t. dried thyme or ¼ c. fresh thyme leaves   *Chop some fresh parsley with the dried thyme – doing this  ”refreshes” dried herbs.

Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the soup and cook for 6-8 minutes, until light and fluffy looking. To serve, scoop out a few dumplings and top with soup. Then, drop more spoonfuls of batter in the remaining soup for another batch of deliciousness!

Enjoy

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Gourmet Magazine, that recently extinguished flame, was many things to many people: For some, it was a cheap ticket to faraway food cultures, a menu for special occasions; for others it was pure food porn. But one of the things Gourmet did best can be found in what turns out to be the magazine’s valedictory cookbook: weeknight dishes with an international flair.

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Meet Helen Wisniewski from Pittsburg, PA.  She is the mother of three grown sons and every year she visits her son, Art, who lives in Costa Mesa and is a dear friend of ours.  During her visits she cooks two traditional Polish dishes: pierogies which are potato dumplings and halupkis, stuffed cabbage rolls.

According to About.com, the people of Pittsburg eat 11 times the periogies of any other city in the nation and perogi fillings range from traditional potato and cheese to sweet prune.  Helen  makes the traditional potato and cheese.  Because of our 20+ year friendship with Art and his wife, Karen, we are one of the privileged few who are invited to dinner to savor one of these delicious and comforting Polish delicacies. This year I brought my camera so I could photograph and record the art of pierogi making.

Helen admitted that it is quite a process and she doesn’t do all this at home anymore, she endorses Mrs. T’s Pierogies if you’re not up to the process If you would like to make some homemade pierogies you can find a recipe here or at Food Network.

Shelby is a mom of 3 adopted children, the youngest has been diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and neutropenia. In addition to 3 kids, she has her own business www.GlitterFulFeltstories.com where she makes felt boards tthat help preschool children learn to read. She and her husband are writing a book about adopting children to help others adopt. She is a sweetheart and deserves to be recognized as Mom of the Month.

When I told her I was nominating her, she said she no one has ever done anything like that for her!

Nominated by Kim M. at SaveOurBeach.org. Please go to Kim’s page and sign up for beach cleanup. After all the storms, they need all the help they can get. Pay it forward, volunteering is good karma and you’ll be helping the environment in a big way!

In my Blog Talk Radio interview yesterday, I emphasized being able to improvise with what you have in your fridge or pantry and creating something delicious for dinner.  I mentioned the Salmon and Bow Tie Pasta with peas that I had made the night before, so here it is.  Since I didn’t write it down that evening (that’s the most difficult part), and its basically a “no recipe” creation, I’ll do my best to recall it here.

1 lb. wild salmon fillet

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon dill

1 tablespoon sweet onion, finely chopped

8 oz. Barilla multi-grain bow tie pasta

8 oz. frozen young peas

½ c. prepared pesto sauce

⅔ c. lowfat milk

2 tablespoons cream cheese, or Neufchatel*

Serves 4. *Neufchatel is slightly lower calorie than cream cheese and is sold in the same section of the market.

Prepare pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside. You can use the pasta pot that has been lightly sprayed with oil to keep the pasta warm.

Preheat broiler on high. Rinse the salmon fillet and pat dry with a paper towel. Dot with butter, sprinkle with dill and chopped onion. Place on baking pan lined with aluminum foil and lightly sprayed with oil. Broil for 5-7 minutes, depending on thickness, until salmon is lightly browned and crisped on top and flakes with a fork. Do not overcook – it’s better to be underdone – the fish continues to cook after its removed from the oven, plus it will be cooked again when mixed with the pasta. Allow the fish to cool and use a fork to flake off bite size pieces.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over med-high heat, mix the pesto and milk, bring to a gentle boil, whisk in the cream cheese or neufchatel to thicken. Feel free to increase these quantities if you prefer lots of sauce.  Microwave the frozen peas for 2½ minutes, drain. Combine all the ingredients with the pasta in the large pot. Mix well to coat with sauce. I topped with carmelized onions (half an onion, sliced onions and sautéed in a little butter until browned) but this is optional.

Enjoy