The holidays are over. We have moved into our new house and are mostly settled. A formal complaint was filed yesterday over the lack of home cooked meals and several informal complaints have also been filed over the lack of regular posts in recent weeks as well. It would appear that I am officially out of excuses for not cooking or blogging per usual. Your break is over lady, time to get back to work.

As life inches it’s way back toward “normal”, I got up early to enjoy some quiet time while the gang slept. I skipped running with the group today because these group runs are pretty expensive in the way of time. We are always gone for an hour and while I enjoy hour long runs on cold, icy dark streets as much as you do – I needed time today to dig out all the winter gear and extra layers for our homeschooly adventure in the woods this morning. Fortunately, a journey into the woods completely qualifies as exercise in my mind and I therefore felt justified giving my running sneakers the morning off while I instead made breakfast and packed snacks for today’s outing.

This sample of Bob’s Red Mill Museli was part of the swag from the race on New Years Day. Today seemed like as good a day as any to try it out.

I made it with yogurt today “like the Swiss do” (that’s what it said on the package) but I used 2% Fage instead of regular yogurt. Like the Greek do, I suppose?

The ingredients list oats, wheat, rye, barley, almonds, dates, flaxseed and walnuts. I didn’t see any flax seeds to speak of so I added a few shakes of my own. (Ground flax also of Bob’s Red Mill fame.)

Mixed with Greek yogurt and almond milk to soak for a few hours this morning. Topped with sliced banana and recently restocked almond butter. I think I ran out of almond butter two weeks ago? Almond butter, I have missed you. It’s been too long. TOO. LONG.

Post breakfast, enough snacks to feed a small army were assembled.

Well, really it’s all about keeping the troops from getting too cranky in the cold, the littlest general is the one I’m mainly concerned about.

Snacks packed, winter gear dug out – it’s time to roll peeps! Duty calls.

• Terribly Tired Tooth Fairy
• Run for Breakfast
• No Run, No Guilt

Zak didn’t exactly get to go home early today due to garlic breath, but he did get home earlier than usual tonight. We loaded the whole family into the car and hit up the pool at the fitness center for some family fun and exercise too.

Swimming is probably my least favorite form of cardio, but I rather enjoyed it tonight. Maybe because I haven’t swam laps since the spring? Whatever the reason, it was a nice change of pace and I swam laps for 30 minutes, alternated 100 yards of freestyle and 100 yards backstroke while Zak entertained children in the shallow end. He got his turn to swim laps while I took cold, wet girlies into the locker room for nice long hot showers on someone else’s dime (forgive me, Mother Earth), blow drying hair and hiding in lockers until dad was done and ready to go.

So what’s the best thing to do after an evening at the pool?

First, make a bucket of air popped corn.

Next, get out the coconut oil.

It’s time to give your chlorine dried out face a little TLC.

Did you read that whole label? Go back and read it! Take special note of the part that says “soft, smooth skin”. A giant, HUGE shout to Cindy for bringing this miracle moisturizer to my attention!

So, where were we? Oh yes, dig out a little coconut oil.

Ready?

Time for a rub down.

Oh yeah, get in there really good.

Smear it all around. Yup, yup, that’s the ticket.

Totally loved this. Totally will be doing this again. Totally not telling anyone my new beauty secret.

Oops.

• Waiting For Pop Off
• The Opposite of Birthday Beet Juice
• Reunited and it Feels So Good

Now this is what I call a real salad.

I guess I’ll just have to be my own fruit and salad company. You know what they say! If you want something done right you just have to do it yourself. Can do.

We kept ourselves busy today, both in and out of the kitchen.

Let’s make more MamaBars!

Let’s make something with glitter! *insert insane shrieking here* ANYTHING WITH GLITTER! Let’s make it! Gliiittteeerrrrrrrrrr…

I’m not so sure though that the “do it yourself” cliche applies to Christmas ornaments. Some things really are better store-bought.

MamaBars though? Yeah, I’ll take my chances and make those myself.

