Brown rice lasagna with autumn salad

Hey! Happy Indian Food day! Howโ€™s your morning going??

So, last night was amazing!

maltedchoctart

If youโ€™ve been reading the bloggy for a while, yaโ€™ll know how much I adore dinner parties and usually have one each week. I LOVE having people over to wine and dine ๐Ÿ˜€ Since I was gone a month for school and then came back and went to Cali, I havenโ€™t been able to have a dinner party in over a month! Well, Girlโ€™s night is back ๐Ÿ˜‰

For appetizers, we had:

Classic hummus and Mary’s Crack

hummusandcrack

Carrots, bell pepper and cucumber

carrotsbellcuc

Herbed spicy olives (from the Publizzle deli), whole wheat pita and Garlic and artichoke spread (recipe in Eat, Drink and Be Vegan)

olivepitaart

Cheese plate (with herbed Harvarti, goat Jack cheese, creamy Chervrie goat cheese and sliced persimmon)

cheeseplate

My appetizer plate:

appplate

(x2)

For our dinner, we had:

Autumn salad

fallsalad

Mixed greens with sliced apples (with lemon juice so that apples wouldnโ€™t brown), candied walnuts:

Candied Walnuts

– 1 cup raw walnuts

-1 T cinnamon

-1/2 t sea salt

-1 t vanilla extract

-1 T maple powder (ground maple sugar)

-1/4 cup agave

Toss to coat and dehydrate on mesh screens at 115* for 24-36 hours

ยฉ2009 The Fitnessista

 

and balsamic vinaigrette.

Butternut squash and goat cheese lasagna:

lasagna

I followed this recipe from Cooking Light but changed a few things:

-used goat jack cheese instead of parmesean

-used brown rice lasagna pasta (which I was a little nervous about since Iโ€™d never used brown rice pasta beforeโ€”it came out wonderfully)

-a mix of goat jack cheese and creamy goat cheese in lieu of the ricotta/egg mixture, as I wanted this meal to be cow-dairy free. I shredded 1/2 C goat jack cheese and stirred it into a bowl with an 8 oz Chevrie goat cheese, and added pepper, sea salt and a pinch of nutmeg.

– for the sauce, I did my sneaky almost-homemade sauce. I make this sauce from start to finish using only one 28-oz can of San Marzano (the best!) crushed tomatoes. Instead of doing an additional can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes (as the recipe calls for), I stir in a jar of organic marinara sauce โ€“usually a basil and herb flavor- into the homemade sauce. It tastes amazing!

Check out all the layers:

layers

My plate:

lasagnaandsalad

Then, the best part:

platedtarts

Raw Malted Chocolate Tarts with coconut-almond macaroon crust, chocolate mousse and Sicilian sea salt

I canโ€™t give this recipe away because itโ€™s on the menu at 105degrees โ€“I received a sacred copy of the full menu and all of the recipes when I worked there in pastry- but take my word for itโ€”itโ€™s face rocking delicious.

choctart

(all of us could only finish half of our tarts- we were getting full and those babies are RICH!)

And of course, we had an abundant amount of THESE:

pomtinisss

POMtinis!!!! Using this recipe ๐Ÿ˜€

Blasty with friends: Check.

Delicious food and drink: Check.

Gossip and shenanigans: Check, check.

Iโ€™d call it a successful evening ๐Ÿ˜‰

Time to hit up the gym for legs with Ashley and Jeni then to PetSmart with the puppers.

See ya later with a fun interior decorating post!

xoxo,

Gina

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71 Comments

  1. Diana (Soap & Chocolate) on November 4, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    God GAWD momma, I want to curl up and live in that lasagna.

  2. Cutsandcurves on November 4, 2009 at 5:10 pm

    Your meal looks amazing! It’s making me hungry now. The lasagna looks the best (in my humble opinion)

  3. dorothy on November 4, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    everything looks simply amazing! im jealous of your guests you seem like the epitome of a perfect host ๐Ÿ™‚

    where do you buy ww/brown rice lasagna noodles? i can’tseem to find them anywhere.. although i havent checked wfoods yet hm.

    • Fitnessista on November 4, 2009 at 8:37 pm

      i would definitely check whole foods- i got the brown rice lasagna at the health food store

  4. Lauren (Biochemista) on November 4, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    You have totally inspired me to throw a dinner party! LOVE POM martinis, btw..I have a GREAT ‘healthy’ Pom margarita recipe if you ever want it…

    Random ques, what’s your reasoning for not eating any cow products? Nurtitional benefits or do you prefer the taste of (for ex) goat cheese)?

    L

    • Fitnessista on November 4, 2009 at 8:35 pm

      i would love that recipe!
      i prefer goat’s cheese because it’s more easily digested, isn’t as mucus-forming as cow dairy, and cow’s have multiple stomachs and goats have one, which brings a lower potential for toxins that are trapped in the colon to be carried through the blood stream and into the milk/cheese.

  5. Erin on November 4, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    Your dinner parties always look so amazing! You’re such an awesome host ๐Ÿ™‚ Isn’t that artichoke dip the bizzle?

  6. Roro on November 5, 2009 at 2:15 am

    Your Girl’s night looked really FUN!!! and your House is Beautiful!! Zumba was Great tonight!! =)

    • Fitnessista on November 5, 2009 at 8:55 am

      zumba was a BLASTY last night! i love teaching zumba ๐Ÿ˜€

  7. Tina on November 5, 2009 at 9:14 am

    Oh my goodness I want to come to your girls night!! The tarts look incredible. Is that sea salt on top of them? That’s always the perfect touch with chocolate.

    • Fitnessista on November 5, 2009 at 9:15 am

      if you’re ever in valdosta, come on over!!!
      yup, sicilian sea salt.. sooooooo good with chocolate

  8. Heather McD (Heather Eats Almond Butter) on November 5, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    Geez Gina,
    You totally outdid yourself. The whole meal looked face rocking delicious. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Thanks for the decorating post – loved the rug tip. Rug first – simple, yet so brilliant.

  9. Lauren (Biochemista) on November 5, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    Here’s the margarita recipe:

    I basically adapted Bethenny Frankel’s recipe (Skinny girl margarita: http://www.bethenny.com/skinny_margarita.htm

    I LOVE frozen margaritas so here’s what I do:

    Add Ice to blender, 1/2 way full. Then 5/6 clear tequila + 1/6 triple sec (to the line of the ice; In other words you dont want the volume of total liquid to be higher than the ice). Next add a splash of fresh lime juice and some stevia, to taste. For strawberry margaritas, I use frozen strawberries (mango’s are also amazing!) or I add a splash of POM juice.

    They are also great on the rocks. Sometimes, I’ll add a splash of OJ instead of POM juice If I want a reg margarita.

    Let me know if you make them!

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