Zucchini Lasagna

Have you had enough zucchini pasta yet? Zucchini lasagna has become one of our household staples. It tastes great as leftovers and since it makes at least 6 large servings, that means I don't have to cook dinner every single night. Zucchini makes an awesome substitute for pasta in general, not just for lasagna noodles. (See here for zucchini spaghetti & meatballs.)
 
In an effort to eat less red meat and no pink slime, I don't usually use beef in this recipe (the lasagna in the photo was made using ground turkey). If I can get it, I'll use free-range bison (they sell it at our local farmer's market) or turkey and it tastes great. Bison and turkey are leaner than ground beef too. This lasagna won't be as tomato-y as you're used to because you have to use fresh tomatoes, but it still tastes amazing. And I use a lot of mozzarella cheese. 

Zucchini Lasagna
serves 6-8
olive oil
1 cup onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground turkey or bison
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon ground oregano
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
5-6 fresh tomatoes (for the tomato puree, you'll need about 1 cup)
1/2 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 medium zucchinis
6 ounces mozzarella cheese (I use mozz. that comes in a whole block and cut in into thin slices that will spread as they melt in the oven)
2 ounces parmesan cheese (I use the fancier parmesan that comes in blocks that I can shred myself, because parm. that comes pre-grated has anti-sticking starches in it)

1. For the tomato puree: Core and roughly chop 5-6 medium tomatoes. Put them in a food processor/blender and mix until completely processed. Place a mesh sieve over a medium sized bowl. Pour the tomato puree over the sieve, so that the juice drains into the bowl. You'll use the tomatoes that remain in the sieve for your sauce. I usually end up pouring in about 1/2 cup of the juice into the sauce, but not all of it. (If you just chop up the tomatoes and add them to the meat, your sauce will be too watery.)

{making the sauce}

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook until tender.  Add the meat and sauté until browned all over. Add all of the spices, salt and pepper. Stir and pour in the tomato puree and chopped tomatoes. Simmer on medium heat about 30 minutes -- until the sauce has thickened.

{zucchini strips}

3. Slice the zucchinis lengthwise into thin slices. Pour a small amount of the sauce to cover the bottom of the baking dish. Add a layer of zucchini slices, pour half the sauce onto the zucchini layer, and top with half of the mozzarella slices. Add another layer of zucchini and top with the last of the meat sauce, the rest of the mozzarella and all of the parmesan.

4. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. And you will want more.

Zucchini Spaghetti with Homemade Tomato Sauce & Meatballs

This is a pretty time consuming meal (compared to pasta out of a box and tomato sauce out of a jar) mostly because of all of the parts that you have to make. But let me assure you, it's well worth the work and the wait.

The sauce you can make ahead of time and use for multiple dishes and you can cut the zucchini spaghetti strips ahead of time as well. I like to bake our meatballs, rather than cooking them on the stove; when you're cooking the sauce and the zucchini, you don't have much stove space leftover anyway. Zucchini makes an awesome substitute for other kinds of pasta dishes, too. I'll have a zucchini lasagna recipe post coming up soon.

{my tomatoes, ready to go}

{tomato sauce, cooking}

For the Tomato Sauce:
adapted from the Smitten Kitchen recipe and serves 4
10 medium-large ripe fresh tomatoes
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

1. Bring a big pot of water to a boil (it should have enough water to cover all of the tomatoes). Once boiling, immerse the the tomatoes in the water for 1 minute, then pour the water and tomatoes in a strainer and rinse the tomatoes with cold water. You should be able to slip the peels off of the tomatoes easily. Peel and core the tomatoes.

2. Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

For the Meatballs:
serves 5-6
1 lb. ground turkey or ground bison (ground beef = pink slime)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (from a block--not pre-grated, that's starchy!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine meat, garlic, almond meal, cheese, basil, eggs, 2 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a bowl. Mix together with your hands (I suppose you could use a pastry cutter, I just find this to be the easiest way) until completely mixed. Roll into 1-inch balls, and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.

2. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through, but juicy.

For the Zucchini Spaghetti: 
1 medium zucchini per person (I used 3 so there would be extra)

1. Cut the zucchini into thin slices, then slice into thin strips (unless you have a magical machine that will do this for you, which I don't).

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, put in the zucchini and cook for 30 seconds, then pour into a strainer. It's important not to overcook these, or they won't have the right pasta-like consistency.

3. Put everything together, sprinkle some basil and shredded parmesan and have a delicious meal!

Mashed Cauliflower

Mashed cauliflower makes an excellent substitute for mashed potatoes even if you can eat starch. Not only is it healthier than mashed potatoes but it takes less time to make.

Mashed Cauliflower
serves 3-4
1/2 of a large head of cauliflower
1-2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper to taste
dash of milk &/or cream
opt: minced garlic

1. Roughly chop the cauliflower and discard any leaves. Put a pot of water on the stove on high heat and add all of the cauliflower to the pot; put the lid on. Once it starts boiling, let it boil for 5 minutes.

2. Remove pot from heat and put the cauliflower and water in a strainer to drain out the water. Add some of the butter back to the pot and put it back on the stove on medium heat. If using garlic, add this to the pot now. Add the drained cauliflower back to the pot and sauté for a few minutes until some of the water has evaporated.

3. Then put the cauliflower (I use a ladle for this part) into a blender in parts, adding the rest of the butter and the milk or cream while you blend it. Add the milk/cream only a little at a time so that you can stop when it's the right level of creaminess for you. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can add cheese, gravy, and sauces to season your mashed cauliflower. Really, just season it how you would season mashed potatoes. It'll be creamy and delicious!

-- Kara

Camarones en Crema con Cilantro (shrimp in a creamy cilantro sauce)

Despite the fact that at least half of the meals I cook at home are Cuban in origin, I haven't shared many of those meals on the blog yet. Maybe it's because we tend to eat those meals so quickly I don't get a descent photo of them before they're gone. Needless to say, there will be many starch-free versions of Cuban recipes in the future.

This is a really simple and delicious recipe to make, and can be a quick dinner if you don't have much time to spend cooking. I used a version adapted from this book.

Camarones en Crema con Cilantro
6-8 servings
3 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large, ripe tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves (I usually put in a lot, because we love cilantro)
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 1/2 lbs large raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

for the sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup fish stock, chicken stock or clam juice (I used chicken stock, because I had that on hand)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
few dashes of Tabasco sauce, optional

1. In a large skillet over low heat, melt the first amount of butter. When it begins to foam, add the garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, sherry, and shrimp, and cook, stirring, 4-5 minutes.

2. To prepare the sauce, in a saucepan over low heat, melt the second amount of butter. When it begins to foam, raise the heat to medium and whisk in the stock, milk and cream and cook, whisking, until the mixture comes to a boil. Add the salt, pepper, Tabasco and Worcestershire.

3. Add the sauce to the shrimp, stir to blend, and cook over low heat 3-4 minutes. I like to serve this with either cauliflower "rice" or mashed cauliflower (as in the photo).

Almond Macaroons

These cookies take less than 10 minutes to put together and are perfect for anyone who can't do regular cookies because of the starch &/or gluten. I actually made them this morning before making Roi his breakfast & lunch so that I could pack a few in his lunch for an afternoon snack -- that's how quick they are to make. They're chewy in the middle, crunchy on the outside and taste like amaretto. And I may have a eaten a few for a pre-breakfast snack.

You can substitute other kinds of nuts for the almonds (like pecans or macadamia nuts) but I haven't tried out those varieties yet, and I don't know for sure whether or not those types of nuts are starch free (although tree nuts do tend to be starch-less).

Simple Almond Macaroons
yields 12-15 cookies
1 egg white, unbeaten
1 1/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 cup turbinado sugar (aka sugar in the raw), for rolling

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly oil.

