Grilled Summer Vegsagna

Okay, the name of this dish might need a little work, but it's soooooo delicious. Oh yeah, and.... "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!".... this recipe is NOT dairy light. It's more on the side of dairy heavy. Sometimes a girl just needs gobs of cheese.

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here it is H-O-T, hot! The thought of turning on my gas stove or oven and heating up my entire downstairs is not my idea of a good time. In a perfect world I would simply grill out a lot; however, in my reality a grill has just not managed to fit its way into the budget yet. Luckily we have the next best thing. Armed with my handy dandy electric griddle and a bundle of farm fresh, organic veggies from our weekly CSA basket, I whipped up one of my husband's favorite summer dinners. My favorite part of Grilled Summer Vegsagna is how it's so deliciously light...perfect for Sunday dinner after having a big after church lunch.

 Let's get started...

Fresh from the farm veggies: Eggplant, Zucchini, Golden Zucchini, and a huge ripe Tomato

Supporting characters: EVOO, Sea Salt, and Ricotta Cheese...yes, it's whole milk cheese, but if you're going to go cheese, you might as well go all the way :-)

 The hardest part... 

Slice all the veggies. I know, I know. Grueling, isn't it? 

No really, this is the hardest part of the recipe. So as long as you don't slice off any appendages, this dinner should be a breeze for you.

Oil is good for the soul... 

Well, maybe not. But it is good at keeping your veggies from sticking and helps give them that golden brown color your looking for. I love my pampered chef oil spritzer. Fill it up with the oil of your choice (EVOO for me), give it a few pumps, and spray your pan/griddle down.

And we're Grillin'

I am usually not a fan of adding salt while cooking, but eggplant is an exception for me. I feel like it just needs a little sprinkling of sea salt to taste just right. I grilled the eggplant and zucchinis on a medium-high setting of 375 degrees, in batches for about 3-5 minutes each side...until they take on that nice golden brown color. As the veggies finish cooking, just set them off to the side on a plate and continue grilling the next batch. I always grill the tomatoes very last. 

No need to worry about anything getting cold. This dish isn't supposed to be served hot. Slightly above room temp is your goal.

Get Stacking...

Tonight I started with a bed of baby spinach. Usually I just stack it up on a plain plate, but the spinach was a nice touch. I think I'll keep it next time this is on the menu. The foundation of the Vegsagna stack is the eggplant, topped with a couple spoon fulls of ricotta. Next I stacked the zucchini and then another layer of ricotta, followed by the golden zucchini slices. The order of the veggie layers really depends on the size of your individual veggies. You want to stack biggest to smallest. 

After the third veggie layer (golden zucchini layer for me), it's really a matter of preference if you do anymore ricotta. Now I LOVE ricotta cheese. I would eat it by the spoonful if the act didn't elicit funny looks from my dear husband... So naturally I spooned a little more cheesy goodness onto my stack. If you've already started seeing double from the amount of cheese on your stack, please feel free to skip this last layer of ricotta and go straight for the tomato :-)   

I know I already mentioned that you should grill the tomatoes last, but I mean really last... like I don't touch tomato to griddle until the other veggies are all stacked between gobs of ricotta. Once your stack is almost complete, throw those toe-ma-toes (making sure you pronounce it correctly *wink*) on your piping hot grill for about a minute or two per side. We're not looking to really cook them, but rather getting them a little steamy. Placing that giant, steaming hot, tomato slice on top of the Vegsagna stack really just pulls the whole dish together.  

And Voilà!

Grilled Summer Vegsagna

Once again... the name is a working title, but the food is D'lish.

Enjoy!

Sautéed Red Cabbage

I hate slaw. I hate peppery slaw. I hate sweet slaw. I hate vinegary slaw... well I have never had vinegary slaw. I am willing to try it if someone else makes it, but I am not going out of my way to make something I most likely will not want to eat. If I make something that would pair well with a slaw type side, I like to substitute some simple and delicious sauteed cabbage. This is so easy and fast. It can be started and finished in under 15 minutes, faster if you are one of those super speedy veggie chopping people ( I am not one of those people).  

What we are working with..

Half a head of red cabbage and a giant scallion, from my CSA farm basket. 

Half a red and yellow pepper

Coconut oil for sautéing

Chop, chop, chop

Pretty easy, huh... Chop the cabbage. Chop the peppers. Chop the scallions.

Sauté time

Add about 2 tablespoons oil to a pan over medium high heat and then stir in all your veggies. Cook, covered, for about 5 to 8 minutes, stirring periodically so that nothing sticks or burns. I added a little bit of salt while it was cooking, which is something that I normally don't do, but I find cabbage (red especially) needs just a pinch to taste perfect.        

Finished Product

Here it is paired with a Sweet Potato Salmon Cake Hoagie. 

This sautéd cabbage adds great color to any dish and it is as delicious as it is pretty.  

Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes

My mother loves salmon, but hates salmon cakes. Weird, right? I think she doesn't like salmon cakes because the only ones she has ever tried consisted of salmon, egg, and bread crumbs... BORING! My salmon cakes pack a bunch of flavor and lots of yummy, healthy veggies. They were a huge hit with my men for dinner tonight. We will have to wait and see what my mom thinks of them...

This is a pretty quick meal. It can definitely be prepared in under 30 minutes. Take that Rachael Ray  :-) 

What we are working with

Salmon in a pouch. I prefer the pouched salmon, but you can use canned if you want. Or is you are an over achiever you can even baked some fresh salmon. Whichever salmon you use, just make sure it is skinless and boneless. 

And from my CSA farm basket... a big sweet potato, giant carrot, huge scallion, baby spinach, and a fresh from the farm egg.

Finish the list off with some panko bread crumbs (the sodium in panko is next to nothing), seafood seasoning, and dried dill.    

First things first...

Peel, chop, and boil the sweet potato until they are just soft enough to mash with a fork.

Chop, mince, shred...

True story...I am not a big fan of veggies, so I like to hide them in my food whenever possible. Carrots are my least favorite veggie, second only to gross, yucky celery. You will notice that carrots will almost always be shredded into my cooking and celery will never even touch my cutting board. So, yeah... I shredded the carrots, minced the scallions, and chopped up the spinach.   

Mash Up!

No need to break out the your potato masher/ricer or a mixer. I just crudely chopped at them with my spoon before adding in the rest of the ingredients.     

Mix Up!

Ready for my über technical measurements, huh? Throw your salmon and veggies in the bowl with the potatoes. Crack an egg into the mix. 

I personally crack my egg straight into the big bowl, but if you worry about getting shells in your food feel free to crack em into a small bowl first so you can fish out any shelled invaders. What can I say? I like living on the wild side of the kitchen :-)

Gage your spices to your taste. I probably used a little over a tablespoon of dill and 1.5 tablespoons of seafood seasoning. I was keeping it fairly mild because of my little man, but if I was not cooking for a toddler, I would have probably doubled the spices. I used three big handfuls of the panko crumbs, stirring them in after each handful to make sure my mixture wasn't getting to dry.             

Patty-cake, patty-cake

Form the mixture into patties. I made mine about the size of my palm and was able to get 9 patties out of the batch.

 

Oil the pan

I love coconut oil. It is better for you than vegetable oils and I think it makes most foods taste better. The coconut flavor is very mild and barely noticeable in the finished product. I consider it my secret ingredient. People often ask what the subtle mystery flavor is, but they never guess it is coconut. You can use whatever oil you prefer, but don't be afraid to give coconut a go.

I used about 3 tablespoons of oil, enough to give a good coat of oil to the bottom of my pan.     

Patty-cake... Oops, I already used that one...

Cook the salmon cakes over medium heat until they are nicely browned. I dare you not to eat the first one that you finish. Another perk of a toddler is that they are ALWAYS hungry, so I always have an excuse to "help" him taste test our food :-)   

Stick it on a bun and you're done

Yes, that is a hot dog bun, so I had to cut the salmon cake in half. We had brats the other night and I am a firm believer in using the buns God gave you. JK... My husband's friend, George, gave them to us on brat night. Layer the cake up with some lettuce and tartar sauce. They tasted great. It was like eating a salmon cake hoagie.

P.S. That lovely red leaf lettuce is from my CSA basket as well.    

Serve it up RIGHT!

I paired our salmon cake hoagies with a side of sauteed cabbage and some sliced pickles.