8 Dates
1/2 c raw cashews
1/3 c sesame seeds
1 banana
3/4 c ground flax seed
1 Tbsp coconut oil
Dash of cinnamon

Everything into the food processor and press the ON button! Easy, right? Well, sort of.

I started with just 1/4 c of flax but it was really wet so I added a 1/4 c at a time for a total of 3/4 of a cup until it was firm enough to shape into bars. But this meant a lot of turns of the food processor blade which is basically code for “a big hot sticky banana mess”.

Thanks to a tip I remembered from Mama Averie, I knew putting the dough in the fridge for a while would help them firm up and reduce the stickiness factor, thus make shaping them into bars easier.

Now it’s time to get to work on a Mama Pea inspired dinner.

It all started with a fun new squash I found at Wegmans the other day.

Carnival Squash!

I snagged one from the pile and sliced the lucky squash open tonight to be baked it at 375 for about an hour. Rumor has it a sweet potato kept the squash company on the cookie sheet. They are now BFF.

With banana dough a-chilling, squash a-baking, six geese a-laying, I diced up an onion.

To saute with two cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil until soft. Add a 14 oz can of tomatoes, 4 cups of water and/or vegetable broth and a 1 lb of red lentils, rinsed and drained.

Once the squash and potato were soft and fork-able (about an hour), their innards were scooped out and then added to the lentils – to be smashed and broken up with with a wooden spoon.

A couple tablespoons of curry powder, a dash of red pepper, kosher salt and allow to simmer for about 40 minutes or so until the lentil are completely cooked.

While the soup was cooking, the unthinkable happened.

I let the girls wear Girl Scout Cookie glasses.

I don’t know where they get this stuff from.

Yes, yes… I was cornered by a gang of Girl Scouts and was coerced into filling out their form. Can I help it if I’m a sucker for cute little girls? NO! Fortunately for me I am not at all in the mood to wear Thin Mint or Samoa glasses – I’ve still got my contact lenses in.

Dinner is served! Curried Squash and Lentil Soup with a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower topped with a little Parmesan cheese. The soup recipe made 10, one cup servings, about 200 calories each.

Notice the glitter on the table?

Yeah, eat first. Clean up later. That’s my motto.

After dinner my banana dough was ready to be whipped into shape to officially be knighted and named MamaBites.

After making MamaBars last week I realized I prefer small 1 oz bite sized servings as opposed to 2 oz bars. But for your noshing pleasure MamaBites come a variety of sizes – double your pleasure, double your fun.

These worked out to be 105 calories per 1 oz bite, or 210 calories for a 2 oz bar. Pretty dang close to a Larabar! Me likey!

I called the cat’s name so he would look at me for my photo. And the other cat immediately came running, surely wanting to know what he was getting to eat that she was missing out on.

Dude, doesn’t anyone do anything around here but eat? Oh yeah, we make ornaments too.

• Stay at Home
• A Day of Calorie Counting
• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight

Today’s day of calorie counting began with a freezing bike ride to the gym. Well, actually it was 33 degrees so I guess it wasn’t exactly freezing. I’m such an exaggerator sometimes.

30 minutes on the treadmill with some speed work intervals (4 two minute sets at 9.3) thrown in to keep things interesting – a total of about 4 miles. I noted today what the calorie total said and it was about 450.

Treadmill dues paid, followed by a Very Cold (but this time welcome!) ride home for my first calories of the day.

Green juice for two! My serving: 131 calories (based on my numbers from yesterday)

About an hour and a half later I was ready for My Real Breakfast.

Fruit Cereal:

1 1/2 bananas (158 cals), 2 Tbsp ground flax (60), 2 Tbsp sliced almonds (85), 1/2 unsweetened vanilla hemp milk (30) = 333

We had to leave early this morning (“early” as in 9:30!) to meet up with some homeschooling friends for a nature walk.

We were on a leaf hunt! Maxine was cold and cranky and refused to walk. Carrying an extra 30 lbs for a 30 minute walk. As if I didn’t already run for 30 minutes this morning, kid? Thanks for doing your part Maxine to help these final 10 lbs come off that much faster.

Moments after this picture was taken the 3 older girls shrieked in utter delight when they spotted “poison cherries” on a tree about 50 yards to the left.

Before we left we hit up the nature center and did a little research for my new Taxidermy blog. I just need some help coming up with a new name. Any ideas?

The Flying Squirrel?

Hug a Nut?

Play Dead?

I’ve Got Beaver Fever? (I wonder how many calories are in the leaf?)

Meh. I’m still working on ideas.

We had some errands to run after our leaf picking poison cherry stuffed carcass adventures. I packed some snacks to hold us over until we could get home for a proper lunch.

Carrots and jicama sticks anyone? Yours for a mere 70 calories! Yes please!

And how about half a MamaBar at a whopping 111 calories? Sold to the lady with that crazy look in her eye!

My Proper Lunch would be a salad as big as my head (150 cals – for the salad, not my head) and homemade balsamic dressing.

1 Tbsp EVOO 130 cals
2 Tbsp balsamic 30 cals
1/2 Tbsp agave nectar 30
+ s&p

Lunch! 340 calories!

The Snack: Round 2

2 Tbsp chia seeds 138
1 tsp agave nectar 20
1/2 c hemp milk 30
Dash of cinnamon

Soaked in all it’s 188 calorie glory for about 4 hours to be called chia pudding.

Orange you glad I did the dishes after my snack? 70 calories of citrus goodness.

For dinner tonight I made a tomato bean soup.

28 oz can of tomatoes: 175 calories
1 Tbsp EVOO: 130
1 can of garbonzo beans, rinsed and drained: 350
2 carrots, peeled and sliced:70
1 onion, diced: 30
2 cloves of garlic: 10
A couple shakes of parsley, salt and pepper: .002568999 calories

Recipe total? 695 calories

It made about 5 cups.

695 / 5 = 139 calories per cup

I sauteed diced onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Added all vegetables, salt and pepper + parsley and simmered on medium heat until carrots were soft, probably about 40 minutes. Stir occassionally and subtract 1 calorie for every spoon revolution in the pan.

1 1/2 cups = 215 calories

+ a grilled (in Misto’d olive oil) hummus (75) and tomato (10) sandwich on 2 slices of sesame Ezekiel bread (160) for a dinner tally of 460.

Today’s day of calorie counting? 1783.

I’ve had a couple of revelations today. I know what you’re thinking… already? Yes! Already!

1. I’ve been a little too friendly with the nuts in my life. No, I’m not talking about my husband and children, but the kind that good old Hug a Nut is hugging up there. Me and almond butter have become more than just good friends, we are lovers. Nuts are good for you, but I’ve been a little too eager to be a nutty overachiever. A handful of raw cashews for a pre-dinner snack? And after breakfast? And before lunch? Hello lady I just figured out your problem. Well, at least your nut problem. Now let’s get to work on your sense of humor.

2. Intuitive Eating, Thrive and the Raw Food Detox Diet have made things a lot easier for me. First, as I’ve said many times before, if I don’t eat stimulating foods, I don’t crave them, so eating like I did today and most every day is pretty effortless. I don’t feel like I’m deprived of anything. But most importantly, if I’m hungry, I’m going to eat! When calorie counting in the past I would often make myself wait just a little bit longer before finally getting something to eat. None of that now. If I reach for fruits and vegetables instead of dates with almond butter or a handful of raisins and cashews every time I feel the need for a little something, I think I’ll easily obtain a calorie deficit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to eat nuts – I’m not crazy! I’m just going to stop slathering nut butter on dates or anything and everything without a pulse like it’s going out of style.

3. Thanks for all the recommendations for The Daily Plate! It’s easy, I like it! I entered in all of my data for today and I especially like being able to see the fat, carb and protein totals, fiber too.

Thanks to everyone for your supportive comments. Like a number of you said, I’m using calorie counting as a tool to reach a goal, not an excuse to obsess over food and go nutty with. I’ve already had quite a few clues as to where I’ve been going wrong and this is exactly what I needed. A wake up call! And thankfully not one that involves a horse head in my bed.

