May 2023
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Posts Tagged ‘mushrooms’

One Pan Turkey and Egg Noodles

Posted by terrepruitt on January 11, 2021

My hubby has been doing the shopping for the past eight and half months and while I would often have a menu planned for at least one meal, I didn’t always have meals for the entire week planned when I was doing the shopping. So having to plan the entire week Sunday night is kind of a challenge. It is much easier when I cook something that will last most of the week (we are still eating Beer Cheese Potato Soup from Wednesday) . Or if he cooks something like that. You (may) know I LOVE leftovers for that reason – Cook once, eat multiple times. Well, my friend gave me the One Pan Easy Beef And Pasta recipe. And it is DELICIOUS. I made it one week and we ate it for days and I loved it so much I made it the next week and we ate it again for days. But the second time I did it with ground turkey. So here is that recipe with the adjustments.

__________________________________________________________

One Pan Turkey and Egg Noodles

• 4 tablespoons coconut oil, divided
• 10 oz mushrooms
• garlic salt (and pepper*)
• 1 cup diced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup cooking sherry
• 4 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon/Roasted Beef

• 12 oz dry egg noodles
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons ricotta

Wash (if you are one to do so) your mushrooms and slice them. Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a pan large enough to hold ALL of your ingredients. Add the mushrooms to the pan, sprinkle with garlic salt and cook on high for about 8 minutes . . . stirring occasionally. Turn the heat down to medium, cooking until most, if not all of the water from the mushrooms has evaporated. Once they are cooked to your liking, remove them from the pan and set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil then add the onions. With such a hot pan, they may cook rather quickly, so when they are translucent stir in the garlic, cook until fragrant (usually only about 30 to 45 seconds). Add the ground turkey to the pan. Break it up as it cooks. Add some garlic salt and some pepper*. Once it is all broken up sprinkle the paprika over the meat then stir to mix it in.

Pour in the water and sherry stir in the Better Than Bouillon**. Once it is incorporated add the dry pasta. Stir until the pasta is mixed in then bring to a light boil. Turn down the heat place a cover on it – plan to let it cook for 12 to 18 minutes, but stir it often. During one of the stirs add the 3 tablespoons of ricotta. Stir until it is incorporated into the mix. Keep an eye on the mixture you want to make sure the meat is cooked through, but you don’t want to overcook the pasta unless you like it like that.

After the pasta is cooked to your liking, remove the pan from the heat and add the mushrooms and sour cream. Stir until all the ingredients are mixed well.

__________________________________________________________

The funny thing is, when I was made this the second time with the turkey I misread the 2 teaspoons of paprika in the original recipe and I put in 2 TABLESPOONS and it works. My friend claims that turkey is flavorless so maybe the tripling of the paprika really made this delicious!

So good. My mouth is watering thinking about it. This is what we are having this week. Can’t wait!

Which do you prefer, ground beef or ground turkey?

*I don’t use pepper.
**I don’t make the broth beforehand, I just add the water and flavoring to the pan and let it mix with the food

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: beef works, beer cheese potato soup, better than bouillon, egg noodles, mushrooms, one pan dinner, one pan turkey and noodles, one pot dinner, paprika, sour cream, yummy dinner | Leave a Comment »

Tis The Season For . . . .

Posted by terrepruitt on November 23, 2020

Well, tonight I am making a stuffed pumpkin for dinner. And as usual I am getting a later start than I wanted. I was playing around with something on my website and time just slipped by. I even went down to start, but came back up to grab my phone for the recipe and 30 minutes later, I just put the pumpkin in. Then I got to thinking about all the recipes I like to cook this time of year. And I started thinking about all the recipes YOU like to cook this time of year. What are your favorite recipes that you like to cook this time of year?

I am going to list a few of mine here (with links) especially since I still have to try to fix my recipe page after WordPress BLOCKS came along. (Ugh!)

