No Noodle Butternut Squash Lasagna

This lasagna came about because I had some homemade ricotta in the fridge and I couldn't wait to use it for something.  What else do you use ricotta for except lasagna? (I have since found other uses for it.) We don't do pasta around here so I took inventory of what produce we had on hand. My goal was to make something without having to go the store and I think we can call it a success! I had one butternut squash, pork defrosted, swiss chard from the garden, homemade ricotta, some goat cheese... After a quick internet search I didn't like any of the butternut lasagna recipes I came across. Why do people have butternut squash lasagna with pasta?? That just seems too much to me.

Ingredients: 

* 2 tbsp. of  ghee or coconut oil

* One large onion, diced
* Butternut Squash (medium with a long steam)

* Swiss Chard, one bunch cut up in strips

* Mushrooms, 5 or 6 chopped

* 1 lb. Italian Sausage (or Pork)

* 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

* 1 can (14 oz.) diced tomato

* Red Wine

* 1 tsp oregano

* 1 tsp garlic

* Ricotta, about 1 cup

* 1 egg

* Basil, 1 tbsp. chiffonade (I took 6 leaves from the garden)

* Goat cheese, 4 oz.

Preheat your oven to 350. First dice your onion and set aside half for the sauce. Melt your fat over medium heat and add half the onion. While it is sautéing, dice your mushrooms and add them when the onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Cut up your swiss chard in strips and add to the pot. Sauté until the leaves are starting to wilt, about 5 minutes. Once the greens are just cooked (but not overcooked!) remove to a bowl and set aside for later use. Scramble the egg and then mix in ricotta, basil and salt/pepper.

In the same pot, add some more fat and sauté the remaining onions. When translucent, add the sausage and cook until browned. (I didn't have sausage on hand but I used really good quality pork. Just prior to cooking the meat, I folded in 1 tsp garlic,  1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning, 1 tbsp. dried parsley, 1 tbsp. of balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp salt.) When the sausage is nice and brown, add the garlic for about a minute. This is just enough time for you to open a bottle of wine. Add the wine, I free hand poured but I would say about 1/2 cup. Once the alcohol has cooked off, add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and oregano. Cook for about 5-10 minutes until slightly thickened. 

In the meantime, you will need to cut the butternut squash into lasagna like pieces. You can do it in strips like me or you can do rounds whatever is easiest for you. I chopped off the round part of the squash with the seeds and set  it aside for another meal. Then I peeled the tube like section and got out my mandolin. I set it at the thinnest setting possible and sliced noodle like pieces. This is easier said than done- it took a little bit of muscle. You could also take a very sharp knife and cut thin slices I would say about 1/8 of an inch or less.   

Let's put this dish together! Add just a bit of sauce to the bottom of your Lasagna Pan to keep it from sticking. Put one layer of  butternut squash to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Spoon out half of your meat sauce and spread evenly. Add another layer of squash. On this middle layer add the greens, spread evenly and then dot the ricotta over the greens. Add the last layer of squash, top with the last half of the meat sauce. Crumble the goat cheese over the whole pan.  

 Cook in the oven for 30-45 minutes. It's done when you stick a fork in easily. Broil on low for 3-5 minutes to get a nicely browned top and then let rest for at least 15 minutes so that it is not too loose when serving.

Enjoy! I hope you love it as much as we did. And remember that just because you don't have a dinner planned doesn't mean it can't be FABULOUS. 

How good are you at making meals without a plan?

Milk & Meal: Homemade from Almonds

I didn't always like almond milk. The kind that you get in a carton at the store just never tasted right to me. I bought several different brands and I just never liked the after-mouth taste. Then I looked at the ingredients list (Note to Self: look at ingredients BEFORE purchasing). Calcuim carbonate, Carrageenan, Gellan gum, additional vitamins...  I mean what is that stuff anyways?? Shouldn't Almond Milk just be about the Almonds? There are already vitamins in the nuts why are they adding them? I am not here to definitively say that these ingredients, both natural and chemically made, are "good" or "bad". I just want REAL FOOD. 

So I decided to make some homemade prior to adding to my Not A Fan of Food List. After the initial ingredient discovery, I looked at recipes all over the webs and tried out a couple of different ratios. This is what I came up with... YOU might like yours creamier or you might like it more watery- this is what I like. I would also like to mention that my taste tester I.E. Mr. FFF really despised my very first batch... as in he told me "there are somethings you just can't make and you shouldn't try". Doesn't that sounds like a challenge to you? It does to me!

This almond milk is a 2 days process but it is sugar free, chemical free and ridiculously tasty. 

Homemade Almond Milk

Ingredients: Filtered Water, 1 cup Almonds, 1 Date (this is optional, just adds a hint of sweetness)

Day 1: Put one cup of raw almonds in a mason jar, fill with water until right above the almonds. Lid on, walk way.

