Meatless Monday: Vegetable Lasagna
So you probably know by now that I am a meat lover in the process of cutting back on and (eventually) giving up meat. When, I ran across this recipe, I wondered just how good a lasagna would taste without the meat or pasta. Well, I must admit this recipe for Veggie lasagna gets a thumbs up from me.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed, plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic, plus 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
24 ounces canned crushed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick slices
1 eggplant, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium yellow squash, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 portobello mushroom, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1/2 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1 cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare tomato sauce: Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 4 cloves crushed garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add dried oregano, basil, and parsley and stir. Add crushed tomatoes and salt and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, and dried thyme. Place zucchini on a sheet pan and brush with olive oil mixture. Bake until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Marinate the eggplant and yellow squash in the remaining olive oil mixture for a few minutes.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add 2 cloves minced garlic and saute until fragrant. Add sliced button mushrooms and saute until tender. Set aside. Meanwhile, place marinated vegetables in a roasting pan and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
Line the bottom of a casserole dish with the baked zucchini slices. Add half of the eggplant and squash mixture. Top with half of the tomato sauce and then spread the ricotta cheese over. Arrange portobello slices over top and then sprinkle with half of the mozzarella. Top with the sauteed mushroom mixture. Top with remaining eggplant and squash mixture. Spread remaining tomato sauce over top. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and all of the Parmesan. Bake until the cheese is melted and brown, about 40 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes.
(Recipe courtesy of Juan Carlos Cruz, The Food Network)
(Steak Image courtesy of The BusyBrain, Flickr)
Toning Shoes: A popular, money-making trend
Toning shoes are all the rage right now and sneaker manufacturers know it. I’ve seen toning shoes that range from $89.00 to a whopping $390.00. Chi-ching. And with every trend comes questions from friends and clients alike: “What do you think about…?”
Ok, here’s my take on toning shoes:
I have not read enough objective research that proves they’re worth all of the hype or that they’re safe for long-term or general wear. I’ve seen many a trend come and go and most promised to yield amazing results with little or no effort from the consumer. The toning shoe, it seems, is another trend.
Prevention Magazine polled several experts who rated the results as “modest” yet there are women out there who insist that the shoes have made a difference. Do I believe them? Yes, but I wonder just how much of a difference the shoes alone have made. And more importantly, I wonder what their level of fitness was prior to wearing the shoes.
I suspect that active women who exercise and train their legs regularly will not experience significant results whereas women who are less active or somewhat de-conditioned will notice more changes.
Regardless of their effectiveness, throngs of women are wearing them so I feel it necessary to provide a few tips on safety and general usage.
My tips for those of you who wear them or are thinking about wearing them:
1. Consult a physician prior to starting an exercise program.
2. Consult a chiropractor prior to wearing toning shoes. Wearing the shoes if there are faulty foot or joint mechanics can lead to injury or worsen existing conditions.
3. Assuming that you have ideal flexibility and stability in your joints (especially in the ankles and knees), ease into wearing your toning shoes.
4. Avoid wearing them for long walks or walks on mountainous terrain.
5. Use regular walking shoes for power walking.
6. Speak to your chiropractor and or podiatrist if your toning shoes are extremely heavy.
7. Pay attention to joint pain that coincide with the use of toning shoes.
8. Use cross-trainers for intense workouts or workouts that entail explosive and cross-directional movements.
For more info, check out my original piece here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-24934-Newark-Diet-and-Exercise-Examiner~y2010m4d10-Walking-in-Toning-Shoes-An-Update
