Fall fuel, no-cheese lasagna

Whether it’s a training session, rest day, or peak race, proper nutrition is key to getting the most out of any runner. As I wrote recently, over past couple of months I’ve been focusing on fuelling my body properly as my weekly kilometres have increased. I’ve done this by adding a lot more variety into my diet while keeping as much of it as possible real, unprocessed food.

This time of year Candace and myself have plenty of garden vegetables to prepare meals with, so it’s been fun exploring creative ways to incorporate them. There’s also some extra creativity going into preparation because I have food intolerances to dairy and eggs.

For the majority of my life I was allergic to dairy and eggs. An allergy test several months ago showed I’ve grown out of it, however I’m still quite intolerant, so I avoid them. Trace amounts are fine, like in baking, but any substantial amount becomes a problem. So, getting creative in the kitchen is a must.

One of my favourite recipes we’ve come up is a no-cheese lasagna. It’s super delicious, even by standards set by cheese-eaters.

The recipe is below, but there’s no need to follow it exactly. Get as creative as you wish.

Recipe: Garden veggie, no-cheese lasagna

Ingredients:

500 grams ground chicken

3 medium-sized sweet Italian sausage (chopped)

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, chopped

1. Cook sausage, chicken, onion, garlic over medium heat until browned.

Ingredients:

1 (796ml) can diced tomatoes

1 (369ml) can tomato paste

1 (398ml) can tomato sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 ½ teaspoons dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 tablespoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

2. Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce. Season with sugar, basil leaves, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Simmer covered for about one hour.

Ingredients:

2 cups summer squash, grated

1 ½ cups carrots, grated

1 cup mushrooms, grated

1 cup Green beans, cut

2 cups fresh spinach (if frozen about 300 grams)

1 egg

½ teaspoon salt

3. In mixing bowl combine squash, carrots mushrooms, green beans, spinach, egg and salt.

4. Preheat oven to 375 F

Ingredients:

10 Lasagna noodles

5. To assemble, spread two cups of meat sauce in the botton of 9×13 inch baking dish. Arrange 5 noodles over meat sauce. Spread half of vegateable mixture over noodles. Spoon 2 cups of meat sauce over vegetable mixture. Repeat layers, top with remaining vegetable mixture and meat sauce. Cover with foil.

6. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and back for another 25 minutes. Cool for about 15 minutes before digging in.