A Quick And Yummy Way To Use Cranberries (“salsa”)

Dancing With Persimmons (relish)

Persimmon Chicken

Persimmon Chicken Tortilla

Pumpkin For Dinner

Pumpkin Cookies

Cheese Fondue

Awesome Salad (pear and walnut)

Butternut Squash Soup Adaptation

I have already made butternut squash soup and I am making the stuffed pumpkin tonight. The pumpkin came in our produce delivery. We also received persimmons so I am just waiting for them to be ready and I was hoping to get both the relish AND the chicken out of them. I am planning on having a version of the salad for Thanksgiving. I have to get my hubby to get me ingredients for pumpkin cookies. I should have had him do it the last shopping trip, but there was already too many other things he was getting. So next week. And then I hope to have Cheese Fondue for New Year’s Eve.

So, again . . . . what about you? What are the recipes you look forward to making this season?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: cheese fondue, cranberries, favorite fall dinners, favorite recipes of the season, heavy whipping cream, mushrooms, persimmons, pumpkin cookies, Sausage, Stuffed pumpkin, winter soup | Leave a Comment »

Full Belly Farm Pizza Dough

Posted by terrepruitt on October 7, 2020

We haven’t had outside prepared food since February or maybe March. I really wanted a pizza . . . now I kinda want anything that I would normally have just to have a treat . . . for now we are not having takeout of any kind, so I am making pizza. I don’t make the dough. Dough and I have a love-hate relationship; I LOVE to eat it, but I HATE to “deal” with it. It always just sticks to my hands and I can’t deal with that. People say to use more flour but then I just end up with flour all over the place and dough stuck to my hands. A friend who used to make pizza every Friday night says she uses a bit of oil. I tried that and realized it works. So I use more than a bit of oil. At first I was just putting it in the bowl with the dough (bringing it to room temperature seems like a must) and flouring the pan, but then I decided to put oil on the pan. My niece gave me the idea to use parchment paper to roll out the dough because I was ending up with dough all over my hands AND my rolling pin. I have to put oil on the parchment paper so it doesn’t stick, but I am able to just wipe the roller off because there is no dough or even oil on it at all. Parchment paper (and my niece) to the rescue. So this isn’t really a recipe, it is just me showing how I “make” pizza. And the terrible job shaping that I do.

I roll it out directly on my pans and my pans are soooo warped that I can’t make a nice shape, I have to make whatever shape is required to try to get the dough somewhat even. Whatever the case and whatever the shape the dough from Full Belly Farm is delicious.

I take the one ball of dough and split it to make two pizzas . . . a his and a hers.

I LOVE mushrooms on my pizza and I prefer they get cooked FIRST, so I have to cook the mushrooms. I don’t really LOVE tomato sauce so I usually just put that on my husband’s pizza. I just use a bit of olive oil. Most times it is just mozzarella and mushrooms, sometimes breakfast sausage. But I asked for Ricotta (my husband does the shopping) and they didn’t have the regular kind and my husband bought some out of the deli case. I don’t know about your grocery store, but things in the deli case at our supermarket tend to be the more “gourmet” kind of stuff and definitely more expensive. This ricotta was sooooooo good. It was so smooth and creamy. Yum. I wish I would have noticed the lid was upside down when I took the pictures. I turned the tub so I could read the side but didn’t even notice the lid. I was focused on the reflection of the pizza dough label. (Ok, so I can’t take pictures NOR deal with pizza dough!)

Our pizzas turn our pretty yummy. And we get to pig out on pizza two days. Even though the crust is really thin it is yummy. Next time I am going to try a different approach to the dough and see how that goes. I might even try rolling it out on something that is flat so I can maybe get an even crust. I don’t know transferring the dough sounds too “iffy”. We will see.

I wrote a post about DIY pizza in August 2018, I mentioned thinking the dough needs to be cold . . . it seems easier to handle but the instructions and my professional pizza making friends says it needs to be room temp so when I remember that is what I try to do.

