Delicious, Decadent, Chocolate Fudge Brownies

The theme of this weekend was absolute and total indulgence. Which, yes, isn’t healthy if you do it all the time – but once in a while (in moderation) is 100% ok. The husband and I went out to dinner on Saturday night and Sunday night – for two amazing meals with my dad and my brother. When we got home on Sunday, we were both craving something sweet – so we decided to make brownies. This was a team effort – the husband helped me in the kitchen so the brownies would get done faster!

Now generally, I’m not a fan of boxed brownies – they never compare to what you’d get at a bakery or what you can make from scratch. And sometimes they end up tasting really dry and processed. But trust me when I say that these brownies (made from a box mix) are the real deal. You would never guess that they are “boxed brownies”! And it’s all thanks to The Fat Witch Bakery at Chelsea Market in New York.

These are seriously the best boxed brownies I’ve ever had. My husband and I love this mix – the brownies turn out super moist, dense, and just melt in your mouth. You can add fun mix-ins too – like nuts or extra chocolate chips – pretty much anything you want! The other great thing is none of the ingredients are weird or sound like chemicals in this mix – everything in the mix is something you’d probably find in your own kitchen.

To make the brownies, you need: 1 box of mix, 1 stick of butter (7 Tbsp), 3 eggs, walnuts (or other mix-ins), cooking spray to grease the pan.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking pan (8×8 is what we used). Empty bag of chocolate chips (this comes with the mix) into a sauce pan and add butter. Melt over low heat over the stove top (or microwave), stirring constantly.

Step 2: Once the chocolate has melted, set aside to cool

Step 3: Pour contents of dry ingredients (from mix) into a medium sized bowl. Add 3 eggs and mix until smooth. It kind of reminded the husband of vanilla pudding when it was done.

I tended to agree with him, don’t you?

Step 4: Combine the chocolate with the eggs/dry mix. If you want to add in any other fun ingredients – do it now!

I decided to add in chopped walnuts

Step 5: Pour the batter into your greased 8×8 pan and bake 30-35 min until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool and cut into squares. Enjoy!

Here is the batter, ready to bake…

And the brownies are done! They looked so good, it was so hard to wait for them to cool.

Like a land of chocolate… Once we cut the brownies, I couldn’t stop taking pictures of them. I plated two for my husband

And then made him wait while I took another picture…

Then he finally got to eat. He was happy 🙂 This is seriously the best brownie mix in the world – and while you can’t beat making brownies from scratch, these come in at a close second! I’d love to hear what more experienced bakers think about this mix – try it and let me know. In the meantime, I think I’ll enjoy the brownies today as a pre-dinner snack. They’re just too good to leave on the counter!

Quick & Healthy: Black Bean and Pumpkin Veggie Burgers

It’s no secret that I adore veggie burgers. I just love all of the different flavors and ingredients you can pack into one delicious burger – it’s the perfect combination of health and comfort food. Yes – health and comfort food can go together! I’m always on the lookout for new veggie burger recipes, even though I’ve already made quite a few: my five ways with a Gardenburger patty, my southwest pinto bean burgers, and my budget-friendly black bean burgers. But recently I came across a recipe from Fannetastic Food for Black Bean & Pumpkin Burgers. I was intrigued by the idea of adding pumpkin into the burger mixture, and loved how simple the recipe was.

Btw – it’s also no secret that I’m a “fan” of Fannetastic Food – she always comes up with great recipes that are easy to make and healthy. The recipe with my notes are below, and you can see Anne’s original recipe and pictures here. Thanks Anne for a great recipe that was ridiculously easy to make (took less than 30 min), tasted great, and was full of nutritional goodness!

Ingredients

• 1 cup black beans (rinsed and drained) – I basically just used 1 15oz can of black beans – once you drain out the liquid/etc. it ends up being just a little over 1 cup
• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin – make sure you get just pure, canned pumpkin (the only ingredient should be pumpkin!) make sure there are no sugars, etc. added and definitely don’t get “pumpkin pie filling” or anything to that effect
• 1 Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour (I just used regular whole wheat flour and it turned out fine)
• 1/2 tsp cumin (I might have added a bit more!)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• If you like your burgers with a bit of a kick, add a *small* pinch of cayenne pepper too
• Olive oil cooking spray
• Veggie burger fixings: ketchup, sliced red onions, sliced roma tomatoes, pepper jack cheese, whole wheat bun, spinach leaves (optional)

Directions

Step 1: Combine all ingredients (black beans through chili powder or cayenne if you’re using it) in a food processor and mix until mostly pureed – with a few chunks of black beans left. Note – you can also mash all the ingredients in a bowl, I used the food processor because it was faster and easier (for me).

Step 2: Once the bean mixture is at a desired consistency, form into 2 patties. Spray a large skillet with olive oil cooking spray, and cook on medium heat for 5-10 min on each side until lightly browned.

This what they looked like when they started cooking…

And what they looked like when they were almost done

One thing to note about this recipe is that the veggie burgers aren’t as “hearty” or “dense” as your normal Gardenburger or Boca burger patty. They tend to fall apart a bit more easily and are a bit softer. I really enjoyed the different consistency of the burgers – felt a little “falafel-esque” which was fun to eat. The husband thought they were a little too soft for him, and would have liked them to be more dense/thick like a traditional veggie burger patty. But he did say that regardless of the texture of the patties, the burgers had amazing flavor (and you couldn’t taste the pumpkin which was pretty cool) and were a great weeknight dinner. I pared the patties with a simple combination of pepper jack cheese, sliced onions, sliced tomatoes and ketchup, on a whole wheat bun of course. So satisfying and healthy!

 

A.C. LaRocco Winners & A New Giveaway courtesy of HSN!

Hi Everyone! First – before I announce my latest giveaway, I’d just like to congratulate Marthalynn and Kristen for winning the A.C. LaRocco Giveaway.

Congrats to both of you! Just send me your contact information and you should be receiving your coupons for free A.C. LaRocco pizza soon. Thanks also to everyone who entered!  You all have a chance to win again in my brand new giveaway – which I’m very excited to announce. I’m partnering with HSN to help raise awareness for their HSN Cooks Spring Weekend Event (Presented by Bon Appetit).

The HSN Cooks Event will feature products from awesome chefs like Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, Padma Lakshmi, and Jacques Torres. As part of this event, the folks at HSN have sent me TEN $10 gift cards good for anything on HSN through the end of April. I’ve decided to turn their generous gift into an awesome giveaway for FOUR lucky readers: The grand prize winner will win 4 gift cards (a $40 value!) and the 3 runners up will receive 2 gift cards each (a $20 value!) This is an amazing prize – especially since the list of products available on HSN are so extensive and are great for foodies…

And these are just a few of the products available to buy with the gift cards!

Now the important part:

To Enter: You can enter in one of three ways –

1. Subscribe to The Picky Eater via RSS or via email
2. Follow me on Twitter (@pickyeaterblog)
3. Like The Picky Eater on Facebook

Leave a comment letting me know which option above you chose! Note – if you already are a subscriber, follower, or like The Picky Eater on Facebook, just leave a comment indicating that – it will count as one entry 

This giveaway will be open until Thursday, March 31st at 11:59pm PST. I will be selecting the winners at random (via random.org) and will contact them via email. I’ll be announcing the winners on Friday, April 8th. Be sure to enter today–the high value of these gift cards is totally worth it!

Sweet & Spicy Carrot Bisque

I love soups that have layers of complex flavors. Where, in every bite, you taste multiple ingredients with bursts of sweetness and spice. It’s the sort of soup you’d expect a good chef to make, creating the flavors from the bottom up with wonderful innovative ingredients. Little did I know, when I decided to try this Sweet & Spicy Carrot Bisque recipe from VegetarianTimes Magazine, that I’d be creating that exact soup masterpiece. This might have been the best soup I’ve ever made – and it’s all thanks to my monthly subscription to Vegetarian Times.

The Ingredients

The secret ingredients are really the banana, coconut milk, ginger and lime in this dish. And here is the detailed list of ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp EVOO
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 tsp + 1 pinch of salt
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 4 cups of peeled, sliced carrots
• 1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced
• 1 15oz can light coconut milk
• 2.5 Tbsp lime juice

Directions

Step 1: Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and a pinch of salt, saute 5 min until onion is soft. Stir in ginger, cook 1-2 min. Add curry powder, cayenne and 1/4 cup water. Cook 1-2 min, stirring to coat onion & ginger with curry mixture.

