HEAVENLY BODIES ARCHIVE September 2012 (3)

Welcome two new folks to our growing Heavenly Bodies group.  Lots of indications here that Fall is coming including looking for heavier, more filling fare than summer salads.  

I just tried this Lasagna Recipe of course with my twists. Learned that from my special cook friend.   Changes. 

 I used a mushroom, onion no-oil pasta instead of the marinara.  

Hemp seeds instead of nuts.  

Whole wheat lasagna noodles 3 layers took 12 noodles.

I blanched fresh spinach instead of using frozen and spooned it together with filling # 1.

Added Gimmie Lean Sausage as a layer as well as thinly sliced zucchini. 

Everywhere possible used reduced salt products. 

Used half tofu and half beans. 

Made a half recipe. Shared some with friends and still had 8 large servings left.

Woulda' :: made another 1/2 recipe of the faux Parmesan for the top. 

Realized this takes a bit of time.  

Got our first OMG email from this recipe........  OMG; how could you bear to give any of that away?  I could have eaten an entire casserole!  Thanks for sharing.  I think it was yummier than the stuff that's always too cheesy.   

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From Healthy Girl's Kitchen.  Interview with Chef Aj and her book Unprossed. 

Plant-Based Nutritarian Weight Loss Recipe Blog

MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2011

Unprocessed: Chef Aj's Disappearing Lasagna Recipe



In the past few weeks, Chef Aj and I have struck up a nice little friendship on Facebook. I have been reading her new cookbook Unprocessed and been really blown away by her personal story, which is the first 52 pages of the book. I couldn't put it down.When she asked me if I would like to blog about and publish some of the recipes from the new cookbook, I was like, absolutely! To be honest, I was going to make a bunch of her recipes and then write a review of the book anyway, so getting her permission to publish the recipes along with the review is amazing.

Me: "I would love to start with your favs. I did hear that your lasagna is out of this world!"

Chef Aj: "I think the lasagna (especially the bean/kale variation) is the best recipe in the book. I also recommend the Sweet Potato Nachos and the Spicy Peanut Noodles!"

So yesterday morning I set out to make this famous Disappearing Lasagna. I do want to warn you, this is not a recipe to start when you are in a time crunch. I recommend a lazy Sunday morning for this one! The smells that will permeate your kitchen are delightful.

So without further adieu, here is the first recipe from Unprocessed.

Chef A.j.'s Disappearing Lasagna

Printable Recipe

2 boxes of no boil rice lasagna noodles (I used 1 box of whole wheat from Whole Foods and followed the directions on the box, boiling them for 4 minutes and then rinsing each noodle well in cold water)
6 cups oil-free marinara sauce

Filling No. 1:
1 box extra firm tofu, drained and wrapped in paper towel to remove excess moisture OR 2 15 oz. cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 oz. fresh basil leaves (I used 2 Tbsp dried)
1 cup pine nuts, raw cashews or hemp seeds
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup low-sodium miso (I used regular miso)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 pounds frozen chopped spinach or 1 pound frozen chopped kale

Filling No. 2:
2 pounds sliced mushrooms
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tamari
1 large red onion

4 oz can sliced olives, rinsed and drained (optional)

Faux Parmesan:
In a food processor, grind 1 cup raw cashews or almonds, 1/2 cup nutritional yeast and 1 Tbsp of salt-free seasoning, until a powdery mixture is achieved. If you like it more chunky, process less.

Make the filling in a food processor fitted with the "S" blade, by adding tofu, basil, garlic, lemon juice, miso, nutritional yeast, nuts and red pepper flakes. Puree until smooth. Add drained spinach or kale and process again.

In a large non-stick saute pan, saute chopped onion in 2 Tbsp water or broth until translucent, about 8 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Add garlic, mushrooms and tamari and saute until browned. Taste mixture, adding more garlic/tamari according to your taste. Cook until mushrooms appear to be glazed and there is no more liquid left in pan.

Pour 3 cups of the sauce in a 9"x13" lasagna pan. Place one layer of noodles on top. Cover noodles with half of tofu/spinach mix, then with half of mushroom mix. Place another layer of noodles on top and add remaining halves of tofu and mush. Place one more layer of noodles on top and smother evenly with remaining sauce. Sprinkle olives on top of sauce and sprinkle with faux parmesan. (I put black olives on top of half of the casserole for my husband and put thinly sliced red peppers on my half).

