Recipe time

I'll share some recipes with you.
Firstly I'll share the Tomato and Basil Pasta Salad i had for lunch
So easy to make and oh so delicious. This is from Michelle Bridges latest No Excuses Cookbook

Pic first..

Serves 2 with 320 Calories per serve
125g dried pasta
250g mixed baby tomatoes, halved ( I had only tomatoes in the fridge so weighed 250g of these)
30g Baby Spinach
1/3 cup torn basil leaves (I used 1/2 cup)
1tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 clove crushed garlic (um being part Italian I love my garlic so used a full clove)
freshly ground black pepper

• cook pasta to taste. Drain and cool
• place the pasta, tomatoes, spinach, basil, olive oil and garlic in a large bowl. Season with pepper. Toss to coat
• place half the mix in each bowl.

I stored mine for tomorrow for lunch. The garlic will have time to infuse. YUMMY!!! Will be delicious tomorrow!!!!!

Now the recipe for the lasagna. It was referred to as Jen's lasagna in the 12wbt.
Another pic to remind you.

Serves 5 with 309 calories per serve
1 cup reduced fat ricotta
250g pkt of frozen spinach thawed, excess liquid squeezed out
1 egg
pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 bunch basil, coarsely chopped
olive oil spray
medium brown onion, chopped
8 mushrooms, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
220g lean beef mince
400g can crushed tomatoes
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 zucchini, coarsely grated
1 carrot, coarsely grated
2 Latina fresh lasagna sheets
30g shredded Parmesan

1. preheat oven to 180c. Combine the ricotta, spinach and egg in a bowl. Add the nutmeg and half the basil and mix until well combined
2. spray a large frying pan with olive oil. Add onion, mushroom and garlic. Cook for 3 mins or until soft
3. add the mince and cook, stirring to break up clumps until browned. Add canned tomatoes, chopped tomato, zucchini and carrot.
4. Simmer for 10-15 mins or until slightly thickened. Stir in remaining basil
5. Spread a layer of ricotta mix over base of lasagna dish. Top with lasagna sheet followed by meat mix and another lasagna sheet. Spread over remaining ricotta mix and sprinkle with Parmesan. bake for 1 hour.

Now I add a bit of beef stock as I felt it missed a flavour and the lean mince loses the beefy flavour.
Omg this was good though. I cut up 6 slices so this would actually be less in calories. Not sure how you would cut 5 slices, unless they were long ones :-)

Give it a try. Tell me what you think. Yay or nay :-)
Enjoy x