LENTIL LASAGNE

This meal is a family favourite and even my brother who is an avid meat eater says its the best vegetarian meal he has ever tasted. I got this recipe from a friend and I have adjusted it slightly to suit our tastes. I cook this meal  about once a fortnight and we never get tired of eating it. It is the most requested meal that I cook. I have changed from tin lentils to raw lentils to avoid the packaging. If you are in a hurry and do not want to wait for the lentils to cook then use one tin of lentils. Drained and rinsed.

LENTIL LASAGNE  (recipe from my friend Sharon Marsh and cheese sauce recipe from Everyday Cookery by Helen Bunney)
Makes one family sized lasagne
Waste produced - plastic from cheese, paper bag for flour, tin from tomatoes, cardboard box for  pasta sheets. Glass jars from sauces. All other waste composted.

FILLING
400 Grams cooked whole green or brown lentils (1 tin)
800 Grams diced tomatoes (2 tins)
1 carrot
1 zucchini
Spinach as much or little as you would like (I use baby spinach as its more delicate. If you use large spinach chop it finely and take out all the white bits)
1 brown onion
two cloves of garlic
1/2 capsicum
tablespoon dried basil or a handful of fresh
2 heaped tablespoons tomato puree
A few splashes of soy sauce
A splodge of tomato sauce

METHOD

1. If using fresh lentils pre-cook them first.
2. Dice the onion and crush the garlic
3. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and add the garlic and onion and cook until tender.
4. Grate carrot and zucchini, chop the spinach and add to the saucepan along with all of the other ingredients.
5. Cook on a medium heat for about ten minutes.
6. Set aside to cool

CHEESE SAUCE

4 Tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of flour
600ml of milk
salt pepper
120grams of cheese

METHOD
1. Melt the butter in a saucepan
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour
3. Return to the heat and cook, stirring for about a minute
4. Remove from heat and gradually add milk while stirring
5. Return to heat and cook on a medium to low heat until it thickens
6. Add the cheese and stir through until it has melted
7. Season with salt and pepper

METHOD TO COMPLETE
1. In a pie dish or baking dish put on the bottom a layer of pasta sheets
2. Pour over the top a layer of the filling
3. Add another layer of pasta sheets
4. Pour over the top a layer of cheese sauce
5. Add another layer of pasta
6. Add another layer of the filling
7. Add another layer of pasta
8. Pour over the final layer of cheese sauce
9. Grate cheese on the top and sprinkle some nutmeg over it
10. Cook in a moderate over until the the pasta sheets are soft  (test by putting a knife in) and the top is brown.

I hope you enjoy eating this as much as we all do ..... thanks for stopping by .... Eco Granny

BANANA CAKE

I cook ninety-five percent of our food from scratch and people often say to me that they don't have time to cook their food. The other day I cooked this banana cake and it took me less time to prepare it than it would to get into the car and drive to shop to buy one. Not to mention the fact that the cake purchased from the shop would have been wrapped in plastic. I think the whole cooking things yourself has become a mental block for some people who don't realise that is not that hard to create your own food from scratch. It took me ten minutes to make the cake mix and I used a food processor to mix it together. The time it took to actually bake was longer but I was sipping my tea while waiting for it to be ready to eat.

BANANA CAKE (recipe from Everyday Cookery by Helen Bunney)

Waste produced - organic waste was composted

Flour bag, sugar bag - (paper recyclable) 

Butter wrapping - not recyclable but re-usable (see blog of Gippslandunwrapped for this information)

6 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup of sugar

2 eggs

3 medium bananas (better if they are old and soft)

2 cups self raising flour

pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

2 tablespoons milk

METHOD

1. Beat butter and sugar to a cream

2. Add lightly beaten eggs

3. Peel and mash bananas and add to the mix

4. Sift flour and bicarbonate soda together

5. Fold in dry ingredients alternately with the milk to form a soft dough (I just sifted into the food processor add the milk and mixed it)

6. Spoon mixture into two greased and lined 18cm sandwich tin. (I put mine into my bread loaf baking tin)

7. Bake in a moderate oven for 25 to 30 mins

8. Cool on a wire rack 

9. When cold, fill with whipped cream and sprinkle to top with icing  sugar (didn't do this bit at all)

We enjoyed or banana cake on the back deck with a cup of tea and visits from our children ..... time taken to eat it .... about five minutes ..... and thanks for stopping by Eco Granny.