August on the Funny Farm

It's really getting  Veggilicious around here!

 

The backyard funny farm is a sea of green. The vines of the pumpkins and squashes are so thick, you have to carefully thread your way through all the leafage.








The potting table can no longer be used for potting as it is currently the home of two large tomato plants and a ghost pumpkin.







The green house is housing a sea of cucumbers, a watermelon plant, and various peppers and eggplants. We are growing jalepeno peppers, wickedly hot Thai red chilis and habeneros, and mild wax peppers. We have two times of eggplants, tiny egg sized ones and lovely lavender and cream mottled ones.



Evidence of the recent bounty: tomatoes, blackberries, eggplants, English cuke, lemon cuke, zucchini, tomatillos, wax peppers, and beans.







 This day, we harvested kale, blackberries, a lemon cuke, beans, fennel, eggplant, and tomatoes. You may notice the tomatoes look orange. Yep, you're right! Most of the small ones are golden orbs and ripe at orange. The larger ones have to be brought in early or Barkley the wonder doodle dog will eat them!



Blueberries, an onion, lemon cuke, peas and beans, tomatoes, eggplant, and a Lakota heirloom squash. We're trying the Lakota squash for the first time this year. It's delish with a sweet nutty flesh.






Onions, tomatoes, beans, eggplants, wax peppers, cucumbers, blueberries, Thai basil, zucchini, and nasturtium flowers.







 Thai basil, tomatoes, wax and jalepeno peppers, zucchini, a tiny carrot, beans, chives, black berries, English and lemon cukes.

An artistic arrangement of cucumbers, zucchini, beans, eggplant, berries, and tomatoes.

Well, what to do will all those veggies? 

Make something. Quick!

So, here's my favorite recipe for that rare cooler summer day.

Super Veggie Ministrone

2 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 onion finely chopped, 1 carrot finely chopped, 1 large clove of garlic minced

Heat oil in large stock pot. Saute onion for 3 minutes, add carrot and cook another 2 minutes. Add Garlic and cook 1 more minute, until garlic is turning golden.

1 Tbsp mixed Italian herbs (or more if fresh from the garden), 2-4 cups of chopped tomotoes (more if you like them, less if you don't), 8 cups of veggie, chicken, or beef stock (chose the one you like).

Add herbs to hot sauted veggies and stir through. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and return to medium heat until tomatoes begin to break down. Add stock. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer,  cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Here's where it gets fun. Add 2-4 cups of whatever veggies you need to use. In my last batch, I added 2 whole zucchinis, 2 potatoes, 1 cup of fresh green beans,  3 chopped wax peppers, and 1 cup of shelled beans. Cover and cook for 15 more minutes. Turn off heat, add 1/2 cup of your favorite grated Italian cheese. Personally, I like Romano, but Parmesan is good too. Now, eat your soup with some crusty bread, or cover and refrigerate and eat tomorrow. (It will be even better!)  Enjoy!

Besides the garden news, the news of the day around here is the Washington State forest fires that have burned over 500,000 acres on the Eastern side of our state. It's an indication of just how hot and dry our summer has been this year. Normally, Canadian and Washington firefighters help each other out during summer forest fires, but this year both are busy battling their own set of fires. The governor has declared a state of emergency and sent the National Guard to help, as well as sent out a call for volunteers. President Obama declared the entire Eastern side a disaster area as well. Today the winds were blowing from the East and the entire sky was a smokey haze, even on our side of the mountains. Our thoughts are will those that live on the Eastern side, especially folks that have had to evacuate their homes. We are thinking thoughts of cool rain.

Adventures and Vegetables

It's that time again when the family has a multitude of both adventures and vegetables.

We started our August adventures with a trip to Snoqualmie Falls. The lodge at the fall was the one of the sites of the Twin Peaks tv show. The falls themselves are part of a historic hydroelectric plant.

 Here was our first view of the falls.

 Here's a close up. The roar of the water was amazing!

 Ari happily sipping her coffee and admiring the view.

 The view!

 Alex being uber cool with his sunspecs and i-pod.

 The falls with the electric plant in the background.

A beautiful blooming thistle.