When the onion is fully coated it looks like this:

Step 2: Add carrots, banana, 1 tsp salt and 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered for 25 min or until carrots are soft enough to be pierced with a fork.

Step 3: Puree soup using an immersion blender or in batches using a regular blender. Return soup to pot and stir in 1 cup light coconut milk and lime juice.

After stirring in the coconut milk, the soup will look like this:

So creamy and delicious, and I loved how vibrant the color was!

Step 4: Simmer remaining 3/4 cup coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium high heat for 10 min, or until reduced by half. Ladle soup into bowls, and swirl 1.5 Tbsp coconut milk reduction into each serving

I thought the swirls made the soup look really pretty. I served this soup with my baked pita chips & masala lentil dip – it was the perfect complement to this sweet and spicy soup. All in all, it made for a wonderful, warming dinner.

Guilt-Free Mini Apple Pies

Sometimes, there’s nothing more comforting than warm, gooey apple pie. I think Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because of all the pies – apple, pumpkin – they’re all so warming and tasty! I’ve never made pie before at home, but in my new attempt to broaden my baking skills, I decided to give it a shot a few nights ago. When I found this recipe from Hungry Girl for individually sized, guilt-free apple pies – I knew I’d be trying it out. I couldn’t believe that each pie has only 110 calories, 0.5g fat, ~10g sugars, and 2g protein!

The recipe starts with 3 cups of peeled, cored, and diced Fuji Apples

So, of course, apples are low in calories and good for you, but what else makes Hungry Girl’s recipe so guilt-free? I think she has 3 main secrets:

• Using egg roll wrappers instead of pastry crust. Now – to be fair, the egg roll wrappers don’t taste exactly like puff pastry when you bake the pies. But it’s close enough, and with 1 scoop of fat free vanilla ice-cream, you can’t tell the difference.
• Using butter spray instead of actual butter (each spray has 5 calories)
• Using only 2 Tbsp of added sugar – trust me, you don’t need more than that.

You can find the full ingredients list at Hungry Girl’s website here.

Now – for the directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Step 2: In a medium nonstick pot on the stove, combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt with 1/2 cup cold water. Mix until ingredients dissolve. Add apples and stir. Bring to medium-high heat and, stirring frequently, cook until apples have softened, 7 – 10 minutes.

This is what the apples looked like when they first started cooking

And after 10 min they looked like this!

Step 3: Reduce heat to low and, stirring often, cook until thick and gooey, 1 – 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool. I was amazed that it was so easy to make such gooey, yummy apple pie filling.

Step 4: Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with foil and/or spraying it with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Step 5: Place two egg roll wrappers flat on a dry surface. Set out a small dish of water. Dip your finger into the water, and run it along all of the wrapper edges. (Repeat as needed while preparing your pockets, as it will help seal them.) Starting 1/2 inch from the bottom, place about 1/3 cup pie filling along the bottom half of each wrapper, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the sides. Your open faced pie should look like this:

And now for the close-up:

Step 6: Fold the top half of each wrapper over the filling, so that the top edge meets the bottom and the filling is encased with a border on three sides. Dab each border with water, and fold each inward about 1/4 inch to lightly seal. Press firmly along the borders with the prongs of a fork to seal completely. Carefully transfer to the baking sheet. Repeat this process with remaining wrappers and filling, for a total of six mini pies.

Step 7: Spray the top of each pocket with 3 sprays of butter. Bake in the oven until edges begin to brown, 15 – 18 minutes.

Once they come out of the oven, they look like this:

Step 8: Allow to cool for 5 minutes. I decided to take another picture while I was waiting for them to cool. Aren’t they cute?

Step 9: Top with additional cinnamon and cool whip free (or Dryer’s Slow Churned Vanilla Bean Ice Cream – which is what we used). With the cool whip free, your pie will have ~110 calories. With 1/4 cup of Dryer’s Slow Churned Vanilla, your pie will have ~160 calories.

And it tasted as good as it looked! This was absolutely delicious – the perfect guilt-free indulgence.

A Warming Winter Dinner: Skillet Gnocchi with Spinach and White Beans

It’s no secret that for the past week or so, the weather in the Bay Area has been pretty crappy. Gloomy, rainy, and really cold! (well, cold for the Bay Area, that is). So a few nights ago I decided to make a really hearty, warming recipe that I found on EatingWell.com – for Skillet Gnocchi. I had never made Gnocchi before so I thought it would be a fun experiment – and it turned out really well!