Day 2: This is still a waiting day. I added more water because the almonds had risen above the waterline.

Day 3: Milk day! Dump the soaking water, rinse the almonds. Your almonds will be really plump and juicy! Add the nuts to the blender, with one date (take out the seed) for sweetness and add 1.5- 2c of filtered water (recipes normally say 1 to 2 cups per cup of almond). I used to find 2 cups of water to be too much because it made the the almond milk have a skim milk fluidity but as long as you let the almonds soak for TWO days and you have a decent blender 2 cups should be fine. Blend for a few minutes until nuts are pulverized. Take your milk nut bag (yes I have one it was $7 on Amazon but you can use a strainer and a cheese cloth instead) place in a medium bowl or Pyrex, pour in almond mixture in nut bag, pick up bag and squeeze liquid from pulp. The amount of almond milk you get will depend on how much water you used. Make sure to keep your almond milk in an air tight container and refrigerate. Remember, this stuff isn't pasteurized and since it is completely made of REAL ingredients it only lasts 3-4 days... but that isn't really a problem in my house. 

What to use almond milk for? As a creamer in your coffee or tea, replacing fruit juice in your morning smoothie, with cookies (hehe), if you are a cereal eater use it in place of milk. The list goes on... I personally love to use it in my morning cold brew. In fact, I have to make sure to eat breakfast within 30 minutes because if I let more time go by I am pretty content with the protein in my morning cup of joe and wont eat until lunchtime. 

Don't forget to save the pulp! Almond flour is expensive but if you have a dehydrator and a food processor you can use your leftover almond pulp and get two different uses from the same almonds. How awesome is that?! (Some might say frugal, I say penny-wise.) I have done it before in the oven but here in Florida I don't like to leave my oven on for that long, even in the "winter".  Put your dehydrator on at 165 degrees (my oven only goes as low as 170)  and then add the pulp to a tray and leave it over night to 12 hours. Once its no longer moist you can add it to your food processor and pulse away until there are no more lumps. Now you are ready to coat your chicken, make crackers, paleo pancakes... or whatever else you can come up with. Here are a few more ideas. 

 Making almond milk is not hard but it does take planning. Do you like almond milk? Would you ever made your own?

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* Thanks for the awesome Christmas present Sis!

Man I need a Cold Brew.

Not Beer, Coffee! I have been reading all about cold brew coffee lately and hearing about it from the ladies at the Balanced Bites podcast. Now we can't get their recommended cold brew in these parts (Florida your weather is great, but you are no hipster) so I decided to research and make it myself. What I found was a surprisingly easy way to make your cold coffee. No more waiting to brew coffee and then let it cool for me! It is perfect for those mornings you are rushing out the door and for coffee all year round in the South. I use the best flavored coffee I can get my hands on; usually it's the seasonal coffee at The Fresh Market. You can use regular but I looove flavored (in spite of its dark side).

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Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Step 1: Get out your coffee grinder and grind 12 oz. of coffee. If your grinder has a choice, courser beans are better than finer in this instance. Pour in Mason jar. I use a large half gallon Mason jar to house the grounds during the brewing process but you can use anything large enough for 7-8 cups.  Add filtered water until half way full. Thoroughly stir your ground coffee with the water until all grounds are saturated. Then fill to just below the brim this will be about 7-8 cups of water altogether. Put a lid on it and set aside for 15-24 hrs. 

Step 2: When the wait is over, use a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and pour into clean container to remove grounds. Rinse out your original container and filter it again. (Use the spent grounds for the garden!) Now here is the fun part. You can use your *coffee maker to do this. Place a clean filter in the coffee maker; pour your pre-strained coffee directly into the basket of the coffee maker. Let it drip into the coffee pot and walk away- do the dishes or something. In a few minutes you will need to add more to the basket and you might have to do this a couple of times depending on the size of your coffee maker. After the last drop has dripped, you will end up with a great cold brew coffee concentrate.

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How is this a "fast morning coffee"? 

Once you have your concentrate, your mornings will be easy breezy and caffeinated. All you will need to do is fill your glass with ice (does not matter if it is a to-go mug or a stay-at-home glass) and pour in 4 ounces (1/2 c) of the coffee concentrate. This is the ideal amount but for those **heavy coffee drinkers out there just fill your glass half way. The other half can be water, milk, almond milk, whatever ever your little heart desires. Except soy milk. It's terrible for you. I know some people just need a big jolt to get them going in the morning, so for you- drink it ***straight. 

Have you ever had a cold brew before? What is your favorite? You have one more day to help vote in the best coffee beans for home brewing. 

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* If you do not have a coffee maker, alternatively you can use a mason jar with the ring (not the lid) and a coffee filter. It does take a rather long time. 

**Also you should really fix your dependency on caffeine. Mark from Mark's Daily Apple asks "Is it really just a pick-me-up, or is it a band-aid for a larger problem..."

***Stop this! It is a drug after all.