So . . . how do YOU deal with pizza dough? Do you make your own? Do you roll it or do you stretch it? What is your favorite pizza topping?

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia online, San Jose Virtual classes, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, Nia Technique, Yin Yoga, stretch classes, online exercise, Zoom classes, virtual yoga, City of San Jose online exercise, live classes via Zoom,

The edges were getting too crispy on this so they were picked off before I thought to take a picture . . . then after it was cooked I completely forgot about taking pictures!

Posted in Food | Tagged: DIY Pizza, Full Belly Farm, making pizza, mushrooms, parchment paper, pizza, pizza dough, shelter-in-place eating, takeout | 6 Comments »

Bruschetta Orzo

Posted by terrepruitt on July 29, 2019

So this is pretty very much like the Five-Vegetable Pasta I made and I posted about in the post titled Bruschetta Pasta. Basically the only difference is the way I cut and cooked the zucchini and the pasta itself. I used that recipe to make this. I didn’t realize when I decided to make it that it was going to be such a hot day. My original plan was to cook all the vegetables in the oven, but I decided while I was waiting for one batch to cook I might as well cook the mushrooms on the stove.

_________________________________________________________

Bruschetta Orzo

—1 medium or large eggplant, cubed (very small)
—4 medium sized tomatoes, cubed
—2 zucchinis, cubed (tiny)
—1 lb of mushrooms, chopped (tiny)
—1/2 of a large onion, chopped (tiny)
—olive oil
—two tablespoons of butter
—garlic powder
—garlic salt
—pepper
—sweet basil
—balsamic vinegar

—1 1/4 cup orzo
—2 1/2 cup water
—2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon

—Parmesan cheese, grated, as desired

Heat the oven to 450°F.

Put the cubed eggplant on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt. Mix it up, then spread the eggplant evenly over the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then take the pan out of the oven and stir the eggplant adding more garlic salt. Bake for another 15 minutes, then take the pan out of the oven and stir the eggplant adding more garlic salt. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Stirring or tossing if necessary to ensure even roasting.

Put the cubed zucchini on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt. Mix it up, then spread the zucchini evenly over the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then take the pan out of the oven and stir the zucchini adding more garlic salt. Push the zucchini over to one half of the baking sheet to make room for the tomatoes. Put three of the tomatoes on the other half of the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake for another 10 minutes, then take the pan out of the oven and stir the zucchini adding more garlic salt. Check on the tomatoes. Toss them gently. Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

While the veggies are cooking in the oven you can begin cooking the mushrooms. Heat some olive oil in a pan, then add the onions. Cook the onions until translucent or caramelizing – depends on how you like them, then add the mushrooms and garlic salt. Cook the mushrooms.

When you have about 15 to 20 minutes left of cooking for the veggies heat the butter in a pan. Add the orzo to the melted butter. Toast the orzo – just giving it a little color. Then add the water and bouillon to the pan. Stir until the bouillon is incorporated. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer – or even lower. Let all the water evaporate. Stirring every once in a while.

After the orzo and the veggies are all cooked add half of the orzo to a large bowl/dish then half of the eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt (if you even need to), pepper, and basil. Then stir. Then add half of the cooked tomatoes and half of the raw tomatoes. On top of the tomatoes add the rest of the orzo and vegetables. Add more salt (if need be), pepper, and basil. Stir gently.

Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

_________________________________________________________

So, I have discovered that I love orzo. I cook it in broth and it is amazing on its own. I thought it would make this dish amazing too, but I liked this dish better with linguine. My husband is loving this and I like it too, I just think I like the veggies with the other pasta better.

What about you? Linguine or orzo for this?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: balsamic vinegar, linguine, mushrooms, orzo, Parmesan, roasted vegetables, vegetable pasts, veggie pasta, yummy pasta dinner | 2 Comments »

Selective Eater

Posted by terrepruitt on October 31, 2018

A Facebook Friend posted this list recently on Facebook. She received a lot of replies. I was pretty surprised at them. For so many years I was called a picky eater so I was happily surprised to see I was not among the pickiest out of the people who replied to her query. There was one woman who answered 17. SEVENTEEN! The response to her response was, “What do you eat?” I mean, seriously. There are so many things on this list that I DO eat, and they are pretty much staples in my diet I was wondering the same thing about this woman.

