Hearty Veggie Lasagna

This is a new favorite dish in our house!  I don't think I'll ever make a lasagna with beef again!  I'm trying to get better at taking pictures...unfortunately I didn't take a picture of this one though.

3 carrots-peeled & chopped
1 broccoli crown, chopped
1/2 celery stalk, chopped
1 medium onion-finely chopped
1 tsp dried garlic
1 tsp thyme
salt & pepper
2 jars spaghetti sauce
8 whole wheat lasagna noodles
16 oz container of cottage cheese (I added a couple sprinkles of Italian seasoning to mine)
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees
-Cook noodles according to package
-Combine veggies & sauce (I sent all my veggies through the food chopper for a couple spins)
-In bottom of casserole dish, spread about a cup of the sauce.  Layer 4 noodles, then sauce, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, and parm.  Add a 2nd layer. 
-Bake for 15-20 mins or until cheese is melted and bubbly :)
-Serve with a green salad & whole wheat bread sticks! 

YUM!!! 

Delicious Pasta Salad

This was super easy to make and we really enjoyed it :)

1 lb wacky mac noodles, cooked & chilled
1/2 head broccoli
1/2 head cauliflower
2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cucumber, peeled & sliced
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 bottle Zesty Italian Salad Dressing

Combine all ingredients in large bowl, mix until well coated with dressing.  Serve with corn bread or muffins!  Yum! 

Fruit Salsa with Baked Cinnamon Chips

This has become a summer favorite!  It's pretty easy to make, and you can really tweak it to your liking :)

1/2 fresh pineapple
1/2 pound fresh strawberries
1/2 small carton raspberries
1 medium apple (I've used delicious red, and gala. They are both good)

--Chop up all fruit into smaller than bite sized pieces and refrigerate.

Cinnamon Chips:
6-8 Whole Wheat Tortillas
1 cup white sugar
1 TBS ground cinnamon

--Mix together sugar and cinnamon
--Spray tortillas with cooking spray (I've even just spread some olive oil on them) and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on them.  Cut into tortilla chip shapes using a pizza cutter.
--Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until the edges start to brown

Serve with the fruit salsa!  Yum!

Squash & Potato Bake

This was a fairly simple recipe and it was very tasty!  All the men in my house gobbled it up! 
4-5 red potatoes, sliced
1 yellow squash, peeled, sliced
1 zucchini squash, peeled, sliced
minced garlic and onion
Thyme, Salt & Pepper
--Spray baking dish with cooking spray, put some minced garlic and onion on the bottom of the pan and then put in the peeled veggies.  Top with seasonings
--Bake at 400 for 50-60 minutes.
(if desired after about 30 minutes, sprinkle some shredded cheese on top and continue baking until cheese is melted)

Best Ever Veggie Stir Fry

My husband and I watched a documentary called "Forks Over Knives" about 3 weeks ago.  Since then we've eaten meat, once.  It has been such a good change for our family!  I recommend to everyone to watch it!  Given our new eating habits, I've had to tweak a lot of my favorite recipes, and find new ones.  I wanted to find a really good veggie stir fry, I hunted online for days and I just couldn't find one that appealed to me.  So I threw this one together myself and it has been our favorite meal EVER!  It's so good!

1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 head of broccoli
1 bunch green onion
1/2 of a fresh pineapple
1 jar Kikkoman sweet and sour sauce
2 TBS ketchup
1 tsp garlic powder (or 2-3 cloves garlic)
1 TBS ground ginger

--Chop up all the peppers. onions, broccoli, and pineapple.  Throw it all in a large frying pan or wok, add sweet and sour sauce, ketchup, garlic, and ginger.  Cook on medium/high heat for 15-20 minutes depending on how you like the texture of your veggies.  We like ours crunchy.  Serve over brown rice!  YUM!!!