Zucchini Lasagna

This summer, one of my mom's coworkers gave her a giant zucchini from her garden, and my mom had no idea what to do with it. We had SO MUCH zucchini, and my mom tried out so many zucchini recipes. One of my favorites that she made was this zucchini lasagna, which used zucchini slices in place of the pasta, and I was so in love with it that I called my mom up and asked her for the recipe.

This recipe is a modification of what she gave me, but most of it is pretty similar. It was surprisingly simple! I've never made lasagna, but I'm definitely less afraid of it now!

Here is (some of) the cast of characters:

In this picture I've got 1 zucchini (although I really should have had 2...), onions, celery, garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste, fat free ricotta, part skim mozzarella, and 93% lean ground turkey. Not pictured: fresh baby spinach, dried oregano, fresh basil, salt, pepper, olive oil, and parmesan cheese.

The thing I love about this recipe is that it's so filling, and the heaviest components are the turkey and the cheese--which aren't so terrible for you. 

The first thing I did, even before leaving for the grocery, was peel and slice my zucchini into as think pieces as possible. My knife skills are a little sub-par, so these slices aren't really even. But they get the job done! Like I said, I definitely should have used more than one zucchini to have more of a pasta-like layer, but I worked with what I had.

After I sliced them, I sprinkled salt on each side of every zucchini slice and let them sit to pull out some of the extra moisture. Nobody likes watery lasagna. Just sayin'.

The first thing I did was heat up my "saucepan" (it's just a pot) and drop in some olive oil, minced garlic, and diced onions. I already had the garlic and onions prepared and chillin in my fridge, since I use both of those things frequently enough to just always keep them around. I'd say this was about 1/3 cup of diced onions and 1 clove of garlic. I would probably be a little more generous next time around.

Not pictured: I dropped in some celery last minute because I thought it would be nice.

I drizzled in just a tiny bit more olive oil (like a teaspoon?) and threw the turkey into the pot to brown it up with the onions and garlic on medium high heat. I forgot to season the meat though, so DON'T DO THAT. Salt and pepper goes a long way. After the turkey was all cooked through, I drained some of the excess water.

I dropped the temperature down to medium low and poured in two 8 oz cans of tomato sauce (not jarred sauce! There is a difference!) and about 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. If I were to use jarred sauce (which my mom did), I would just brown the turkey and pour the sauce over it. But I didn't have jarred sauce and these cans of tomato sauce have been sitting on the shelf for like six months. So I got it done.

At this point I went to taste the sauce and realized that I didn't season the turkey, so I just attacked the whole thing with salt and pepper. After that was all sorted out, I threw in about a tablespoon's worth of dried oregano.

I've declared my love for fresh basil on this blog before, and I still stand firm on that statement. I love basil. I chopped some up and threw it in the sauce, and took the sauce off the heat.

I also added some parmesan cheese because my mom told me to. This was about 1/4 cup. I mixed it all together and you know what? I probably could have stopped here and just poured it over some pasta. BUT THIS IS LASAGNA. So I carried on.

I sautéed a bunch of spinach with some garlic, and I used a little bit of olive oil to get the job done. I only made enough spinach for one layer, though, because I forgot about how much spinach cooks down and I actually needed to leave some fresh spinach for like...the rest of the meals I'm eating this week. Go figure. THEN I STARTED TO ASSEMBLE THE LASAGNA!!!

I only had one zucchini, so I used a smaller square pan. I think this is 9x9? Whatever. First step is to put some sauce down on the bottom!

The next step is to lay down some zucchini slices, or in my case, desperately stretch the amount of zucchini you have to cover one layer. 

Of course, I patted the slices dry with paper towels because they were very wet at this point. Salt, man. It does the trick.

I've never actually made lasagna before, but my mom told me to put the ricotta down before the spinach?? I just did what she told me. I was skeptical about using fat free ricotta, but the final product actually wound up being pretty similar to regular ricotta so 100% would use again.

