Something New

Happy November!

Typically, on this site you will find my ramblings about what God is teaching, showing and challenging me with as I journey with Him.  Today, instead of my normal spiritual rant, I'm sharing a new recipe that I had so much fun making yesterday and thought you might enjoy it too :)

In all fairness and honesty, this recipe actually has TONS to do with what God is doing in my life..it is clean, fresh and healthy...and I'm sure I'll share more about that work in my soul later, but for now...here's the goods on the grub!

Veggie marinara

4 lg tomatoes

6 campari or plum tomatoes

1 lg zucchini

2 lg carrots (bugs bunny style)

1 c vegetable stock

6 garlic cloves

1 sm white/yellow onion

basil as desired

olive oil

  Quarter the tomatoes and place in a roasting pan w/ 1/2 the garlic cloves (whole). Drizzle with olive oil, salt/pepper and roast on 425 for 20-30min--stirring halfway thru.  Saute the rest of the garlic (minced) and onion (diced) in olive oil until transparent.  Lower heat to med--Grate in (fine) the zucchini and carrots.  Add veg stock and roasted tomatoes (w/ all juices!) to the veggies (feel free to take the skin off the tomatoes here...I didn't and ended up straining them out later...pain!)  Add chopped basil leaves here...I used fresh, but I'm sure dried would be great too..just don't use as much!  Up the heat to med-high again and let boil for 1min.  Lower heat to low and let simmer for as long as desired...the longer the better!  

Thinking that once everything is cooked, it'd be a great one to stick in the crockpot for the day to simmer/combine :)

Eggplant & Zucchini Lasagna

1 lg eggplant

2 good size zucchini

2 c. spinach (fresh)

olive oil

salt pepper

2c. mozz cheese

parmesan cheese to top

2 c. veggie marinara sauce (give or take depending on how saucy you like it!)

Slice the eggplant and zucchini vertically in 1/2in strips.  Place in roasting pan (or you could stick on the grill for a few min each side!) drizzle with olive oil, salt/pepper and broil for 5min each side.  

While roasting, place 1c mozz and spinach in food proccessor and pulse til spinach is finely chopped and combined w/ cheese--set aside.

In a 12x9 dish, spoon a thin layer of marinara sauce.  Place a layer of roasted eggplant slices on top of sauce across the dish.  Spoon 1/2 the spinach-mozz mixture over the eggplant, then layer zucchini slices on top, adding more marinara sauce overtop.  Spread remaining spinach-mozz then layer last layer of eggplant slices.  Top with remaining cup of mozz cheese and top w/ parmesan.  

Bake at 425 for 30min (I up'd the heat to 500 for another 5min to brown the cheese the way we like it at the end :)

Let cool for 5min, then gobble! :) YUM!