A fabulous twisted root tree on the grounds of the fall.

Our next adventure, featured Anni and myself. We were off to gourmet cooking camp again. This one was at the PCC Market Cooking School. Anni made cuisine from Brazil, Italy, the Southern USA, India, and Thailand. It was all delicious and lots of fun!

Alex and me went on our next adventure with family friend, Lisa, and her nephew, Stu, visiting from Indiana. We spend a beautiful warm day exploring the Washington beaches near Ocean Shores where we saw sand dollars, foraging deer along the side of the roadway, a Japanese fishing god statue that washed up after the big earthquake and now resides the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center. We explored tide pools, spying hermit crabs, tiny fish, and lots of sea stars. At night, we got a look at a single shooter from the meteor showers before the evening clouds moved in. Fun, saltwater, and sand were experienced by all.

The next day of our adventure took us to Mount Rainier. It's been so long since I last visited that I'd forgot how truly majestic the 14K+ peak really is. We stood on a log bridge over the rushing Nisqually River and visited the 176 ft drop Narada Falls before checking out the new visitors center at Paradise. It was evening when we began our hike up the mountain. My goal was to see a marmot. Lisa spotted the first. I found two more, and Stu found a pair whistling away to the twilight. We all took a turn standing at the base of a glacier before it was time to head back down before we got lost in the dark. Our only mountain casualty was a mosquito bite on Alex's forearm that turned narly giving him a Popeye arm for the next few days.

Marmot

Our final adventure (thus far) was a visit to the Ballard Locks to see the salmon running, the boats passing, and the flowers in full view. 

After all that fun, it was time to take care of the garden:

 The garden is in full swing turning out gobs of zucchini, patty pan squash, beans, cukes, berries, chives, herbs, and tomatoes.

It's time for tri tomato balsamic salad with feta cheese and basil, my absolute favorite summer salad! Here's the recipe:

1 large heirloom tomato, sliced

5 golden pear tomatoes, halved

5-7 cherry tomatoes, halved

Arrange on plate in spirals.

Dressing:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 teasp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Mix and pour over tomatoes.

Top with 1 teasp. minced basil and 1 Tbsp. feta cheese

Excellent with crusty bread and a glass of wine. Enjoy!

Clafoutis mania!

A few weeks ago, I read a book about an American who goes to France, learns to cook, becomes a cookbook author, and lives in a converted medieval convent. Along the way, Ms. Loomis dots the narrative with  lots of delicious sounding recipes, and now I'm absolutely hooked on clafoutis. What's a clafoutis? It's a  fabulous dessert concoction, part firm custard crossed with sweet omelet dashed with fruit tart, minus a crust, and since you all know, I HATE MAKING PIE CRUSTS!

So far, I've made:

raspberry clafoutis,

dark cherry clafoutis,

and apricot almond clafoutis.

These desserts are fabulous ways to use an abundance of summer fruit, and they only take 20-30 minutes to cook in a 350 degree (F) oven. They also make a terrific summer breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee. Here's my simplified recipe:

Clafoutis
2 cups fresh fruit (berries, apricots, cherries, apples, whatever!)
3 eggs
1 cup milk (I've tried these with both 2% and almond milk, both worked)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla (or other flavoring to fit the fruit. For example, I used almond extract with the apricot)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (or cinnamon, or other baking spice to fit the fruit)
1/8 tsp salt
powdered sugar (optional)
nuts (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a pie dish. Scatter sliced fruit at bottom of dish.
2) Beat eggs until frothy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour over fruit. If using nuts, sprinkle on top.
3) Bake 20-30 minutes, until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
4) Finish with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, if desired.
5) Enjoy warm or chilled. (Some folks like to top them with fresh whipped cream or ice cream. I like them without. You decide.)

Next on my clafoutis list; banana walnut!

Besides baking desserts, we also make some very awesome pizzas to use up some of our garden herbs for dinner on Saturday.

This one is Kalamata olive, shaved ham,  feta cheese, and freshly picked  oregano. The other pizza got eaten too fast to even snap a photo, It was a Margarite with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh parmesan, and just picked basil. There were no leftovers for the new fridge this night.

