Step-by-Step: Swiss Chard + Pork Lasagna Roll-Ups (Even With "Ricotta")

I got this idea of this from my sister. Not really sure why I had never thought of it before.

This gets a separate blog post, as I thought it beneficial to show the process in photos. This did take some work to put together in stages (something I usually am too lazy to do), but it was completely worth it - especially when you end up with a 9 x 13 pan full of roll-ups for your week.

A few neat things came out of the creation of this recipe:

1. I no longer have to make lasagna in the old way. Roll-ups can be individually customized and are just so much more fun to plate.

2. I now have a go-to ricotta/cream cheese-ish replacement for future dishes (think consistency, not substitute for exact flavour). 

3. I also have a good generic meat sauce as a go-to for any future pasta dish (or to plop on top of a sweet potato or nacho plate).

Although the roll-up idea came from my sister, the inspiration for this particular recipe came from the market. After spending only $20 at the market on the weekend, we ended up with a lot of leeks and swiss chard (among other things) without a real plan to use it. Add in some defrosted ground pork and some white lasagna noodles to be used up (I'll switch over to brown rice pasta for the next batch), we had ourselves a meal.

Ricotta ("Cheese") Filling

Adapted from GoDairy cookbook

1 cup of pumpkin seeds, soaked in an inch of water (it called for sunflower seeds, but I only had pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup of water (extra from above)

1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice

1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

1 garlic clove

1/2 tsp of maple salt (use any!)

Place all in the magic bullet and blend until it's the consistency you want!

Swiss Chard and Pork Filling

From Allie's Kitchen

1 pkg of ground pork

1 big bunch of swiss chard, leaves removed from the stems (use lots as it wilts down!)

1 leek, chopped (white and green parts)

Italian spices, salt, pepper

2- 1/2  cups of tomato sauce (doesn't need to be exact, just buy a big can - I used plain)

Brown the ground pork. Add the leek, spices and 1 cup of your sauce. Cook for 2 minutes. Add in the swiss chard and the rest of your sauce, saving enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Let simmer on low.

Cook your noodles!

Bring Everything Together:

Pour the remaining tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.

On waxed paper, lay out the lasagna noodles and top each one with ricotta filling then your sauce filling. Roll carefully and place each roll in the pan. Note: save some filling!

Once you have done this for everything, top with the remaning meat filling to ensure the noodles stay moist. 

I topped my dish with Daiya Cheddar Cheese and Nutritional Yeast Flakes. You can top each individual piece with more of the ricotta filling upon serving if you have any left.

Bake covered at 375 for 20 minutes, then an additional 15 uncovered. Voila!

**Notes on Recommended Recipe Alterations: 

- If you want to make this gluten-free, switch to the brown rice noodles

- If you want to make this to paleo, slice a zucchini in extremely thin pieces and use that instead of noodles for your wrap

- If you want to make this vegetarian or vegan, I recommend adding diced eggplant instead of pork

- Swiss chard can be replaced with spinach or kale and will be just as good

- Leeks can be replaced with shallots or regular onions

Enjoy! This one is a goodie....

A Walk Through Planet Organic

My Friday night was spent reading (read: Sarah's Key. Sigh) and strolling through Planet Organic.  Let me tell you - it was luxurious.

After my naturopath appointment on Thursday, I learned that there is another non-rice, non-soy, non-dairy cheese that exists out there.  One that comes in mozarella. One that is available in cheddar. One that melts and stretches.  Daiya.  My mother had eyed this brand before in her Skinny Bitch cook book, but I had yet to see it here in Halifax.  This issue of Clean Eating Magazine also made reference to a new "cheese-type" (they can't call it cheese, if it's not technically/officially cheese) spread that is now available.  Fingers crossed that that, too, will hit our markets!

So here's my tour of Planet Organic. I made myself take pictures of items so that I wouldn't get overly excited and purchase the whole store.  Instead, I only purchased the Daiya cheese, some Agave Nectar, Bob Mill's Veggie Soup mix (to have on hand) and some supplements.  Of course, I just returned from the store again and treated myself to just a few more of the treats below...

My "Initial" Exciting Purchases

Daiya Shreds

Bob's Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix

Agave Nectar

I can only give a review on the Daiya and let me just say that in three days I have had Daiya on broccoli, tuna melts and nachos.  Two major thumbs up. I'm SO excited.  So, so very excited.  And while I'm on this note, I should mention something else that was odd that happened the other day.  First I need to start out by saying that I used to be a girl that would drink milk instead of water - and more often than not - instead of juice. I loved Farmers 1% milk. From a cow.  The other day, Jon bought me unsweetened coconut milk to try (Rice Milk wasn't at the store we were at).  Anyway, I picked it up to try it and thought it was so gross. Turns out, I accidentally drank Jon's milk!  I never thought I'd take a sip of cow's milk and truly think it tasted gross.  I've been on this different kind of milk for so long now, I'm completely hooked!  Now, it took me awhile to get a kind that I like, but I'm onto my refrigerator-section-Rice Dream and love it.  I'm still shocked about how I thought his milk tasted...So anyway, here's the rest of my tour. Enjoy!

 Let's see what we have here: an entire section of non-sugar cane sweets! (Some costing $70, but just make sure to look closely:P)

...And an entire row of bouillon/broth options!  And most of everything is dairy, gluten - and sometimes soy and sugar - free!

Not ready to give up on Heinz. My friend, Katie, would cringe at this photo...BUT it has no sugar! 