The numbers from the responses were funny. There was only a handful of people who were in the 0 range. With the bulk of the people being in the 1 to 5 and 10 to 15. And only one being over 15. That was the result when I decided to count, but I am sure that it changed as I saw people had commented after I had done my quick count. I was just curious. I really just wanted to see how many people were “pickier” than me. I do understand, as I am sure so do you, there are a lot more reasons than, “I don’t like it” as to why people don’t eat some things. I am actually very grateful for all of the allergies and intolerances that are now an everyday thing because – again – most people don’t just label someone picky . . . wait staff doesn’t even blink any more when someone orders a menu item but ask for something to be removed. It is no longer really considered a “special order” it is just an order. With so many different diets and things going on it is ok to “rearrange” a menu item – as I call it.

Here is the list with the items I won’t eat circled. I don’t really like green olives with the pimentos, but without them they are fine. I will eat raisins especially golden ones, but I don’t care for the black ones, but sometimes I will eat them. If they are in a dessert item, I will generally not eat that item because . . . it is probably something I should be avoiding anyway. I don’t eat fish raw or otherwise. I like celery soup, but I don’t like celery and I prefer it NOT be in things (chicken salad, green salads, etc.). I don’t like avocados. I don’t even like to touch the mush of them — eww. And I don’t like mustard.

What about you? How do you fair with this list? How many points did you get?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: brussels sprouts, mushrooms, picky eater, raw fish, selective eater, tofu | 8 Comments »

Leek And Mushroom Topped Flat-Biscuit-Shortbread

Posted by terrepruitt on November 7, 2016

I save recipes to my computer all the time. I have hundreds and hundreds of recipes. Every once in a while I go through the various folders and see recipes I want to try. I might even put the recipe on my desktop so it is in my face and on my mind . . . in hopes that I will actually try it. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. I had found a recipe the blogger called flatbread and it sounded delicious so I saved it to my desktop. While I was at the store I remembered I had a leek in the refrigerator and I thought mushrooms and leeks on top of the flat bread would be good. I couldn’t remember what the recipe called for, so I bought the mushrooms. Here is what I ended up doing. It was good. The toppings of leeks and mushrooms gave it a lot of flavor. However, I just need salt in my food otherwise it is bland. So even with the toppings having sufficient amount of salt the bread was too bland for me. I am sure for regular people who don’t require so much salt it would be fine. My hubby loved it. It also didn’t taste nor have the texture of the flat bread I am used to. It was more like a biscuit. Or a shortbread. That is probably due to the baking powder. OR it could have been due to the fact that I read 1/2 cup olive oil and the recipe called for 1/3 cup. Anyway, since my husband loved it, I will be doing it again. My toppings will probably change. And I will definitely add salt to the dough! And I might even try it with the less oil.

I have noted the changes I will make next time in italics.

_______________________________________________________
Leek And Mushroom Topped Flat-Biscuit-Shortbread

Flat-Biscuit-Shortbread
• 1 1/2 cups + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
salt

Leek and Mushroom mixture topping
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 leek
• 3/4 pound mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• a sprinkle over the whole pan of ground ginger
• 1/2 – 1 tablespoon of butter
• pepper

After washing the leek, chop the leek into small pieces. After washing the mushrooms, slice them. Heat the coconut oil. Add the leeks to the pan and cook them. When the green portion becomes a bright green and the white portion starts to lose its color, add the mushrooms. Sprinkle the mixture with the garlic salt, thyme, and ginger. Keep stirring and cooking. When the mushrooms and leeks are almost done being cooked to your liking add the butter. Stir well, so the flavor of the butter gets incorporated into the mix.

