Looks like my average blogging is every 6 months or so huh? I've had that little bloggy bug bite me several times in the last few months, but I just don't seem to get around to doing it. I've been wanting to change the name of my blog for quite a while too. I can't seem to think of a name that I really dig. So for now, it's changed to Happy Sleepy Spoonie.
That would be me, by the way.
My latest set of health challenges have grown and taught me so much, and I find myself everyday more joyful and thankful to God. Not only for His grace, but even for the trials, which I know are sanctifying me everyday. I never stop being amazed by His goodness. That's the happy part - I have so much joy in Christ!
Sleepy, because I felt like I needed another word in there and if I said happy happy, it might sound too much like hungry hungry. As in hippo. So I chose sleepy. I had surgery a few months ago (I am working my brain almost to the point of smoke coming out of my ears, and I can't remember the month that I had the surgery). Ever since then, I am more exhausted than I've ever been. At least for this long of a period of time. I feel like I am in a fog, and maybe like I'm wearing cement shoes. Folks, I am tired.
And Spoonie is self explanatory, IF you know about the spoon theory, and if you don't, I suggest you look it up!
These days, I rarely cook. Did I mention I'm tired? I went to the farmer's market on Saturday though, and bought some loverly Japanese eggplant and zucchini, so I had to make something. I looked up a bunch of recipes, and I don't know if I was just being extra lazy, but they had so many steps I couldn't even read them. Then, I had a flash of inspiration.
I have never actually eaten moussaka, being gluten free, and also allergic to eggs and tapioca. You just can't make a lot of good gluten free dishes without eggs and tapioca. So when a recipe calls for a bechemel, I usually skip right on past it. I don't like using things like egg replacers or gums if I can ever help it, and flax and chia seeds don't give me the results I want either. So, forget it. But, moussaka...it sounds so delicious. Greek food is my very favorite, I think. I firmly believe I could live on pita bread and hummus and baba ganouj....
Anyway. I came up with this moussaka inspired casserole type thingy. It might need a better name. But here we go.
While my oven was preheating to 400 degrees, I washed and cut my Japanese eggplant and a zucchini into rounds and placed them on a greased sheet pan. I don't like to cook with liquid oils like olive oil (too inflammatory), so lately, I've been using red palm oil. I don't use it for other people because they might get grossed out by the color, but I think it looks a little pretty, and it's a nice healthy oil.
Once that went into the oven, I started cooking some ground beef in my trusty extremely heavy Dutch oven. Now, I tend to eat semi low FODMAP. Garlic and onions especially bother me. So this recipe could be low FODMAP with some tweaking. I cooked my ground beef with a whole garlic clove in the pot, mostly because I don't like the smell of meat. When you are cooking, it is important to remember to season as you go! I salted the eggplant and zucchini before roasting it, and the ground beef got a little salt, pepper, the whole garlic clove, and some oregano. Oh, and some ground fennel seed. I don't think that is ever in moussaka, but I like the way it smells. Once the ground beef was cooked through, I removed the garlic, added some green onions (take the rest of those green onions and freeze them, all chopped up. Little things like that help later on. You'll be more likely to want to cook a healthy meal if some of the work is already done for you!), more oregano, cinnamon, tomato sauce, and red wine. I generally cook with a Shiraz, but use whatever you want, or if you wanted to leave it out, a little more tomato sauce. OR, I think beet juice would taste lovely! Tomato sauce on its own doesn't really give that deep delicious flavor you're looking for.
Plus the color of the wine or beet juice makes it oh so pretty. I cooked it until the liquid cooked down, and it looked a little bit like sloppy joe with not a lot of slop. Oh, I forgot to mention, play some good music while you're cooking. I'm sure it makes the food taste better. I chose a 90's mix. You play whatever you like.
So, once the meat was all delicious-like (I know it was delicious because I tasted it. Taste your food as you go! Each component should taste good on its own. Don't be afraid of salt. Okay be a little afraid of table salt, mostly because it's gross. Use a good quality, yummy salt. They don't cost that much.), I scooped all of the now roasted squash and eggplant into my casserole dish. Oh, and at some point, I turned the oven down to 350. It doesn't matter when - this is hardly precise. Then I added the meat, and mixed it all together, with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese - use any hard cheese you like. Then I baked it for about 20 minutes.
Now, I just ate a bowl of this. But, practically any vegetable would be a good side dish. If I had any choice, I think it would be super tasty with some carrots, jicama, and some zucchini hummus. And kalamata olives.
This part is very important! Serve with another sprinkle of fresh parmesan and a dollop of salted sour cream. This is what will take the place of the bechemel. Obviously it's not the same, but I'm telling you, this was a delcious dish.
Moussaka Inspired Casserole Thingy
12 oz ground beef (use lamb if you have it!)
2 small Japanese eggplant
1 small zucchini (or substitute both of these with a regular eggplant)
Salt & pepper
Oregano
Cinnamon
Garlic (optional)
Fennel seed, powdered (sorry, I'm no good with measurements)
1 cup tomato sauce (I use organic, and it tastes better)
1/2 to 1 cup red wine (Shiraz if you have it, or seriously, I would try beet juice)
Parmesan cheese, shredded
Sour cream (you better salt that stuff)
Follow my wordy instructions up there. Enjoy.
Posted with Blogsy
Test
ReplyDelete