Sunday was a super low tide (-3) due to the Super Full Moon phenom, so we put on our grubby sneaks and rubber boots and headed to one of our local Puget Sound Beaches.

 Alex and Ari discussing the finer points of beach ecology.

 Julie Ann getting sandy and salty in a tide pool. Here I was pointing out nudibranchs (really cute and colorful sea slugs) to another beach explorer.

 Anni wondering if there's any possibility of lunch or ice cream or ice cream for lunch.

 Ari being super animated after finding a lions mane jellyfish alive in a shallow pool, way cool!

 Alex and Julie Ann  checking out the Dungeness crab while Ari continues to gaze at the jellyfish.

A scallop shell amongst the seaweed. All told, we saw lots of cool beach life as we explored. We saw gulls and an osprey, a wriggling gunnel fish, clinging sea stars, lots of anemones, multiple species of nudibranchs, a red velvety sea sponge, mussels, dock shrimp, five kinds of crab including a very well appointed decorator crab, a squid egg pod, an armoured chiton shell, a moon snail shell, live clams, and baby sea urchins.

Then Anni finally got her wish. We had a car picnic along side the beach. The rain had moved in by then. It was cheesy chive (from the garden) scones, ham sandwiches on market rolls, pasta salad, baby radishes (garden), strawberries (garden), and blueberry ice tea. Yum.

Fun in the sun and shade

We've enjoyed a near 80 degree day yesterday! It's the first one we've had! I spent the whole day outside and am now a delicious shade of pinkish red, despite the sunscreen. We went to the farmer's market in the morning for zucchini, lettuce (Have you ever tried French speckled leaf lettuce? It's delish!), radishes, cilantro, local line caught tuna, apples, local free-pastured pork sausage, and free-pastured, grass feed beef. After seeing Food Inc (the film), we're committed to buying meat and poultry that supports local farmers raising livestock humanely and healthily. We're finding it's a lot more expensive, so we eat even less meat than before (which wasn't much) and lots more veggies. We feel great! We gardened the afternoon away, watering, weeding, and uppotting tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Today was much cooler that yesterday. We decorated for the Fourth, returned lots of library books, and then headed to our local fruit market for melons, nectarines, plums, citrus, avocados, and blueberries. I think we may be keeping up with Auntie D. in the fruit department! We harvested another 2 dozen strawberries today. That brings this year's harvest to 11 dozen so far. We're beginning to harvest a tomato daily from the green house and lots of chives, cilantro, lettuce, greens, onions, and peas from the garden beds.

This evening future farmer Alex and I cooked. I made my Roasted Veggie Primavera Pasta (recipe follows), and he made a Bonnie Butter Yellow Cake (from my 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook!). Tomorrow, Ari is helping to make strawberry crepes for breakfast. Yes folks, you heard correct; Ari is going to cook! Wonders never cease.

Roasted Veggie Primavera Pasta
This recipe is extremely delicious. The garlic is key! Don't skip it.

1 medium zucchini (courgette), halved and thinly sliced. (If organic, don't bother to peel)
1 medium yellow summer squash (or yellow zuc), halved and thinly sliced (see above)
1/2 large red pepper, halved again and thinly sliced.
1/2 large yellow pepper, halved again and thinly sliced.
1 medium sweet yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced.
1 large cloves elephant garlic (best) or 3 cloves of mild other garlic, left whole and in paper skin
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp mixed italian herbs (if mixing your own: oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and a pinch of sage)

1lb bowtie pasta (I like the organic tricolored ones)

1/4 lb button or small crimini mushrooms, sliced

15 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh garden peas

1/2 fresh grated parmesean cheese

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover a large pan with foil. In a large bowl, combine zucchini, squash, peppers, onion, and garlic with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian herbs. Spread on pan as thinly as possible, ideally as a single layer. Cook 10 minutes.

2) Boil big pot of water for pasta.

3) Add sliced mushrooms to oven pan, stirring to mix well. Cook another 10-12 minutes, until veggies are soft and beginning to brown. While these are roasting, cook pasta according to package instructions.