While the leeks are cooking you can probably start on the dough . . . even before you add the mushrooms to the pan.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, garlic powder, and basil in a bowl. Stir until ingredients are well mixed. Add olive oil and water mixing until all the ingredients are incorporated and it forms a smooth dough. Form the dough into a ball or a log – something to get you started into the final shape you want. Place the dough onto a piece of parchment paper large enough to fit the pan you are going to bake it on. Then roll out the dough until it’s about 1/4 inch thick in the shape you want. Lift the parchment paper with the dough on it and place it on your baking sheet. Brush or pat a little bit of olive oil on the top of the dough.

Bake it in the oven at 400° F for 12 minutes until the top starts to turn brown.

Remove the flat-biscuit-shortbread and top with three table spoons of ricotta cheese and a sprinkle of salt. Then place back in the oven for three minutes.

Spread the cooked leek mushroom mixture on top of the crust. Then sprinkle 3 teaspoons of gorgonzola on top of the mixture. Bake for an additional 5 minutes at 350° F.

Cut, sprinkle with pepper (if you want) and serve.

_______________________________________________________

My husband and I ate this for dinner one night. It is very rich and quite filling. Do pop over and check out Andrea’s blog and see her recipe of Roasted Maple Butternut Squash Bacon Flatbread which inspired my leek and mushroom topped shorty-bready-biscuit.

Are you going to top yours with leeks and mushrooms or something else?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: biscuit, cornmeal use, easy dinner, flatbread, flatbread toppings, leeks, mushrooms, shortbread | Leave a Comment »

An Eggcellent Dinner

Posted by terrepruitt on September 11, 2014

What to make for dinner is often a tough question to answer. My husband does not understand why it is so difficult. He doesn’t understand that when he eats ground turkey and a vegetable two nights (at least) every week for months it is because I just do not have the time or mental capability to THINK of something to make for dinner. Ground turkey and whatever vegetable we have is soooooo easy. But this past year I was told I made it too much. So . . . now that I have more time and can think about something other than planning a “memorial”, I am trying to come up with something else for dinner. On Thursdays I like to have something pretty much prepared before I go to teach the evening Gentle Yoga class. My hubby has been experimenting with making deviled eggs so we ended up with a lot of eggs. So I thought why not make a Frittata? Is it still a frittata if you don’t bake it in the pan you do the initial cooking in? I don’t have a cast iron skillet. Or pan that can go in the oven. Or — perhaps more accurately, one I want to put in the oven. But I just put my “frittatas” in a casserole dish.

According to Wiki:
“Frittata is an egg-based Italian dish similar to an omelette or crustless quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta. The word frittata is derived from Italian and roughly translates to “egg-cake”.

History

The Italian word frittata derives from fritta and roughly translates to egg-cake. This was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet, anywhere on the spectrum from fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato. Outside Italy, frittata was seen as equivalent to “omelette” until at least the mid-1950s.”

Well, I had a small piece of chicken to use and a lot of eggs. So I bought some mushrooms and a leek.

Here is our dinner tonight.

_________________________________________

Leek and Mushroom Frittata

1 leek, chopped up into little pieces
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
olive oil
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced
6 eggs
1/3 C milk (I use 1%)
1/2 C cooked chicken (optional)
1 C Cheddar cheese (I used mild)
salt
pepper
butter
(I used a 7.5 in X 11 in casserole dish)

Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Heat the oil. Then add the leeks. Salt them a little while cooking. When they look as if they are getting cooked add the mushrooms to the pan. Add a little more salt. Add the rosemary. Add the garlic. Cook the leeks and mushrooms until they are almost done.

While the vegetables are cooking beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the milk. If you feel you need more salt and pepper you can put it in the egg mixture.

Once the veggies are cooked add them to the eggs in the large bowl. Butter the casserole dish. Then pour the veggie-egg mixture into the casserole dish. Then add the chicken, use a fork to spread the chicken around in the vegetable-egg mixture. Then sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. With the fork sink the cheese into the vegetable-egg-chicken mixture.