Tell me that doesn’t make your mouth water 🙂 It was surprisingly easy to make, and didn’t take very long at all. Of course, I didn’t follow the recipe exactly – so my modified recipe is below. You can find the original here. To anyone who’s a “Gnocchi virgin” or hasn’t enjoyed Gnocchi in the past, I’d really encourage you to try this dish! My husband has never enjoyed Gnocchi before – but he loved it. The dish is also really balanced and healthy – tons of fiber and protein from the beans & veggies, balanced with carbs from the reasonable portion of Gnocchi.

The Ingredients

A couple of notes:

• The original recipe calls for 1 Tbsp of EVOO to fry the gnocchi before you add it to the dish. I just used EVOO cooking spray to pan fry the gnocchi and it worked perfectly! That was one main modification.
• I also substituted frozen spinach for the chard in the original recipe – mainly to save time & prep work.
• AND – I found whole wheat gnocchi at Trader Joe’s so I substituted that for the regular gnocchi.
• I also added 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper and fresh basil to the dish to amp up the spice & flavor.

My ingredients list:

• EVOO cooking spray
• 1 tsp EVOO (to pan fry the onions)
• 1 package whole wheat gnocchi
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 package frozen spinach
• 1 15oz can diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings added
• 1 15oz can white beans
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup part skim Mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1-2 tsp fresh basil
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. Cook the gnocchi in boiling water according to package directions. Drain, cool, set aside.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large skillet, and add the onion – cook for a few minutes
3. Add the garlic and water – cover and cook until the onion is soft (4-6 min)
4. Meanwhile, using EVOO spray, pan fry the gnocchi in a separate skillet until lightly browned
5. Add the spinach to the skillet with the onion in it, and cook until the spinach defrosts/starts to wilt
6. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, pepper, basil, crushed red pepper and salt to taste – bring to a simmer
7. Stir in the gnocchi and sprinkle with the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
8. Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 3-5 min.

Pictures – step by step:

Slicing the onions & pan-frying the gnocchi

How cute do those gnocchi pillows look? Once they were done cooking, I set them aside in a bowl

Meanwhile, the veggies were cooking

Don’t the colors look beautiful? When they were almost done cooking, I added in the gnocchi

And then, the best part – the cheese.

Look at all that melted, gooey cheese. With all the wonderful smells filling our house and the bubbling sauce & cheese in the dish, we couldn’t wait to dig in!

Amazingly satisfying, healthy and delicious. The perfect meal for a cold winter day.

I finished off my meal with a HUGE chunk of Fearless Chocolate – the Hibiscus & Ginger flavor to be exact. To try your own sample of Fearless Chocolate – enter my giveaway here.

The Peanut Butter Sandwich: Reinvented

Who said that peanut butter sandwiches had to be 1) boring 2) just for kids and 3) the same every time? I’m a huge fan of PB&J, probably because I had it almost every day when I was a kid and eating it for lunch has some element of nostalgia for me. And even though I can be a creature of habit a lot of the time, the same three ingredients (which for me are: sprouted wheat bread, almond or peanut butter, and blueberry preserves), can get a tiny bit monotonous. Then I heard about this PB&J sandwich shop in Portland that makes the coolest PB&J sandwiches, and I was inspired to get creative with one of my childhood favorites. So here goes – the peanut butter sandwich: reinvented!

The Ingredients

These were the ingredients I used, but you can obviously experiment with your own. My list included: Sprouted wheat bread, walnuts, sliced bananas, cinnamon, a mix of almond and peanut butter, and honey.

The Directions

Step 1: Spread the peanut & almond butter mixture on both slices of bread, and top one half with sliced bananas

Step 2: Chop 3-4 walnuts, and add on top of the banana slices along with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey

Doesn’t that just make you want to take a big bite out of that sandwich? I couldn’t resist taking more than one picture of it.

Step 3: Top with the other slice of bread (that already has peanut/almond butter spread on it), and put into the panini press (or grill in a pan if you don’t have a panini press)

At this time, the nut butters, banana and honey are getting all melty and gooey…

Step 4: Once the top has browned and is slightly crispy, remove from panini press and let cool for 1-2 min.

I love the grill marks!

Step 5: Cut sandwich in half (I always like cutting on the diagonal because I think it looks more fun)

Eat and enjoy!

