Black Bean and Spinach Lasagna

Have a lot going on this holiday season?? I love it, but it can be exhausting.

You sail through Halloween because it's the first; you/the kids dress up, everyone's excited, fall has arrived, etc, etc. Then Thanksgiving comes around and it's a family chaos bonanza, and you love it too because of the traditions, having everyone gather, and eating too much (mmm, pumpkin pie!). Then a few days later, barely recovered from Thanksgiving, December hits and you're in a shopping frenzy, going to holiday parties, friend/family open houses, and before you know it... cooking is a distant memory and a dinner of snickers and apple seems OK.

STOP. I have a great solution!


Black Bean and Spinach Lasagna. Yes, it's your solution. Why? Because it's delicious, it makes a ton, and freezes great. Make the recipe and cook half for dinner this week, and put the other half in your freezer for 2 weeks from now, when you are not even remotely going to want to cook OR have time to cook. A half-recipe will easily feed 3-4 people with a side (try garlic bread, or simple salad).

I'm wishing you fun, laughter and energy (given to your body through eating well!) this holiday season. Enjoy these moments.

Black Bean and Spinach Lasagne
from Cooking Light

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional, I omitted this as Tim doesn't like cilantro)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups (16 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with peppers (I used a mixed pre-shredded bag of cheddar and emmentaler), divided
2 (16-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (2-pound, 13-ounce) jar pasta sauce (try the Smokey Marinara sauce, tastes great!)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
9 precooked lasagna noodles
Garnish: chopped fresh cilantro (optional)


Stir together first 5 ingredients and 1 cup shredded cheese; set aside.

Mash beans with a potato masher or fork in a large bowl (* VERY important to do this first, as I dumped in the pasta sauce too quickly and found it hard to mash the beans after); stir in pasta sauce and cumin.

Spread one-third of bean mixture on bottom of a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish (use 2 smaller pans if you are going to divide the lasagna and freeze half).

Layer with 3 noodles, half of spinach mixture, and 1 cup cheese; repeat layers.

When you are close to the end: spread with one-third bean mixture, top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining bean mixture.

Bake, covered, at 350 for 1 hour; uncover and top with remaining cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts. Garnish, if desired.

Lasagna, lasagna and more lasagna:
- Roast Vegetable Lasagne, from Exclusively Food
- Roasted Squash-Onion Lasagna, from One Hot Stove
- Fennel and Tomato Lasagna, from Mostly Eating
- 3 Cheese Pesto Vegetable Lasagna, from Ms. Adventures in Italy

Guten appetit!

Mexican Rice Casserole

I was in a quandry last week over what to cook for our house guests, and had a lot of leftover bits and pieces in the fridge from our last few nights of dinners... in particular, I had about 3 cups of wild rice, 10 button mushrooms and random salad fixings.

Allrecipes to the rescue! I had heard of rice casseroles, so I went searching.

You must know by now that I'm crazy about mexican food, so this mexican rice casserole called to me from the beginning. There were a few other cheese rice casseroles, or green chili casseroles, but when I read the reviews for this one, I was sold. 4.5 stars is a pretty darn good rating, and I'll be giving it 5 when I remember my login/password.

The winning qualities of this recipe:
1. Easy
2. Can use up leftover veggies in fridge
3. Uses up leftover rice
4. Delicious
5. Very forgiving recipe with substitutions
6. Easy
7. Easy
8. Easy

Along with the casserole, my cousin whipped up a salad with more leftovers and we had our complete meal. Thanks Skye!!

Mexican Rice Casserole
adapted from Allrecipes

2 cups cooked rice (I used wild rice, but the original recipe calls for brown - use whatever you like!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup diced yellow onion
1 medium red pepper, diced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon cumin
salt to taste
ground cayenne pepper to taste (I used 1.5 teaspoons)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers, mostly drained
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a cheddar/emmentaler mix, but the original recipe calls for Swiss. Again, use what you have or like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large casserole dish.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion until tender. Mix in the bell pepper, and mushrooms. Season with cumin, salt, and ground cayenne pepper. Cook and stir approximately 3-5 minutes, until everything is well mixed and heated through.

In large bowl, mix the cooked rice, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, beans, chiles, and 1/2 the cheese.

Transfer to the prepared casserole dish, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Cover casserole loosely with foil, and bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover, and continue baking 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Want to see the original recipe? Click here.

* I apologize for the lack of photos, and will post some as soon as I remake this recipe and our mac computer is back from the shop. We had a hard-drive meltdown recently, and lost all pictures. A vegetarian hausfrau life tip: remember to back-up your hard-drives!

Guten appetit!

Curried Egg Salad, Pasta Casserole and a Disaster

Welcome Recipe Box Swap readers!

While this is an old post, it's one of our top 3 favorite meals and one I'd like to share with you. After making it a couple times, it's super easy to whip up. It's also great to double (or triple!) and to freeze (up to 2 months). Did I mention, it's delicious?!

I hope you enjoy. Thanks for visiting my food blog.

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A number of days ago, I promised more egg salad recipes- curried, to be exact. Well, sit back and enjoy the internet aromas of delicious curried egg salad recipes...

Mmmm, do you smell that? No? Sniff harder. Maybe it would help if you put your nose right up next to the screen... now?

Well, maybe you don't smell anything because there has been no curried egg salad cooking at my house this past week. Sorry- April Fools? No, no. I suppose that doesn't work for promises made days earlier, does it?

Well, I will give you a consolation prize AND curried egg salad (But later this week. Please, as if you don't STILL have colored eggs in your fridge to use, I've got time).

As a consolation prize, I'm giving you our make-it-three-times-a-month, can't-get-enough, gift-to-all-our-food-loving-friends, pasta casserole. I first made this 2 years ago, and since then, I kid you not, I triple any batch I make and we have this once a week. I also gift this casserole to all friends I feel are worthy.

It is de-licious, and I feel it's time to share the pasta casserole love with you. Enjoy!

Pasta Casserole
AKA Chipotle Macaroni & Cheese, from Cooking Light

1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
4 cups hot cooked elbow macaroni (about 2 cups uncooked)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350°.

Remove 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can; set aside. Remove 2 chipotle chiles from can; finely chop to measure 1 tablespoon. (Use half the chilis/sauce requested if you are not a spicy fan!)

Reserve remaining chiles and adobo sauce for another use. (I separate the remaining chilis and sauce into recipe portions, then put into ziplock sacks to freeze for the next time I make the casserole)

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chopped chiles, onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook 4 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring frequently. Sprinkle with flour; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat to medium; add tomatoes. Cook 3 minutes or until thickened. Add reserved 1 teaspoon adobo sauce, pasta, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, milk, Parmesan, and egg; stir to combine.

Spoon pasta mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with breadcrumbs. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly. (We like a crispy top, so it usually takes up to an hour for our casserole to cook as we like it)

Last, but most importantly, remove CAREFULLY from the oven. Otherwise, you risk this:


Yep, that's fresh, yummy, delicious pasta casserole on our kitchen floor. The pan slipped right out of my mitted hands and onto the floor as I was removing it from the oven. Drats, drats, drats.

Guess it was about time for one of my usual kitchen disasters. Karma was coming back to haunt me today for all the jokes I played. The final April Fools was on me!

Hope you enjoy your casserole more than we did, this time around.

Guten appetit!