Bake on 350° F for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes check it to see if it is done to your liking. Usually you want eggs to be cooked thoroughly. But everyone likes their eggs done differently so cook it to the way YOU like it.

_________________________________________

Of course this can be breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner, a snack . . . . whatever you want. I am sure you can adapt it to one pan cooking like a “real” frittata, but . . . it works in a casserole dish too.

Do you like frittatas? Do you ever eat them for dinner?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: breakfast lunch dinner, casserole dish, cast iron skillet, City of San Jose exercise classes, crustless quiche, deviled eggs, egg-based Italian, egg-cake, Eggcellent Dinner, fritta, frittata, garlic, Gentle Yoga class, ground turkey and a vegetable, leek, minced, mushrooms, omelette, rosemary, THINK of something to make for dinner, Wiki | 2 Comments »

Bruschetta Pasta

Posted by terrepruitt on August 5, 2014

You may have read my post regarding how much I loved Dinner of Herbs eggplant bruschetta recipe. I said I could put the eggplant mixture on anything. Well, I actually bought the ingredients to make the bruschetta, I even remembered the bread! But when I arrived at home I looked in my refrigerator and realized I had some zucchini I needed to use. Plus I had some mushrooms I needed to use. So I decided this would be a great time to put the eggplant and tomato mixture with a little extra over pasta. So I am just adding zucchini and mushrooms to the way I made the bruschetta. Here is what I made:

_________________________________________________

Five-Vegetable Pasta

Ingredients:

–1 medium or large eggplant, cubed (very small)
–4 medium sized tomatoes, cubed
–1 lb of mushrooms, sliced or coarsely chopped
–2 zucchinis, grated
–3/4 of a large onion, chopped (tiny)
—olive oil
—two tablespoons of butter
—garlic powder
—onion powder
—salt
—pepper
—sweet basil
—balsamic vinegar
—Parmesan cheese, as desired
—1 package/box/container of pasta (I prefer linguine)

Heat the oven to 450°F.

Put the eggplant on a baking sheet. (I used parchment paper on the baking sheet.) Drizzle with olive oil. Mix it up, then spread the eggplant evenly, in one layer (the eggplant I used was too large to be one layer), over the baking sheet. After baking for about 10 minutes, move the eggplant around on the pan. After another 10 minutes, gently stir/toss the eggplant and sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake for about an additional 25 minutes. Stirring or tossing if necessary to ensure even roasting. In between roasting the eggplant, spread 3/4 of the tomato out over a baking sheet. (I used parchment paper on the baking sheet.) Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder. (Tomatoes are too delicate to be mixed as done with the eggplant.) Bake until the edge pieces are browning. Stirring gently, if you want. I ended up cooking the tomatoes for about 30 minutes.

Somewhere in between cooking the mushrooms and zucchini as instructed below, you might want to cook your pasta. I prefer my pasta hot. You can plan and cook accordingly.

While the other vegetables are baking, heat some olive oil and 1/2 the chopped onion in a pan. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper as desired (I use garlic salt) and cook to your liking (I like them a little caramelized). Remove from pan and set the mushrooms aside. Add two tablespoons of butter to the pan. Once the butter is melted add the grated zucchini. Cook the zucchini about 10 minutes on medium heat.

Once all the veggies are cooked to your satisfaction put half of the cooked and drained pasta in a large bowl, then add half of all of the cooked vegetables. Add the basil, vinegar, any additional salt and/or pepper you desire. Then add the rest of the pasta and cooked vegetables along with half of the raw tomato and onion. Toss it all. Taste it to see if you want more basil, vinegar, salt and/or pepper. Put the rest of the raw tomato and onion on top. Serve the pasta sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

_________________________________________________

This is the first recipe I wrote FIRST, then followed. I made a few adjustments to the recipe as I was cooking, and noted them before posting. I think layering the pasta, then veggies makes for easier mixing. Of course, you can mix it anyway you’d like. I loved this. I loved the flavor as I did when I made the eggplant bruschetta. What I would do next time is use 3 tomatoes instead of four. The flavor of the tomatoes overpowered everything. I am looking forward to having the leftovers, as I believe left over pasta is often better than the freshly made dish. The flavors have time to meld.