• Scary Spoon
• Two Lefts Don't Make a Right
• Terribly Tired Tooth Fairy

I’ve had one thing on the agenda for today: Recalibration.

After a week of brownie sundae’s, Halloween party goodies and Kit Kats, I channeled Brendan and Natalia today to help me fend off the sugar cravings that have started to try and sneak up to hit me on the head with a lead pipe, in the kitchen, by Colonel Mustard.

Oh no you don’t sugar. Nice try. I’ve got the dream team on my side!

Ladies first!  Natalia and her green lemonade were on the breakfast menu for this morning. But thanks to some beet greens – my vegetable squeezings morphed from a beautiful shade of green to a little more like something I might have skimmed off the top of a stagnant pond.

Brown juice. Mmmm. I almost didn’t take a picture of it – but then I said you know what? My juice love knows no color! Say “cheese” pond scum! Today’s your day to shine!

Moving on.

Part II of today’s recalibration? Why a Hugh Jass salad of course.

What the hell is recalibration anyway? Well I’m glad you asked. Brendan Brazier was the man who introduced me to this term.  It’s something I’ve experienced before but didn’t really have a nice word to tie it up into a neat little package. When you avoid overly stimulating foods, your body eventually stops craving them. I know from personal experience that if I can just take a day or two and focus on avoiding sugar and processed grains, my cravings for these things totally disappear.

If you haven’t read Thrive, I found an interview Brendan Brazier did on recalibration that you can check out if you want to know more.

Snack time involved what you might call a some-assembly-required Larabar. Dried fruit and nuts. I’m doing Brendan and Natalia proud YO!

Snacks scarfed, and feeling kind of rakey on this perfect fall day!  Time to throw these kids outside!

Today’s sweat session was sponsored by the tree in our front yard that finally barfed up its five million leaves.

I told Ava she could jump in the leaves but only if she wore her helmet.

OK so bike riding may have been involved pre-leaf leaping but seriously, the ground is hard!

I’ll fully admit that I was comforted knowing she was wearing a helmet as she launched herself into mid air to land and then flail on the ground.

I raked, Maxine assisted in leaf removal with her tricycle trunk and Ava hand carried leaves to the road. Child labor laws be damned – put these kids to work!

Buried in sand, buried in leaves – what’s the difference really?

I wish these freaking kids would lighten up though, they take everything so seriously.

Recalibration Part IV: leftover beet burgers. Taste the rainbow (sandwich).

Recalibration Part V: go to bed! What do you mean it’s only 8 o’clock? Why am I so tired? I feel like I’ve had an extra hour today or something!  Maybe my recalibration tactic worked a little too well.

• We Came, We Saw, We Raked
• Not Thanksgiving
• Mango Madness

Packed in today’s magic basket of super snacks?

Whole Food Energy Bar from Vega that I was sent last week to review.

I liked this one better than the Vibrancy bar actually. I especially liked that at 220 calories, this sucker easily held me over all afternoon while Maxine and I ran errands and Ava spent the afternoon at her homeschooling class.

And I totally needed the energy to play along with Maxine’s latest Take-My-Socks-and-Shoes-Off-Everytime-I-Get-in-the-Car antics.

5 or so stops this afternoon? That would mean lots of playing her new favorite I Take My Shoes Off, Mom Puts Them Back On game over and over again.

Tonight for Zachary’s birthday dinner I made Sweet Potato Tempeh Chili.

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 glove of garlic, minced
1 sweet potato, diced
28 oz canned tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
1 8oz package of tempeh, chopped
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
(Spices are approx – more or less to taste)
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt

In a large pot, saute garlic and onions in olive oil. Scrub sweet potato with a brush (or peel if preferred) and dice into cubes, keeping in mind this is basically ready as soon as the potatoes are done. Read: smaller potato cubes = less cooking time.

Once the onions are soft, add tomatoes, broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cover.

You want those potatoes cooking while you get work on the tempeh!

I chopped the tempeh in my mini prep. My mini prep is pretty mini, so I had to do it in 3 batches.

