Sunday, July 31, 2011

meal plan: first week of August + lasagna recipe

Last Week's Retrospective: um, did anyone notice that I'm missing Thursday in last week's plan? Well, neither did I. All week something felt off in my planning and we ended up having one night where we just winged it. I imagine that's why. Otherwise, we stayed close to the plan except for Friday. Instead of pizza we had salads at Central Market, courtesy of my parents being in town (a hastily planned visit). Aside: we also had the pleasure of eating at Threadgill's for lunch Saturday, also courtesy of my parents. I really love Threadgill's veggie plate and all the vegan and vegetarian options that can be combined for that. (shhhh, I snuck a few fried okra bites off of my mom's dish so that I didn't have to order that for myself!) They also brought us a home-grown watermelon all the way from the Pine Belt.

Next Week: We have another guest this week, my husband's mother, who will be here for three weeks. So the next three plans will be for a family of 3 adults and 2 children. She's a joy to have around the house and she seems to appreciate my cooking more than anyone.(hooray!).

And now, I seem to have lost the list I made for the week. Seriously. It went something like this:

Monday: Lasagna, since I know it's a meal our houseguest enjoys. I have included my cherished lasagna recipe below, one I can't find anywhere on the internet and that I've been making for years. I don't even know where I got it.

Tuesday: veggie and bean tacos with fixin's. I will attempt fresh salsa/pico de gallo b/c I love it so.

Wednesday: Greek lentils with field roast sausage and salad. I made the lentils weeks ago and froze them just for this purpose.

Thursday: summer peas and maple cornbread with fruit. Last week I made a pot of zipper creams, up this week? baby limas. My dad also stocked my freezer with pintos and purple hulls. (whee!)

Friday: pizza night, though I'll serve it with a quinoa salad since pizza hasn't been on my personal meal plan of late.

Meaty Vegetarian Lasagna

Ingredients:

the equivalent of 1 lb ground beef (any meat substitute will do, my favorite is Quorn, which is not a soy-based substitute, in case that matters)
2 T. veg. oil (split)
1 1-lb can of tomatoes
1/2 c water
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1/2 c diced celery
1 pkg spaghetti sauce mix
1 T. sugar
1 T. prepared mustard
salt to taste
1 8oz pkg lasagna noodles
2 bay leaves
1 lb cottage cheese
1/4 c grated Parmesan
6-8 oz thinly sliced or grated mozzarella

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Brown ground meat substitute in 1 T of the oil and add next 8 ingredients (can of tomatoes, water, tomato paste, celery, spaghetti sauce mix, sugar, mustard, salt). Simmer 15-20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions, adding 1 T oil and bay leaves to boiling water. Drain and remove bay leaves.

Oil a 12 x 18 inch baking dish. Layer noodles, sauce, 1/2 of the the cottage cheese, 1/2 of the Parmesan and 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat layers. Make top layer of noodles and sauce. Decorate with strips of mozzarella. Bake 30 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

2 comments:

  1. The vegetarian lasagne sounds great! I just checked the ingredients for spaghetti sauce mix (http://www.mccormick.com/Products/Seasoning-Mixes/Pasta/Italian-Style-Spaghetti-Sauce-Mix.aspx), and I think I would substitute my own, using a non-sugar-based recipe.

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  2. Yes - this is just a shortcut (I seem to think the recipe came out of a magazine). I use a Simply Organic brand of spaghetti sauce mix rather than McCormick's, FYI. I'm pretty sure it's just a blend of oregano, fennel, thyme, onion powder and garlic powder. All of these could be put in fresh.

    Another small note: next time I make this, I'm going to increase the tomato ratio slightly (maybe use about 2/3 of a big can - 28 oz size). The pan I used was 13 X 9 and I didn't have quite enough sauce to fill it out well. It was still tasty though.

    Last, more veggies could easily be added into this recipe. A layer of spinach for example, could go right under the sauce. :)

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