Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

I found myself craving some comfort fall food today...but it was hard to think in those terms when it was so sunny and warm! So...I took inventory of our garden, and the stock in our fridge from Saturday's market...and thought up this lovely dish! The term 'roasted' often scares me away from recipes, because I know it involves an extra step, and I often think that I just don't have time for that. Today however, I proved myself wrong. I learned that 'roasting' does involve an extra step, but it's really not all that much extra work! The flavour is the reward...and flavour is always worth the time!

Now, although this is a vegetarian dish, you could certainly add ground beef or turkey to the sauce. You could also easily make this a vegan dish...I just love my cheese though:) This is however a 'light on cheese' recipe compared to some. We find that a bit of ricotta in the layers...and then some fresh parmesan on top does the trick for us! LOTS of flavour....you won't even miss all the melted goop that you usually find inbetween!

So while our boys were napping, I gathered all the vegetables, washed them up, and sliced them so they were ready to go. I used carrots, beets, zucchini, vidalia onion, red pepper and garlic. This was just what we had on hand...I can definitely think of some others that would make a wonderful addition!




Then I realized that I might as well roast them already too, and get that step out of the way! I simply tossed them lightly in olive oil, sprinkled pepper on top...and roasted them at 425 for about 30 minutes. It was actually kind of nice to have them done and cooled ahead of time...made them easier to work with.



Don't they look amazing? Look at all that yummy goodness! I was so tempted to just grab a fork and dig in! See those fingers in the top corner? That's Noah..gotta love that a 2 1/2 year old finds sneaking roasted beets to be a real treat!

While they were roasting, I remembered that I had frozen some homemade pasta sauce (tomatoes from the garden, chopped and simmered with basil and garlic..simple enough!) last week...so I pulled out a bag to use for the lasagna.



Then it was time to assemble. I always use brown rice lasagna noodles....they can be tricky to find, but they taste awesome and they cook up so well...you'd never notice the difference!



Started layering...sauce, noodles, ricotta, roasted veggies,



fresh spinach,



sauce, noodles,



etc until the pan was filled to the top.



Now bake in the oven at 425 for about an hour...keep checking the noodles for 'doneness'...rice noodles aren't so yummy if they are over-cooked:)



Need this meal in a hurry? Use good quality jarred tomato sauce, and jarred roasted peppers.

ENJOY...we sure did! Pair this with a nice Okanagan red wine...and you've got a gourmet dinner on your hands!

I got "two thumbs up" tonight over this dinner...now I think I'll go pull a couple of those Chocolate Zucchini Muffins out of the freezer for dessert!

Pumpkin Millet Muffins

So...if you made the "Pumpkin Scones...Starbucks Style" earlier this week, like I did...then you're probably wondering what you could do with the leftover pumpkin puree in your fridge!? The last thing you want to do is waste such a wonderful thing! Noah and I whipped these muffins yesterday morning while Levi was napping. There is something so wonderful about the smell of pumpkin spice in your house on a fall day!



I have to say...as convenient as the canned pumpkin is, there is nothing quite like pumpkin pastries made from fresh pumpkin! Those fresh ones will be saved for November 1st, when it's time to take the pumpkins off the front steps...and make room for Christmas decorations!


Pumpkin Millet Muffins

1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
3/4 cup sweetener (maple syrup, agave, honey, cane sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup millet, toasted (flax seed works too!)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 3/4 cup spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine oil, milk, sugar, vanilla and pumpkin in a large bowl and mix together. Stir in the oats. Toast millet in a hot dry skillet until lightly brown and fragrant. Toast the pumpkin seeds and add the millet and seeds to the bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Add the dry mix to the wet mix and gently stir to combine.



Fill lightly greased muffin cups generously with batter. Sprinkle tops with pumpkin seeds and bake for 20 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. The will make 12 large sized muffins. ENJOY!

*You will notice in the picture above that my muffins are missing the pumpkin seeds on top...we were all out!! They still tasted yummy...just didn't look as festive!

Noah got the first taste test of these Pumpkin Muffins...fresh from the oven...I think he liked them:)



And we don't want to leave Levi out! Although he won't be enjoying these muffins for a little longer yet, he sure does look like he's having fun in his new rocking chair from Nana & Papa...an early birthday present:)

Blackberry Yogurt Muffins

Surprisingly we still found Blackberries this past weekend at the Farmer's Market! I should add VERY RIPE Blackberries...so we knew that we needed to do something with them asap, other than freezing them that is. Skimming through my new favourite cookbook, SLICE, I stumbled upon Raspberry Yogurt Muffins...made a few changes (other that the obvious, blackberries for raspberries that is!)..and came out with these!!