A Tale of Two Lasagnas

Food Bloggers visit other sites quite frequently to support, inspire, comment and learn. A couple months ago, I received a wonderful comment from Sanura of My Life Runs on Food complimenting the style and tone of my blog. I was thrilled to receive her comment, and clicked through to her blog to check it out. What I found was a beautifully written, healthy food blog that seemed really aligned with my philosophy on food. I decided to email her to request a guest post for my site – I thought she’d bring a wonderful and fresh perspective on food and health. After several emails were exchanged, we agreed to collaborate on writing about lasagna. Both of our versions are relatively healthy and they have plenty of vegetables and cheeses. My version is an “Old World” traditional recipe with the classic tomato sauce, and Sanura’s version is a “New World” traditional recipe sans the tomato sauce. To be historically accurate, both tomatoes and squash are ingredients from the “New World.” It’s the techniques and stories that separates our recipes, which makes them endearing and comforting to both of us.

Sanura’s “New World” Traditional Lasagna

The basic traditional lasagna dish we all know consists of pasta, plenty of cheese, and a rich Bolognese sauce. Occasionally, it’ll have a Basil Pesto sauce, too. The richness of the dish makes it the ultimate comfort food we all crave. The ingredients are basically the same, but every household’s technique for preparing the dish varies. The result is usually deliciously satisfying every time it’s served. Who would dare recreate another version with drastically different ingredients? One afternoon, I happened to catch a food show hosted by Tyler Florence. He’s a lucky guy, who travels around the world in search of the origin of classic dishes of popularity. Between Anjali Shah of The Picky Eater: A Healthy Food Blog’s recipe for lasagna, and watching Tyler Florence travel to Italy of which lasagna originates, both provided some inspiration. For a while, I was seriously thinking about breaking from the traditional holiday dishes to making a classic lasagna dish. When I mentioned the idea to the boyfriend, he begins telling me how to make the best lasagna, “It should have at least three types of cheeses…”

“Well, babe…” I thought. Tyler Florence had an Italian guest whose lasagna interpretation was not quite the same as our American classic. His version uses a freshly made basil pesto sauce, layered with freshly made sheets of pasta, blanched green beans and potatoes. Those ingredients on the show demonstrates the time of year the visit took place, in which everyone in the background were relaxing in short sleeves and shorts. My version uses a winter vegetable, acorn squash. I paired it with sauté mushrooms to add more texture. They’re plenty of differences between this freshly made Italian-Inspired and the American version. One, this recipe is not baked. Two, this dish is refreshingly light, but it’s still hearty. Lastly, it’s made sans tomato sauce. It’s a dish best serve at room temperature. With a nice Winter Salad, this Italian-inspired dish is also beautiful as an elegant meal to serve.

The Recipe: Roast Acorn Squash, Sauté Mushrooms, and Basil Pesto Lasagna

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 Lasagna sheets, cooked and al dente according to the manufacturer’s directions, gently tossed with olive oil
• Salt and fresh black pepper
• Fresh basil, roughly chopped
• Basil Pesto Sauce (see recipe below)
• Roast Acorn Squash (see recipe below)
• Sauté Mushrooms (see recipe below)
• Good quality olive oil

Directions

1. Gently take one lasagna sheet and visualize it into three sections forming an “S” curve. That is the structure of this lasagna dish.
2. Smear 4 tablespoons of Basil Pesto Sauce on a plate.
3. Lay the first third of it on top of the Basil Pesto Sauce on the plate. The excess two-thirds lasagna pasta will hang over the plate’s edge. Gently smear a tablespoon of Basil Pesto Sauce on top of the first third section of the lasagna pasta. Spoon a couple tablespoons of Roast Acorn Squash on top of the Basil Pesto Sauce that was smeared on the first third section of the lasagna pasta. Sprinkle a little basil on top. Fold second third of the lasagna noodle over the Roast Acorn Squash.
4. Spoon a tablespoon of the Basil Pesto Sauce on top of the second third section of the lasagna pasta. Lightly smear a couple tablespoons of the sauté mushrooms on top of the pesto sauce. Sprinkle a little basil on top. Fold the last third of the lasagna noodle over the mushrooms.
5. Spoon more Basil Pesto on top of the lasagna. Garnish with basil leaves, fresh black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
6. Repeat to serve more people or for seconds. Enjoy!