4) Retain 1 cup of hot pasta water, then drain rest. Place pasta in large bowl. Pour hot retained pasta water over peas and tomatoes. Let rest 1 minute. Meanwhile, remove garlic from other roasted veggies. Mash and add to pasta, tossing well. Add rest of roasted veggies to pasta and toss well. Drain and add peas and tomatoes, toss well. Add most of parmesean cheese, and toss again. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Serve immediately! Serves 6 generously. Enjoy!

5) Other veggies to roast are eggplant, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus (unbelievably delish!), yams, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts

Flowers and Followers

 The irises are blooming! First in purple

 and then in yellow. Now, if the slugs will just leave them alone!

 The lupines are standing at attention and attracting lots of pollinators. Yeah!

The red rhodie has also bloomed. The garden is full of beautiful colors.

We've had a busy couple of weekends with Greenfest and the Folklife festival. My friend Lisa and I  danced the day away at Folklife on Memorial Day. We tried Zydeco, Cajun, and Scottish dancing. I got home barely able to move, and then Ari wanted to go Irish dancing! I managed one more hour of jumps and kicks! It was soooo much fun! This weekend, we caught up with our family friend, Ellie, and her lovely new baby girl, Charlie, at Greenlake.

We love that it is local farmer's market season again. Two of my favorite things at the market lately are the sustainably caught local tuna from the folks aboard the St. Jude and the beautiful recycled Scrabble tile charms from Ponder Press. Most of the warmer weather produce isn't available yet due to our especially wet and cool spring, but the market is alive with rhubarb, asparagus, lettuces, onions, spinach. The upside of the down weather is that the cool crops, normally done by now, are still going strong. Ah, I love silver linings!

Anni made pasta noodles with her school chums today with the hand crank pasta machine. They were delish! Last night, Alex and I gave the machine a turn making lots and lots of mushroom ravioli. We had it for dinner, topped with a very old Italian recipe for tomato sauce. Yum, yum, yum! Here's the recipe:

Ye Olde Italian Tomato Sauce:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion quartered
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
1 stick of butter
1 LARGE can of San Marzano Tomatoes. These tomatoes are definitely NOT local, but are very Italiano. (Substitute at your own peril)
1/3 cup of dry Italian red wine

1) In a sturdy large pot (I used the crockpot), heat the olive oil over medium low. Add the onion and garlic. Turn to very low and cook for 1 hour (why the crockpot works!)
2) Add the butter, cook another hour.
3)Add the Tomatoes, cook another hour or two.
4) While to sauce is cooking, be sure to peek and stir occasionally. You want it to be barely at a simmer.
4) Just before serving, stir in wine.

Serve over your favorite pasta. You will find this sauce is a true burst of rich tomato with a creamy consistency. It's decadently terrific!

Finally, a big shout out to all the folks who've been checking out the blog! We love to check the stats and see where folks are a viewing us. Many blessings!

Salad days!

The sun has managed to shine for two consecutive days. It will be a spring record if it makes it to three tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

Today was definitely a garden day! The new spinach seedlings are cozying up to the strawberry plants. The potato bed also hosts onions, greens, broccoli rabe, rainbow chard, and marigolds. The cilantro and chives are hanging out. In the center of the garden, two beds are growing combos of corn, squash, cukes, radishes, marigolds, and ground cherries. The tomatoes are coplanted with carrots, marigolds, collard greens, squash, and onions. The herbs are sharing space with cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, and Brussel sprouts. Peas are end bedded by herbs and marigolds. Tucked between the beds are big pots of radishes, lettuce, and seedlings, and tucked around these are pots of flowers and in ground berry bushes. Today, we did lots of transplanting to the garden (finally!) and we started some new seeds; bush beans, asparagus beans, lettuce, radish, nasturtium flowers. We also potted up tomato, eggplant, and basil plants. Tomorrow, it's time to weed again (groan).

Today's lunch was from the garden, the twenty foot diet; fresh spinach and multi lettuce leaves with tender young radishes and chives. Here's a recipe for my favorite, extremely versatile salad dressing:

EXTREMELY VERSATILE SALAD DRESSING:
Makes enough for 2 small salads or 1 large one.