2. Mix together egg white, almond meal, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon until well blended. Roll teaspoonfuls of the dough between your palms into 1-inch balls. Put turbinado sugar into a small bowl and roll each of the balls in the sugar. Place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

{post-rolling, pre-baking}

3. Bake until firm, set and lightly browned (they're going to be darker than regular wheat flour cookies), about 35 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.

{cooling}

{eat!}

-- Kara

Chocolate Mousse Cake

 
Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in so long. My computer was getting an OS update and I had to re-set up a lot of things on it.

This cake is not only 100% flour free, but one of the lightest and fluffiest chocolate cakes you'll ever eat. The version I made is a chocolate cake with coffee buttercream filling and chocolate ganache on the outside, but the possibilities are almost endless for the variations you could make with this cake. And if you feel uncomfortable with layer cakes, you could 1/2 the recipe and make one layer with frosting just on the outside. This isn't the prettiest cake, but it tastes amazing.

The buttercream pictured is actually Swiss meringue buttercream, not the French buttercream I'm including in this recipe. But since the Swiss is trickier to work with (it became slightly separated after having put it in the fridge then trying to remix it so that it would soften, even though it turned out perfectly at first) I think that the French would be easier when you're starting out. Regular American buttercreams are a no-go because they always contain confectioner's (powdered) sugar which contains the slightest bit of corn starch.

I made a 6 inch (in diameter) cake comprised of three layers of cake. I ended up having some batter left over which I made into cake pops. (I'll show you how to do some starch free cake pops soon!) But you could make this into an 8 inch cake with just two layers and it would be the perfect amount of batter.

Chocolate Mousse Cake
serves 8-10
10 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
8 eggs, separated --  (make sure the whites are completely free of yolks or oil, or they won't fluff up correctly -- also make sure that the whites are at room temperature before you mix them, they'll form stiffer peaks that way)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract

for the chocolate ganache:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

for the Coffee French Buttercream:
makes 2 cups
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp instant espresso dissolved in 1 Tbsp warm water
pinch salt
16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, each stick cut into quarters

For the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter three 6-inch cake pans (or two 8-inch cake pans) and line the bases with buttered parchment paper rounds (cut out to fit each pan).

{lined cake pans}

2.  In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter (I would put the butter in the pan first to protect the chocolate from direct heat) over low heat until smooth, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and whisk in the egg yolks until completely blended. Beat in the vanilla extract and pour into a large bowl. Set aside, stirring occasionally.

3. In a clean, grease-free bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites slowly until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed and continue beating until they form soft peaks, then stiffer peaks that just flop over a little at the top. Have patience, this will take 5-10 minutes.

{stiff peaks}

4. Stir a large spoonful of white into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then fold in the remaining white until they're just combined. Don't overmix, or the whites will fall.

5. Divide batter between cake pans, smoothing the tops evenly and tapping the sides gently to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 30-35 minutes until puffed. The cakes will fall slightly when you take them out of the oven. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then use a knife to loosen the sides and invert the cakes onto the rack and remove the papers.

6. When completely cooled to room temperature, wrap up each cake layer in saran wrap and put into the fridge. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before you assemble your cake.

For the Coffee French Buttercream:

1. Combine the eggs, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water (but don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water, this is called a double boiler). Whisking gently but constantly, heat the mixture until it's thin and foamy and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

2. Remove the bowl from the water and beat the egg mixture at medium-high speed until light, airy and cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 1 piece at a time (it may look curdled halfway through, but it will smooth out with additional butter and mixing). After you've added all the butter, add in your dissolved coffee. After all the butter and coffee is added, increase the speed to high and beat 1 minutes, until light, fluffy and thoroughly combined. The buttercream can be covered and refrigerated for up to 5 days.

For the Chocolate Ganache:

1. Bring the cream to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add all the chocolate at once, stirring until melted and smooth. Stir in the vanilla and beat in the softened butter. Set aside for about 5 minutes before you use it so that it can thicken slightly. Ganache should coat the back of a spoon in a thick, smooth layer.

