I'm Sneaky - Pumpkin & Black Bean Lasagna

I've said before that I am starting to get a reputation for someone who manages to hide vegetables in various foods - both savory and sweet. Once I started testing recipes out, I just couldn't stop. It was downright fun finding ways to get my boys to eat more veggies.

In an effort to stretch the meals a bit as well as hide some squash, I started mixing thawed, drained winter squash into my spaghetti and lasagna. It adds body to the flavor, nutrients to the meal, and another serving to the quantity. But I've since tweaked my lasagna even further.

Lasagna with Pumpkin and Black Beans

After I fry up the meat (beef, ground turkey, whichever you prefer) and drain it, I rinse my beef with scalding water to get rid of excess fat. This picture shows my Halloween pumpkins (pie pumpkins, not the tough Jack-o-lantern kind) - before they sat on the porch too long, I roasted them and scraped the flesh, freezing it in 1 cup quantities. Add the pumpkin to the beef and mix in well, keeping the heat on - you want to cook off as much moisture as possible. Add garlic, onions, salt, pepper, and basil to this as it cooks down. Keep in mind the pumpkin doesn't have the seasoning, and neither do the black beans, so adding flavor on every layer is important for depth. (Or, for a vegetarian take on the meal, leave out the meat and simply cook off excess moisture with the seasonings added in. It is just as delicious - Yes, I've tried it.)

I've got a coffee grinder I use solely for flax seed. Flax is a very tough seed and most cooking times won't steam the outer layer enough to release the healthy oils. For anything that steams or boils, I toss the seeds in whole. For anything else, I grind the seeds before I toss them into the food.

Here is the finished mixture - pumpkin and beef cooked down with ground flax seed.

Begin your layers - organic spaghetti sauce (or, even better, this lovely concoction that uses 10 veggies!), Oven-ready noodles (not pre-cooked), ricotta cheese, meat mixture, shredded cheese, and repeat. when you finish with your last layer, take rinsed and drained plain black beans and layer across the top. This adds another element of fiber as well as protein. I will probably add these to every layer next time I make it.

Top with a last layer of sauce and cheese, and bake for at least an hour on 350*. When I am truly productive, I make this at least a day in advance. There is just something about chili and lasagna that makes the flavor better if it is cooked, sits, then is warmed up slowly.

If you choose to make this in advance, you can freeze and reheat it, too. I would recommend that you tent tin foil over the top to make sure the cheese doesn't stick and that excess steam has an opportunity to escape..

I hope you try this! Let me know your thoughts if you do. Considering the winter blast we're supposed to get tomorrow, I am thrilled that we have leftovers in the fridge. There is no better way to warm up after playing in the snow!

Slow-Cooker Meatloaf

My husband claimed he never liked meatloaf before we met and he tried mine. Since then, I've turned him into a fiend. I had no specific recipe, but I've always been pretty good about "seeing" recipes and pairings. I found out only a few months ago that I apparently inherited that from my 98 year old grandmother, who rarely made the same recipe twice. I often tell Steve we're "experimenting tonight!" but am thankful that very rarely is it inedible.

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. He is such a large part of my life. I cannot possibly express how I feel about him in a few words on a blog. But suffice it to say that I wanted to try to make tonight's dinner special.  The only problem with our family's birthdays is, depending on the weather, all three can be uncomfortably warm. June; July; September. I wanted to make Steve's favorite meal, but I wanted to attempt it in a manner that would not heat up the house, since meatloaf usually needs to bake for at least an hour. So, I figured I would attempt a slow-cooker version that used less energy and made the house much more comfortable.

I started with attempting to keep this fairly healthy. I didn't want the loaf bathing in grease, but I didn't know what I could possibly use that fit my crock-pot. I dug through pans long since forgotten in the recesses of my cabinet and found this lovely - it is either an expandable hot-pad for dishes on the table, or something to hold a huge roast or bird in the dutch oven. I think it's a stand for hot dishes. Either way, it was this or the steam basket for vegetables, but I thought this would work better.

 Next, I gathered my ingredients. I use ground beef (1 lb), one egg, approximately a cup of oatmeal, and normally large chunks of garlic w/ various herbs. However, I've found these lovely gems by Land O Lakes - these are advertised as saute starters, but they're fantastic to toss into brown rice, saute vegetables before putting into stuffed peppers, or, as I found, to mix into meatloaf. Side note: these do not contain hydrogenated oils or MSG, and I can pronounce every ingredient.

 The only way to thoroughly mix meatloaf, as any chef knows, is by hand. Dig in. Have fun with it.

My finished product rested easily on the hot pad. I added about an inch of water, sprinkled Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on top, put the lid on, and started on high for 10 minutes while I got Syd ready for the park. Right before we left, I switched it to low and left it until dinner time.

What can I say? I meant to take a "finished" picture, but we had a guest for dinner, and in the rush to get everything else done, I forgot. However, it was the most moist meatloaf I have ever eaten. So exquisitely delicious. I don't know if it was the low and slow, the butter mixed in with herbs, or my deft hand at mixing, but there is not even a full serving left over.

Try it out - it was delightful, and a new addition to our summertime repertoire. So, rest easy and know you're saving money on your air conditioning. Let's hope we do not have the joy of triple digits this year.

Bon appetit!