Joybee, What's for Dinner? : Green Lasagna

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Best of the Month October 2014

A recap of my most popular posts from the previous month, October 2014.

I've passed 100,000 total page views on my blog. Pretty cool (I think). Now my next goal is 1 million. I'll get there slowly but surely.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and will have a great/delicious holiday season. I cooked a turkey this year for just my husband and me and we've been eating leftovers since. The only bad thing is that a 10 pound turkey didn't leave enough leftovers. I was excited about using leftovers in new and creative ways but my husband and I haven't gotten tired of eating them yet. I think we are gonna try to buy another turkey after the holidays when hopefully they'll be on sale. Then maybe I'll get a chance to get some pictures and posts bout turkey.

Now for this month's most viewed:

Loco Moco

White rice, smothered in brown gravy and a beef patty, topped with a fried egg. The Hawaiian breakfast of champions. 438 views and 45 +1s.

Last year's most viewed recipe of October was:

Slow Cooker Roast Beef Sandwiches

Beef roast slow cooked in broth and beer until tender then placed on a baguette and topped with melted cheese. The cooking liquid can be used as a dipping sauce. It now has 1259 views.

Back to this year:

Spiced Eggplant & Mushrooms Sandwich

Spiced eggplant and mushrooms wrapped in a warm pita with hummus and veggies. An easy meatless sandwich with Mediterranean flavor. 364 views and 34 +1s.

Chicken and Black Bean Salsa Nachos

Crunchy tortilla chips layered with leftover rotisserie chicken, black bean and corn salsa, and shredded cheese. 322 views and 47 +1s.

Green Lasagna

A meatless lasagna layered with green vegetables, cheese, chickpeas, and pesto. 315 views and 131 +1s.

Habanero Hot Sauce

A ridiculously spicy and simple hot sauce made from habanero peppers. 296 views and 26 +1s.

If you would like to see the rest of last year's Best of October click on the picture below:

Enjoy.

Linked to: TYSH, Cook Craft Share. Full Plate, Eat Create Party, Freedom, foodie friends, Snickerdoodle, See ya in the Gumbo, Merry Mon

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Green Lasagna

Yum

A meatless lasagna layered with green vegetables, cheese, chickpeas, and pesto.

I had a craving for lasagna. I also wanted to try a pesto lasagna. Since pesto is green I decided to go with a green theme and this made me want to make it meatless. To add extra nutrients and fiber I also added spinach to the pesto. To make a non-meat layer of protein, fiber, and vegetables I decided to chop up some chickpeas with shredded zucchini and ricotta. Of course, I still used plenty of mozzarella and plain wheat lasagna noodles. The results were fantastic. It was full of flavor and absolutely delicious. I made this when my husband was out of town and I was happy to eat this all week long.

Green Lasagna: #vegetarian #pesto lasagna [Tweet this]

Green Lasagna

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

Spinach Pistachio Pesto

Prep/cook time: 15 minutes
Servings: 3 cups

1/2 cup pistachios
5 cloves garlic
1/4-1/2 cup parmesan
2 cups frozen spinach, thawed and excess moisture squeezed out
5 cups basil leaves
1/2-1 cup olive oil

Place all but olive oil in a blender or food processor and blend while slowly adding the olive oil until smooth and creamy. This makes a lot of pesto and extra freezes well. Makes about 3 cups of pesto.

Lasagna

2 cups chickpeas, cooked or canned
3 small zucchini, shredded
1-2 cups ricotta
1 egg
2 Tbsp granulated garlic
2 Tbsp dried minced onion
salt and pepper to taste
Lasagna noodles, cooked al dente
1-2 cups Spinach Pistachio Pesto (or your favorite)
Mozzarella, shredded

Roughly chop the chickpeas and mix (in a large bowl) with the shredded zucchini, ricotta, egg, garlic, onion, and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Spread a thin layer of pesto on the bottom of a lasagna pan and cover with a layer of noodles.

Spread another thin layer of pesto on top of the noodles then top with chickpea mixture, mozzarella, and another layer of noodles. Continue in this fashion until the chickpea mixture is all used and the pan is full.

Finish by topping the last layer of noodles with pesto and mozzarella. You can cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until ready to bake (up to 1 day).

Bake lasagna at 350 degrees F for 30-45 minutes, uncovered, until well browned and bubbly.

Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving. Makes 6-8 servings.

Enjoy.