I laid down my one single layer of spinach down on top of the ricotta, and despite using almost an entire container's worth of spinach, I only had this dinky little sprinkling of spinach to show for it. Pathetic.

And then I started the whole thing all over again! Sauce, zucchini, ricotta, NO spinach because I ran out, and then one last layer of sauce. Mmm. Lasagna's are just like ogres. They have layers.

I used about 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese to top off the lasagna, but you could definitely afford to use more. I was just trying to be portion-conscious, since I originally intended for this to be four servings. It wound up being six.

I popped the lasagna in a 350 degree oven for forty five minutes, and O M G when I pulled it out of the oven, this is was the beauty I beheld:

Cheesy, tomato-y, and SO SO SO delicious. It did wind up being a little watery, but a little water never hurt anybody! There's so much going on in this lasagna, that you don't really miss the pasta. The zucchini has such a lovely and neutral flavor and texture, so it acts to bulk up the dish and let the sauce and cheese be the stars. And boy were they stars. SHOW STOPPERS.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:

-Zucchini (probably 2)

-1 lb of ground turkey

-1/2 onion, diced

-2 cloves of garlic, diced

-2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce

-1 tbsp of tomato paste

-2 cups of part skim mozzarella cheese

-1 15 oz container of fat free ricotta cheese

-About 3 cup of fresh spinach

-Salt & Pepper

-1 tbsp of dried oregano

-1 tbsp of fresh basil

-3 tbsp of olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1.) Peel and slice the zucchini into thin strips, and place those strips on a tray in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and flip to sprinkle the other side with salt. Let sit while you prepare the other layers.

2.) In a saucepan (or pot) on medium heat, sauté the onions and half of the garlic in about 1 tbsp of olive oil until the onions begin to look translucent.

3.) Add about 1 tsp of olive oil to the pan, and brown the turkey with the onions and garlic on medium high heat. Season the turkey with salt and pepper.

4.) Once the turkey is cooked through, add the cans of tomato sauce and the tomato paste and reduce heat to medium low. Stir occasionally until the sauce begins to thicken.

5.) Off the heat, add the oregano, basil, and parmesan cheese. Set aside for layering.

6.) Sauté the spinach with the remaining garlic and olive oil until the spinach has cooked down. Set aside, and begin layering.

7.) Layer the lasagna: Start with a layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 9 inch pan. Cover with a layer of zucchini slices. Spread half of the ricotta cheese on top of the zucchini slices. Evenly layer the spinach on top of the ricotta. Repeat the process with another layer of sauce, zucchini slices, and ricotta. The final layer should be sauce covered with the mozzarella cheese.

8.) Place the lasagna in a 350 degree oven and cook for 45 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to look brown around the edges.

9.) Enjoy! Serves 6.

My Weekend in Photos

I had a really busy weekend, but it was super fun and I am exhausted! I think if I get lucky, I might manage to go to bed before midnight tonight. I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves.

Juggling

I pack my schedule pretty tightly these days. Today looked like this:

5:30-8 AM: Wake up, get ready for the day, head to class.

8 AM-12 PM: Class

12-12:30 PM: Quick break for snack

12:30-1:45 PM: Class

1:45-3:10 PM: Make/eat lunch and take a breather before leaving for class

3:10-4:45 PM: Class (with time for walking over)

4:45-5 PM: Quick quick break

5-6:30 PM: Chorale officers meeting

6:30-6:45 PM: Gather things and head to main street

6:45-7:45 PM: Dinner with Maggie

7:45-9 PM: Zumba

Tuesdays and Thursdays are pretty devoid of free time for me, and it's days like these that make me feel really overwhelmed with the load I've taken on. I'm taking a full coarse-load this semester with a practicum placement, preparing for my senior recital, President of our student chapter of ACDA, secretary of Chorale, committee chair of SAI, AND I'm also trying to incorporate health and fitness into the mix. I feel like I'm constantly juggling a thousand things, and when I sit back and realize that I've only had like a couple of hours (or less) when I was occupied with an activity, it makes me wonder what I'm neglecting to make the rest of these things work.