1/2 teaspoon favorite mustard (I like Dijon, but spicy brown, herbal, Chinese, and English also work depending on the salad)
1 Tablespoon favorite vinegar (I usually use white wine or rice, but all types work as does any acidic fresh juice, like lemon or lime)
2 Tablespoon favorite light oil (I favor olive, but walnut, hazelnut, avocado, canola, and peanut also work depending on your dish)
Pepper and salt
Seasoning of your choice

How to:
1) Put mustard and vinegar in small deep bowl. Whisk together
2) Slowly add oil while whisking.
3) Add seasonings and pour over your salad

Need some combo ideas:
Red wine vinegar, English mustard, walnut oil, S+P, rosemary on a salad with leftover roast beef.
Seasoned rice vinegar, Chinese mustard, 1/2 tsp soy sauce, peanut oil on Asian salads.
White wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, S+P on salad with tuna fish.
Lemon juice, Dijon mustard, olive oil, S+P on salad with asparagus
White wine vinegar, Spicy brown mustard, canola oil, S+P, sage on salad with chicken
And so on and so on....'

Enjoy!

And the rain comes pouring down!

Well, it's April in the beautiful Pacific Northwest which means a continuation of our rainy season. It poured all day today! We snuck out for a walk on the Woodinville portion of the Sammamish River Trail a couple of days ago. The cormorants were roosting in the trees anticipating the change in weather.

As we walked, the skies began to darken.

The clouds were amazing.

Our April cuisine has switched from Celtic recipes to spring recipes featuring fresh spring produce from the Pacific Northwest, Egg recipes in honor of lammas, and classic French cuisine. Tonight for dinner we had

Julie Ann's Spring Pasta:

1 box of bow tie pasta

1 Tbsp. butter

1 shallot finely diced 1 garlic clove minced

1/2 cup diced prosciutto (delicious without the meat too)

1/2 cup finely sliced mushrooms (I like crimini)

1/2 lb fresh asparagus (fresh peas would also be great in this dish)

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp lemon pepper

Pinch of salt

1 and 1/2 cup milk (or cream or milk substitute)

1/2 cup favorite cheese grated (I used mild cheddar, but Parmesan would have been good too)

How to:

1) Put a large pot of water on to boil for pasta. Put a medium pot of water and steamer on to boil for asparagus.

2) In a large fry pan, saute shallots and garlic and onion in 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium low heat. Add prosciutto and mushrooms after 2 minutes.

3) While this cooks, add bow tie pasta to boiling water and cook according to package direction to al dente.

4) Rinse asparagus spears with water and cut each in half. Boil for 2 minutes. Drain and chop into bite size chunks. Add to fry pan. Stir well.

5) Prepare sauce. Melt 2 Tbsp butter in saucepan. Add flour. Cook over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in milk. Bring to boil. Add pepper and salt. When sauce begins to slightly thicken, add cheese. Pour over Prosciutto asparagus.

6) Place bow tie pasta in large bowl. Pour sauce over pasta and sprinkle lightly with parsley. Serve with a large fresh green salad and a good light wine. Enjoy. Delish!

Spring has sprung!

Happy vernal equinox! Oops, I mean Happy Spring!
We had another nice day here in the Pacific Northwest. Translation: It was not pouring!

We went for an afternoon walk at Juanita Bay Wildlife Refuge. Here's a cormorant enjoying the weather.

All the trees are beginning to show their spring finery.

A mud hen explores the shallows.

Lichens dot winter bark.

A hawk keeps watch.

Fluffy cattails blow in the breeze.

Filmy fungus grows amongus.

Intrepid springtime naturalists.

And a final shot of the amazing moon.

Folks have been wondering where the recipes went. They're still around! This month, we've been cooking up all kinds of Celtic recipes. Here's one of our favorite creations: Celtic Pizza. Don't let the number of ingredients intimidate you. It's easy and delish!

