Greek Pizza

This is as easy as it gets!

Makes 4 Servings

½ lb. pizza dough
1 tomato, sliced
½ green bell pepper, seeded and sliced
½ red onion, thinly sliced
¾ c. crumbled feta cheese
6 large kalamata olives
1 t. dried oregano
¼ t. freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Sprinkle a counter lightly with flour to coat. Stretch or roll the dough to a 10 to 12-inch circle, then transfer to a nonstick pizza pan or baking sheet. Top the dough with the tomato, bell pepper, onion, feta, olives, oregano, and ground pepper. Bake until the crust is browned and crisp, 15-20 min.

Herbed Basmati Rice

From this month's Cooking Light magazine.  So good!  And I didn't even do most of it correctly.

1 t olive oil

cooking spray

1 c uncooked basmati rice (i used jasmine instead)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 c water

1 c low sodium chicken broth

1/4 t salt

1/4 c chopped green onion

1/4 c pine nuts, toasted

3 T freshly grated parmesan cheese (leave it out for non-dairy folks or add individually)

1 T chopped fresh basil

1 t chopped fresh thyme

1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Spray medium sauce pan, heat the oil. Add rice and garlic, saute about 2 minutes, or until rice is lightly toasted. Add water, salt and broth and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender (I had cooked rice so I just added the rice and garlic to the oil, added a little water, stirred it a bit, called it good).  Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes, then stir in onion, nuts, cheese, herbs and pepper (I also left out the cheese completely and it didn't lack any flavor...).

If you don't have fresh herbs, dried will work just fine. And though I'm sure it is better if you start with raw rice, it was great for using up leftover rice.

Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Black Olives, Garlic, and Feta Cheese

The title pretty much gives away the recipe, but here it is anyway...

Serves 4

1 1/2 lbs. tomatoes (about 3), seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 c. kalamata olives, pitted
1/4 lb. feta cheese, crumbled
3 T. drained capers
3 T. chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper
3/4 lb. spaghetti
6 T. olive oil
3 cloves garlic

1. In a large bowl combine tomatoes, olives, feta, capers, parsley, salt, and pepper.
2. Cook the spaghetti and drain.
3. Meanwhile, in frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the cooked pasta and the garlic oil to the tomato mizture and toss.

Lazy Eggplant Parmigiana

1 eggplant (the recipe called for 2 but 1 was plenty for us)

some salt

some flour (1 c.?)

some oregano (1 t.?)

some more salt and some pepper (1/2 t. each?)

4 eggs

1-2 c. Italian bread crumbs

2 T. olive oil (not e.v.o.o) per batch in the frying pan

Peel eggplant. Slice somewhat thinly (1/4"). Put in colander or on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt. Let drain 30 minutes. 

Put flour, oregano, salt and pepper in a ziploc. Whisk eggs together in bowl. Put bread crumbs on a plate. Line these up and now you have your assembly line. 

Heat 2 T. oil in frying pan. Toss slices in flour, then dip in egg, then coat in bread crumbs. Put in hot frying pan. Cook until brown on bottom, flip over until brown on that side too. Put on paper towels to drain while you finish cooking the remaining slices.  

The Parmigiana Part:

1 jar spaghetti sauce

8 mozzarella cheese slices

parmesan cheese to grate over the top

You're now supposed to take the slices and layer them with sauce and cheese in a casserole dish, then bake at 350 for 15 mins.

But I got lazy and didn't bake them.  I just thought they looked too lovely and crunchy to cover with boring sauce and cheese.  So we had them appetizer style, just dipping them in the marinara sauce. The crunchy crust was so yummy and the eggplant was very tender inside. It ended up being a fun, finger-food dinner. Luke even ate an entire slice. 

Lazy Lasagne

This is a vegetarian lasagne. It is perfect for this time of year where the vegetables are all in season and you don't really want a heavy, comfor meal, but a lighter version of a tasty staple. I love thewebsite www.thepioneerwomancooks.com because she shows pictures of each step and ingredient, that is why I copied her idea! Obviously my photos are much worse, and I lack her humor, but here we go! It is worth a try!

Ingredients: 1 Yellow Squash
1 Zucchini
2-3 Broccoli Bunches
2-3 Cauliflower bunches (by bunches I mean sections of the whole head, not 3 head's of caul)
1 large container of Ragu: Traditional Style (you can use Prego if you must)
1 large container of cottage cheese
Well, we need to construct each layer of the lasagne by preparing the layers! So, first you chop the veggies in any sort of way you'd like. You can add diffrernt veggies if you'd like but I will warn you I can't promise a positive outcome. Once I added carrots, and was sorry I did! It took away from the squash and zucchini flavor!




After cleaning your chopped veggies, you are ready to rock, and also ready to move onto the next step:


Now it is time to make your sauce. I keep it easy with the cottage cheese and Ragu. You can use whatever you want, but to me, these two items make the taste exactly what I love. I love the flavor. Even if it isn't neccesarily "gourmet."


This is what the consistency should look like, orangy, but not too light!


Get out your no cook noodles to layer...obviously you can use the cooked kind of noodles, but I just find these to be loads easier!


Now it is time to layer your lasagne! This is what the layering will look like. You first add a cup of the sauce mixture at the bottom and then follow it with your noodles. Break up the noodles to fit your particular pan. Then add your veggies, and top it off with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Repeat as many times as fills your pan. For the last layer, make sure to add an extra layer of sauce on top of your noodles, so they will get nice and cooked. Then follow with the veggies and cheese to top it off.
I am sorry I forgot to take a picture of the end product, but cook it at 375 for 50 minutes and it should be all bubbly and the cheese browned slightly.
Serve and enjoy!