Guaranteed to please meat lovers, Italians, and veggie-heads alike!
Lasagna-style zucchini noodles with fire roasted tomato sauce, meaty eggplant, fresh ricotta, and crispy mushrooms Guaranteed to please meat lovers, Italians, and veggie-heads alike! If you're a gardener or you know a gardener, you've probably found yourself with an abundance of overgrown zucchinis. I do a little harvest from the garden every couple of days and even though I swear I've picked all the zucchini there are to be picked, somehow there's always a gigantic one hiding out that I missed last time around. These massive zucchinis start to pile up in the fridge as I silently protest baking them into something. Don't get me wrong, I love baked goods, but I don't need to make dozen muffins each week for a household of two. And a dozen muffins doesn't even make a dent in the rapidly mounding pile of zucchini giants. Because, don't forget, I still have plenty of young zucchini, lovely and soft, ripe for the eating! So the giants sit and wait to be loved while I think desperately about ways to love them that don't involve sugar and flour. Such problems I have, huh? Well, fear not dear readers, for I have found a solution. A few weeks ago I made a pasta dish with zucchini noodles (a delicious little work in progress that I intend to post soon), and it got me thinking about the great potential these subtle little veggies have. I like the zucchini noodle concept, but I have a few qualms with the common zucchini noodle, the foremost of which is moisture. Pasta noodles, not watery. Zucchini noodles, way too watery. But not these zucchini noodles. No, no. These zucchini noodle are salted, squeezed, and baked until they retain just the right amount of moisture. And magnificent as they are, there is A LOT more to love of this lasagna. This is one of the best lasagnas I've ever eaten, and I say this as someone who grew up eating lasagna every other week from skilled Italian mamas and aunties and nanas.
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Hearty, creamy stuffed zucchini with hints of lemon and thyme I've been living a significant distance from home for a long while. 8 years now. Suffice to say I've grown used to the physical distance between myself and my family (and many dear friends) and accustomed to being more or less "on my own". While, admittedly, my moves have been slightly random and perhaps impulsive, I know that the choices I've made have ultimately brought such amazing people, experiences, and developments into my life that I could never begin to regret them. I have also enjoyed immersing myself in different cultures, climates, and landscapes, but some days it just seems unbearably difficult to be far away. And lately those days have been coming around more frequently . Last year my oldest sister and her husband got pregnant. I missed the majority of pregnancy but flew home the moment she went into labor in February. I was fortunate enough to visit twice this spring and in early summer to throw my sister Rachel (a different sister!) her bachelorette party and bridal shower and watch her walk down the aisle. I spent over three weeks with my family in a six month period, which is probably as much or more than I've been able to do in the past couple of years. It was so wonderful. Getting to be with my sisters (there's even one more!), my parents, my perfect, amazing, wonderful nephew... it was really special. And it sparked a strength of longing for home that I haven't had in a long time. It's always hard to leave after a visit and missing my family on any given occasion is common, but this was different. When I flew back to California after Rachel's wedding, I felt like a piece of me was being taken away. And I still feel that way.
Cheddar polenta, savory sauteed mushrooms, and tangy green tomatoes and pepperoncini Man, have I been a serious grump this week. I've woken up everyday with a kind of chip on my shoulder- easily agitated, unfocused, irritable. And no, it's not "that time of the month". Sometimes these things just happen, but usually I'm quicker to recognize it and to confront myself about my poor attitude. This week, though, I just kind of stewed in it as if I had no control of the situation, no choice but to be grumpy and miserable. I think a lot of my discontent can be traced back to work. I'm scattered- working on several different projects and developing some new ones. And if you haven't figured this out about me yet, scattered is not my thing. I like lists, objectives, and deadlines- not ambiguity and flip-flopping. It's nearly impossible for me to really get in to something when I have to continually shift gears. And on top of that, I keep finding myself getting sucked into helping other people do their work. Long, hot overnights in El Centro to help a lab mate, going into the lab on a weekend (sacrilege!) to measure leaf traits for some other offshoot project... things I really don't want to do, but feel too guilty to decline. But the thing is, none of that is really an excuse. Just because certain aspects of my life are not ideal at the moment, doesn't mean I just get to throw in the towel and give up on having a good week. Work is not my life. My life has many other facets to it, and they (as well as poor Chris, whom I've been snapping at all week) shouldn't have to suffer just because I'm not really feeling grad school a the moment.
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AuthorHi there! I'm Cara- plant ecologist, gardening addict, and whole foods enthusiast. My whole life revolves around plants, including my kitchen. Join me here at LWM each week as I post local, seasonal, plant-based recipes and write about my never ending quest to find balance and tranquility in this crazy little world. Archives
June 2015
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