…

Roast Acorn Squash

Ingredients

• 1 Acorn Squash; slice in half horizontally, discard seeds (or toast as a snack), sliced a half inch wide thick
• Salt and fresh black pepper
• A dash of crushed red pepper
• Olive oil
• A drizzle of red balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove; minced

Directions

1. Preheat an oven at 400°F.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easier clean up.
3. Toss all ingredients together. Place on baking sheet.
4. Roast squash for at least one hour, or until it is soft.
5. Remove from the oven. Let cool before handling. Either use your hands or a paring knife to remove and discard the skin. Roughly chop roast acorn flesh.
6. Place aside for the lasagna.

…

Sauté Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 3 to 5 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 small red onion; thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove; minced
• 1 lb. white button or baby bella mushrooms; cleaned and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• Salt and fresh black pepper; to taste
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup white wine
• A dash of red balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Over a medium-high temperature, heat olive oil in a large skillet.
2. When the oil is hot, add the red onions. Sauté until the onions are almost translucent.
3. Add the garlic, salt and fresh black pepper, and stir for 30 seconds.
4. Add the mushrooms, wine and a dash of red balsamic vinegar.
5. When the mushrooms are soft, remove from the pan.
6. Set aside for the lasagna.

…

Basil Pesto Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 cups of Basil Pesto
• 1/2 cup fresh ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup thick Greek yogurt
• Salt and fresh black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Whisk all ingredients together until fully incorporated.
2. Set aside for the lasagna.

About Sanura Weathers of MyLifeRunsOnFood.com

Since 2009, Sanura Weathers manages and creates sweet, savory, buttery, green and healthy food-related stories and recipes. With 15 years of combined experience in graphic design, social media, and project management, Sanura has a background of working with marketing, publishing, educational, non-profit, financial, and public relation organizations. Writing and managing MyLifeRunsOnFood.com is a project of passion inspiring people to prepare healthy, well-balanced meals using seasonal and fresh ingredients on a busy schedule. Read more about Sanura at MyLifeRunsOnFood.com/aboutme.

…

Anjali’s “Old World” Traditional Lasagna

One of my husband’s favorite meals is vegetarian lasagna, but we rarely ever ate it for two reasons:

1) It’s usually hard to find at most restaurants. Lasagna will often have a Bolognese sauce–which has meat in it!

2) Any veggie-friendly lasagna is often made with white pasta (no fiber), with egregious amounts of cheese (too much fat and calories), and barely any veggies (that’s just no fun).

So one day, soon after we had gotten married and before I had really learned how to cook, I decided to experiment and create a vegetarian lasagna that was both healthy and flavorful.

To try to recreate the lasagnas we’ve craved in the past, I decided to stick to more of the “traditional” route: using a tomato based sauce and traditional Italian cheeses, and baking it in the oven. I made healthy modifications without losing any of the flavor–e.g. using whole wheat lasagna noodles instead of white and adding more veggies to increase the nutritional value. I was really nervous as I served this meal, as I hadn’t really cooked before and I had no experience creating recipes from scratch. The good news is–it was a HUGE hit. And, I was able to stay true to my healthy mission–a double bonus! This meal has quickly become a favorite at dinner parties and potlucks, and is a great one-dish crowd-pleaser. After I created this dish, I started looking for alternative vegetarian lasagna dishes, and I came across My Life Runs On Food‘s approach to a creative and non-traditional lasagna. I love her take on modernizing and modifying the “old-world” lasagna, and I look forward to trying her dish!

The Recipe: The Healthy “Old-World” Traditional Lasagna

Ingredients

• Whole wheat lasagna noodles (uncooked)
• 4 fresh, organic zucchini
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 bag of organic baby spinach
• 1 red onion, chopped
• Garlic; minced
• Dried oregano
• Dried basil
• 1-28oz. can of crushed tomatoes (with Italian spices added–like basil, oregano, etc. if you can find that)
• 1 jar ready-made spaghetti sauce (I like the tomato basil marinara from Trader Joe’s!)
• Olive oil & cooking spray
• Fat-free ricotta cheese
• Low-fat shredded mozzarella
• Shredded Parmesan or 4 cheese blend (I used this shredded 4 cheese blend from Trader Joe’s that has Parmesan, Asiagio, Mozzarella and Fontina)

Directions – Noodles

1. Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions (leave them al dente)–salt the water, if you like.
2. Once they’re done, lay them flat on foil and set aside.