 Do I really need to add anything here?  Yes, I went back to buy this goody. I'll "review" it later. (GF/SoyF/DF/SugF)

I hope everyone cooked something wonderful this weekend and enjoyed some sun! I'll be blogging about a couple of recipes that were cooked FOR me this weekend by my mom and Gram.  Both were delicious and will hopefully become part of my cooking repertoire soon.  I also have a picture of an amazing pork tenderloin that Jon cooked over the weekend - a.m.a.z.i.n.g. - no recipe for his genius chef ways, though.  Any recipes to send my way?

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What Remains When You Remove Gluten, Dairy, Nuts, Eggs, Soy, and Cane Sugar from a Cake?

When a birthday occurs, everyone has to have some kind of cake...even something cake-like will do!

My friend, Erica, and I celebrated our birthdays together on the weekend and tackled my first ever cake and our first ever cake minus most of the main ingredients...

From the Go Dairy Free website, we took the Fudge Pudding Cake recipe and made many substitutions.  The outcome?  Well...it was gooey...people had to hover over the plate to eat their cake as it truly wasn't "passable" on a napkin.  All in all though, can you really go wrong with a mixture including maple and cocoa?  I don't personally think so, but then again, our interest in this cake could have been purely a feeling of being pleasantly surprised!  The cake was gone within minutes (again, out of intrigue more than anything) and no one was sick due to it ... I call it a success!  The recipe is written below, along with my opinions for future cakes with this recipe...

Ingredients 
- 1 cup of rice flour (when I make this in the future for anyone without a gluten intolerance, I will use the called for 1 cup of flour.  We learned after wards that we were supposed to add something to the rice flour..oops!)
- 3/4 cup of maple syrup, 3/4 cup of maple sugar (this was in place of the called for 1 1/2 cup of sugar, divided).  We added the maple syrup in the cake mixture before realizing that we had the maple sugar.  In the future, I would either use all maple sugar, or would at least use the sugar in the cake and the syrup on top of the cake).
- 1/4 tsp of baking soda (not called for in the recipe, but encouraged to use when substituting maple syrup for sugar)
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 6 tbsp of cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup of rice milk
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp of oil
- 1 1/4 cup of hot water (instead of the called for 1 3/4 cup of hot water)

Directions:
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and 2 tbsp of the cocoa.  Then, we stirred in the syrup, milk, vanilla, and oil until it was all smooth.  Obviously, this step would change if we used dry sugar in the cake mixture, rather than the syrup.  Next, we poured the mixture into a 8inch square cake pan (it did NOT look right, but we continued to go with it...)

In a small bowl, mix the remaining sugar with 1/4 cup of cocoa.  Sprinkle this mixture over the batter in the pan.  Then, we gently drizzled the hot water on top. It looks weird, but go with it...don't mix it in.

We baked the cake in a preheated oven on 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  We reheated it later before eating it... Again, it didn't "look" the greatest, but what could we expect?  At least it was edible and completely fixed my chocolate cravings!

Thanks to Erica for her baking knowledge...

My Love for Renee's

Renee's dressings have restored my faith in this whole "giving up" food-thing.  Now, it doesn't replace my cheese and chocolate cravings but it does fulfill my need to snack on vegetables and dip -and chips and dip, and also allows me to have a creamy sauce option for salads.

Their website is so great, I had to promote it...www.renees.com.  Even better, they have a list of their products that are dairy-free.  Check it out!

I Guess You Don't Always Need a Plan!

Let's just say that I can foresee a time when everyday actually doesn't need to be about researching recipes - it's just mostly about having new staple items in the cupboards and a veggie-filled fridge.  We're not exactly "there" yet (still "accidentally" adding a spice mix that contains soy...then having to scoop it back out of the mixture) but here are some throw together creations and craving substitutes we've been having:

Sweet Tooth
Jon's parents had given us a jar of some delicious smoked maple syrup from Ontario.  Every time I get one of my chocolate cravings, Jon presents me with a teeny tiny shot glass of syrup to sip away at.  Strange - but silly, fun, and it works!

Dessert
Fresh strawberries?  Almond milk (the good kind)? Syrup .. no need for baked goods!

Aaah.  I need chips & dip
Bad for you, but I took some mayo (Hellmans), a whole lot of dill and a bit of lemon juice.  Dipped vegetable (or plain) chips in a little of this for a quick fix.

Pop!
Don't "technically" need to cut this right now but it's hard to drink a glass of pop, knowing it's not "good" for me (that's an interesting revelation for your mind/stomach to have...) - Perrier with lots of lemon and lime!


Cheese
No "fix" yet - rice dream cheese just doesn't do the trick.  Focusing on the above and hoping to keep trekking on through my love for the cheese...

Not at all a craving but...
Fresh food is key for throw together meals!  Rainbow trout was on sale so Jon simply put butter (Becel vegan) on our BBQ grill pan, put the fish in a bit of flour with lemon juice, dill, salt, pepper... piece of cake and just so deliciously good.  
 
And last night, I forgot to make my lunch.  This presents a problem as I'm currently working through my summertime at a university.  This means my options are:  Tim Horton's.  Right.  Not a single thing on that menu I can have!

My morning routine has already changed drastically as I went from the girl who gives herself just enough time to shower, dress, and do make up to the girl still gives herself just enough time in the morning to everything she needs to, but now added is: breakfast (1 piece of Stonehearth bread and PC 100% peanuts peanut butter), coffee from home (so I can use Stevia and almond/rice milk), and packing of the lunch.

So this morning I had to throw together a lunch.  I clearly have not gotten this down yet:  Plain chow mien noodles (quickly cooked while coffee was brewing) and a can of spicy tuna was what I came up with!  Oh brother I hope that there are a few dairy or soy free options once September hits here - at least for days like today..

Oh and one last thing:  Sushi for our celebration dinner last night (Jon scored a great job!), just had it without the starter miso soup, edamame or dipping soy sauce - love it all the same!