grilled vegetable lasagna

Summer is ebbing and my garden is ripening. Cat has been asking for lasagna again, so I granted her wish, although maybe not her vision.

I made this lasagna using grilled vegetables with a grilled eggplant-tomato sauce. I grilled whatever I could for this dish: eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, fennel, onions, carrots and garlic. The sauce I made with the eggplants and the tomatoes I grilled and added the other grilled veggies, chopped, into the lasagna.

I made a tofu-ricotta-style filling with fresh basil, grilled garlic, tofu and olive oil. I added the Daiya and Follow your Heart cheezes to satisfy my daughter, but had I made it for just myself I would have skipped it. The irony is that she didn't like it - too many vegetables. The other two scarfed it, though!

This was really good and so satisfying. The summer vegetables were so welcome, knowing that summer is leaving and fall vegetables are arriving in my CSA. Sort of a grand exit, if you will.

Cost Breakdown:

eggplant, pepper, tomato: $9

onion, garlic, carrot, fennel: $3

Daiya and Follow Your Heart: $8

basil, tofu, olive oil: $4

pasta: $2

Total to make 10 servings:

$26.00

flannel cakes

Brunch

Flannel Cakes. Hmm. Are they a pancake or a crepe or what? Has more than nine-tenth of the population never heard of these? I haven't. Until I came across a recipe for it and then I went in search. It was difficult for me to find information about this elusive cake; most people just liken them to pancakes, but in fact, as far as I know those facts, Flannel Cakes are lighter, fluffier and thinner than than traditional pancakes. They are supposed to be less dense than their counter-part and therefore less filling.

Now to find a recipe...most call for at least 4 eggs. Now normally I wouldn't even bat an eyelash - just skip 'em! No need for eggs in pancakes. But this made me think. If the cake is to be lighter, sort of halfway between a pancake and a crepe, than I couldn't just ignore the them. I had to replace them with something more than flour.

There is a recipe for Flannel Cakes in Flavors of the Southwest by Robert Oser, but it seemed too dense. BUT, he did use whole wheat bread soaked in milk as an ingredient. It was obvious to me that this would work, at least partly, so I used it for part of the recipe. The rest is flax seed meal and whole wheat flour.

The kids really loved it! It is important to cook these on low heat so they develop a nice crunch and cook all the way through without burning on the outside.

I served them with apples and maple syrup, to stay in the Auterr season.

Cost Breakdown:

whole wheat flour: $1

bread: $.50

almond milk: $1

flax: $.50

maple syrup: $.75

apples: $1

Total to feed 3 hungry kids:

$4.75

FLANNEL CAKE PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE