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!