This Week in My Kitchen: Lactation Cookies, Peach Crumble, Zucchini-Noodle Lasagna

Now that Odin is getting old enough to amuse himself for periods of time, I can get back in the kitchen and get cooking again! I'm watching my caloric intake at the moment, so I've been trying to make healthier options. Here's some of what I made this week:

Lactation Cookies

My sweet tooth (which didn't exist before my pregnancy) was hitting me hard this week. I decided to justify baking by making these Major Milk Makin' Cookies from the Peaceful Parenting blog. The brewer's yeast, oats and flax in them are supposed to increase your milk supply. I don't know if they increased my milk, but they were delicious! I used almond butter, Bob's Red Mill egg replacer, half & half dark chocolate and butterscotch chips, and no nuts. These are pretty high in calories, but fairly healthy.

Peach Crisp

Kirk and I took Odin to the Okanagan recently to meet his great-grandparents. I took the opportunity to stock up on some juicy ripe fruits and veggies, including a bunch of peaches. I peeled and sliced them all and used 6 cups of them to make a delicious crumble. For the topping I used rolled oats, whole wheat flour, ground flax seeds (and some whole ones too), demerara sugar and coconut flakes with a bit of vegetable oil. Odin started fussing as I was making the crumble and I forgot the seasoning, but I would have included nutmeg, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Either way, it still turned out pretty great.

Zucchini-Noodle Lasagna
While in the Okanagan we also got a huge zucchini from Kirk's Gramma's organic garden. I decided to slice it thin (about 1/4") lengthwise and use the slices as lasagna noodles. Here's the step-by-step on how I made it.

 1. First layers: Cover the bottom of the casserole dish with slices of zucchini. Pour some tomato sauce over top, then layer a half head of cauliflower, steamed lightly and mashed. Sprinkle seasoning - I used oregano and garlic salt.

 2. Add a layer of baby spinach (or regular spinach chopped roughly), then one container of cottage cheese or ricotta (for vegan option, use cashew ricotta or other vegan cheese).

 3. Add a layer or mushrooms (any kind), then more tomato sauce.

 4. Cover with more zucchini slices and oregano and red pepper flakes to taste.

5. Top with mozzarella cheese (Daiya is a good vegan option), then bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes, or until the veggies are fork tender an the cheese is melty and browned. Let cool and serve warm. Mine was pretty soupy since it's just vegetables and they let out water as they cook, but it was delicious nonetheless.

This Week in My Kitchen: Zucchini Two Ways, Green Onion Pancakes, Grilled Bread

Raw Zucchini Slaw
The recipe I followed for this dish (find it here) called it "Raw Zucchini Alfredo". There's not really anything alfredo about it (which is good - I was never a big fan of cream sauce), so I'm going with the more accurate term "slaw". Now, I did not follow the recipe exactly by any means - I used it more like a guide. I do not have a spiralizer (as much as I would like one, I haven't been able to find it), so I made the zucchini strips using a vegetable peeler. I also, for once, didn't have any cherry tomatoes on hand, so I upped the sun-dried tomato content. For the sauce, I left out the agave, since I didn't have any of that either. Overall, I really liked the dish. It was a great summer meal, although I think I'd prefer it as a side dish next time.

Breaded Zucchini Sticks
One night I was craving fried zucchini sticks like you get in pubs. Well, I suck at frying stuff - I make a mess and nothing turns out the way it should, plus it's pretty unhealthy. So instead I breaded some zucchini with almond milk, panko and spices and baked them in the toaster oven. They turned out great! I served them with ranch dip, cherry tomatoes and chopped bell peppers. A very satisfying dinner!

Green Onion Pancakes
I saw green onion pancakes in the deli counter of the supermarket once, and the concept always stuck with me. One evening I googled it and came up with a bunch of recipes. I decided to try this one. I found the dough very difficult to work with, but the green onion/sesame oil filling was divine! I absolutely love the umami quality of sesame oil. The assembled pancakes turned out a little thicker and denser than I would have liked (a more elastic dough would solve that problem), so I ended up having to bake them after grilling them to get them cooked through. I served them with sauteed veggie sausage, miso gravy and a simple salad with goddess dressing. I really want to perfect those pancakes, because even with them being imperfect, this was a pretty tasty and satisfying meal.

Grilled Bread
Now that we have a barbeque, Kirk and I have been cooking a lot of our meals outside. Everything tastes better grilled, right? It seemed to me that there should be some way of grilling a yeast bread dough, so I set upon googling and found this recipe. Oh my lord, it's fantastic! I've never made risen bread before, but it's super easy, and comes off the grill tasting kind of like a soft pretzel. I've been experimenting with it a bit, and found that a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and unbleached flour works well and suits the tastes of our regular dinner guests. I've also started infusing the olive oil with garlic, which is pretty fabulous. The verdict: grilled bread is the food of the gods.

I'm salivating just looking at this photo...