cactusren's Journal

Hi everyone!  I'm sorry I've been absent for a while, but the thesis is done, so I have a lot more time on my hands (aside from searching for jobs).  And my computer is up and running again, after a brief but fairly catastrophic illness.  So I can actually spend time online again!  I've got some new recipes, too, which I'll start posting soon.

Ren

Its been a while since I posted a new recipe, but here we go!  In other news, I've given a draft of my thesis to my advisor, and while there are still lots of revisions to be made, he said he was really pleased with it overall.  So life is good :)

Right....lasagna.  Basically, I just decided to make some lasagna using thin strips of zucchini in place of the pasta.  Its still got some sugars in it from the tomato sauce, so its maybe not for people in the early stages of a hypoglycemic diet, but it seemed to work well for me!  If you have a favorite lasagna recipe, you could definitely use that, just subbing zucchini for pasta, but if you don't have a fav recipe already, here's how I did it.  Oh, and I made a small batch in a 9x9 pan...just double it if you want to make a "full size" lasagna.

Sauce 

1/2 pound italian sausage (you could use ground turkey or chicken if you want something leaner, or leave the meat out altogether and add some extra veggies)

1 small to medium yellow onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1-2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsely

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste.

In a large saucepan, cook sausage, onions, and bell peppers until sausage is browned.  Drain off excess fat.  Add tomato sauce and herbs.  Cover and let simmer while preparing the ricotta mixture and slicing the zucchini.

Ricotta mixture

half of a 15 oz. package ricotta cheese (about 1 cup?  sorry, i wasn't really measuring this...)

1/4 cup grated parmasean cheese (maybe a bit more...)

1 egg

1-2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsely

Mix all ingredients together.

Construction:

1 medium-large zucchini

1 cup shredded mozerella cheese

more grated parmasean, if desired

Cut ends off zucchini.  If its large, cut in half first, then cut into lenghthwise strips.  Spoon a little sauce into bottom of baking dish--just enough to coat it a bit.  Arrange zucchini slices to cover bottom of pan (this should use about half the zucchini).  Spread half of the riccota mixture on top of zucchini.  Top this with half of the remaining sauce.  Repeat layers of zucchini, ricotta and sauce.  Top with mozerella and some more parmasean cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Here's another recipe from Baking with Agave Nectar.  These super-fudgy brownies are made with black beans rather than flour, so they're packed with protein and fiber, and they're gluten-free!  This recipe is a little more complicated than most brownie recipes, but totally worth it.  It makes a lot, so its great as something to bring to a party to ensure you have something "healthy" to eat (and I promise, if you don't tell anyone, they'll never know these are made with beans).  If you're just making them for you, you might want to halve (or even quarter) the recipe).

The Amazing Black Bean Brownies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup unsalted butter or nonhydrogenated margerine

2 cups soft-cooked black beans, drained well*

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coffee substitute or instant coffee**

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups light agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 325.  Line an 11x18 inch baking pan with parchment paper and grease lightly.

Melt the chocolate and butter.  The original recipe says to do this in a glass bowl in the microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, but I kind of prefer doing this over the stove, as you can stir it constantly until the chocolate is just melted.

Place beans, 1/2 cup of the walnuts, vanilla, and a couple spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture into a food processor.  Blend about two minutes or until smooth.  The batter will be thick.

In a large bowl, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup walnuts, remaining chocolate mixture, coffee substitute, and salt.  Mix well and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light and creamy with an electric mixer.  Add agave nectar and beat well.

Add the bean mixture to the coffee/chocolate mixture and stir until blended.  Add the egg mixture, but reserve half a cup.  Mix well.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Using the electric mixer, beat remaining egg mixture until light and fluffy.  Drizzle over the brownie batter.  Use a toothpick to pull the egg mixture through the batter, creating a marbled effect.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the brownies are set.  Let cool in pan completely before cutting into squares.  (They will be soft until refrigerated.)

Notes:  I forgot to reserve that half cup of egg mixture, and while they didn't have the pretty marbling, my batch came out just fine.  So if this is too many steps and you want to cut something out--there ya go.

*The recipe doesn't specify this, but I assume that using canned beans wouldn't work well for this, as they're so salty.  Just buy the bag and cook the beans beforehand--you could do this a day or two in advance if you don't have big blocks of time to spend in the kitchen.

**"coffee substitute" refers to powdered drinks like Pero or Kafix.  These are made with chicory and malted barley, and have no caffeine.  They do, however contain gluten, so if you want to make these gluten-free, just use instant coffee (decaf, if you want to keep caffeine to a minimum).