April Recipes: Week 2

Our menu for the week of April 21st -

Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas
Bean and Vegetable Pitas
Cheddar and Sausage Pie with Zucchini
Chicken Paprikash
Tofu and Broccoli in Peanut Sauce
Vegetable Lasagna


Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/black-bean-and-corn-quesadillas/
*When cooking the quesadillas, I used olive oil instead of butter.


Preparation Tip: This recipe is already quick and easy, but to save even more time chop and cook the onion with the beans, corn, sugar, salsa and pepper flakes ahead of time and keep in the fridge until you are ready to put the quesadillas together. You can also grate the cheese ahead of time.


Lilah's Take: I omitted the pepper flakes to make these Lilah friendly. She loved picking up the quesadilla wedges and dipping them in sour cream.


Vegetable Lasagna


Preparation Tip: This lasagna can be assembled ahead of time and put in the fridge until you are ready to bake it. Add an extra 10 minutes to the cooking time to ensure it is heated through. If you don't have time to prepare the whole lasagna ahead of time, you can prepare the individual components throughout the day so that assembly is quick and easy come dinner time.


Lilah's Take: Lasagna is one of Lilah's favorite dishes. This version incorporates vegetables that she wouldn't typically eat if she could tell what they were which is great! You can chop the vegetables as finely or coarsely as you like depending on how much you want to disguise them.


Ingredients
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise, sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1 pkg. sliced fresh mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pkg. (425g) ricotta cheese
1 Tbsp. fresh parsley
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar or can (680ml) of tomato or pasta sauce
Dry no-boil flat lasagna noodles, uncooked


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, onion, mushrooms, garlic; cook 5 minutes, or until vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Set aside.
Combine ricotta cheese and parsley. Set aside.
Spread about 1/2 c. sauce evenly onto bottom of 8 X 11-inch baking dish; top with a layer of noodles. Cover with layer of 1/4 of sauce, 1/3 of ricotta mixture, 1/3 of vegetables and 1/4 of cheese. Repeat.
Top with layer of noodles and remaining sauce; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake another 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.


Chicken Paprikash
http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/chicken_paprikash.php


Preparation Tip: This recipe is already quick and easy, but you could cut up the chicken and the vegetables ahead of time to make it even quicker.


Lilah's Take: Lilah seemed to really enjoy this dish the last time I made it, but wasn't really interested this time around. It may have been because I was out of sour cream and there wasn't anything for her to 'dip'...I have mentioned before how Lilah is a fan of almost any kind of 'dip' whether it is sour cream, yogurt, or ketchup. I asked Lilah if she wanted fresh parsley on her dinner, but got a "no" which wasn't surprising.


Bean and Vegetable Pitas
http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/bean_and_vegetable_pitas.php


Preparation Tip: This is another recipe that is really quick and easy, but it could be make even faster by preparing the bean mixture, chopping the vegetables, and preparing the yogurt mixture ahead of time. 
*I didn't worry about draining the yogurt.


Lilah's Take: These ended up being a little too spicy for Lilah so I would reduce the amount of chili powder in the future. The onions also needed to be diced rather than sliced for her to be able to manage them.


Cheddar and Sausage Pie with Zucchini
http://www.canadianliving.com/food/dinner_club/cheddar_and_sausage_pie_with_zucchini.php


Preparation Tip: This recipe took a little longer than I would have liked so next time I will cook the sausage, grate the cheese and chop the green onions ahead of time.


Lilah's Take: Instead of using store-bought pizza dough, I used pitas and naan breads as my crust because that is what I had on hand and I have never actually used store-bought dough before. These crusts ended up being a little too crispy for Lilah because of the length of time the pizzas needed to bake so she had trouble eating the pizza...she mostly just ate the toppings off. I may try a softer homemade dough next time.


Tofu and Broccoli in Peanut Sauce
http://www.canadianliving.com/food/tofu_and_broccoli_in_peanut_sauce.php
*Serve over rice*
*When using tofu, make sure you pat it really, really dry with paper towel. The more you dry it, the better the dish will turn out. I also tend to cook the tofu for longer than the recipe suggests because I like it to be golden on all sides. I suggest using a wok to make this dish rather than a skillet.*


Preparation Tip: Chop the green onions, broccoli and red pepper ahead of time and keep in the fridge.


Lilah's Take: Broccoli is one of Lilah's favorite vegetables so this dish was a hit. Surprisingly, she also gobbled up the tofu! I did leave out the hot sauce, bean sprouts and fresh coriander to make the dish more Lilah friendly.