Add chopped tempeh and rinsed and drained black beans to the pot. Add spices and stir, simmer on medium-low until potatoes are cooked.

If it happens to be your sweet husband’s birthday, this is where you would get to work on Birthday Peanut Butter Brownies for dessert! Gotta undo all the good stuff that birthday beet juice did for us this morning!

Be warned:

This recipe is not vegan, not raw, not gluten free, not healthy – but hey, it’s not from a box either.

1/2 c creamy peanut butter (I used natural – this would be me grasping at straws for something healthy in this recipe)
1/3 c butter, softened
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour (I used a half cup of white flour, half cup of whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
dash kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 c chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together peanut butter and butter. Stir cocoa powder, white and brown sugar and eggs. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Add vanilla and fold in chocolate chips. Grease a 9 x 9 inch square pan (I used coconut oil) bake for 30 minutes.

Brownies in the oven – time to eat!

The chopped tempeh in this dish gives this chili a great texture. With the sweet potatoes too it’s a nice change of pace from my usual beans, beans and more beans vegetarian chili.

Ding! Brownies are done!

I snagged a couple of mini peanut butter cups during shoe game errands today knowing peanut butter brownies were on the birthday dessert menu for tonight. Oh! What do you know?! The mini prep is already out! Rinse off the tempeh and it’s as good as clean.

I asked Zak to pick up the ice cream of his choice on his way home from work, failing to mention peanut butter and chocolate were on the agenda. Mint chocolate chip and PB cup ice cream? I think it’s safe to say we all got our recommended daily allowance of peanut butter tonight.

Brownie sundae fixings assembled – let’s rock.

Warm up those pipes, we gotta sing!

Haaaaapppppyyyy Biiiiirrrrrthhhhhdaaaaay tooooo yoooooouuuuuu…

It’s pretty much a tradition here that after we sing to the birthday person, we have to sing to the girls too.

Don’t worry about singing to me – I’ll just eat.

Birthday’s rule. Watching the Biggest Loser after eating a brownie sundae does not.

• Pastry Drills
• Mom 2.0
• Like a School Girl

This afternoon, just as I was sitting down to a cup of tea, Ava ran out to fetch the mail. (Reason #454 having kids pays off.)

Look what was waiting in the mailbox for me!

A seriously hilarious card from a seriously hilarious healthy everythingtarian – and she even doctored the card up with a little “‘s food“. I told you she was funny!

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, there was an awesome little present inside.

Take THAT Corn Refiners Association – in YO FACE. How appropriate too that I had just put agave nectar in my green tea the moment my mail was hand delivered.

Take that child labor laws – in YO FACE.

I had a meeting this afternoon in the city and packed a little snack for the ride home knowing I’d probably be hungry by the time we were done. I got to try one of the Vibrancy Bars I was sent the other day from Brendan Brazier’s Vega product line.

A sumptuous celebration of plant based foods is right! It looked a lot like a Larabar but the taste and texture was very different. I liked it – but I think what I liked best of all was knowing that everything in the bar was boyfriend Brendan approved!

I decided to take the long way home from my meeting to swing by the co-op to pick up fixings for vegetarian chili for dinner. I like to pretend I was just doing my part to support the local co-op, but really it was just an excuse to drive by and stalk my new house in the same part of town. I’m going to pretend I haven’t done the same thing every day this week already.

It was also an excuse to hit up the Kombucha sale the co-op is having this week!

2.79? Can you say “put it in the bag, Susie Q!” Oh yes I did. And I did yesterday too, right before I drove by new house for the 3rd time in one week.

While waiting in line I spied a totally appropriate magazine cover.

If it means I get six more arms, I’m totally upgrading from Mom 1.8 to Mom 2.0. Isn’t it ironic that I was taking a picture of this magazine cover to run home and blog about it?

Car snack number TWO for the day.

Post-meeting but pre-dinner my dad stopped by to amaze and amuse us with his mad pumpkin carving skillz. My father has always been and will always be my pumpkin carving hero. When I’m 72 and he’s 100 I’m still going to make him carve my pumpkins for me.

