Mini gluten-free Lasagna

I spend a lot of time browsing the internet for recipes. I will admit it. I'm jealous of really well-designed food blogs and adore step-by-step photos of recipes. In turn, I get really irritated by recipes that only show me the finished product. I feel that an important part of food blogging should be the pictures along the process. Maybe that's just me though.

Since going gluten-free January 1st, I have struggled with my craving for pasta. I usually do pretty well during the week but on the weekends when I have time to properly cook I find myself wishing for a big plate of spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread that is the perfect union of crusty french bread and buttery garlic flavoring. I would even be willing to cook up some green beans to make myself feel better about inhaling a disproportionate amount of carbohydrates in one sitting. Or pizza, or eggplant parma, or chicken parma...or well, you get the idea. I found a recipe recently that was about making mini lasagnas in a muffin pan. I thought that sounded promising since making a whole pan of lasagna for one person is silly, and stupid when considering the consequences of eating even one piece of lasagna and my delicate digestive system. The recipe initially called for wonton wrappers (which are not GF) so I substituted with Vietnamese rice papers. I should preface this recipe by saying that I did not have ricotta cheese to properly cheesify this recipe into lasagna (can't find it in South Korea) and neither did I properly measure anything. So on those counts I failed, but the end result was yummy, so take what you will!



Mini Lasagnas (GF)

Meaty bolognese sauce (use your favorite home recipe or buy a jar of it)
Mozzerella cheese
Vietnamese rice paper
Eggplant (if you want)
Ricotta cheese (mix it with a bunch of parmesan cheese and frozen spinach to make it like my mom does)
Oregano
Basil *
Garlic salt *

*these are if you make your own sauce like I did.



1. grease your muffin tins really well before you start anything. Including the flat part of the pan since the rice paper goes over the top of the muffin tin.

2. Brown your ground beef with onion and garlic (I used leftovers from a recipe earlier this week). Add sauce and season to taste with garlic salt and basil. Make sure it's decently thick. Runny sauce won't really be helpful here.


3. Time to turn your rice paper into something usable. Boil water and fill a shallow dish with it. One paper at a time is the best way to go. Put it in the hot water until it's turned soft and pliable. Not very long if your water is boiling. Just don't burn yourself like I did!



3.2 Line your muffin tins with the rice paper. It turns out that I needed 2 to fill each since I couldn't get them to be flat...which turns out to be better for my lasagna after all.


4. Put one tablespoon of sauce in the bottom of your lasagna.


5. Now you can work on your layer. This is only a one layer lasagna after all. I put slices of eggplant on the sauce and the sprinkled some cheese on top of it. But feel free to miniaturize your own recipe. Mmmmm, ricotta cheese with spinach. I wish I had that here...ok, back to the recipe.


6. Top each mini with one more rice paper (yes, go back to the hot water). Push the rice paper down so that it fills in the gaps and give you a bit of a well to work with one last time. Then do a bit more sauce and cheese before bringing the rice papers together to sort of seal it all together. Sprinkle some oregano on the top.


7. Bake in your oven for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Or until the cheese on top is golden.


8. When I pulled them out of the pan they sort of fell apart a bit. I'm guessing that rice paper isn't the most sturdy thing to use here. I might cook it longer next time to see if that improves it (I pulled my out at 15 minutes) or line the muffin pan with tin foil to help them hold shape after I get them out. In any case...they were yummmy.


9. Having a cute puppy watching you work in the kitchen is completely optional, but absolutely adorable.

Five for Friday

The week just ended for me about 20 minutes ago. I finally started teaching again after what has felt like an eternity not doing so. Let me tell you what, deskwarming at a public school in South Korea makes me miss working at a kindergarten. Almost.I guess it would be different if I had lots of planning to do, but considering I didn't get my new textbooks in until just last Friday and didn't finish getting resources for them until today, there really isn't much to do without textbooks. Honestly.

But I got it all in and can really start sorting out classes now. I'm excited for the new books and so far all my kids are great. Of course, I did only have the 3rd and 4th graders so far. But here you go...my five for Friday.



I found this image today and was reminded of the power of a smile. My students were all very happy the last two days, and were all smiles. So was I. Last night I was teaching a new class of 3 kids and one of the girls remarked (through giggles) that she was smiling and laughing so much her face hurt. I want to laugh like that everyday. So much that my smile hurts.



How amazing is this set up? I love the teal color of the bench and the playfulness of the whole set-up. Please give me some old furniture and amazing vintage fabrics to do this with someday, somewhere in New Zealand!



And how awesome are these light shades? I'm especially taken with the upper left pattern. It reminds me of a pattern I've seen on Celtic knot work. I'd love to have that light shade on my bedroom ceiling. Seriously awesome.



Oh man, so I thought I really wanted to do a kitchen in bold bright colors, but this sink and backsplash has me rethinking that decision.



I wish I had an option on my photo editing software to isolate the color in an image. But since I don't, I'll just enjoy this daisy. Love it and love you all- happy Friday!

If I manage my time better...

