Zucchini Lasagna

A friend gave us these monsters from her garden and I knew instantly I would have to make zucchini lasagna, these babies were a little longer than lasagna noodles.

The only difference between this and regular lasagna is that zucchini are veryyyyyyyyy moist vegetables so after slicing them you have to either grill them on both sides or salt them to get out that excess moisture.  After that you use them just like lasagna noodles. I usually use chicken sausage or ground turkey or no meat at all I'm my lasagna and have all kinds of veggies but I had a carnivore to please and two chicken breasts on hand so I figured why not try something new. 

First thing I did was cut 1/4" slices lengthwise.  I laid them out on paper towels and salted them them. I let them sit for 15 mins, wiped the moisture that was drawn out, flipped them and did the same for the other side.

While that was going on I cooked 2 chicken breasts and also began sautéing my peppers, onions and garlic.  Once my chicken was cooked I shredded it and added it to my onion mix. Seasoned it with salt, pepper, crushed red peppers, garlic powder, parsley, basil and oregano.  I then added the sauce and let it simmer for 5 minutes. 

Put a little sauce in the bottom of the baking dish then begin layering zucchini, meat and cheese. 

We're heading out of town so I wanted to use up the stuff we had in the fridge and luckily that included fresh mozzarella. 

 

Final layer or zucchini and cheese 

Since I won't be here for dinner time I wrapped it in foil with instructions and put it in the fridge for my love. 

Hopefully I can get a decent picture of it before he destroys it. Happy, healthy eating. 

Say yes to Vinyasa

I've been doing yoga for a few years now and I've always loved how it makes me feel.  When I was losing weight for the wedding yoga was a big part of my fitness plan. So in the spirit of Project 26 I thought I'd get back in my yogi groove.  I've tried Ananda and Hatha yoga and both have been very calming and relaxing classes that also gave me a good stretch.  Last night I had an intense leg and bicep session at the gym and I figured a little yoga this morning would be exactly what I needed to stretch myself out, clearly I was mistaken. I would see Bikram and Vinyasa yoga studios all over the place in Orange County but I couldn't afford a special studio so I never was able to take a class, my new gym however has a fabulous yoga room that is so peaceful (and they're renovating it to make it even better, hell yeah). I'm all over the place with this, anyway, I woke up all stiff, grabbed my mat (and the awesome graveyard bag I made, see photo below)

And I headed off to stretch. As I walk into the gym they offer me a towel and I politely decline, come on, it's yoga. I get to class and the room is half full and everyone there looked to be 40+ except one girl who may have been in her early 30's.  All signs are pointing to an easy session but that did not happen. 20 minutes in and I'm pouring sweat, more sweat than I produced in the 4 mile run the night before. I had to leave to run and get a towel out of fear of slipping on my mat. Vinyasa was very different from the basic yogas with much more emphasis on breathing and sequences of movements, it was like a dance class almost. I wanted to die but as soon as it was over I felt so relieved and accomplished and incredibly sore. It will now be added into my routine, at least twice a week. 

I was so exhausted and hungry by the time I got home you would swear my protein shake was the most delicious thing in the world the way I downed it. A little while later I made myself a salad and some sprouts. Now that I'm back on track I've cut the salad dressings out so I'm back to using lemon juice and sumac, I can dig it. 

Poblano tacos

When I tell my parents I'm going to come over and cook for them the reaction is always the same, "is it gonna be that healthy crap?"   And I always then follow it with a lecture about how they should want to be around for their grandchildren and blah blah blah. Keeping with the tradition I allowed them to complain about healthy food while I dragged then around the store collecting ingredients because I know this story always ends the same; they complain, I cook, they eat it, they love it. This meal was only different in the sense that I allowed them to suggest what they wanted to eat and I made them a slightly modified health-IER version to show them little changes they can make.  They wanted tacos and I knew they'd put up a big fight if I pulled out the lettuce tacos so instead I grabbed some poblano peppers which for some reason are called "pasilla peppers" at the grocery store. They were only 89 cents a pound which came out even cheaper than lettuce, nice.

I kept it simple with the ingredients but made them all from scratch to show them how easy it could be (no recipes for these):

>>Poblanos

>>Mexican Rice

>>Refried Beans

>>Pico de gallo

1. Cut triangle openings out of the peppers 

2. Filled each pepper (except mine which was all veggie) with 2tbs. Each of beans, rice and meat

3. Put them in a baking dish, drizzled with some olive oil and a sprinkle of h.s. salt.  In order to get the the peppers a little softer faster I put about half a cup of water in the bottom of the dish, covered it in foil at 375 for about 15 minutes to steam the pepper. I then uncovered it and broiled until it has a nice char but it can be cooked uncovered at 375 without water for about half an hour and come out great.

4. Throw some pico, cotija or crema on top and go to town. My parents loved it, soon they'll stop fighting me.

"Woasted poblano peppuhs" 

amen

Slow and steady wins the race

The pounds are coming off slowly but they're coming off exactly where I want and I'm going to partially attribute that to the fact that Dan comes home for lunch everyday and I always make sure it's something that's not heavy and won't have him falling asleep at his desk.  Today I whipped out blackened salmon, balsamic quinoa and sautéed b.sprouts all in 20 minutes.

I've been trying to squeeze in a 3 mile run everyday and a light dinner, usually a salad and grilled veggies.  

Everything in life is lining up so perfectly I've been making a conscious effort to maintain my joy, focus on my marriage and thank God for all that I've been blessed with. We're experiencing some exciting things right now and I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

Thank you baby Jesus

Just when Robin Thicke couldn't get any better...he goes and puts on a black and white striped suit.

Have Mercy.

Garden Pasta

I've been craving pasta like nobody's business so I finally caved and tossed this together real quick from what was in the fridge and everyone loved it.

1 large onion

2 zucchinis 

1 bell pepper

4 cups of quartered Brussels sprouts

3 tbs minced garlic 

1 can diced tomatoes

1 pkg sliced mushrooms

1 jar Newman's Own Sockarooni

1 pkg. all natural organic casing free spinach garlic chicken sausage

variety of spices 

*optional* we had leftover feta jalapeno burgers I made the night before so I cubed up two of those

6 cups of Brown rice penne pasta

While pasta is cooking; in a large saucepan with olive oil saute onions, garlic and bell pepper for 10 minutes then add the rest of the vegetables and meats, cook another 10 minutes.  Add drained pasta and sauce to mixture, mix, cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes (make a nice salad in the meantime) 

Season how you like.  I used h.s. salt, pepper, crushed red peppers, garlic powder, parsley, basil and oregano.  

pre-pasta

Happiness

Is abundant.