Kelly and I traded ideas (and I googled) on how to make a veggie lasagna. Mine turned out pretty good. Several ladies asked for the recipe. My plan was to get up and cook and finish early and make it to class. Kelly beat me to church---I think she cheated- she fixed her cake last night. And she only had 5 kids to get ready,(cousins spent the night) and a 30 minute drive. I had to wake up by myself--enough said. Kelly rocks!
My version of Veggie Lasagna: I didn't write an ingredient list but will try remember the order in which I did things. All mentions of amounts are guess-ta-mations- I didn't really measure ingredients..
Saturday I purchased, Spaghetti squash, mushrooms, frozen spinach, a baggie of shredded stuff (Brussels sprouts, celery, cabbage and other veggies) and jar of spag. sauce. (I looked for a chunky mix w/no meats and low carbs per serving) I had on hand onions, peppers (red, orange, yellow), coconut oil, and homemade cheese dip (I make my dip with cream cheese, sour cream, rotel (I make my own) and grated cheese blend- Colby/Monterey Jack. I left the spinach in the refrid to thaw over night.
Cut the squash in half length wise. -Harder to do then what I thought it would be. I placed both sides cut side down in a baking dish w/a bit of water and covered. I cooked it at 425 for just less then an hour. Google says 45 min.
While the squash is cooking I worked on the rest of the meal. I started with a spoonful of coconut oil (b/c I couldn't get the bottle of olive oil open),melt on medium heat, added 1/2 bag of veggie stuff and stirred. I then added 1/2 cup of water and covered so it could cook/steam. When that mix look like it was cooking down I removed the lid and let the water cook off. I then added sliced onions (I like purple) I like to have several different sizes when I cut. Cover and build back up to steam. Uncover and add slices of the different peppers, cover and let simmer. When this looks like a good texture I mix it up and add a layer of mushroom to the top. I like to splash the mushrooms with Teriyaki sauce- cover and let the mushrooms cook/steam. When the mushrooms are done, I uncover and let the excess water cook off, you could just drain if needed. Mix and add jar of spaghetti sauce, (I save back enough to cover the bottom of the baking dish first) Simmer this mushroom/veggie/sauce while working on everything else.
The spaghetti squash will be hot- I put 1/2 in a bowl and ran water over it. I used a fork and scraped the insides and put them into another bowl. Repeat with other half. When I had all the squash I could get I drained off the excess water and added a spoonful of coconut oil and a 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese and mixed (tossed?) Then I microwaved for a couple of minutes to get it hot.
I had the cheese dip already done so I drained the spinach and added it to the dip.
In a clean baking dish I first poured enough sauce from the jar to cover the bottom of the dish to keep the squash from sticking. Then layer squash (It is stringy so I drop clumps and spreed them out with two forks) Next is about half of the mushroom/sauce mixture. Then a layer of the spinach/cheese dip. Another layer of squash, Then mushroom/sauce mix and topped with grated cheese-
I was running late so I covered the dish with foil and brought it to the building to put in oven on low till lunch. I think I could just heat until cheese melts and serve or better yet do the layers and freeze for later.. I was hoping to have enough left over to see how it taste after it has been the refrid. but the entire dish was scrapped clean.
I have only made spaghetti squash one other time and I seriously did NOT like it. This was good enough that I will consider doing it again. Maybe next time I can fake a pizza or better yet a meatloaf- now I think Kelly needs to plant squash!
One of the benefits of eating healthy is all the wonderful flavors found in real foods. I don't normally use salt when I cook and rarely even add pepper. I am enjoying discovering what others have known all along. Eating Healthy is easier to do then I thought it would be. It had been a few months since I made this pledge--
Ask myself this question everyday-- How can I find, prepare, and eat healthy food.?