My husband gave this meal two big thumbs up and little man only dropped a piece or two on the floor, which is like a rave review from him :-)

Red Cabbage Rolls

Either you love cabbage rolls or you hate them... Or if you are like I was as a kid, you love the filling, but hate the cabbage.

I am now a full fledged cabbage roll lover. I usually make them just like my Great Aunt Patsy... ground beef, white rice, white cabbage, and condensed tomato soup... But the red cabbage in my farm basket this week was just calling out to be rolled :-)

Red cabbage is slightly peppery when compared to the white cabbage that I normally use, so I wanted the filling to match the wrapper. I tried to beef up the nutrition value of my rolls, while still keeping that comfort food quality I love about them.

Here is what I gathered for my red cabbage roll project... Red cabbage (obviously), a giant carrot,and a huge scallion from this week's CSA basket. Mustard greens from last week's basket...

How do 2 week old greens look so fresh and crisp you might ask? I just learned a little trick and am so stoked at how well it works. To keep your greens fresher longer, store them in a plastic bag and before sealing it tightly, blow air into the bag like a balloon. It has something to do with the carbon dioxide we expel in our breath or some kind of mumbo jumbo like that. The point is that these mustard greens looked and tasted great even after a long Frigidaire stay.  Okay, where was I? Ingredients...

5 cloves of garlic (I love me some garlic, so vampires beware), 1 cup brown rice, and natural, nitrate free regular sausage. The sausage really pairs well with the peppery cabbage. I am so glad I went that route instead of the normal ground beef.   

Ready. Set. Chop!

Or grate... I grated my giant carrot, minced the huge shallot, pressed the garlic, chopped the greens, and cooked the brown rice.

Although there is no picture, I promise you that before chopping, grating, or pressing I put a big pot of water onto boil* so I could let my cabbage have a good hot soak to soften the leaves. 

Mix it all up!

Obviously exclude the cabbage from the ALL part of that step. If you were to mix the cabbage in, then what would you roll it up in, huh? I just use my hands to mix. Cabbage roll rolling is a messy business. You might as well dig in with both hands right from the start.

Cut a Rug Leaf !

Again... no pics of the cabbage soaking in the boiling water*. Sorry. Using tongs and great care, remove your cabbage from the boiling water and peel off the outer leaves. I cut into the core of the cabbage, scoring it, before boiling to make it easier to remove the softened leaves. After removing a few leaves, stick that head (the head of cabbage, not your head) back into the water to soften up the next layers of leaves. 

Red cabbage is stiffer than the white cabbage that I am used to, so I had to toss a couple leaves back into the water to get a little softer for rolling purposes. 

 Don't stop now. You're on a Roll!

I have heard of lots of measurements for how much filling to roll in your cabbage leaf, from 1/4 cup to the size of a golf ball. I just eye ball it. The cabbage is very forgiving. If you use so much that the filling is spilling out or the leaf cannot possibly wrap all the way around it, guess what? You used too much. Just unroll and take some out. After I finished rolling and photographing this roll, I decided it was not full enough. I unrolled it and added more yummy goodness to its innards.

Start rolling at the base of the leaf. After your initial roll, fold in the two sides and continue rolling to the end of the leaf. Place the roll seem side down in your baking dish. 

   

Squeeze them in there...

This doesn't really need to be expanded on, does it?

Ooh Saucy!

This ingredient was not pictured earlier, but it is an important one and not to be forgotten. I used a jar of Trader Joe's Organic, No Salt Added Marinara Sauce. Pour the sauce in and shake it all around. Really, just jostle it a little to help the sauce spread out evenly. Please do not go all cray cray shaking a pan of red sauce all over you kitchen and then blame me.  

Cover your dish and bake it at 350 degrees for 2 hours. I know, TWO HOURS! This was a surprise to me too, but it makes sense. When I use the thinner and more delicate white cabbage, I only need to bake it for 45 minutes to an hour; however, red cabbage is firmer and sturdier, so it makes sense that it would take longer to cook. We were starving after an hour because we spent that hour throwing around the softball outside while dinner cooked, so we went ahead and ate one roll. It was still good, but definitely required a knife to cut. After the additional hour or baking our red cabbage rolls were absolutely heavenly. They cut apart with just our forks and melted in our mouths with a delicious combination of flavors. It was well worth the extra hour of cooking.