This is an easy dish, there is nothing complicated about any part of the process, but with all of the chopping it is a bit labor intensive. The separate roasting of the eggplant and tomatoes makes it a long process. I didn’t want to roast them at the same time. But if you chop while things are cooking . . . . .

I will probably make it again.

What about you? Does it sound good? Which of the vegetables is your favorite?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: balsamic vinegar, Bruschetta Pasta, colorful pasta, Dinner of Herbs, easy dinner, eggplant bruschetta, eggplant mixture, grated zucchini, meat free, mushrooms, parchment paper, Parmesan cheese, roasted eggplant, roasted tomatoes, roasted vegetables, sweet basil, vegetarian, zucchinis | 2 Comments »

Really Easy Pizza

Posted by terrepruitt on November 2, 2013

I have always wanted to make “pizza” using eggplant. But I usually don’t have tomato sauce. The eggplant “pizza” I have always wanted to make is using a slice of eggplant as the “crust”. Not putting eggplant ON the pizza, nor making the crust with flour and eggplant. Just a slice of eggplant as the “crust”. You might be familiar with me not really liking tomatoes. That lends to me not really liking tomato sauce. When we have pasta we don’t normally have tomato sauce. Although lately I have been buying some. Yes, the jarred kinds. I know it is silly to buy the jar kind when it is so easy to make, but since I don’t really like it, it is one of those things that I don’t bother making. If I can buy an organic jar of tomato sauce for a quick dinner every once in a while I do. Well, the last time I used it I made the My First Tomato Sauce Lasagna. I didn’t use the whole jar. Recently I bought an eggplant and it was HUGE. Normally I slice them in half and roast them, but this one was huge, but I was really looking forward to the roasted kind, so I didn’t want to make pizza out of it all. So I sliced it in thirds lengthwise. Planning to use the middle slice for the pizza crust. I finally had eggplant pizza!

I roasted it first. Then I piled on my toppings. I realized I needed to roast it longer. The eggplant got VERY soggy after all of the toppings were on it. If you REALLY like eggplant it is no big deal. I am not sure if the eggplant pizza would ever be a pick-up-and-eat-it-like-regular-pizza type of pizza, but it was really good.

____________________________

Eggplant Pizza

One large eggplant, sliced in either rounds or length-wise (about 1/2 inch thick)
olive oil
salt
your favorite pizza/tomato sauce
your favorite pizza toppings

Sprinkle oil on the eggplant and roast at 400° F for about 20 minutes . . . depends on the size of your eggplant and how thick you cut it. After 20 minutes flip it over sprinkle with oil and salt. Cook for another 15 or 20 minutes. Check it and decide how cooked you want it.

Then top with your favorite pizza/tomato sauce and your favorite pizza toppings. Bake it until your cheese is melted.

______________________________________________________

Mine had tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and sautéed mushrooms. It was sooooo good. Mushrooms are my favorite pizza topping. When I make pizza, it is usually just with mushrooms. I prefer to cook the mushrooms first — no matter what crust I am using — to get out most of the moisture and ensure that they are cooked when I eat my pizza.

Anyway . . . this was very good. So good I made it again but this time I sliced the eggplant in rounds. I used the same toppings. This second time the eggplant was a little less soggy, but it was still not something you could pick up like a regular piece of pizza.

I roasted the slices for about 20 minutes on each side. The eggplant adds a nice flavor to the pizza toppings I used (tomato sauce, cheese, and mushrooms). And as long as your sauce and your toppings are gluten free this is a great pizza to have for those who are avoiding it!