Post-pumpkin carving madness, I got to work on the cheapest healthy dinner I know –> Vegetarian Chili.

Beans, Tomatoes and some corn from my freezer and spices in my cupboard – this vat of bean goodness cost me less than $7. In fact, less than $6.95 thanks to bringing my own bag! I dare you to find a cheaper way to amuse yourself 12 hours after you eat this meal. Zak’s co-workers are thanking me now.

While the chili was cooking, we turned our pumpkins into pumpkin delight!

Chili for dinner, topped with the quarter of a perfectly ripe avocado.

Do not eat this dinner and then sit too close to lit pumpkins. You’ve been warned.

• The Opposite of Birthday Beet Juice
• A Day of Calorie Counting
• Waiting For Pop Off

Going through the bin of winter stuff. This is what I call a rocking Monday night.

Oh big pink mittens how I’ve (not really) missed you. It won’t be much longer now until I’m wiping my runny winter running nose on you.

Geez I hope I washed those before I put them away for the season. They weren’t crunchy so I’ll take that as a good sign.

What else do we do around here for fun on Monday night? Why we wait for the corn to pop.

And while we wait, we feed the children a little butter just to watch them come flying across the room and dive for the spoon. It’s like feeding the fish in the pond, they’re so cute you can’t help it.

OK, time to stop feeding the Koi, here we go!

Whoops it’s getting a little hot in here…

Air popped corn – Monday night socks have officially been rocked off. And replaced with pink stockings.

We put the offer in on our probable new house tonight! I fully expect them to counter, at which point I will offer them a little pat of butter on a spoon and it will surely be an offer they’ll be unable to resist.

• The Opposite of Birthday Beet Juice
• The Beautiful People Know
• Recalibration

Armed yesterday with a sack of snacks, we hit the road to walk through more open houses.

Orange you glad I brought directions?

Would you believe that orange lead us straight to a house we loved and are ready to make an offer on? Well believe it! Our realtors are coming over this morning to put together the paper work and to take a look at our house to get it ready to put on the market.

I need to have people over first thing on a Monday morning more often – the house is spotless! I gave up my workout time this morning to pick up toys, books, put away laundry and even clean out the fridge.

Zak: Are they going to look in the fridge?

Me: Are you asking me NOT to clean the fridge?

**crickets chirping**

I didn’t think so. And yes, maybe they will look in the fridge. Maybe that will make or break the whole deal. What if I ask them if they’d like something to eat or drink and they tell me they are in the mood for kale chips? I’d have to open the fridge, right? We want it to look nice in there too. Forget baking cookies to make the house smell nice, let’s bake some kale!

Speaking of kale, isn’t it time for breakfast? I wanted something warm this morning but didn’t want to invest 15 minutes in oatmeal, so I made oat bran instead. Cooks in 1 minute? Where do I sign!

3/4 c unsweetened vanilla hemp milk, 1/2 c water, half a banana sliced, a dash of cinnamon – brought to a boil while stirring occasionally. Reduce to simmer, add 1/2 c of oat bran. 1 minute later? Time to eat.

Topped with the other half of the banana and some sliced almonds.

Taking a little Breakfast Blog Break and then it’s time to whip out the vacuum and figure out what else I can neurotically clean between now and 10:30.

• Waiting For Pop Off
• The Opposite of Birthday Beet Juice
• The Beautiful People Know

I had lunch today with a childhood friend. Someone I haven’t seen in years and years.

Ummm, close. But not exactly.

Alfalfa! I swear the last time I had alfalfa sprouts was in 1987 when my mom was into sprouting her own. It’s been a long time. Welcome back my friend, looking forward to visiting with you more regularly.

Soup and sandwich for lunch today – left over Curried Carrot Cauliflower Lentil Soup and a veggie sandwich with Sesame Ezekiel, mustard, red leaf, tomatoes and as I mentioned, alfalfa.

The girls busied themselves around the house and outside today while I putzed around doing housework sprinkled with a little playing as needed.

We broke for snacks some time mid afternoon. Fage and granola for me – so happy together.

