Tag Archives: healthy recipes

Spring/Summer Zucchini Lasagna

I came across this recipe for spring greens zucchini lasagna in Experience L!fe magazine. I finally had a chance to try it last night. It came out pretty good and I was particularly excited about the roasted carrot sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce. Let me know what you think, here are my adaptations.

carrots

What you need:

  • 4 large, whole carrots, washed and trimmed
  • 1 red pepper
  • 5 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
  • Salt and black pepper (I used pink salt and peppercorns)
  • 1 bag power greens (baby spinach, baby red chard, baby kale)
  • 11/2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 4 cloves garlic, (1 pressed 3 roasted)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 tbs. chopped fresh dill
  • 1/4 cup shredded quattro formaggio cheese (or any shredded cheese you like)
  • 8 lasagna noodles (optional)

zucchini lasagna

What you do for sauce:

Preheat oven to 375.

Roast carrots, red pepper and 3 cloves of garlic for 25 minutes or until tender.

Mix carrots, pepper, garlic and fresh dill in blender with 2 cups of vegetable stock and salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: I would have preferred more sauce, next time I will do 6-8 carrots and 3 cups of stock

cooked zucchini

What to do:

While carrots are roasting slice zucchinis lengthwise.

Mix ricotta cheese with egg, garlic, lemon zest and salt and pepper

Pour a layer of sauce at the bottom of a 9×12 pan and put down a layer of zucchini

Pour half of ricotta over first layer. Add half of your greens.

Put a second layer of zucchini, a layer of noodles (optional) and a layer of sauce

Pour half of ricotta and rest of greens.

Layer of zucchini and noodles. Pour rest of sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 covered for 35-45 minutes and uncovered for 10-15 or until cheese is melted.

 

***The original recipe roasted all the veggies first before making the lasagna. If it was early spring I would probably roast everything because the weather is still cooler or more back and forth and the roasting adds a warming element to the recipe. Because it was in the 80s yesterday and we are closer to summer than spring now I did not roast the veggies except for the sauce so that it is not quite as warming in nature. Also it was less time with an oven on! 🙂

 

 

Healthy Fall Dessert: Caramel Apple Crisp with Nuts

I came across this recipe for caramel and knew it had to be used in some way. In Chinese Medicine as we move into the colder months it is recommended to eat fruits cooked because of fruit’s cooling nature when raw. This is a great way to do just that, especially if you’ve recently gone apple picking. 🙂 I’ve made this Apple Crisp as healthy as possible. 🙂

      

 

What you need: (apple crisp)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup flour (i used whole wheat)

1/2 cup almond meal (you could use 1 cup of almond meal or flour instead of the combo depending on your preferences/allergies etc)

1/2 cup melted coconut oil 3 cups apples (peeled, cored and chopped)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

     

(salted caramel)

1 cup soft Medjool dates, pitted (appx 11 dates)

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup almond milk, plus extra for desired texture

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon coconut oil

optional: 1 cup soaked cashews or almonds ( i didn’t use the nuts this time)

     

 Directions:  

Preheat oven to 350F Lightly grease 8 inch square pan In large bowl, combine sugars, oats, flour, almond meal, and coconut oil. Mix until crumbly. Spread half into pan. Spread apples evening over crumb mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon and a little extra sugar if you prefer. In blender, mix your caramel ingredients and blend until smooth to your desired consistency. I added extra almond milk to mine until it was creamy. When its to your liking spread over apples. Layer with remaining crumb mixture and bake until bubbly and brown. Appx 40 minutes.

     

Natural Medicine Cabinet Essentials: Medicinal Pickled Garlic

I came across this recipe several weeks ago and can’t stop talking about it! This is super easy to make and its delicious. Garlic is the perfect food for the Fall, lung/large intestine time of year.

What you need:

a mason jar, any size you like

enough cloves of garlic to fill your mason jar

apple cider vinegar (bragg’s is best, whatever you choose make sure it has the “mother” in it)

local raw honey

***If you hate peeling garlic as much as I do give this Garlic peeling trick a try, it really works!

Fill your mason jar with cloves of garlic and fill with apple cider vinegar to cover. Place in a warm place for 3 weeks. (if you place your jar in a sunny place the cloves of garlic may turn blue or green. This is normal and the garlic is perfectly fine. I had a batch that turned blue and then turned white again)

After your 3 weeks is up take half of the apple cider vinegar and set aside. You can use this for marinades or salad dressings. I’ve done both. I made a delicious pork tenderloin with this garlic infused apple cider vinegar and it was amazing. I also have used it as an oil and vinegar dressing for salad which was equally wonderful. Yesterday I used some to cook chicken with for a stir fry and the smell was mouth watering yum.  Its worth trying this just for the garlic infused marinade!

The other half of your vinegar you can place in a pan and add equal parts local raw honey. Heat just until the honey has blended with the vinegar so as not to kill all the good stuff in your mixture and pour back over your garlic. Set your jar in a dry cool place for another 3-4 weeks and then use as you wish. This should keep for up to 1 year.

The pickling process makes the garlic very easy to eat straight and with less of an intense “garlic breath” after effect. There is also an interesting phenomenon where when you eat one you will crave another. (the same is true for the marinade) Eat one clove a day for your health or 3 cloves a day to ward off a cold.

Let me know what you think!

Sarah Canga

p.s. If garlic breath is scaring you away from all the great benefits try 1 or 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley after eating garlic or chew on 2 teaspoons of fennel or cardamom seeds.

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Yellow Tomato Salsa

I’m overrun with tomatoes in the garden and wanted to share how I cook because a lot of you ask. I started with the thought that a yellow tomato salsa with be a great spleen/stomach dish due to its yellow color and sweet flavor. I googled a yellow tomato salsa recipe and then adapted it based on what I had on hand. As I was cooking and grabbing new ingredients I realized I had a balanced dish full of great things to keep my family healthy this fall. We plan on enjoying this salsa with our morning eggs, enjoy!

What you need: 

A bowl of yellow tomatoes (spleen/stomach)

A handful of tomatillos (liver/gall bladder)

A small red onion (heart/small intestine and lung/large intestine)

8 cloves of garlic (lung large/intestine)

2 jalapenos (de-seeded)  (liver/gall baldder)

A handful of fresh, hand picked basil (liver/gall bladder)

olive oil and apple cider vinegar to drizzle (liver/gall bladder)

salt and pepper (kidney/urinary bladder)

Prep:

Preheat oven to 375. Wash your goodies. For this batch I didn’t cut the tomatoes but I think next time I might halve them. I cut the tomatillos in quarters. I roughly chopped the onion, garlic, jalapenos, and basil.

I put foil on 2 cookie sheets and layed the tomatoes down first then sprinkled the rest of the ingredients on top ending with olive oil and apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper.  Cook until roasted apprx 45 minutes. Fill jars and enjoy!