What about you? Have you ever wanted to try eggplant as your pizza crust? Have you ever tried eggplant as your pizza crust?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: aubergine, aubergine pizza, Eggplant pizza, gluten free, mushrooms, pizza crust made of eggplant, quick and easy pizza, roasted eggplant | 4 Comments »

My First Tomato Sauce Lasagna

Posted by terrepruitt on October 19, 2013

So when I have classes to teach in the evening – Nia or Gentle Yoga, I like to have dinner planned. Sometimes I just have the idea of what I am going to do. Sometimes I have the ingredients and I might make something the day before that last a few days so we can just heat up leftovers. Love them left overs. And sometimes I prepare something that just needs to be baked. This time I decided to make a lasagna. I don’t think I have ever made red sauce lasagna. I make a Chicken Divan lasagna that is super yummy, but not being a fan of tomato sauce, I don’t think I have ever bothered making lasagna with a tomato sauce. Another reason is, I really think that lasagna sauce as with spaghetti sauce is best from scratch, but since I don’t make either, it seems daunting to me. So I have never made the effort with the lasagna because I don’t want to make the sauce. Well, sometimes, in order to get things done, I have to take short cuts. So I used a sauce in a jar. It is a really easy lasagna recipe, however, I made it a bit different.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Super Easy Tomato Sauce Lasagna

Ingredients:

1/4 of an onion
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 pound of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 pound lean ground beef*
1 32 ounce jar of the tomato/pasta sauce of your choice
12 uncooked lasagna noodles (as many as your dish requires)
1/4 of a 32 ounce container ricotta cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

You might want to use the entire jar of sauce and or add the 1/4 cup water to the dish before baking (as instructed in the original recipe)

Preparation:

Heat onion in oil. Cook the mushrooms until half way done. Add salt and garlic powder. Then add the beef. Cook beef in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink; drain, if necessary (our beef does not have anything to drain off). Stir in 3 cups of the pasta sauce.

Spread a thin layer of the remaining sauce into the 9 X 13 casserole dish; layer with enough noodles to cover the bottom of the dish. Then layer the ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese over the noodles. Then add 1/2 of the meat sauce. Then add a little mozzarella. Then a layer of noodles, a layer of ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese. Then a layer of the remainder of the meat sauce. Then add the rest of the mozzarella. (This is where you would pour 1/4 cup hot water around edge of dish.) Tightly cover baking dish with 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil.

Bake at 375° for 45 minutes; uncover and bake 10 more minutes. Note: Check the lasagna to see if it is done to your liking. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

____________________________________________________________________________________

I covered mine with plastic wrap and foil and froze it. The day I wanted to cook it I took it out to thaw for a few hours. It was still frozen when I put it in the oven. I removed the plastic wrap before I baked it at 375° for 90 minutes. I left it in the oven after the 90 minutes. I SHOULD have taken it out. It was just the tiniest bit over done. But otherwise it was great.

I had put it on time bake so I was not home to check it. I arrived home JUST as the oven was turning off. I had other things to do so I didn’t check the lasagna right away and I should have.

My husband loved it. Since I have given myself permission to use jarred sauce, I might be making this more often. Next time I want to add zucchini. And, yes, we had enough left over for a couple of meals. You know I love that!

Do you have a favorite lasagna recipe? Would you share it?

*I actually am not sure how much ground beef I used because ours is from a cow we bought a portion of. It is wrapped in butcher paper with no weight. I think it is about a pound.

The original Extra-Easy Lasagna.

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: chicken divan lasagna, extra easy lasagna, favorite lasagna, frozen lasagna, homemade lasagna, leftovers, mozzarella and ricotta, mushrooms, Time Bake, tomato sauce lasagna | 6 Comments »

« Previous Entries

Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

Please visit my website for details

Email Subscription

My Bloggey Past

******

The days I have posted are highlighted, you can click on one.

Categories

Subscribe

***********************

HelpYouWell’s Tweets

Other Blogs I enjoy