A Leftover Dinner

Some people think that cooking from scratch takes a lot of time or is very expensive. However, this doesn´t have to be that way. Today I would like to share how easy it is to create a delicious dinner using leftovers and things you have in the fridge.

Ususally some type of meat (or eggs) and a few veggies is all you need to get dinner ready in no time.

Tonight for example, I had 4 sausages, bacon, a few tomatoes, 1 zucchini, and a rest of a red pepper.

Start by frying bacon and sausages (or whatever meat leftovers you have) for about 5 to 10 minutes. 

In the meantime, cut up your veggies.

Next, add all of the veggies to the skillet (I quickly removed the sausage to also cut them up).

Season with salt, pepper, garlic and paprika spice.

Add a little bit of water to the pan, and after another couple of minutes, you´ll have a quick and easy dinner.

How much time does it take?

The entire dinner took about 15 minutes to prepare and cook.

What about cleanup?

There is only 1 cutting board, 1 knife and a skillet to clean.

So, as you see, paleo food neither has to be expensive nor does it have to be a big hassle to prepare.

Any type of meat, cut up and mixed with whatever veggies at hand, can be turned into a great dinner or lunch. If you prepare more whenever you cook, you will also have leftovers for work the next day.

From my past posts you can see how often I actually follow this process and if you are short on time or just getting used to cooking for yourself, then this method is a great way to get started.

Zucchini Lasagna

 Last week, I purchased a big bag of Zucchinis and yesterday they were still in our fridge. In order to avoid their turning bad, I decided to try some new to me recipes. And I was pretty surprised, when my Zucchini Lasagna turned out really well.

Here are all the ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

1lb ground beef

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 large zucchini, washed and sliced very thinly

Tomato Sauce

Cheese (not paleo, but primal)

3 eggs

50 ml (about 1/1/2 cups) heavy cream

salt

pepper

paprika spice

parsley

garlic powder (I didn´t have fresh garlic on hand, but you could use that instead) 

And here is what you need to do:

1. Grease a casserole dish

2. Heat butter in a skillet, add onion, garlic, ground beef and bell peppers. Fry until ground beef is almost done. Season with salt, pepper, paprika spice, or anything else that strikes your fancy. 

3. Spread half of the zucchini in the casserole dish, top with half of the ground beef, add some of the tomato sauce and then one layer of cheese. 

4. Repeat the same with the second part of your ingredients. 

5. In a bowl, beat eggs and add heavy cream. Pour mixture over the lasagne. 

6. Sprinkle with parsley and paprika spice. 

7. Bake Lasagna (on the left) for about 45 to 60 minutes at 175C (350F) until the cheese is browned and the zucchini cooked. 

I think what surprised me the most, how close the sliced and cooked zucchini got to tasting like lasagna noodles. If you haven´t done so already you should definitely give this recipe a try. 

Also, Lasagna is great for using up leftovers, so you could add mushrooms, fresh tomatoes or olives. Any meat leftovers could also be shredded and added. 

Enjoy!

Zucchini-Lasagne

Letztes Wochenende hatte ich mehrere Zucchinis eingekauft und bis gestern lagen diese immer noch im Kühlschrank. Von daher habe ich gestern Abend damit verbracht neue Zucchini-Rezepte auszuprobieren. Am Ende war ich ziemlich überrascht, als meine Zucchini-Lasagne dann auch noch super schmeckte.

Hier sind die Zutaten:

2 EL Butter

500g Hackfleisch

1 Paprika, klein geschnitten

1 Zwiebel, klein geschnitten

1 große Zucchini, gewaschen und in schmale Streifen geschnitten

Tomatensoße

Käse (nicht paleo, aber primal)

3 Eier

50 ml Sahne

Salz

Pfeffer

Paprikagewürz

Petersilie

Knoblauchgewürz (oder 1 Zehe frischer Knoblauch)

Und so geht´s:

1. Auflaufform einfetten

2. Butter in einer Pfanne erhitzen, Zwiebeln, Knoblauch, Hackfleisch und Paprika darin scharf anbraten. Mit Salz, Pfeffer, Paprikagewürz und ähnlichen Gewürzen nach Geschmack würzen.