To assemble the cake:
Unwrap the cake layers and place one on a large flat plate. Using a piping or a spatula, dollop on the buttercream and spread it into a smooth layer, making sure that you put it over the edge, so that it squishes out a little between cake layers. Add your second layer of cake and repeat with the buttercream. Add your third cake layer and push down to flattened the cake, making sure that the buttercream is evenly spread out underneath the layers. Pour your chocolate ganache on top of the cake, letting it run down the sides and using your spatula to spread evenly over the sides of the cake. Then put the cake back into the fridge to set.

{hell yeah, chocolate cake!}

--Kara

Avgolemono: Greek Egg-Lemon Soup

 This soup is so light and tasty, you'll get hooked. Don't be deterred by the egg in this soup, it's used only as a thickener and doesn't actually coagulate.

A couple of months ago, one of my besties, Ashlee, came to visit. (Did I mention she's awesome?) On one of the days she was here, we were trying to decide where to eat lunch. Back in college, she studied abroad in Greece but she hadn't had Greek food in awhile, so we settled on going to a Greek restaurant in the city. I let her do the choosing (since I know very little about Greek food), and we ended up sharing quite a few foods that I had never had, one of which was this delicious egg-lemon soup that I've been wanting to re-create at home ever since. This soup is a staple in Greece, but the restaurant we were eating at was kind of a trendy place, so they fancied the soup up a little. I found a recipe for avgolemono in Cooks Illustrated: The Best International Recipe, replaced the rice/orzo with cauliflower to make it starch free and added a few things based on the soup at the restaurant.

This soup is pretty simple to make and is perfect as an appetizer, because it's so light and lemony. When buying chicken stock, you have to be careful that it doesn't contain starch; many contain carrots, which are starchy (as are all root vegetables). I buy the low-sodium chicken stock from Trader Joe's but I also make my own chicken stock when I can.

Avgolemono
serves 6-8
2 quarts low-sodium chicken stock (or you could substitute vegetable if you're a veggie)
2 cups cauliflower rice (directions for this are outlined below)
12 (4-inch long) strips zest from 2 lemons
2 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup juice from 2 lemons
a head of romaine lettuce, chopped
optional: 1 cup cooked chicken, cut into tiny strips
1 scallion, sliced thin
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

{cauliflower rice}

 
1. Put 3-4 cups roughly chopped cauliflower pieces into a food processor or blender. Pulse until the cauliflower resembles grains of rice.

2. Bring the broth to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add the cauliflower rice, lemon zest, cloves, bay leaves, and salt. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the "rice" is tender, 16-20 minutes.

3. Remove and discard the bay leaves, cloves, and lemon zest. Return the broth to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low. Whisk the whole eggs, yolks, and lemon juice together in a medium bowl until combined.

4. Ladle about 2 cups of the hot broth into the bowl with the eggs and slowly whisk it into the eggs to temper, then slowly whisk the egg mixture back into the soup. Continue to cook the soup over low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, 4-5 minutes. Don't let the soup simmer or boil, to make sure that the eggs don't coagulate.

5. Put 1/2-3/4 cup chopped romaine (and the chicken, if you're having it: 1/4 cup in each bowl) in each bowl and divide up the soup between bowls. Sprinkle with scallions and mint and serve immediately.

{so tasty!}

Homemade Pesto & Baked Pesto Chicken

{baked pesto chicken and kale}

For most of my life, I thought I didn't like pesto, but I think I was comparing store-bought to home made. And man, does it make a difference if you're eating it home made. Pesto is one of the quickest and tastiest sauces around and I like that it's so versatile. You can use it with baked chicken, zucchini noodles, starch free bread, on fish, etc. And you can change up the herbs and nuts depending on what you have available. I like to use walnuts, but almonds will work just fine. (P.S. I'll tell you about making kale another day.)

