no-grocery challenge

for whatever crazy reason

 last week when i 'desperately needed' to go to the grocery store, i decided that we are far too wasteful.

 i looked at what we had in the freezer and pantry and i told my husband that i wanted to try to make it 15 days without buying groceries.

i was actually surprised that he seemed okay with it.

so... several interesting, but surprisingly good dinners later, i thought that i would share one of the 'freezer leftover recipes' that i came up with. 

we may never have these leftovers in the freezer and pantry again, but i really loved this recipe and might make it again... with some minor adjustments.

peanutbutter pasta & potsticker meatballs

i do realize that this picture actually doesn't make it look appetizing, or even close to as delicious as it was

but it was rather incredible despite its randomness.

i was fortunate enough to have 1/2 a batch of pork wonton {potsticker} filling in the freezer 

[recipe below]

so, i just thawed it & rolled it into meatballs and browned them in a skillet with a little olive oil.

pretty sure that the meatballs were my husband's favorite part of this meal.

next i sauted in 1 T. olive oil:

3 cups chopped cabbage

1 medium onion, chopped

2 small carrots, julienned

cook the vegetables until softened then reduce heat to low.

while the veggies were cooking i started boiling my pasta [al dente]. 

my husband prefers any long, skinny pasta over the smaller shapes, but i only had about 1/2 serving of whole wheat linguini, so i used that and about 1/2 lb. of whole wheat rotini noodles.

i also added about 1 cup of frozen edamame beans to the pasta while it was cooking.

next make the sauce:

1/3 c. peanut butter 

(i used creamy, but crunchy would be good as well) 

2 t. lime juice

3 t. brown sugar

3 t. soy sauce

3 t. worchestershire sauce 

1/2 t. crushed red pepper

1 t. curry powder

1/4 t. ground cloves

3 cloves garlic, minced 

once above ingredients are heated through, gradually add 

1 1/2 c. half & half

*do not boil*

mix cooked pasta with sauce and veggies.

stir in 3 T. chopped cilantro.

hope you like it. :)

oh, and my husband's only complaint was one that i could have predicted, 

he didn't care for the rotini noodles. 

**potsticker filling {meatball recipe}**

1/2 c minced cabbage- pour boiling water over cabbage and let sit 1/2 hour

3/4 lb. ground pork

4 t. soy sauce

dash pepper

2 cloves minced garlic

1 1/2 t. minced ginger

2 egg whites

2 T. chopped green onion

mix above filling ingredients and chill 1/2 hour before using

the "eating-moon"-inspired, pasta-less lasagna

well, i am once again months overdue on a blogpost, and while there are many wedding-related posts that i plan to do, i decided that since this recipe was still fresh in my mind that i would go ahead and blog it, and save myself the time of writing it down or the disappointment of not being able to remember it if i try to make it again in a few weeks.

we returned from the honeymoon (or "eatingmoon" as my cousin referred to it) on sunday night feeling ginormous from eating all of the delicious food that chicago had to offer us.  in an attempt to counteract our weeks' worth of indulgences, we are both doing a carb-restricted (atkins) diet for a few weeks. i must admit, i am not as disciplined as i was the last time that i was on this 'diet'. i am trying to be a little more creative this time around so that we don't have to eat salad or a slab of meat for every meal.

tonight's experiment:
one of the few carbs that i really miss when i do a low-carb diet (besides the obvious 'sugar' food group, which in my perfect world would be the only food group) is pasta. i have to admit that although lasagna is one of my favorite italian dishes, i often end up eating around the lasagna noodles because it's too filling with them. but trying to make a lasagna without the pasta is difficult, as it ends up just being a tomato-cheese soup. so i thought that i would attempt to replace the pasta with eggplant and zucchini slices. i was really worried about it since the last time that i made eggplant it was not a favorite with my main food critic. fortunately my experiment was a HUGE success! we both loved it... and hope that you do too.

this recipe is a little extra work than your average lasagna, but it is definitely worth it.

Pasta-less lasagna-
one large egg plant, sliced into 1/8" slices
2 zucchinis, sliced lengthwise into 1/8" slices
several tablespoons olive oil
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 pkg. sausage, cooked
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1- 28 oz. can spaghetti sauce
1- 10.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
2 tsps. dried basil
2 1/2 c. mozz. cheese, divided
1- 16 oz. container ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 T. dried parsley
1/2 t. pepper
salt to taste
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

• preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• on a lightly-oiled grill pan on med-high heat, grill eggplant and zucchini slices about 3 minutes per side, until slightly tender.
• in a medium saute pan, cook mushrooms in 2-3 T. olive oil until soft and slightly browned. add minced garlic and cook a few more minutes.
• in a bowl combine spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes, cooked sausage, and mushrooms. salt to taste.
• in a second bowl combine ricotta, 1 1/2 c mozz., 2 eggs, parsley, and pepper.
• spread 1 c. of sauce mixture on the bottom of a glass 9" x 13" pan. top with a layer of grilled eggplant slices. cover with all of ricotta mixture.  cover with all of the zucchini slices then pour about 1/2 of remaining sauce mixture over zucchini. top with remaining eggplant slices. pour the rest of the sauce mixture over the eggplant and then sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of mozz and 1/2 c. parm. cheese. 
• cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. remove foil and bake additional 10-15 minutes.

hope that you enjoy this low-carb, pasta-less, eggplant lasagna as much as we did!