Vegetable Stuffed Shells

This is our favorite Meatless Monday meal so far. I was surprised because it contains four vegetables my children don't like. Chef Caprial was right when she wrote that kids will like this. I think finely dicing the vegetables helped blend the flavors into a very tasty combination.

Filling
Trim, finely dice, and saute these vegetables a few minutes until soft and tender.

Mushrooms

After sauteing the vegetables, put them in a bowl. In same pan, saute the mushrooms. They can be sauteed with the vegetables but I chose to do it this way. 

After giving it a little thought, I decided the mushrooms were too big and finely chopped them before adding to the vegetable mixture. Next time, I'd probably cook them with the other vegetables.

Cheese 
When all the vegetables are mixed together and cooled slightly, add cheese. I choose lactose-free cottage cheese in place of ricotta and a little grated Parmesan cheese.

Shells
The shells were filled with the mixture and placed in a lightly oiled baking dish.

Cheese Topping
Freshly grated mozzarella and asiago cheeses were spread over the top and baked in place of the sherry sauce.

Dinner
My son set the table, tossed and served the salad. The salad was dressed with a simple homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Vegetable Stuffed Shells
Adapted from Cooking with Caprial, Vegetable Cannelloni with Sherry Sauce

Vegetable Cannelloni ingredients, with my changes
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped (I minced)
3 shallots, chopped (I minced)
1 medium onion, diced (I omitted)
1 cup sliced mushrooms (I finely diced)
About 1 tbsp bourbon (*optional, see method)
1 zucchini, finely diced
1 eggplant finely diced
2 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, and diced (I used 1, finely diced and sauteed with the vegetables)
1 ts chopped fresh oregano
1 ts chopped fresh basil
3/4 cup ricotta cheese (I used 2 cups lactose-free cottage cheese = 1 16 oz container)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used 1/2 cup)
Salt and pepper to taste
8 cannelloni shells, cooked al dente (I used jumbo shells for the ease of stuffing)

My method for the vegetable filling: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook shells, al dente.

Wash and trim zucchini, pepper, and eggplant. Peel eggplant. Clean mushrooms with cloth or soft brush. Finely dice vegetables. Trim and mince garlic and shallots. Saute all vegetables in olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat a few minutes until soft and tender. (Or, do as above in illustrations.) Remove from pan and place in a bowl.

After vegetables cool slightly, blend in cottage cheese, or ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, oregano, and basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle a little olive oil over bottom of a baking dish. Stuff cooked shells, or cannelloni, and lay into dish. Spread a mix of freshly grated asiago and mozzarella cheese (or make sherry sauce instead, see below) over the top. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5-10 minutes more until cheese is a little browned.

Sherry Sauce (I omitted and substituted grated Asiago and Mozzarella cheeses)
1 ts olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 cup dry sherry
2 cups heavy cream
Salt to taste and 1/2 ts cracked black pepper
If you use the Sherry Sauce . . . Lightly saute garlic and shallots in oil in a preheated pan, turn heat to high and add sherry and boil until only about 1/3 cup remains. Add cream and boil down to about 1 cup. Season with salt to taste and pepper.

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Photos:

I didn't have my new camera when I made this, was shooting at night and not knowing about ISO, this was the best I could get the photos. I'm glad that daylight hours are getting longer, it'll make photographing dinner easier!

Nutritious And Refreshing Breakfast Banana Split

Our first Meatless Monday was a little comical and you can see that story and recipe in my Rhode Island Johnny Cakes And Sweet Maple Brussels Sprouts post. Last night we didn't make anything special, we just had leftover Rotelle, or wagon wheels as we like to call them, with marinara, tuna, and black olives.  I wasn't sure if tuna should be considered meat. After giving the mission of Meatless Monday some thought, particularly about reducing our carbon footprint relative to meat consumption, I think fish should fall within the definition of animals here.  But for last night, at least, it was a leftover dish and I wasn't buying more fish or meat.


Here's a recipe for a refreshing breakfast, lunch, or snack idea that we had last week. More of our Meatless Monday recipes, like Cauliflower Spinach Lasagne and Rotini with Zucchini and Parsley Walnut Pesto to come soon!

Breakfast Banana Splits
We actually had these for an after school snack. My daughter loves to snack on cottage cheese so I thought she'd really enjoy this and she did. My son wasn't crazy about it. If you're lactose intolerant like me, use lactose-free cottage cheese and enjoy a calcium packed snack without the side effects.

Clean Eating Recipe: 4 medium bananas, 2 cups 1% cottage cheese, 6 tbsp all-fruit strawberry jam, 1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped, 1/8 ts sea salt.

Method (reworded)
For 4 servings: peel and halve a banana and place in a shallow dish or bowl and scoop a half cup of cottage cheese on top, then drop 1 1/2 tablespoons of jam. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of peanuts all around and a pinch of salt. Do the same with the remaining 3 bananas.

My changes:
I altered the recipe a little and used fresh strawberries with honey instead of jam. I placed sliced strawberries in a bowl and mixed in some honey and let it sit while I got the bananas and other ingredients ready. Then I put some of the strawberries over only half a banana, used a little less cheese and excluded the salt (I think the cottage cheese is salty enough). I used all organic ingredients and unsalted peanuts.

This recipe is in Clean Eating's March 2011 so it's not available on the website yet.

Enjoy!