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Marinara Sauce Number Two

I have a lot of cookbooks and one of my favorites is Cooking from an Italian Garden by Paola Scaravelli and Jon Cohen.  There are over 300 vegetarian recipes in this book.  Over the years I’ve made virtually none of the recipes in the book.  Yes, virtually zero.  This cookbook remains a favorite because it is inspirational.  You can prepare simple healthy meals without animal proteins.  The section on sauces alone is worth the price of admission.

The following is my adaptation of a flavorful marinara sauce that I recently prepared for a Stack Project recipe.

  • 1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
  • 1 carrot diced
  • 1 stalk celery diced
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
  • handful fresh basil, chopped (or healthy pinch of dried basil if fresh is not available)
  • handful fresh parsley, chopped ( or dried, if fresh is not available)
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  1. Saute the vegetables until wilted.
  2. Add the canned tomatoes, herbs and simmer uncovered for one hour.
  3. Salt lightly and add just enough sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.
  4. Done.

Tips

Garlic???  By all means if you have to have garlic, use some.  The quality and acidity levels of canned tomatoes vary tremendously.  Use sugar only when necessary.  This sauce freezes well.

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Lasagne Stacks

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I know, it’s been a while since I posted a recipe.  The problem is that the original intent was to post family recipes from a time long long ago so that they would be preserved for future generations to enjoy.  But I ran into some problems.  I can’t remember what I cooked 25 years ago.  Sometimes I can’t remember what I fixed yesterday.  Life changes and you change too.  I can’t remember the last time I made lasagne.  If I made a tray of lasagne now, we would be eating it for a week.

Then I discovered a unique concoction called the lasagne stack.  For the noodle layers you use those refrigerated won ton wrappers that you’ve never bought before because you vowed at one point in your life never to make won tons from scratch.  But the wrappers are just pasta.  And you don’t have to boil them first.  You layer, bake, eat.

I feel guilty about never progressing past six or seven dishes you can make with a cooked chicken.  So I’m not numbering these recipes.  And the kids never ate anything similar to this dish when they were little.  I made this up because I was in the mood for lasagne and for the first time in my life, bought won ton wrappers.  Welcome to the first recipe in The Stack Project.

Quantities are for four stacks.

  • 24 won ton wrappers – six per stack
  • a handful of fresh spinach leaves
  • 1 cup bechamel sauce
  • 1 cup ragu
  • grated parmesan
  • shredded mozzarella
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a baking dish large enough for the number of stacks to be made, cover the bottom with several spoonfuls of ragu.
  3. Arrange four won ton skins in the baking dish. Leave enough space between each so when fully baked they won’t all glump together.
  4. Start stacking.  Spread some sauce, spinach, cheese on each wrapper.  Add another won ton wrapper and repeat.  Alternate between white and red layers.  Get creative.
  5. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.
  6. Uncover, add more mozzarella to the top of each stack and bake for another five minutes or until the cheese melts.
  7. Enjoy.

This dish came into being because I had leftover homemage ragu and an urge for lasagne.  I wish I had this concept when the kids were little.  Including prep time, this took all of 45 minutes.

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Peanuts May Lower Cardio Death Risk – Medpage Today

Nut (predominantly peanut) consumption is inversely related to all-cause and especially cardiovascular mortality in African-American and Chinese men and women.

The inverse association of nut consumption and mortality is unrelated to baseline metabolic conditions.

It’s a cardiovascular intervention that literally costs peanuts.

via Peanuts May Lower Cardio Death Risk | Medpage Today.

This is great news.  My unique preference for peanut butter and pancakes turns out to be scientifically heart healthy given my ethnicity.  More peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Pad Thai with crushed  peanuts, spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Update 03.04.15

I ate a mini peanut cup last night.  The jar of dry roasted peanuts was moved from the cupboard to my office.  I have absolutely zero guilt.  It’s for my heart.

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Semi-Organic Vegan Split Pea Soup

You’re probably thinking to yourself what kind of parent forces this type of soup on their children?  Well, before you flame me in the comments section, my parents never fed this soup to me as a child.  As a parent, I never made or force fed my children with this soup.  The origins of this soup are simple.  It’s Sunday.  So what do you want for lunch?  It’s winter.  Soup.

How about some split pea soup?  Rather than mine the internet I went to my cookbook collection.  After a few unsuccessful look ups I settled upon Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison.  My recipe is adapted from Madison’s recipe.  After over 40 years of cooking I’ve finally figured out why I can never follow a recipe.  

I can’t follow a recipe because I usually don’t have all of the ingredients.

The reason why this soup is semi-organic is because not all of the ingredients are certified organic.  I’m pretty sure the organic portion is due to the fact those ingredients were on sale.  (I want a healthy soup, not the most expensive split pea soup ever made).  11:00 am.  Soup should be ready by noon.  My recipe gets posted only if it tastes good.

  • 2 cups split green peas, rinsed
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 T dried parsley
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1.5 quarts vegetable stock or broth
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  1. Soak the split peas in water while preparing the soup ingredients.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat.
  3. Add onion, celery, and carrots.  Saute for around 10 minutes.
  4. Add garlic and dried herbs, and fresh black pepper.  Saute for another 2-3 minutes.
  5. Drain and add the split peas.  Add the vegetable stock/broth and bring to a boil.
  6. Stir often so the peas don’t stick.
  7. Reduce the heat, partially cover, and simmer gently for approximately one hour.
  8. It’s yummy tummy time.

For the curious regarding semi-organic: carrots, vegetable stock and most of the herbs were organic.  The rest of the ingredients were high quality but not USDA certified organic.

 

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