More photos!!

So here are some more photos of OZ...we had a busy couple of days but we are almost done unpacking!!! Rob and I are very happy with the progress and I will take some pictures soon from the house so all of you can see our place. But for now I have uploaded photos of the baby shower and 3 pictures taken today this late afternoon at the beach. It is very warm here 35 C and after a day organising Rob and I went to the beach at the end of the day to cool off a little, we met his brother and Jasmin (Rob's niece). It was great but the sea was a little rough but very refreshing! You all can see that Greenpeace was almost coming and dragging me back to the sea, I look like a whale with my big belly. The baby is healthy and growing how you all can notice. Not long now I am on week 33 so just a couple more weeks and the baby will be with us. Hope you all are well and miss all of you! Enjoy...

Eggplant Lasagna (glutenfree!!!)

Here is my favorite lasagna recipe; even though it takes some time to prepare, it is just worth all the trouble. This recipe is great because it's full of veggies (you can also make it a vegetarian lasagna just don't add the minced meat). There is no pasta in it, so for the ones who might be on a diet or have gluten allergies this is a great alternative.


Preparation time: 1 1/2 hours

Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:

1 good sized eggplant (for a lasagna dish 33 x 22cm. If you have a bigger dish just use two eggplants.)

2 carrots chopped in cubs

1 zucchini chopped in cubs

1 yellow pepper chopped in cubs

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable stock

1 bottle of tomato puree

1 onion chopped in cubes

3 garlic cloves chopped or minced

400 grams of good quality minced beef (I like to use the one that has the least fat.)
1 big bag of grated cheese (I use mozzarella light but you can use whatever cheese you prefer.) breadcrumbs
Fresh Basil
salt
pepper

*You can use whatever veggies you have in the fridge for this recipe; the only must have is the eggplant.

Preparation:

Step 1: Start by cutting the eggplant length wise in thin slices. Don't worry if slices are not perfect it will work anyway and no one will see because it will be used for layers.

Step 2: Dip the eggplant slices in the eggs and then in the breadcrumbs. Put some butter in a frying pan and fry them still they are golden brown set them aside in a dish. Do this till all the eggplant is fried.

Step 3: Pre-heat the oven to 190 C. In a medium pan add some olive oil and saute the onion and garlic till soft. Then add the minced meat let it cook till all the juices of the meat are gone. Then add the zucchini, yellow peppers, carrots and any other veggies you want. Let it fry for a little while. Add the tomato sauce (leave some sauce in the bottle so you can use this for the bottom of the lasagna dish), vegetable stock, salt, pepper (I like to add some vegetable stock to the sauce but it is not a must but if you do this be more careful with the salt.) Let it simmer till the sauce thickens a bit. At the end add the fresh basil (I love to use a lot of fresh basil but its up to you how much you put in it...if you don't have fresh basil just use dry oregano.)

Step 4: In the lasagna dish use the left over tomato puree for the bottom (I do this so the eggplant doesn't burn and it gets the taste of the tomatoes too.) Add a layer of eggplant then a layer of the minced meat sauce then a layer of grated mozzarella cheese. Continue till all the eggplant and sauce is gone. Now be sure to leave some mozzarella cheese for the top, its the best part!

Step 5: Stick it in the pre-heated oven till you see the top become golden and the sauce bubbly. Take out of the oven and serve. There it is, a beautiful healthy dish which will comfort you, your friends and family without breaking the budget. Enjoy!!!