Layers of love

I've been wanting some warm, layered, melty, delicious lasagna. On a recent trip to Sunrise Health Food Store, I picked up some DeBole's gluten free lasagna noodles, and collected my other ingredients on various grocery trips around town. When I make gluten free lasagna, I prefer to make miniature ones, individually sized just for me. If I make a full pan, then I have to cut and package it for the freezer in an extra step.

In the past I've used mini loaf pans for this job, but since I was stopping at GFS, I meandered through their foil pan section and found some really cute little ones which work out better. They have the fold down edge so you can add a cardboard lid, which makes for easier storage. Unfortunately, they didn't have an lids in the right size, but I bought the next size up then used the pans as a template to cut them down. The pans and the lids were 19¢ each, so I was inclined to make it work. The recipe I've shared below is merely a template, change and adapt it to meet your own tastes. Don't like eggplant and mushrooms? Use the ground meat of your choice. Prefer spinach to broccoli? Go for it. The best part of making any meal is making it your own.

Ingredients:

• a few teaspoons of olive oil
  
• ½ of a large eggplant, chopped into small pieces (¼ inch or so)
  
• 2 c broccoli florets, chopped
• 10 or so average to large mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cans (28 o.z.) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
• 2 c shredded mozzarella + 1c to sprinkle on top
  
• 2 c ricotta cheese
• ¼ c grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 large eggs
  
• 2 boxes DeBole's gluten free lasagna noodles (or equal amount)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
   
2. In a large pan, sauté the vegetables in olive oil until soft
3. Add tomatoes and simmer about 10 minutes to reduce some of the liquid
4. In the mean time, combine the cheeses and eggs in a bowl until well mixed
5. Spoon some of the liquid portion of the tomato/vegetable mixture into the bottoms of your pans (or one large pan) so the noodles with not be in direct contact with the bottom
6. Line the pan(s) with UNCOOKED noodles, breaking and fitting them in as needed
7. On the noodles, spread a layer of the cheese mixture, then some tomato mixture
8. Add a second layer of noodles and repeat, topping with a final layer of noodles
9. Cover the noodles with some tomato mixture, sprinkle with shredded mozzarella
10. Cover the pan(s) with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes (1 hour for a full pan).

My yield was 10 mini pans, yours will depend on the pan you use and how thick you make your layers. If you make a full pan, make sure you leave enough cheese for the second layer and enough tomato mixture to cover the top. If you do not put some of the tomato mixture (or other sauce if you choose) on the bottom of the pan and covering the top, the noodles will not cook properly. The bottom ones will burn a bit to the pan and the top ones will not soften where they are not covered. If you don't want to use the canned tomatoes, you can substitute a couple jars of pasta sauce and cut the simmering to five minutes.

Happy eating, Friends!

A Meal Worth Repeating

Recently I've had some exciting food-splorations which I haven't yet shared with you. The other day, I cooked and ate an artichoke, on Thursday I tried some Thai Red Rice crackers, yesterday, I made a Roma tomato, Spanish onion and ground chicken meat sauce and today I tried Babybel Cheese.

For several years I've timidly glanced at artichokes in the produce section of my supermarket. Spiky and acorn-like, I've been somewhat mystified as to how to prepare and eat these interesting veggies. I've eaten spinach artichoke dip, jalepeño artichoke dip and other variations, but I have never been able to wrap my mind around the whole food artichoke.

After reading about Shauna's description of eating artichoke leaves in an elementary school classroom, I knew it was time to try one. It turns out, artichokes are not actually difficult to cook or eat.

It was like eating a Christmas present. After steaming the artichoke in a pan of water, slowly unwrapped it, leaf by leaf, and ate them dipped in butter. Scraping the leaves through my teeth, the buttery artichoke pulp danced around on my tongue, smooth and creamy. When all the leaves were finished, I encountered the choke and the heart. The choke is a fibrous clump at the center of the artichoke, not edible, which must be removed. It came out easily and beneath it lie the artichoke heart. The heart has a texture like softened cream cheese, and an almost sweet, mild flavor. I must buy more.

The rice crackers were one of the items in my gift bag from Lil's, and they were a pleasant surprise. Beneath the unassuming packaging, and made from simple ingredients, these crackers are meant to be topped with meats, cheese or dip. I first tried them without topping on Thursday, to assess the flavor and texture. They remind me a bit of rice cakes, with a slightly puffed crispness. Flavor-wise, they are fairly neutral and easily complementary to anything with which you might top them.

The sauce. Mmmm... the sauce. My friend Bridget gave me The Gloriously Gluten-Free Cookbook:Spicing up Life with Italian, Asia, and Mexican Recipes for my birthday, and for the first recipe, I tweaked their meat sauce. I don't eat beef or pork, so instead of ground beef, I used leaner ground chicken. The recipe calls for a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, but recently I've been reading about the potential negative affects of the canned tomatoes. It seems the acid in the tomatoes can break down the lining in the can, releasing chemicals which we then ingest. I don't know all the science behind it, but since I found some Roma tomatoes at the farmstand for a good price, I just sidestepped the whole can issue and diced them myself.

Half a large Spanish onion, several cloves of garlic and some herbs, fresh ground pepper and sea salt as well as grated Parmesan cheese and a light sprinkling of Truvia instead of sugar came together beautifully. After cooking the ground meat and the sauce separately, I combined the two for a somewhat sweet and definitely flavorful addition to past or anything over which I might want to serve it.

While dreaming up dinner, I decided to finally sample some of the babybel cheese Mom keeps buying. One taste, and immediately I thought: SPINACH, I must have this with spinach.

I sautéed some spinach in garlic and olive oil, added the crumbled babybel cheese, and topped it all with some of the meat sauce. I had it with a baked potato, and it was definitely a meal worth repeating.