But now, the reason we’re all here tonight. A Lesson in Vegetarian Lasagna.

Maybe you’re a pro and have made lasagna 1000 times before and you’re already yawning and scrolling through this part wondering when it’s going to be over. If that’s the case – run along and make me something to eat.

If you’ve never made lasagna and are either:

a. intimidated
b. curious
c. intrigued
d. hungry

then please, walk with me.

This is actually one of the first vegetarian dishes I ever made. No, wait. This is actually one the first dishes I ever made – period! It is very near and dear to my heart and is probably why I’m dedicating nearly an entire post to it. I made veggie lasagna years before we were actually vegetarians and were just looking for more meatless dishes to enjoy. This was also something I made early on in our marriage and first had my own kitchen and started making dinner like a grown up. I’ve made this dish many, many times and if I may be so bold I’m going to go ahead and say that I am a VLE. Vegetarian Lasagna Expert. Both in the eating and preparing sense of the term that I made up just now. This is an time intensive dish to prepare but it is honestly not very difficult. I usually only make this for dinner parties or if I’m in the mood to really COOK. Tonight happened to be the latter.

For the sauce you’ll need:

extra virgin olive oil
1 zucchini, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 cup of mushrooms, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
(the vegetable used in this dish are very flexible and veggies can be left out or included as desired)
15 oz can of diced tomatoes
4 oz can of tomato paste
1 cup of water
oregano
basil
S&P

For the cheese layer:

1 egg, scrambled
2 cups ricotta (or cottage cheese)
8 oz of mozzarella
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

9 – 11 lasagna noodles – I use uncooked. I’ve never used pre-cooked so I’m not exactly sure how they work. If you’ve ever use pre-cooked noodles for lasagna, do you think it’s a big savings in time/energy?

You should only need 9 noodles but I make a couple extra so I’ve got a few “backups” in case one or two rip or I need to patch up a spot if the noodles are a little short. Plus I’ve got two children who are happy to eat left over, slightly undercooked, plain lasagna noodles.

A spread of everything you’ll need:

Well, everything minus the Parmesan that I didn’t remember to add to the picture until I was up to my elbows in vegetables, sauce, cheese and noodle madness.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large pan, saute veggies of your choice in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) on medium heat until soft. While this veggies are cooking, fill and begin heating a large pan with water for cooking lasagna noodles.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, water and stir. Add herbs and S&P.

Oh! And this is an important step. Take an extra carrot and slice it up to enjoy with salsa to snack on and enjoy while cooking. (OK that’s probably not very sanitary so skip that step if you are a food inspector or making this meal for a lot of people.)

While sauce is cooking and water for noodles is heating up, prepare cheese mixture. Scramble egg in a large bowl. Stir in ricotta, mozzarella and parm. Add a few splashes of milk if needed to make it a little thinner and easier to spread.

Cook noodles until they are Al Dante. (i.e., still a little bit firm) They’ll finish cooking as it bakes.

In a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the dish.

Lay three noodles on top of sauce layer.

With a spatula, spread cheese layer on top of noodles. If it’s really thick a little milk can help thin it out and make it easier to spread.

One more time: a layer of sauce, noodles, cheese. Then a layer of sauce, noodles and sauce again. Sprinkle with parm and it’s ready for the oven!

A quick review on the layers, from the bottom up:

sauce, noodles, cheese, sauce, noodles, cheese, sauce, noodles, sauce, parm

In it goes!

You did pre-heat the oven, right?

Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes. I keep an eye on it and if I start to really smell it and see that it’s bubbling nicely, it’s done.

Take it out and let it sit for about 10 minutes to cool slighty and set. Slice and enjoy! Makes about 12 servings.

For dinner tonight, with a side salad. (And lunch tomorrow and the next day too probably!)

When I make this for a dinner party I usually make garlic bread too, but since it’s just us tonight I skipped any bread and just went with salad.

So there ya go – Veggie Lasagna a la Alison. Manga!

• Whole Wheat* Pizza Crust
• Waiting For Pop Off
• The Quest for the Perfect Veggie Burger