3. Die Hälfte der Zucchinischeiben in der Form auslegen, mit der Hälfte der Hackfleischmischung bedecken, Tomatensoße darüber geben und schließlich den Gouda darauf verteilen.

4. Dasselbe nochmal mit den restlichen Zutaten wiederholen.

5. In einer Schüssel Eier aufschlagen und Sahne dazu geben. Den Mix über die Lasagne gießen.

6. Das ganze mit Petersilie und Paprikagewürz dekorieren.

7. Die Lasagne (links) bei 175C für ca. 45 bis 60 Minuten backen – so lange bis der Käse zerlaufen und die Zucchini gut durch ist.

Was mich am meisten an dieser Lasagne überrascht hat, war wie ähnlich die Konsistenz und der Geschmack der Zucchinis den Lasagne-Nudeln war. Falls ihr bisher noch keine Zucchini-Lasagne ausprobiert habt – das nachholen lohnt sich auf jeden Fall.

Schön ist auch, dass sich dieses Rezept hervorragend zu kleinen Änderungen eignet. Pilze, Tomaten oder Oliven könnten ergänzt werden genauso wie zerkleinerte Fleischreste vom Vortag. 

Also dann. Guten Hunger!

Zucchini-Boats

Yay for finally having two weeks of vacation from work, and finally the time and energy to create and experiment new recipes.

On today´s agenda were Zucchini-Boats:

- 3 large Zucchinis
- 1 pound ground beef/pork
- 1 bell pepper
- salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika spice
- tomato

1. Fry ground beef in a pan until well done
2. In the meantime cut zucchini in halves, and remove flesh using a spoon
3. Add Zuchhini-flesh and cut up bell pepper to ground beef
4. Season with above spices
5. Fill Zuchhini-halves with meat-mixture

6. Add cheese (if desired), and bake for about 15 minutes on 200C.

Enjoy!

Looong Absence ... :(

Hi everyone, I know that it has been a while since my last post and I just wanted to let you  know that this blog is still alive.

I have accepted and started a new job, moved to a different town within a week and had to get organized again. Getting settled took a little while longer than expected and I just couldn´t find the time to check on this blog.

I have missed blogging and soon, soon I will start posting recipes again. 

So, for all of you waiting for cooking inspiration - I will be back once our life is back to normaland I hope that you will understand.

Until then, enjoy the remainder of your summer (which has finally decided to make an appearance here in Germany)!

Paleo-ish Pizza zu Abend

Die letzten paar Wochen war ich sehr beschäftigt und hatte leider nicht so viel Zeit zum bloggen. Das wird sich aber hoffentlich nächsten Monat wieder ändern. Bis dahin habe ich hier ein Paleo-Pizza-Rezept für euch:

Zutaten:

Für den Teig (von hier)

• 3 Eier
• 1/1/3 Kaffeetassen Buchweizenmehl
• 1 Kaffetasse Kokosmilch
• 1/4 TL Salz
• Knoblauchgewürz (ich habe eine halbe Knoblauchzehe klein geschnibbelt)
• 1/2 TL Kaisernatron

Für die Tomatensauce

• 1/2 Zwiebel (ganz klein geschnitten)
• 1/2 Knoblauchzehe (klein geschnitten)
• 2 Streifen Baconspeck (cut into thin slices)
• 1 Tomate
• 50ml Tomatenmark
• 1 bis 2 Tassen Brühe
• Petersilie, Salz, Pfeffer, Pizzagewürz, Paprikagewürz
• 1 Schuss Essig (ich habe Kräuteressig genommen)

Für obendrauf

• dürft ihr euch aussuchen

Und so geht´s:

• Ofen auf 200C vorheizen
• 2 Backbleche mit Backpapier auslegen
• In einer Schüssel Eier, Knoblauch und Kokosmilch mischen

• Buchweizen, Salz und Natron dazu geben.