Levi got first dibs on the fresh berries...too cute to resist!



A little measuring and mixing gave us this tempting 'before' shot...



And approximately 20 minutes later...this yummy result!



Easy...incredibly moist...healthy...and fun:)
ENJOY!

Blackberry Yogurt Muffins

1 1/2 cups spelt or barley flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup plain yogurt (get your hands on some coconut milk yogurt and these become vegan)
1 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup blackberries, cut in half, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Puree together wet ingredients. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Gently fold in blackberries. Divide into muffin pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an insert toothpick comes out clean. Makes one dozen muffins.

Pumpkin Scones...Starbucks Style!

Here's a taste of what I whipped up at breakfast today for our houseguests! My sister-in-law Jen and her two boys are staying with us...and we thought this would be a nice treat for a 'cool' fall morning breakfast. The funny part is that I actually got this recipe from Jen last fall after a conversation about the temptation of Fall treats at Starbucks! Is it wrong to feed a houseguest her own recipe??! Hmm..I don't think she minded!! Oh..and the boys gobbled them right up too!

Pumpkin Scones

2 1/4 cups spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup maple syrup, agave, honey (or something sweet of your choice!)
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup almond milk
2/3 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup coconut oil

Mix wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls. Combine mixtures. Pour out into pan...it will look a bit runny...that's okay! Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Take out and cut into shape of your choice! Great with a little maple syrup or jam drizzled on top!

*The original recipe had buttermilk rather than almond milk...and butter rather than coconut oil. Go ahead and use any combination...the way I posted the recipe makes it vegan friendly though:)

ENJOY!

Curried Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango


Alright....I promised a few of our favourites from this past summer...and since we're having a super sunny week here in Kelowna, I thought this NEW favourite of ours might tempt some of your taste buds! I love this one, because it's a meal in itself, or just a great side dish to some grilled meat. We find ourselves eating vegan about 75% of the time these days...so this recipe was a great addition to our home! This one grabs all your senses...looks beautiful, smells amazing, tastes phenomenal, and well...it doesn't sound like anything...but I we got the others covered, right?! ENJOY!

1 cup quinoa
1-2 ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 red or yellow pepper, chopped
1/4 cucumber, chopped
2-3 green onions or a chunk of purple onion, chopped
2 cups (packed) baby spinach, torn or sliced (optional)
half a 19 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
handful of torn cilantro (optional)

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2-4 Tbsp. white wine or white balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. mango chutney..or use some mango/peach baby food like I did!
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. cumin

Carefully toast quinoa in dry skillet, then cook according to directions.

Combine the oil, vinegar, chutney, honey, curry and cumin in a jar or small bowl and shake or whisk to blend. If you like, season the dressing with salt and pepper.

Put the quinoa, mango, vegetables and beans in a large bowl, drizzle with dressing and toss until well coated. Serves 4-6. Tastes even better about 24 hours after being made!

Zucchini...3 Ways

Well this rainy Sunday afternoon left me finding three different great ways to use up that ginormous zucchini you saw back on Thursdays post!

Garden Vegetable Salsa (a.k.a Jen's Salsa) was the first use! A first time recipe for me...and the results found my family and I VERY satisfied!! The first picture is closer to the beginning of the process...don't you just love all the colours! The second picture is the finished product displayed lovely in my kitchen!






Figured I better attach this recipe...it's a keeper...thanks Jen!

Garden Vegetable Salsa

15 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups shredded onion
4 cups chopped red/green/orange peppers
7 Tbsp salt
2 cups vinegar
5 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup cilantro
2 Tbsp cumin
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp dried mustard
15 cups chopped tomatoes
4-10 jalapenos
3 cups corn (optional...but very tasty)

Combine the first 4 ingredients. Let set for 2 hours. Drain of liquid, rinse, drain again.
Combine all other ingredients. Boil 35-40 minutes. Pour into jars.

*Right before I added the jalapenos, I divided the salsa into two separate pots. We LOVE hot food, but not everyone else does, so I put only 3 jalapenos into the one pot (for when we have company and for when I give jars away), and about 8 jalapenos into the other pot.