For me, it has always been keeping in touch with people. One of the reasons I loved being home this summer was that I didn't have any responsibilities to keep up with, and I could just drop whatever I was doing (...which was nothing) to hang out with my sister, or Sarah, or my other friends. It was awesome and it reminded me just how much I love all those people. But since I've been back to school, I haven't had any sort of meaningful interaction with any of those people (except for my sister--probably just because I was at home, within a physical proximity). My friends like to joke that I always fall off the face of the Earth...but they're right. When my ambition makes me bite off more the I can chew, I sacrifice my ability to keep in touch with the world outside of UD.

I definitely feel like I'm taking it a day at a time, trying to remain relaxed and unstressed. The semester is only two weeks in, and I know things are going to eventually get crazy...but I'm already feeling like my days are tightly packed with activities. What else is going to suffer when I start getting more assignments? Will I lose all contact with the outside world? Will my parents forget the sound of my voice? Will I fall off the healthy living wagon again? Will my recital music fall to the wayside?

When I was around 9 years old, we went to Myrtle Beach and I decided to go boogie boarding by myself. I went out a little farther than I should have--especially because I don't know how to swim--and the waves pulled me out too far and under. I remember feeling panicked...but also trying not to panic. I was trying my best to do anything that wouldn't make the situation worse, all the while still gasping for air.

That's a lot how I feel right now with the load I've taken on. I'm doing my best to stay calm and not let the pressure from everything pull me under the water. I'm taking as many breaths as I can, whenever I get the chance. But in this situation, I can't wait for someone to realize that I'm in trouble and pull me out of the deep end. I need to save myself...and I don't know how to do that. I'm trying, and I know that it counts for something. I just hope that my best is enough.

Health and Fitness Goal Update

So after my post on Monday, I received a ton of supportive comments on Facebook and in person and via text message:

I always feel really nervous when I share these posts that people are going to judge me or think I'm lame or too cheesy or something like that. But honestly...it's super motivating to see comments like these. It definitely gives me an extra boost of accountability.

ANYWAYS

At the end of July, I set some health and fitness goals for myself through the end of September. I wanted to do a little update and share my progress:

1.) Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

Long term: By the end of September and onwards, I should be getting at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day more than half of which are vegetables
I am currently eating five servings of fruits and vegetables daily (as of last week...), even though most of those servings are of fruit. I'm halfway there...pacing myself.

2.) Work on eating six times a day, with three main meal times and three healthy snacks.

Long term: By the end of September I should be eating three meals a day each consisting of 1-2 servings of vegetables, lean protein, and a complex carbohydrate while also eating three snacks between meals consisting mainly of protein dense foods or fruits/veggies.

This one is kind of rough. My large meals vary in content, and I eat a lot of bread to satisfy the carb component of my meal. Right now, my nutritionist is having me focus on staying within a certain calorie limit rather than fixating on bread vs. whole grains or fruits vs. veggies and all that good stuff. But I have been trying to keep my snacks within the limit I set. So this one is a work in progress

3.) Drink lots of water.

Long term: By the end of the third week of August I should be drinking at least eight 8 oz glasses of water a day, limiting myself to no more than one non-water beverage (coffee or tea) and eliminating all soft drinks or juices.

I actually haven't been keeping track of my water intake...but it's been higher lately because my schedule is more structured. I'm way past the due date for this one...but I have been limiting myself to one or less non-water beverage every day. Maybe I will make a water checklist...

4.) Get into the habit of meal planning.

Long term: By the end of September, have time set aside every Friday morning to plan out meals and snacks for each day of the upcoming week and writing up a grocery list for the weekend.

I actually did a bit of meal planning at the end of August, but found myself not following it. What really works for me right now is coming up with options for the week that have the same ingredients, and buying those ingredients so I have a variety of things to eat. But I do need to keep planning ahead, so I'm going to stick with this goal for now.

5.) Cut back on eating out.

