Vegetable Lasagna - the No Boil way

Are you turkeyed out yet? Maybe just a little? Here is a convenient one-pan-meal that you can easily make for $10 or less.

I came across a recipe for "No Boil" Lasagna several years ago and since then I have not boiled one lasagna noodle. It's the best way to make lasagna and cuts the prep time in half if not more. You do not need to buy special noodles since the key is to have a little extra liquid in the mixture as well as sealing the pan tightly in foil to allow the steam to build and cook the noodles.

This is a veggie version that Hubby and I cobbled together over the years - we love it because it has a lighter feeling than a meat lasagna and the leftovers are delicious! You can use any combination of vegetables you have on hand - fresh or frozen. When we made this last week we only had onion and mushrooms and it still tasted great.

I submitted the recipe to Recipezaar so you can see it there, or I have included it below.

Noelle's No Boil Vegetable Lasagna - $8

8 lasagna noodles (1/2 of a 1 lb package) $2
1 (15 ounce) container small curd low fat cottage cheese $3
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese $1
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup frozen broccoli (thawed and drained)
1 cup zucchini, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce, any flavor (read the label on your jar for ounces - many are 24 oz; if so add a little more water)
2 cups (8oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese $2

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, eggs and basil; mix well.

Heat olive oil over medium heat; saute garlic and onions for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add rest of vegetables and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add veggies into the cottage cheese mixture and mix well.

Spread 1 c of pasta sauce in bottom of a 13x9" baking dish and spread evenly. Layer with half each: uncooked lasagna noodles, cottage cheese mixture, remaining pasta sauce and mozzarella.

Repeat layering.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake 1 hour.

Uncover; bake an additional 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

The Gift of Nothing

I know in my last post I reminded everyone that the holidays are coming, so start repurposing those colorful magazine pages and make bows for all those gifts that you will be giving in a few months.

However, I really am anti-consumerism. I don't like the excess, over-the-top gift giving that is common in the United States. The idea of having to save for Christmas gifts all year long or worse yet, go into debt in order to buy gifts so that one can abide by an implied standard by giving a certain amount of gifts really turns my stomach. And it makes me sad too.

I try to stick to a tight budget and get a lot of pleasure from making gifts or finding gifts during the year and putting them aside for Christmas gifts (this works great as long as you don't 1) forget what you bought 2) forget where you put what you bought).

Last year we gave my daughter a terrific book that I found on the Mutts website (I love Mutts! It's a wonderfully thoughtful and pertinent comic strip drawn by Patrick McDonnell. I love his messages and the artwork really speaks to me as well. The characters are sweet and wonderful too!)

When I came across this book review for "The Gift of Nothing" I thought I would share it here on my blog. Maybe it will find its way on your gift list this Christmas season - you can find it here.

Chicken Salad and the Pressure Cooker

Ok, this isn't about chicken salad cooked in a pressure cooker but a post about one of my favorite things (my pressure cooker) and a recipe for a yummy chicken salad.

Pressure cookers - I don't think they are something that are used in the mainstream kitchen in the United States. However, I grew up with my parents using one since in my Dad's native country they are pretty common place. Or at least those that came to the US use them a lot. So to me they aren't that strange a piece of kitchen equipment.

I don't use mine has often as I should, and when I do I think "now why don't I use this thing more often??". It's a super quick way to cook, it's healthy (you are cooking with pressure and steam - no oil) and it's economical since the cooking is quite fast and takes place on the stovetop. Also, the pots are very sturdy (mine has been in my kitchen since 1990) you just need to keep an eye on the rubber gasket which will wear out over time and need to be replaced.

For this chicken salad I throw the raw chicken into the PC, cook for 8 minutes, let it cool and that's it! You have moist, yummy chicken breast ready to go.

You can also make an entire meal in the PC in the same amount of cooking time (chicken in 8 minutes or less). Some other recipes included in my PC cookbook are Chicken Cacciatore, Cornish Hen (yes an entire Cornish Hen in in 8 minutes), Beef Stew, Spaghetti Meat Sauce, Pot Roast and Spare Ribs to name a few. You do need to add liquid to create the steam needed to cook the food; I like to use a cup of chicken broth for a little more flavor in the chicken breast for this salad.

This recipe is my interpretation of a chicken salad that a lady I work with makes. Her version is decadent and sinful, so I try and lighten it up just a bit. Hubby loves it, which should tell you something! Note - the amounts are all estimates since chicken salad is not a demanding/exacting type dish. So just use amounts that look good to you!

Noelle's Lighter Chicken Salad

1 large chicken breast (2 halves - appx 1 lb) cooked, shredded/cubed

3-4 ribs celery - chopped (preferably organic - celery is one of the veggies that absorbs pesticides and chemicals in the soil, but that's another post) or use some cucumber (seeds removed) if you don't like celery

3/4 c red grapes, halved

1/2 c light mayo

1/4 c non-fat plain yogurt

1/8 c bottled ranch dressing

A shake or two of white pepper

Mix the mayo, yogurt and ranch dressing until blended. Add white pepper to taste. Fold in chicken, grapes and celery. Allow to chill thoroughly and serve on crackers, a bed of greens or as a sandwich.

Also, I have used fat-free yogurt in salad dressings in other recipes - it's a great way to thin a heavy mayo dressing, add some tang and cut some fat. You can check out my recipe for Happy Apple Salad on Recipezaar - I did the same yogurt trick there too.

No Pudge! Brownies

This was a long weekend and I deserved a treat last night. I wanted ice cream, but all we had was plain Breyers vanilla and nothing to mix with it. No root beer, no hot fudge, nothing. Until I remembered my box of No Pudge Brownie mix.