Bake uncovered 375 degrees for one hour. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I decided to add a layer of extremely thinly sliced zucchini, 'cause I had one in the fridge that I needed to use up. It was a great addition! Next time, I'd make sure to have two zucchini around so that I could add it as two layers. The more veg, the better. 

When we ate it for lunch my husband exclaimed, "This is the best lasagna ever!" I told him to get on Facebook and send Chef Aj a message 'cause he owes it to her!' I will definitely be making this again, most likely for special occasions when I want to feed a crowd. It really is that delicious!

Check out Chef A.j.'s book and the reviews over on Amazon . . .

Another book stated as the 101 for plant based eaters... The Pleasure Trap.  

Thoughts on The Pleasure Trap

Many, many weeks ago, the fine people over at Happy Herbivore were doing a book club. The selection was The Pleasure Trap by Doug Lisle, Phd and Alan Goldhamer, D.C. This book happened to have been on my radar for quite some time, and I was inspired to finally read it. I promised that I would share my thoughts as I made my way through the book.Well, that didn't quite work out.  But I bring up The Pleasure Trap again because it is an extremely important book, one that every single reader of HGK should get their hands on.The basic premise of the book is that humans operate under a basic motivational triad: the pursuit of pleasure, the avoidance of pain, and the conservation energy. There's A LOT more to the book than that, but for our purposes, I want to focus on that.Here's how that motivational triad operates in our lives: let's say you get home from work, tired and very hungry (sound familiar?). Why is it so hard to start making a healthy dinner, and not start snacking, at that point in the day? Why is it almost impossible to eat celery sticks while you are ravenously hungry? Why do you want to grab something tasty and high in calories (maybe your kids' dinner food or other less desirable food that you have around) as you are getting your dinner together?Because the motivational triad is at work. Humans at their evolutionary core want to have pleasure (good tasting food laden with salt, fat and sugar), avoid pain (the pain of hunger and exhaustion) and conserve energy (grab what's highest in calories that is easiest to access rather than use up valuable energy to make a healthy dinner).That jar of peanut butter you can't put down? Perfect. High in calories and extremely pleasurable with it's salt, sugar and fat. It would be very difficult for many humans to resist.It's important to actually read the book though, because the way the authors explain human history is fascinating, fun and easy to read. And you want to internalize all of this knowledge if you struggle with food addiction.A couple of things to take away from the book:(1) It's not our fault. It's how humans are wired, and it makes sense to be wired this way given our history of alternating periods of feast and famine. We are here today because our ancestors were the ones who could eat a lot and pack on the pounds when food was plentiful. Without that ability, they would have starved when there was famine. Our problem is that in modern times, it all feast all the time. And biologically, we are wired to eat tasty food that is high in calories when it is available. And it's always available . . .Why is that so important to understand? So that we can forgive ourselves and move on to helping ourselves instead of beating ourselves up. Many people eat more when they are stressed out. Being angry with yourself is a stress inducing feeling. Bad feelings and stress lead many people to eat more. Letting go of this idea that we are defective and bad can only lead to less stress, more positive thoughts and thus less overeating as a result. This revelation is probably my number one take away from The Pleasure Trap.(2) The only defense against our nature is to be prepared. That includes getting rid of anything in your kitchen that you can't resist when you are hungry, angry, lonely, tired, bored, etc. (all painful feelings that humans want to avoid). So clear out your kitchen now completely of those trigger foods if you haven't done so already. 'Cause under no circumstances are you going to be able to resist them at some point, no matter how much plant based food you are eating.It also includes having the food that you want to eat at the ready. It was reading The Pleasure Trap that made me see that preparing dinner ahead of time is the best way to go to ensure my continued success on a plant based diet. I finally took action on that. Sure, it does take planning, preparation and a good chunk of my weekend, but what's the alternative? Give in to my nature and stuff high calorie food into my mouth when I am cooking dinner at 6 pm on weeknights? Not when I have alternatives.Have you read The Pleasure Trap? Have you seen any lectures from Doug Lisle? How did the experience effect you?Chef Aj says that The Pleasure Trap is 101 reading for anyone on a plant-based diet. If you haven't read The Pleasure Trap, what are you waiting for? Why are you resisting?. 

 Blessings and happy fixin's.   Elin.