Ok, I must admit that I am a fairly lazy person. I will sit in front of the TV reading a book or fiddling around with my sewing stuff without actually accomplishing anything over a long period of time. It's true. It's easier for me to wait until I really want to do something. Then I'll do it. Take last night for instance- I didn't do a whole lot since I was feeling a bit blue, but knew there were things I should have been doing. I then proceeded to watch the rest of the Oscars and an episode of Sherlock before getting the motivation to straighten up my apartment. At 10 o'clock at night. I had to forcibly stop myself from dusting at 10:30 because if I started, I wouldn't stop until it was all done. And then I would have to sweep the floor and possibly mop it as well because, well, what's the point of dusting without finishing cleaning? I'm sick, I know it. Jeff said he would just invite me over to watch a movie and let me dust instead...I'll be honest, I probably would if it were really dusty. ;)

If I can discipline myself to accomplish things outside of motivational times, I would get a lot more done. It's a shame I work better under the pressure of a deadline or due date. My masters program is a testimony to that- I'm lucky I can make my homework look like it took loads longer than it did.

So here are my short-term motivational goals.

1. Do yoga as many days of the week that I can...so far this week- not so good. But it's a work in progress for sure.



2. Make these one day this weekend- how freaking cute are they? And I could make them gluten-free as well. (btw- they are mini lasagnas made in a cupcake tin)




3. Work on my crazy lesson plan where I'm teaching different parts of each lesson with each grade...it's going to be nuts.

4. Eat meatless as much as I can...it's cheaper anyway. So far this week- pretty darn good. Lentil soup, vegetarian chili and Parmesan zucchini sticks with pizza sauce. I also got a recipe for falafels that I'm going to try out. Does anyone else find it weird that I have all the ingredients for vegetarian meals stocked in my pantry?

last day off

Today is my last day off work until May. The new school year starts tomorrow and I'm ready to get it going. I need my time to go quickly. I want to be done with this semester and on my way to New Zealand. I have so much do to between now and then, but I'm anxiously awaiting the day when I get on a plane and head back to my home in Nelson. I left my heart there in January and can't wait to get back to where it is. Not that I really want my heart back, but I'd like to be closer to it.

flower child

Not counting the drugs and free love, I've always been drawn to the 1970s. So here I am, in the 2010s and always find myself torn between my inner flower child and the reality that I cannot actually be that girl. So I find little things that help me release her. I used to love putting flowers in my hair and have very recently decided that I want to wear them again. I went shopping for some last night and didn't find any that I liked and was willing to pay for. So what do you think I did? I went home and made some. I've got more ideas to work out on some new ones, but I like the messy quality of these. What do you think?

Five for Friday

It's been a bit of a strange week. No students all week long and not really much to do at school. Which I guess is nice, but it's just making time drag really. But it's time for my 5 for Friday. Here you go!



I started watching the miniseries on the BBC of a modern Sherlock. It's hilarious.



Skype makes life very easy living abroad. It's so cheap and can oftentimes just be free. I love it. I appreciate it so much this week in that a 3 hour phone call only cost me 4,000 won. :)



This week I have been really enjoying Katy Perry's Teenage Dream album. Can't help it and can't deny it.



Seriously twisted comedy. That's "The League of Gentlemen." So very funny and a good laugh. "Good morning Job Seekers!"



Daisies, daisies and more daisies. Spring has been tempting me all week and I can't wait for daisies to start popping up. They are definitely my favorite flower.

Happy Friday everyone!

Monday blues

I had an off day today.

First I found out that I do not get to teach with Mrs. Jang this year. She was awesome and I am going to miss her, even though she's just down the hallway with her 3rd grade homeroom class now. Instead I have to teach with Mrs. Eun, who does not speak any English and has told me through Juliet that she's not going to speak any English in class with me...which means I have to teach 3rd and 4th grade all alone basically. Thankfully the other two ladies, Juliet and Sunny, are really helpful and are translating all my class rules so I can do it alone. Yikes.

Then came food today...I woke up late, didn't get breakfast and forgot to pack a lunch. Went ahead and ordered lunch with the other teachers today and had to wait over an hour for it to arrive. It was WAY too spicy and made me feel sick in the afternoon. Then I had to go to a teacher's dinner tonight at Venice Buffet. Let's just start with the fact that I cannot eat my money's worth at a buffet at all. Especially a seafood/sushi buffet. Maybe if I actually liked sushi... No one talks to me at school dinners also. Juliet is always busy since she's the event planner for the teacher's club. Luckily I had my Kindle with me and I read for most of it. I think I feel blech because of the food I've had today. Eating out in Korea really doesn't agree with me much.

I really miss my friends today, no particular reason, I just do. A lot. Tomorrow I have to go to a training conference for the new text books...I wonder if it's going to be in English at all. I'll bring my iPod and Kindle just in case.

Today wasn't a total drag though. I did sew 3 things tonight. I went through my closet and pulled out things either I don't wear or things I don't really like. I have a pile of colorful clothes just waiting to be reborn into something else. Tonight I turned my only winter tunic into a really cute miniskirt and a lovely summer top with embroidery and crocheting into a cute little girl's dress. I'm thinking about holding onto it until I go back to New Zealand and give it to Alice...she'd look really cute in it. So here's the dress I made.




Front view



Back view...kinda boring



Close-up of the collar...I cut off most of the original collar and reconfigured it.



Cute button clasp. Amazingly enough, the button-hole setting on my machine worked for me tonight!

Now I just need to be around some little girl to have her model it instead of it lying on the floor. :)