 So Yummy!

*Boiling Water side note - You might notice that my cooked red cabbage looks a little blueish-purple. This is because I did not know that the alkaline minerals in tap water would turn the cabbage blue, unless an acidic agent, like lemon juice, vinegar, or wine, was added to the pot. Apparently it only takes about a teaspoon of whatever acidic substance you prefer. Next time I will probably use rice wine vinegar because of its mild flavor. 

Extra! Extra!

        There is always extra filling left over, but don't let it go to waste. My little man is always hungry... and the act of me cooking tends to send him into a feeding frenzy... So I pressed the last of the filling into a patty and grilled it up for some pre-dinner, toddler noshing.  

In my normal cabbage roll recipe I use white rice that does not need to be cooked prior to rolling. When cooking up the extra filling into patties, the rice will expand and start to stick out all around the patties. Some people then call them porcupine patties, but we affectionately refer to them as roadkill burgers. It is the West Virginia in me coming out ;-)   

What the heck is a CSA?

Community Supported Agriculture

I always thought CSA stood for "crop share something that starts with A." I had the wrong words but the right idea. Local Harvest really spells it out nicely for you though....

"Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

This arrangement creates several rewards for both the farmer and the consumer. In brief...

Advantages for farmers: 
- Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin 
- Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flow 
- Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for consumers: 
- Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits 
- Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking 
- Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season 
- Find that kids typically favor food from "their" farm – even veggies they've never been known to eat 
- Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown"

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

This is our first year participating in a CSA. We signed up with the lovely Heidi of  Heidi's Homegrown and Organics. It's only been a few couple weeks, but I already love, Love, LOVE it! I never know what I am going to get in my weekly basket. So far I've been getting some veggies that I normally wouldn't buy, so it's really getting me to think out of my normal cooking box. I am so excited for the new and delish meals in my family's future. 

Week 1: Lots of organic leafy greens, asparagus, and strawberries.

Week 2: So much organic goodness! Double the strawberries, cabbage, romain lettuce, spinach, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, huge scallions, giant carrots, AND fresh, local, raw HONEY. 

And Now For Something Completely Different...

...Well not really. There are tons of cooking blogs out there, but this one is mine. For a second I almost busted out with the Rifleman's Creed, blog styled. How about instead... And Now For Something Like a Mini Biography of Me :-)

I am wife to my Airman husband and mother to my awesome little man. I have always loved to cook, right from the very first time I made spaghetti soup from a recipe in my Mickey Mouse  Cookbook (spaghetti soup is a lot like spaghetti, but you skip the recipe step about pouring out the pasta water). My specialities were always yummy comfort foods like mashed potatoes and cubed steak drowning in brown gravy or gooey, cheesy chicken parmesan. Of course I ended up falling in love with my sexy military man and the Air Force requires him to stay fit and healthy. Suddenly gravy soaked meat and potatoes were not going to cut it anymore. I started trying to make things leaner and cook from more of a whole foods kind of place. Gone were the days of powdered packets and automatically salting everything I cooked. I love making good and "good for you" meals for my man.

About a year ago my awesome little man was born. We found out early on that he had a dairy allergy, and because he was exclusively breastfeeding, that meant I had to cut dairy out of my diet for him. His allergy is not life threateningly severe, but big dairy (like milk, butter, cheese, ice cream) will make him very sick to the stomach, so it is something we strive to avoid. If you have ever dealt with a dairy allergy, then you will know all about looking out for "hidden dairy" in your foods. Thankfully we do not have to worry too much about that. We are an almost dairy free family, so I like to say we are Dairy Light :-)

If you are looking for a cooking blog with exact measurements and step by step scientific directions, then this is not the blog for you. For me cooking is not a scientific method. It's one big, messy, art collage and sometimes it's a big messy flop. I am a visual person/learner, so I take lots of pictures along the way. I'm also overly talkative and that spills out into the written/typed word as well, so be warned.

I have been telling my husband for years that I wanted to start a blog about my cooking, and now that I am a full time homemaker and the little man is FINALLY sleeping through most of the night, I have the time. I hope you enjoy :-)