roasted vegetables

I love this dinner.  It’s so easy to make, cut up the veggies, toss with oil and herbs/seasonings and roast in the oven for about 45 mins.

red potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, artichokes all tossed with truffle oil – there is also a vegan burger mixed in~

Tomatoes

At the lake garden

kabobs & couscous

Grilled veggies and chickpea & artichoke couscous

This was a great summer dish.  The grilled veggie kabobs are very quick and easy to make.  Grilled veggies are delicious in the summer.  The couscous dish was so very simple to make also.  I made the couscous and set aside.  Then, warm olive oil and rosemary and add the chickpeas and artichokes, mix together with couscous.  So easy and delicious!

veggie kabobs

a quick mobile photo of some veggies ready for the grill:

freezing veggies

This summer I froze zucchini and squash shreds instead of the slices like last year.  I love making zucchini muffins/bread, so I think the shreds will be perfect.  The slices are great if you want to put them in stews or soups.  This is SO easy to do if you have a mandoline. I have the Pinzon Stainless-Steel Mandoline.  I also used the mandoline to slice the cucumbers when I made pickles.

After shredding the veggies, I lay them on a paper towel and then dry b/w towels. Then, place them in a labeled freezer bag.  Easy peasy.

canning tomatoes

Canning tomatoes:

zucchini lasagna

With so many tomatoes, zucchinis & squash on my counter, I decided to try out a vegetarian zucchini lasagna recipe.

Ingredients:

Marinara sauce: tomatoes, tomato paste, shallots, onion, garlic, basil, s + p, olive oil
Zucchini & Squash
Morningstar faux sausage and crumbles
Veggie mozzarella & parmesan cheese

First, the marinara is made with tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, onion, garlic and shallots.  Saute the onion, garlic & shallots in olive oil a few minutes.  Then add the chopped tomatoes and cook several minutes.  While the tomatoes are cooking down, I prepare the veggies by slicing them with the mandoline and set aside.   As the tomatoes cook down, add tomato paste to thicken the sauce because the veggies will release quite a bit of water when cooking.  Season with s + p and basil.  I then added morningstar faux sausage and crumbles to the sauce.

In the casserole dish, I add a few Tbs of sauce to the dish.  Then, start layering the slices of veggies as you would lasagna noodles.

Layer the sauce with veggie mozzarella and parmesan cheese and slices of the veggies:

Bake on 350 for about 45 mins.

I really enjoyed this lasagna, it was a nice change from the classic style.  The slices of zucchini and squash really taste like lasagna noodles and it’s a very healthy alternative.  My problems with the recipe were the amount of veggies and the amount of cheese used in the recipe.  If I were to make this dish again, I would make a few changes.  I would alternate a row of lasagna noodles with a row of squash/zucchini slices, so there isn’t so much vegetable.  I would also mix in a “tofu ricotta” mixture with the cheese to cut down on the veggie mozzarella.

dinner

Tonight’s dinner, bean & rice burrito, veggie nachos with tomatoes & peppers, onions from our garden:

veggies from the garden

So many veggies lately, here’s a shot from Wednesday:

Tomatoes & green peppers

Pumpkin below

picked on Wednesday

roasted vegetables

roasted vegetables mostly from the garden: garlic, red & white onions, red potatoes, artichokes, carrots, squash, broccoli, morningstar faux sausage, in olive oil, with rosemary & lemon