Long term: By the end of September, cut down the number of times eating out to twice a week, including both fast food or eat-in restaurants.  Wawa is not an exception.  Neither is Saxbys.

This goal was actually reached out of necessity. For like the past two weeks I have been a little bit broke. So going out to eat wasn't really an option. I think I went out like an average of three times a week over the past two weeks, so we're getting there. It's already Wednesday and I haven't gone out to eat yet..although I am meeting Maggie for dinner tomorrow at Peace a Pizza. So I'm still down to one this week! Hopefully I will keep it up...my wallet depends on it!!


6.) Get used to counting calories.

Long Term: By the end of September, be tracking the calories consumed each day as well as physical activity done.

It's been a week since I started counting calories! It's been working really well for me, as a way to both keep track of what I'm eating as well as how much of my daily intake each of those things represents. I had originally done a servings checklist, which I still think is a great tool...but this is working for me so far! I don't use any specific app, I've just been writing stuff down on a page in notepad because it is more convenient to me.

I also skipped tracking on Friday and Saturday, but it's okay!! I'm working on it!!

7.) Work out more often.
Since I'm actually more available to work out during the summer, my long term goal is to be going to the gym or using a workout DVD at least four times a week by the end of September, and tohave time scheduled out for working out.  I also need to find an accountabilibuddy by the middle (15th) of September.

The new gym on campus opened this semester, and it's BEAUTIFUL. I went twice last week, and I've already been there twice this week--I took a Zumba class yesterday and used the machines today. And I've already made plans for Zumba tomorrow night as well. As far as accountabilibuddies go, I've been finding it really effective to find someone who will either go with me to the gym or tell me that they will meet me there. Because if they bail, it's usually at the last minute and then I'm already at the gym so I might as well work out. So far, just knowing that someone might be there to hold me accountable has been enough to get me there. Let's hope it stays that way!


I'll probably do another check in with new goals after September is over. There are some challenges that this month will bring, and I'm a little bit nervous but also pretty confident in myself. I've tried and tried for so long that I'm almost sick of trying, and the only option left is to just get it done. So I'm gonna get it done.

TAG: Back to School

Even though this is my second week of classes, I'm still getting into the mode of being back at school. So I figured I would do a "Back to School" tag for today's entry. Ideally I would have vlogged this...since it was a vlog tag....but it's pretty late and I don't think any of my roommates would appreciate me talking to a camera right now.

So here we go!

1. What grade are you going into? (or what year of college are you going into?)
I am a SENIOR IN COLLEGE. Yyyyyikes.


2. What are you excited and/or nervous for this year?
Ummm...being a real person? So I guess it's not so much that I'm worried about FOR this year...it's what I'm worried about for AFTER this year.

Also student teaching. That's pretty scary.


3. What's your favorite part of getting ready for back to school?

I usually would say shopping...but I didn't do to much back to school shopping this year. But...I did go grocery shopping, and shopping for text books, and shopping for like face wash and shampoo. You know what, we're going to stick with shopping.

4. When do you go back to school?
...Last week.


5. What grade were you in when you first started wearing makeup to school?
Whooops I forgot that this was a makeup guru tag. Anyways, I didn't start wearing makeup to school consistently until about sophomore year of high school, but I didn't start really know HOW to wear makeup until my senior year of high school. And then somewhere around sophomore spring or junior fall of college I stopped wearing makeup on a daily basis because I AIN'T GOT TIME FOR THAT.


6. Where or from whom do you like getting inspiration for back to school trends & styles?
At this point, I'm inspired by whatever clothes are currently clean. Also is it raining? Is it hot out?? These are the questions that guide my style.


7. What are your favorite upcoming "back to school"/fall trends for this year?
I'm not usually on top of trends or anything...but I will say that I'm pretty excited to wear teacher clothes for student teaching in the spring, since my personal sense of style usually borderlines on homeless librarian. I would hope that appropriate teacher clothing would be a mere step up from what I've already been doing.