• Alles gut mischen. Der Teig sollte leicht dickflüssig sein.
• Teig dünn auf Backblechen verteilen.

• Für 20 Minuten backen (leicht braun).
• In einem kleinen Topf Butter erhitzen und darin Zwiebeln, Knoblauch und Schinken andünsten.
• Tomate, Tomatenmark, Brühe und Gewürze dazu geben und durch köcheln lassen.

• Pizzateig aus dem Ofen holen und vorsichtig wenden (mein Teig sah ein bisschen wie Pitabrot oder Tortillas aus)

• Jetzt die Kinder dazu holen damit sie beim ganieren mithelfen können. Erst Tomatensauce, dann Toppings und zum Schluss - je nach Paleo-Befolgungsgrad - Käse oben drauf.
• Nochmals 10 Minuten backen.
• Mit Petersilie und frischem Basilikum garnieren.

Meinem Sohn hat diese Pizza sehr gut geschmeckt und er hat seine Portion auch ganz schnell alle gahabt.



Bei mir sah es aber dann auch nicht anders aus.



Noch als Anmerkung zum Schluss: Der Teig enthält Buchweizenmehl, was ihm einen recht eigenen Geschmack verleiht. Das ist glaub ich nicht jedermann´s Sache und von daher müsst ihr das einfach mal ausprobieren. Für mich persönlich hat diese Pizza allemal gereicht um mein Verlangen nach echter Pizza zu stillen. Das Rezept merke ich mir auch auf jeden Fall für später.

Probiert es einfach mal aus. Guten Hunger!

Paleo-ish Pizza for Dinner

 I have been very busy the past couple of weeks, so posts might continue to come a little less frequently. That does´t mean though, that my experimental spirit has lessened much.

Tonight I had pizza on the menu and the results were quite good.

Ingredients:

For the dough (adapted from here)

• 3 eggs
• 1/1/3 cups buckwheat flour
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• garlic powder (or I used a half clove of garlic shopped up finely)
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda

For the tomato sauce

• 1/2 onion (finely chopped)
• 1/2 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
• 2 strips of bacon (cut into thin slices)
• 1 tomato
• 2 cups tomato paste
• 1 to 2 cups of broth
• parsley, salt, pepper, pizza seasoning, paprika spice
• dash of herbal vinegar

For the toppings

• you´re on your own

Here is what you do:

• Preheat oven to 375F
• Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper
• In a bowl mix eggs with garlic and coconut milk

• Add buckwheat flour, salt and baking soda

• Mix everything well. The dough will be kind of runny.
• I prepared two baking sheets and divided the dough in half (making sure to distribute it thinly). Both circles were about the size of a 9-inch pie dish.

• Bake dough for 20 minutes (until golden).
• In a small pot, heat butter, and sautee onions, garlic and bacon.
• Add tomatos, tomato paste, broth and season to taste

• Remove pizza crust from oven and turn over very carefully (my dough resembled pita bread or tortillas to some extent).

• Now get your kids and have them help you by adding the tomato sauce (I some leftover), your desired toppings (and depending on how strictly you follow the paleo diet, you can add cheese on top).
• Bake for another 10 minutes or so until the pizza is completely done (and the cheese melted).
• Sprinkle with parsley and garnish with fresh basil.

My son enjoyed this pizza very much and finished his entire portion in no-time.



And my portion was gone equally fast.



Now, the dough, since it contains buckwheat does have a distinct flavor (which might not be everyone´s cup of tea). Personally, I felt my cravings for pizza were fully compensated through this replacement dish and I will definitely keep this on my list of go-to-recipes.

Give it a shot. Maybe this will become a good pizza crust replacement for you as well.