Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Vegetarian Crock Pot Lasagna



Easy and delicious! Load it up and forget it!

I made this last night and it was pretty darn good. I used an extra can of tomatoes in mine and added some italian spices. I set the crock pot on low for 2 hrs 40 minutes. Yum!

Ingredients
1 (26 ounce) jar marinara sauce
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) package no-boil lasagna noodles
1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Italian cheese blend or 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup frozen veggie crumbles (Like Boca, etc)

Directions
1. In medium bowl, combine marinara sauce and tomatoes with their juice.
2. Spray 4.5-6 quart slow cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Spoon 1 cup tomato-sauce mixture into bowl.
4. Arrange 1/4 of noodles over sauce, overlapping noodles and breaking into large pieces to cover as much sauce as possible.
5. Spoon about 3/4 cup sauce over noodles, then top with 1/2 cup ricotta, and 1/2 cup shredded cheese.
6. Spread half of spinach over cheese.
7. Repeat layering 2 more times beginning with noodles, but in middle layer, replace spinach with frozen crumbles. Place remaining noodles over spinach, then top with remaining sauce and shredded cheese.
8. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on low 2.5 to 3 hours or on high 1.5 to 1.75 hours, or until noodles are very tender.

Recipe Source: http://www.recipezaar.com/204366

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

BANDHAKOPIR DALNA (BENGALI CABBAGE CURRY)



I made this last night. It's one of my favorite cheap recipes because, if you already have the spices, you really just have to buy a head of cabbage (uber cheap at less than $3) and some ginger. I usually skip the potatoes and serve this over basmati rice with some sour cream on top. Yummmmmmmmmmm.

Ingredients:
1 lb cabbage, sliced finely
2 potatoes, cut in small cubes
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp turmeric
1 1/4 to 2 tsp green chili paste (I substitute with THAI KITCHEN brand green curry paste)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 inch ginger grated
1 tbsp butter
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Method:
♥ Fry cubed potatoes in hot oil in a wok until lightly browned. Remove from oil and keep aside.
♥ To the hot oil add cabbage. Sprinkle with salt.
♥ Stir and cover. Simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove cover.
♥ Add the turmeric, chili paste, cumin, coriander and ginger. Stir and fry until the spices are well blended with the cabbage.
♥ The cabbage should be nearly cooked at this stage.
♥ Add 1/2 cup water and add potatoes. Adjust salt and add sugar to taste.
♥ Simmer over medium heat until potatoes are cooked and there is practically no gravy in the pan.
♥ In a frying pan, heat butter. Add the bay leaves and garam masala. Stir fry a couple of minutes and pour over bandhakopir dalna.
♥ Stir the cabbage and remove from heat.

Recipe Source: http://festivals.iloveindia.com/durga-puja/cabbage-curry.html