8. Where do you like to go shopping for back to school supplies?

TARGET. I just like spending time in Target, even if I have nothing to buy. Is that bad?

9.What are your favorite stores to go back to school shopping?

Ummmm the whole mall. I've been finding recently that I can no longer fit in juniors clothing. I had a pretty traumatic experience this summer trying to find a dress at Forever 21 and not being able to make the largest size fit over my no-longer-junior-sized ass. And then I went to a store that carried clothing for people who don't receive their styling tips from Seventeen magazine, and all of a sudden I could pull skirts over my butt again. So I don't have a particular favorite store...but Forever 21 definitely isn't in my top.

10. Will you be carrying a backpack or a purse to school this year? Which do you prefer?

I switch between four different bags on any given day, because I have no self control. I have two bookbags, one of which can hold a laptop and a ton of books and snacks and another which could hold a small notebook at best and maybe a chewy bar (but not much else). Then I have two tote bags to use when I'm wearing a skirt or dress (does anyone else's skirt ride up when they use a bookbag??), one large that could carry like my laptop and five classes worth of binders if I had to, and a smaller (floral print) one that I use when I'm only bringing my laptop and a snack (and maybe a single notebook).

I LIKE HAVING CHOICES, OKAY??

11. What are 3 non-beauty essentials you HAVE to carry in your backpack/purse?

Pens, water, and some ibuprofen.

12. What are 3 beauty essentials that you HAVE to carry in you backpack/purse?
Chapstick, another thing of chapstick, and maybe a tinted chapstick.

My daily makeup regime is what you might consider to be low maintenance.


13. What are your go-to hair products for this year, and what is your go to hair style?
I talked about this in my summer favorites video, but I've been really into switching between Mane & Tail Shampoo and Organix Coconut Milk shampoo with Organix Moroccan Argon Oil conditioner. I think those are the products that lay down the foundation for less-crappy hair. Other than that my daily hair care routine is pretty low maintenance. If I blow-dry my hair, I spray it with Tresseme's heat protectant, but I am also not too proud to walk out of my apartment with wet hair.

I don't really have a go to hair style, but I definitely go in and out of different hair phases. I'm not really sure what I would call the phase I'm in now...it's like the get-used-to-controlling-this-hot-mess-because-you're-gonna-be-deaing-with-it-forever-and-you-can't-look-like-a-wet-dog-when-you're-teaching phase.


14. What are your go-to makeup products for this year and what is your go-to makeup look for school?

...tinted lip balm.

I actually used to have a pretty involved makeup routine, and I definitely still do that for special occasions. But I kind of fell off the wagon when I stopped liking my foundation, and I've been to lazy and/or broke to find a new foundation to use. Plus, I'm not really the type of person that feels naked or exposed when I leave the apartment without makeup. So maybe I will revisit this question next January when I find it more relevant.

15. What are your go-to clothing items for back to school, and what accessories to you plan to rock this year?
Ummm my go-to outfit is definitely either a dress with a cardigan, or a jeans/skirt and shirt combo with a cardigan. I rock the cardigan for sure. Like I said...the homeless librarian look is kind of my thing.

I'm hoping to finally get a hold of a blazer that doesn't look like it came out of the 80s. I understand that it shouldn't be this hard to find a blazer...especially because I know a ton of people my age that own blazers that don't look ridiculous. I just haven't had much luck...same with denim jackets.  Maybe I'm just too picky.



And that's the end of the tag! That wound up being a lot more fashion/beauty focused than I thought it would...though I'm not sure why. It was from like glittersparklebarbiegirl03 or something like that.

LOOK FOR HEALTH AND  FITNESS GOAL UPDATES TOMORROW I AM FOR REAL.

The F Word

Last week I got back in the saddle, and I emailed my nutritionist at school to let her know that I would like to schedule an appointment.