Pesto
makes about 1 1/2 cups
2 cups fresh basil or cilantro leaves (packed into a measuring cup)
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts or almonds
3/4 cup coarsely grated/shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 a lemon's worth of freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and black pepper to taste

1. Wash basil/cilantro leaves if needed and dry. Put basil leaves and sliced garlic into food processor (or a blender if you don't have one) that's been fitted with the steel blade and process until basil and garlic is finely chopped, adding oil through the feed tube as you mix. You're going to have to take off the lid and scrape the sides with a rubber scraper periodically to make sure it all gets mixed.

{processing the basil & garlic}

2. Add walnuts, Parmesan cheese, and lemon juice to the chopped basil mixture and process 1-2 minutes more, until the pesto is mostly pureed and well mixed. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and pulse a few times more.

3. Store any leftover pesto in the refrigerator, where it will keep for more than a week. Pesto can also be frozen.

Baked Pesto Chicken
makes 4 servings
1 lb. chicken (I used boneless thighs, but breasts work well too)
salt and black pepper
1 cup pesto
4 oz. mozzarella cheese (I buy mozz. in a block because shredded cheeses usually have added starches to keep it from clumping)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Trim all visible fat and tendons from chicken pieces and season with salt and pepper. 

2. Spray a 9" x 12" baking dish with non-stick spray, then spread 1/2 of the pesto over the bottom of the dish. Lay chicken pieces over the pesto, then spread the rest of the pesto over the chicken, making sure to cover all of the pieces.

{pre-baking chicken + pesto}

3. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil (or use a baking dish with a tight-fitting lid) and bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes, just until chicken is barely firm and cooked through. But don't cook too much at this point, or the chicken will be overcooked by the time the cheese is melted and browned.

4. When the chicken is barely cooked through, remove foil and spread the chicken with mozzarella cheese slices. Put dish back into the oven without foil and cook 5 -10 minutes more, until the cheese is melted and lightly browned. (If your broiler is separate from the oven, start preheating it when you take the chicken out.) After I melted the cheese for 5 minutes I switched my oven to broil and broiled for 5 minutes more, just long enough to get the cheese lightly browned.

{ready to eat}

Almond Flour Pancakes

 

A couple of years ago when Roi first made the jump to a completely starch free diet, we both thought that pancakes would be something he'd have to give up forever. But last year while I was trolling the web, I came across some Paleo recipes that used almond flour and eggs to make pancakes that have the same taste and consistency we were used to in traditional pancakes. I made a few tweaks because the Paleo diet isn't synonymous with a starch free diet and here we are! In delicious pancake land.

Almond Flour Pancakes

serves 2 ~ about 3 medium pancakes each

1/2 cup almond meal/almond flour (it's the same thing, I buy mine from Trader Joe's)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

butter for frying

Sift or whisk the dry ingredients together. Whisk in the cream and vanilla, then the eggs. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and add a little butter to the pan. These pancakes will spread, so I usually like to use a small egg-frying pan and only 1/4-1/3 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until the pancake seems set and you can see little bubbles all over the top, then flip. Make sure both sides are golden brown and the pancake is cooked through. Mix the batter in between pancakes because it will separate slightly.

Having pancakes with sliced strawberries and whipped cream is my favorite way, but you can serve these however you'd serve regular pancakes. In the past, I have made these with blueberries, but the pancakes never stay together as well when the berries are mixed into the batter, so I usually serve the fruit on top after the pancakes are cooked. Roi likes them with with butter in between each layer and with a lot of maple syrup (Real maple syrup is starch free! Hooray! I don't know about the fake stuff though.) 

To make 2-3 servings of whipped cream, put 1/3 cup cold heavy whipping cream into a bowl and mix (I use an electric hand mixer) until thick. Then add a teaspoon of sugar and whip until stiff peaks form and it looks like whipped cream should. Then just dollop as much as you want on top of your pancakes. (I used a piping bag because I like to get fancy.)