CELTIC PIZZA

Ingredients (makes enough for 2 pizzas)

White Sauce:
3 Tbsp margarine or butter

1.5 Tbsp flour

1 cup milk (soy works fine)

3/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp sage

salt and pepper to taste

Toppings List:

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2-3 breakfast sausages, sliced into 1/4 pieces (or more mushrooms)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2-3 small Yukon gold or any good new potato, washed and sliced very thin

1 cup chopped fresh baby spinach

1 Tbsp fresh parsley

1 cup finely grated monzarella cheese (or your fav. cheese)

Olive oil

Crust:

Your favorite 12" pizza crusts

Garlic salt

1 Tbsp dried minced parsley

How to:

1) Place sausages, mushrooms, olive oil, thyme in nonstick skillet. Cook over medium until sausages are cooked through and mushrooms are browing. Turn off heat.

2) Make white sauce. Heat butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for 1 min. Whisk in milk, spices. Bring to bubbling boil while stirring. Remove from heat.

3) Boil potatoes in salted water for 1 min. Drain immediately. Rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Drain and place on kitchen towel to dry.

4) Prepare crusts. Sprinkle crust lightly with garlic salt and dried parsley.

5) Preheat oven. I used 425 degrees.

6) To assemble: Spread 1/2 of white sauce over bottom of each crust. Top with spinach, sausage, and mushrooms. Add a good handful of cheese over each. Layer potatoe slices and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.

7) Bake for 16-18 minutes, but check after 12.

8) Remove from oven. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Serve up with large leafy green salad and an Irish red brewski. Delish!
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A Celebration of Light.

Today is Beltane, the Celtic festival of fire and light, signaling the end of cold and beginning of warm. Among other traditions, it is a celebration of nature. The flowering of our backyard Dogwood is one of our favorite signals of warm weather to come.

And the annual arrival of all our gardening starts is another. These came from yesterday's garden sale at Lake Washington Technical College where the horticulture students sell terrific plants to home gardeners for terrific prices!

And here are bucketfuls of future cherry tomatoes waiting to be repotted and planted out near the end of May (this is the Pacific NW!). These are from the Seattle Tilth Edible Plant sale today. This venue take place at the Good Shepard Center (a former convent) in a beautiful park like setting. Every type of future veggie and herb imaginable are available to tempt home farmers. We found an herb that smell just like 7-up! We also found eggplant, squash (not zucchini!), and chocolate mint starts.

A bevy of flowering plants to go in the center bed of our garden to attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

After the plant sale, we went to the opening day of the Redmond Farmer's market. Hmm, what's Anni turning to look at?

Alpacas in brown...

and white. Check out the teeth on that fellow in the back.

Our market finds today included oatmeal bread, St Jude's local sustainable tuna, Docco's tangy BBQ dipping sauce (awesome on grilled veggies and bbqed oysters), apple chipotle mustard and cranberry apple butter from Aldrich Farms, and a bag of beautifully fresh shallots. It was really fun to see all the farmers and craft folks again. We've been marketing with some of them for over 5 years!

Today for dinner we made that veggie lasagna with the tofu. It was divine! Here's the recipe:

Veggie Lasagna

One package of no boil lasagna noodles (we like the whole wheat ones)

One jar of organic mushroom pasta sauce (or your fav. sauce)

One medium sized zucchini, peeled and sliced very thin

One small onion, diced

1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced (this is optional, but trust us, put it in)

1 cup of sliced mushrooms

4 oz of firm tofu, drained and crumbled (we like the garlic herb flavored variety)

1-2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese (depending on how cheesy you like it.)

Parmesan cheese

Italian herbs (dried or fresh)

Black Pepper (we like coarse ground).

How to:

1) Preheat oven to 375

2) Pour 1/2 cup of pasta sauce in bottom of rectangular baking dish (nonmetal). Spread across with spatula.

3) Add one layer of lasagna noodles.

4) Add another 1/2 cup of pasta sauce and spread.

5) Add a layer of zucchini.

6) Add a layer of crumbled tofu

7) Add a light layer of mixed mushroom, onion, and red pepper.

8) Sprinkle lightly with mozzarella.

9) Repeat steps 3) through 8) once more.

10) Top with a layer of noodles. Pour remaining sauce over these noodles. Add remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with Italien herbs and black pepper.

11) Bake at 375 for 50-55 minutes

12) Serve with lightly garlicked toast (for sopping up the delicious sauce), a green salad, and Italian wine. Enjoy!