At the end of Spring semester of 2012, I decided to take advantage of the student health center on campus and see the nutritionist on campus. There were only about three weeks left in the semester, but I figured better late than never. I made a lot of progress with her...I lost about eight pounds in three weeks, which is pretty impressive all things considered. I was in a time crunch to fit into my maid of honor dress for my sister's wedding, and I just barely made it (if you count getting the dress let out as far as it could go as "barely making it"). I spent the last half of summer eating my way through Europe and basically ignoring all the basic principles of a balanced diet.

I started last fall ready to begin anew with a clean slate, which was fine. I went back to the nutritionist and confessed my sins, and we moved on to make a lot of progress. I saw her for the whole semester, and felt really good about my eating habits and overall health. The only problem was, winter session was coming up, which meant almost two months without student health benefits. PLUS it was holiday season. PLUS PLUS my nutritionist was about to go on maternity leave for the entire spring semester. So I went into the holidays not really knowing how to handle things and completely derailed all of my progress. When winter session came along, I had fallen off of the wagon so hard that I wasn't even walking alongside the wagon. I fell off the wagon in the middle of the desert and started drawing pictures in the dirt and making friends with all the desert creatures. And since then I have been half-heartedly attempting to pick myself up off of the dirty desert floor.

I thought this time around I was too far gone, that I would be forever fat. And you know what...that's fine. I respect people that can do that, and feel totally comfortable in their skins being that way. I'm not even being facetious. I wish I didn't care so much about this health and fitness stuff. There are plenty of people in this world whose physical sizes are secondary to the size of their talent and character, so why can't I be one of them??

I already know the answer to that question. I have been taught ever since the time I was a chubby little toddler, that fat is failure. In my family, being overweight, and struggling with health and fitness has always been seen as a result of laziness and no motivation. I was so terrified to email my nutritionist and let her know that I was coming back because I fucked up. I didn't want her to be disappointed, and frankly I was a little embarrassed. Embarrassed of my failure.

When I finally built up the courage to email her, I almost cried tears of relief when I saw her response:

It's really easy to get stuck in your own head, and to project your own insecurities onto your expectations of others. No one is judging me harder than I am judging myself, and it had been a really long time since I'd acknowledged that.

One of the first things my nutritionist said to me at my appointment was that she was proud that I hadn't given up. And I'm definitely proud of myself for not giving up. I've been kind of faking my way through these health and fitness goals that I set last month, and honestly my heart wasn't in it. I wasn't committing to eating well and working out, and I definitely wasn't holding myself accountable. There are a couple of things that I needed to be reminded:

1.) Losing weight is really hard. No really...it is. There are shortcuts, but those aren't sustainable, and to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle takes a lot of patience.

2.) The all-or-nothing approach doesn't work. At the beginning of this year, I stated that one of my goals was to find some balance in my life. Deciding to be super productive one day and then spend then next day lying on the couch watching Netflix for sixteen hours straight is not really ideal compared to spending every day being productive with time for leisurely activities. Same goes for food...I can't decide that OH I had a doughnut for breakfast, so now I'm going to spend the rest of the day eating shit. Life doesn't work that way.

3.) Eating shouldn't be mindless, and neither should anything else you do. I've always been really annoyed that losing weight required me to be obsessed with the food I eat...because how was that any different from being obsessed with unhealthy food? The only problem is, when I am not focusing on what to eat every day, then I'm just putting garbage into my body. What I've learned over the years is that it's not obsession, it's mindfulness. I'm mindful of all of the things I say and do when important schoolwork and friendships are involved, so why wouldn't I be mindful of my health and fitness? My body is just as important as the rest of myself.

I'm not a failure. And I'm not a lost cause. I'm just a work in progress.

Look out for an upcoming entry about checking in with my health and fitness goals from last month!

SEPTEMBER BREAK

Since technically this is a holiday weekend, I'm going to use this opportunity to take a quick break from my Sunday entry. I know that I already took a rain-check on another entry, but in order to make up for both of them expect an entry tomorrow AND Wednesday. 

IT WILL BE JUST LIKE JULY ALL OVER AGAIN!

(Except I'll only be blogging 4 days in a row. Which is not the same as 31.)