Pumpkin Lasagna

Ugh, I promise I am going to give you guys some recipes that don’t include Pumpkin…..next July. Just kidding, next week… But for now, another pumpkin recipe. It’s really good if that makes up for my pumpkineyness. I just love pumpkins.

See?

Before last night I had never made a lasagna… I always thought they took SO long to prepare and I’m more of an instant gratification kind of girl. If it takes longer than 30 minutes and doesn’t involve a crock pot – I’m OUT!

Oh and Adam if you are reading this there was TOTALLY ground turkey in there 😉

Pumpkin Lasagna (Vegetarian)

Ingredients

• 1 pound 5 ounces (or 21 ounces) fresh mozzarella, divided
• 1 1/2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese
• 3 tablespoons earth balance butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon all spice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• pinch white pepper
• 1 (1 lb) box no boil – whole wheat lasagna sheets

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Shred 12 ounces of mozzarella and mix with the ricotta in a large bowl. Set aside.

3. In a 2 quart pot, melt butter on low heat. Add garlic and brown lightly. Stir in pumpkin, brown sugar, maple syrup,  cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir until it’s all warm. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Smear a thin layer of pumpkin mixture on the bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish.

5. Place 3 lasagna sheets across. Smooth a layer of ricotta/mozzarella on. Smooth a layer of pumpkin mixture on top. Repeat until you have 5 layers of pasta, cheese, pumpkin. (You will use 15 lasagna sheets in total so there may be extra sheets in the box.)

6. Let sit for 5 minutes and slice squares to serve

7. Eat your sweet, ooey and gooey lasagna.

I loved the sweetness of this lasagna – If you are in the mood for something new, definitely try this… If you are looking for an original lasagna, you’ll have to spend more time on it.

I also highly suggest washing it down with a couple squares of heaven.

If there’s any left in stores that is… Because I plan on wiping every Trader Joes clear of them.

Happy Friday!!!

QUESTIONS: Have you ever made a homemade lasagna? I cant believe this was my first time.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

What a weekend! Irene came and tore up Hoboken – although we are very grateful because it could have been a million times worse. Here are a couple pictures of the damage.

Lots of flooding – but everyone is safe! Since we live on the ground floor we did have a mandatory evacuation so we headed to Adam’s parents for the weekend. Luckily for us we came back to power and just a messy hallway!

Before we left on Friday Adam cooked me dinner! This was the second time he has attempted to cook since we’ve lived together so this is BIG news.

(It’s not burnt – those are blue corn tortilla chips) – Enchilada Casserole was his pick and it was GOOD! Besides the amount of cheese that was used the recipe was extremely healthy. Greek Yogurt, shredded chicken, veggies, corn tortillas, enchilada sauce and jalepenos were the main ingredients – it had a nice kick and I could tell he was proud himself. I was proud too 🙂

Before the storm hit we tried to go to Yogurtland because it had just open. Well of course, they closed early.

In the words of Stephanie Tanner, How Rude.

I knew what I had to do as soon as we got home. I had to break out the Ice Cream Maker. I only used a few ingredients

and it turned into this

Peanut Butter + Chocolate = AMAZINGNESS (its a word). Oh did I mention it was dairy free?? No sad belly here!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream  (dairy free – vegan)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of Light Chocolate Silk
• 1 cup of Unsweetened Almond Milk
• 1/3 cup Peanut Butter (I used White Chocolate)
• 1/3 cup Agave Nectar
• 2 pinches of Xanthan Gum
• 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (or more)

Directions

• Blend all ingredients except chocolate chips in blender

• Pour into your ice cream maker and use as directed
• Once ice cream has thickened add chocolate chips for last one minute

• Remove from ice cream maker and add to tupperware

• Freeze for 2-4 hours and serve

Nothing beats this combo. Nothing.

So the moral of the story? When life gives you hurricanes – make ice cream…and don’t forget to watch the prettiest sunset post storm.

Life.is.good.

QUESTIONS: Were you affected by Irene??