Enjoy!! Your house will smell AMAZING!


The second use was delectable Chocolate Zucchini Muffins...one of those amazing recipes that you bake over and over. Normally I bake this same recipe in a bundt pan, which results in a fancy dessert for when company's coming! Today I decided, because of the abundance of the zucchini, to bake them into muffins to stock our freezer...always a good thing to have on hand!



Thought you might be interested in this recipe as well!!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 ½ cups spelt flour
½ cup cocoa
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon


½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
3/4 cup agave, maple syrup, cane sugar
3 eggs


2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups zucchini, coarsely grated
½ cup milk (I use almond milk)

1 cup dark chocolate chips (or nuts)

Combine all wet ingredients in the first section. Whip together the middle 3 ingredients, then add to the wet mixture...this won't mix together very well. Stir in the vanilla, zucchini and milk. Mix well. Stir in dark chocolate chips. Pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Start watching after 45 min.

*Baking as muffins usually takes 18-20 minutes.
*Be careful not to over-bake....they can easily dry out!


And the third and final use for zucchini today in the Wiebe house was to just simply freeze it, already shredded, premeasured, for future baking!

Abundance

Thought I'd share a picture of the pickin's from our garden this evening!! Doesn't that look amazing?! Four different varieties of Organic - Heirloom - Non-GMO Tomatoes!



I couldn't help but include this photo...we were away for the weekend and it looks like our zucchini plant experienced a little growth!



Based on this abundance...it looks like it's Salsa Day - Part 2 at our house tomorrow! A great opportunity to try out the Zucchini & Tomato Salsa recipe that my sister-in-law shared with me!!

Chipotle Salsa

Smoky and with a slight zing of heat...this salsa is a HUGE hit in our home. The first year I made it we ran out by November! This year I was smart and made a double batch. The best part is that this year it contained tomatoes from our very own garden!

Chipotle Salsa

6 jalapeno peppers
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (70z)
16 cups coarsely chopped tomatoes (about 7lbs)
6 cups chopped seeded Cubanelle, Anaheim or sweet banana peppers
4 cups chopped onions
4 cups chopped sweet green peppers
4 cups cider vinegar
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans tomato paste (156 ml each)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tsp salt
2 tsp dried oregano
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Wearing rubber gloves, seed, core and finely chop jalapenos to make 1 cup.
Throw the can of chipotle peppers in food processor and puree, including liquid.
In large heavy non aluminum stock pot, combine jalapenos, chipotle peppers, tomatoes, all peppers, onions, vinegar, garlic, tomato paste, sugar, salt and oregano. Bring to a boil, stirring often, until thickened, 2 to 2 1/4 hours.
Add cilantro, simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
Fill hot 2-cup (500ml) canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Cover with prepared lids. Screw on bands until resistance is met; increase to fingertip tight. Boil in boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Makes about eight 2-cup jars.

*I chop everything in the food processor to save time, except the tomatoes. We prefer chunky salsa, so doing the tomatoes coarsely by hand helps keep a chunky texture.
*During the 2 hours of simmering, I periodically skim liquid off the top of the pot...about 6 cups total through out the process...this also helps maintain the chunky texture.

The New Favourite Cookie! Oatmeal PB Chocolate Chunk

sorry...I know I said I would post summer recipes...but these are just too good not to share! I'll try adding a picture one day...the cookies don't last long enough around here to get a chance to pull the camera out!

Oatmeal PB Chocolate Chunk Cookies (sooooo chewy!)

2 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter (I think coconut oil would work too!)
1/2 cup agave
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
2 large free range eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips/chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl combine oats, flour and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Beat in agave. Mix in peanut butter, eggs and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients until combined. Fold in chocolate.
Roll dough into golf ball sized balls, flatten slightly with hand or fork.
Bake for 8 minutes. Let set for a few minutes before removing from cookie sheet.
Makes 2 dozen!

Finally...

So since I've been saying that for about six months I would start a blog of all my favourite recipes and discoveries in the food world....I figured I better get on it!

How to start such a task? I thought maybe I'd begin with all our family's favourites from the past summer...and we'll go from there! Hope you find something you like (although the comfort of warm soups and stews may be more appealing with this cool fall-like weather we're experiencing!)