I'm going to admit that I am a bit of a cooking snob and I do not like to use mixes for anything, much less baking. However, I've managed to justify the existence of this particular product in my pantry. You see it comes with directions so that you can make just one brownie at a time (or of course you can use the whole box and make an entire pan of brownies, but that defeats the whole point of using this boxed mix for me).

Simply stir one tablespoon of yogurt (any kind - fat free or in my case soy yogurt is all I had on hand) into two tablespoons of the brownie mix, pop it in the microwave for one minute and voila! You have a single serving of a warm, gooey brownie.

I know just two days ago I was raving about my homemade brownies - and those are definitely better than No Pudge - but if I have a whole pan of brownies in my house chances are I am going to pretty much eat the whole pan myself. So, when you have no self-control like me the No Pudge mix is the way to go. The label even makes me feel good - "No Pudge" - with a name like that how can I possibly feel guilty about eating them?

Broken Bits and Pieces

BK (before-kids) I used to have all sorts of hobbies - mostly crafty things; I just loved to make things with my hands. Cooking, mosaics, homemade soap, handmade paper, knitting, cross-stitch, etc. I seem to have an odd knack for tedious, detail-oriented work.

Now that I have two little ones all my hobby stuff is packed away in crates. But there is hope - at school they say my 3-year-old loves painting and doing art projects, so I'm hoping that she will be interested in doing some of my favorite crafts with me soon. It will be a big change since I used to do those activities all alone - and enjoyed the solitude lost in whatever project I was working on - but I look forward to giving it a try and embracing the change having a 3-year-old by my side will bring!

Here are a couple of pictures of three of my favorite mosaic projects. I guess you can say that I'm self-taught; one day I decided I wanted to try my hand at mosaicing and I had an ugly old end table that was a perfect candidate to have it's tabletop re-covered. I knew a tiny bit about tile and grout from helping on a bathroom re-tiling project. So, armed with that little bit of knowledge I went to Home Depot and bought some field tile, a few bull-nosed tiles (for the table edges), grout and Liquid Nails. I came home, spread it out in the middle of my living room (the beauty of living alone at the time!) and started breaking the tiles up with a hammer (put the tile in a paper bag first so you don't damage the finish). It was SO much fun picking through the broken pieces and fitting different combinations together - just like a puzzle.

I still have that table, but it ain't one of my favorites. However, I learned a lot (like always seal your grout - some of my earliest projects sadly have suffered due to my inexperience and now have yellow and dingy (dusty) looking grout). But I was able to branch out to some projects that I am really proud of, like these.

The Heart-Shaped Box (and my nod to Nirvana :-). This was the first gift I made for my Hubby on the first Valentine's Day after we became serious.

A lot of the fun when starting a new mosaic project is to see how the project presents itself. I remember I found the little wooden box (on clearance, of course :-) at Michael's so that narrowed it right down to "I'm making him a box" plus I like being able to make funtional gifts.

Next was trying to decide what to put on the box - I wanted something kind of love oriented, but it still had to be manly enough to give to my sweetie. I stumbled on the "love knot" idea after browsing through a book of nautical knots - this knot is really called a "love" knot in the nautical world. It was perfect! How much more manly can one get than a nautical knot?? I was still nervous when I gave the box to Hubby (well, just Boyfriend at that time) but he loved it and to this day it sits on his nightstand. Unfortunately, sometimes he uses it as a coaster but at least it's not stuffed in a drawer.

The Wedding Picture Frame - another gift to Hubby. I found the frame in the scratch and dent section at TJ Maxx (a fantastic place to look for chipped cups and plates that are perfect candidates to become mosaic tile. Also, nicked and dinged picture frames, little boxes, mirrors with wooden frames - all are possible mosaic projects!)

I found the "Love" stamp tiles from someone on eBay who actually mounted real cancelled Love stamps on to glass tiles. They are so unique and pretty, I just love them. I had so much fun mixing and matching the tiny colored tiles to the stamps, cutting the tiles into shapes, etc. I think this frame is really my favorite piece that I have ever made. Sadly it blew off a bookcase a few weeks back and you can see the lower right corner has grout that chipped out :-(

The Tray. I made this after we were married - I found the wooden tray (again) at TJ Maxx in the clearance section and thought it would be a great project since the wood was already finished (sealed and painted) which is a huge time saver and I even liked the color - an olive green that had a distressed finish to it. All I had to do was cover up the ugly Americana pattern that was etched into the bottom.

After brain storming and sorting through all my tiles for inspiration I came up with something that was perfect for a tray that you may use while entertaining - wine label tiles! This was another find from the same person on eBay. She mounted real wine labels on to glass tiles and I did the rest. I still have a second tray I bought (to make a coordinating pair of trays) waiting patiently to get its tile-makeover... oh, someday :-)

365 Ways to Make a Difference

I love my "Living Green 365 Ways To Make A Difference" calendar for a couple reasons - I get daily tidbits that remind me of various "greener" ways to live (and many of them I was not aware of) and (the best part) it has an on-line option so my calender is actually paperless! No pages to tear off and throw away everyday, I'm not cluttering up my desk with a paper calendar and my daily "green" tips are sent right to my IN box - what's not to like??

This was the page for May 8th; although I don't use mothballs (I have small children and a dog to be worried about) I had no idea how toxic they were. I also love the natural options for moth repellents.

"Mothballs contain toxic naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene; they should be disposed of only through a licensed hazardous waste handler or a municipal hazardous waste collection program. Avoid buying them in the first place by protecting clothes in closed bags. Also try these aromatic moth repellents: cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, or whole cloves wrapped in cheesecloth. "