Easy Pizza Casserole + Egg Roll in a Bowl
life is hard; food doesn't have to be #83 [vol3, 2.4]
Easy Pizza Casserole
When the kids take dinner for school lunch, it’s a sign that they liked dinner. The original recipe was from Brunch with Babs on Instagram. I copied her version for you. Below her instructions is how I made it differently.
5 ounce package of pepperoni
3 cups (24oz jar) marinara sauce
3 cups water (fill up jar)
16 ounce package elbow pasta
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mozzarella
🍕Preheat oven to 425. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray. In prepared dish, stir together uncooked pasta, marinara sauce, water, about 3/4 of the package of pepperoni and salt. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake 25 minutes. Remove dish from oven take off cover and stir pasta - at this point pasta should be al dente. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and place remaining pepperoni on top of cheese. Return dish to oven and bake uncovered 5-10 more minutes.
Julie’s edits:
use butter to grease pan
use pasta from Italy (found at Kroger or Trader Joe’s) because Italians don’t use as much pesticides or allow genetically modified crops (GMOs).
use better option for pepperoni. I like Applegate Farms and cut the pepperoni into 6ths.
browned a pound of ground pork with a chopped onion and fresh garlic then added to marinara. If I had fresh herbs I would have used those.
added a can of drained black olives
afterwards I thought of sneaking in a bit of spinach
reduced the amount of pasta by 1.5 cups and omitted 1 c water
more cheese!!
I also made a 2nd pan for my husband, who is gluten free. I roasted a spaghetti squash according to this method. Omitted the water and spread sauce on top. Bake without a cover so water will evaporate. Made 6 wells and cracked eggs in each hole. Add cheese minutes before finishing just so it melts. He loved it.
I actually preferred a mixture of both options. The kids, of course, didn’t touch the spaghetti squash version with the glutenous one available.
Egg Roll in a Bowl
Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey, chicken, beef or pork
2 cups shredded cabbage (or bag of coleslaw mix)
2 carrots, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 T soy sauce
2 t rice vinegar
1 egg, optional
1 T oil, like avocado or toasted sesame
optional garnishes: sesame seeds, green onions, cilantro, hot sauce
salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
In a large pot or wok, begin cooking the ground meat, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add onions and garlic to the pan and sauté until nearly cooked through.
Add cabbage and shredded carrots (or coleslaw mix) and continue to cook about 15 minutes.
While cabbage is cooking, crack the egg into a bowl with a splash of water. Scramble it with a fork. When the cabbage is almost cooked through, make a well in the center of the pot and add the tablespoon of oil. Pour mixed egg and scramble it and eventually incorporate it into meat/cabbage mixture.
Add soy sauce and rice vinegar.
Serve with optional garnishes: sesame seeds, green onions, cilantro, or hot sauce.
This is easily doubled. I use a wok but a large/deep pan works as well. I doubled the recipe last night but went slow on doubling the vinegar/soy sauce combo. I think I used 5T soy sauce and 3T vinegar (much more vinegar than recipe called for). Just keep stirring and tasting until it tastes good to you.
Note on soy sauce: I look for the words “traditionally fermented” when purchasing soy sauce. Soy is also a common genetically modified food, so it is important to me to look for organic or non-GMO soy sauce. We like the San-J brand.
Another variation: Egg Roll from Morocco
Locals
Dr. Plourde will be giving a free seminar on EMF, safety and mitigation in an ever changing world. More information on her work here.
Join other holistic minded people at Blue Barn Bakery in Conway on March 15th at 6:30pm. Space is limited. Please RSVP to Mara at Mara@anaturalstateofwellness.com.
Easy Dessert for Young Chefs
My daughter, Caroline, is 11 and likes to make desserts. She isn’t very adventurous and likes recipes to be straightforward. These Oh Hamish bars were perfect for her and quite delicious. The texture of the oats/sugar/butter layer is similar to rice krispy treats. The recipe is for half sheet pan. We halved the recipe and used 9x13 pan then added sprinkles!
Knife Course
I love following Plantains and Challah on Instagram. And am thrilled to see she has created a knife skills course. If there’s one thing that will help you enjoy time in the kitchen is knowing how to use a sharp knife. I haven’t taken her course, nor am I an affiliate, but I love her work. I’m confident you’ll love her course if you need encouragement in the way of knife skills. She gives helpful feedback to your chopping style (before her account became super popular she gave me free advice and I’m so grateful!)
Life is hard, food doesn’t have to be,
Julie