Directions – Vegetables

1. Quarter all 4 zucchini and thinly slice.
2. Thinly slice one of the red bell peppers (I cut the slices in half so they’re not so long).
3. Mince 3 cloves of garlic.
4. Heat about 1 tbsp. olive oil in a pan over medium heat (I might have used a little less–maybe 2-3 tsp), saute the garlic, zucchini, red pepper together.
5. Add the whole bag of baby spinach at the end (when the zucchini/red pepper are almost done cooking).
6. Sprinkle oregano and dried basil to taste on top, stir, and let it cook a couple more min.
7. When the spinach is cooked, turn the heat down to low.

Directions – Sauce

1. Mince 2-3 cloves of garlic.
2. Dice half a red onion (If it’s a small onion, dice the whole thing).
3. Dice the other red bell pepper.
4. Heat 2-3 tsp olive oil in a pot over medium heat.
5. Saute the red onion, garlic, and red pepper for a few min (until the onion starts turning a little translucent).
6. Add the crushed tomatoes.
7. Add dried oregano (I’m not sure how much I put–I basically sprinkled it over the top and stirred it in–maybe 2 tsp.).
8. Once the sauce is heated through, turn the heat down on low.

Directions – Cheese

1. Combine 1.5 cups of the ricotta cheese, 1 cup of the mozzarella, 1 cup of the Parmesan (or 4 cheese mixture if you can find that at Trader Joe’s) in a bowl.

Assembly

1. I used a casserole dish to assemble the lasagna in–and sprayed the bottom of the dish with cooking spray.
2. Put a layer of sauce at the bottom of the dish (I did about half of the pre-made spaghetti sauce and half of the sauce I made myself–I did this for every layer except the top).
3. Put a layer of the lasagna noodles.
4. Put another layer of the sauce (1/2 pre-made, 1/2 self made).
5. Put a layer of the veggies.
6. Take the cheese mixture, and put little crumbles of the cheese mixture all over the veggie layer (don’t try to spread it out, the little crumbles seemed to work well).
7. Put another layer of the lasagna noodles.
8. Layer of sauce (if you have enough use the self made, otherwise add in the pre-made as needed).
9. Layer of veggies.
10. Cheese mixture crumbles.
11. Layer of lasagna noodles.
12. Layer of sauce (only self made).
13. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese all over the top.
14. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.
15. Uncover and bake for 5 min. longer until the cheese has melted.

“The Picky Eater” sends a special thank you to Sanura Weathers of MyLifeRunsOnFood.com, for collaborating on this special feature post. Visit her food blog for additional flavorful recipes for healthy eating. Follow her on Twitter here, and check out her Facebook fan page here!

Banana Bread Oatmeal!

This morning, I was really craving banana bread for some reason. It was really random – I don’t usually crave baked goods in the morning but I suppose today was just one of those days. And of course, I wasn’t going to make banana bread before I left for work – I had about 20 minutes for breakfast today! So, I decided to try to recreate the “essence” of banana bread using one of my morning breakfast staples: oatmeal.

I have to say, it turned out to be AMAZING. It totally tasted just like banana bread! And it was the perfect way to start off my morning.

The Ingredients

The ingredients here are pretty simple:

• 1/2 cup Whole rolled oats (although I like to use the multi grain oats from Trader Joe’s because it has oats, barley, rye and wheat – and has a great nutty flavor!)
• 1/2 banana sliced
• 4-5 walnuts chopped
• Unsweetened almond breeze (use up to 1 cup)
• Organic soy milk (use up to 1/3 cup)
• Ground cinnamon
• Stevia

Directions

Cook the oats according to package directions (I cooked mine in the microwave with 1 & 1/4 cup water). The thing I love about the multi-grain oats is that they cook just like regular oatmeal but have a nice variety of grains.

Top with bananas, walnuts, cinnamon and stevia and stir to combine

Pour the almond milk & soy milk over the oats until they have reached the consistency you want (for thicker oats, use less milk)

Stir to combine. Breakfast is served!

Five Different Ways with Veggie Burgers!

One of my favorite cooking experiments is to take a pretty simple/standard (boring) base, and dress it up with a bunch of different ingredients to make it feel fancy, gourmet and restaurant-quality! Last night, my husband and I were craving veggie burgers from our FAVORITE burger place in the Bay Area: Barney’s Gourmet Hamburgers.

The unfortunate thing is, we don’t get to go to Barney’s often because it’s a pretty decent drive away from our house. So, I decided to bring Barney’s to us by “dressing up” the standard veggie burgers we buy: Gardenburgers. I actually LOVE Gardenburgers because they have a few different varieties – all with really wholesome and natural ingredients, and they have great nutritional stats: each patty is 100 calories and has 5g fiber and 5g protein. They also provide a great “base” for transforming the homemade veggie burger into something gourmet and delicious – in less than 30 min (which is the best part)!

So last night, I made two of the five versions I’m going to outline in this post – but while I was making them came up with three more ideas I thought I’d share with all of you! I’m going to combine the ingredients/directions in this post because it’s really standard to make (cook the veggie burger patty on the stove, toast the buns, and top with ingredients). It’s really about the variety you can get with these few basic ingredients.

Ingredients I used for my two versions (three additional versions at the bottom of this post)

Burger #1: The Sports Bar Burger: This is the burger I made for my husband.

Ingredients you’ll need: Whole Wheat Burger Buns, Gardenburger patties (original), grilled red onions, jack cheese (or pepperjack is ok too), Barbecue Sauce, Sliced Tomatoes, Baby Spinach or Romaine lettuce (optional)

Grill the burgers over medium heat with some cooking spray

While the burgers are cooking, grill the sliced red onions on medium to medium-low heat with 1 tsp EVOO

Once the patties are done, melt the jack cheese over the patty and the bottom burger bun in the toaster oven

Once the cheese is melted, pull the burger out of the oven and top with grilled onions

Then top with sliced tomatoes and baby spinach or lettuce (the spinach/lettuce is optional)

Spread 1-2 Tbsp of the BBQ Sauce on the other half of the bun, and finish your veggie burger. Enjoy!

Now, onto Burger #2: The Spa Burger: This is the burger I made for myself 🙂

Ingredients you’ll need: Sprouted wheat bread or sprouted wheat burger buns, Gardenburger patty (original), 1 wedge Laughing Cow Light Cheese (original/creamy swiss flavor), Sliced red onions, Sliced tomatoes, Baby spinach, Sprouts (I didn’t have these but I think they would taste really good in the burger), Organic Ketchup (optional), Salt & Freshly ground black pepper

Directions are the same as above: Cook the patty according to the package directions – on the stove with cooking spray, Spread 1 wedge laughing cow cheese on on slice of the sprouted wheat bread/bun, top with burger patty, top with red onions, tomatoes, spinach, sprouts, salt & pepper to taste. Serve with Ketchup if you like!

Here it is: the finished Spa Burger

It was sooo tasty, light and delicious! My husband also loved his version – he said it tasted exactly like Barney’s which was a HUGE compliment 🙂 Now – for the fun part. Three other veggie burger variations, with the same base (whole wheat buns, Gardenburger original patty).

Burger #3: The Fiesta Burger: You’ll need — Whole wheat burger buns, Gardenburger original patty, guacamole or sliced avocado, pico de gallo, shredded jack or cheddar cheese, sliced red onions, baby spinach or romaine (shredded). Melt the cheese on the patty while you’re cooking it and top with the rest of the ingredients.

Burger #4: The Mediterranean Burger: You’ll need — Whole wheat burger buns (or you can even use whole wheat pita!), Gardenburger original patty, low fat or fat free feta cheese, roasted red peppers, cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, diced red onions, and hummus (or tahini). Spread the hummus on the burger buns, top with patty, feta and rest of the ingredients.

Burger #5: The Grilled Veggie Pesto Burger: You’ll need — Sprouted wheat burger buns (or regular whole wheat is fine), Gardenburger original patty, 1-2 Tbsp Pesto, swiss cheese, grilled zucchini, grilled red onions, sauteed mushrooms, grilled peppers –You can basically use any combination of grilled veggies that you like. Spread the pesto on the buns, melt the swiss cheese over the patty, and top with grilled veggies.

I can’t wait to try these versions next week – if it goes well we might make one night each week “burger night” as long as I can keep inventing different varieties! What’s your favorite burger & toppings combination?