An Actual Wine.Dine. Post!

I've been having a blast focusing on fashion-related posts but I think it's about time I did some actual wine-ing and dine-ing.

 

 In classic Sara-style, I stole a recipe from Pinterest, posted by Lauren Conrad, stolen from another blogger and am going to try to convince you that it was my genius idea. True, I always manage to tweak recipes just enough to make myself feel like I actually "cooked" something as opposed to following instructions like a trained monkey. Sometimes I'm not far off. 

 

It recently hit me that I have to get my butt into Vegas shape in a few short weeks for a friend's bachelorette party, so all of a sudden I'm Jillian-freaking-Michaels, strapping on my running shoes and scoffing at people in line for McDonald's. Ok, that's not really true, I literally drool at the sight of the Golden Arches, but for now I'm going low carb and trotting out a workout when I can. 

 

This recipe for low carb lasagna caught my eye and I figured I'd give it a shot. Turns out LC knows what she's talking about. It's easy to make and tastes exactly like normal lasagna. I halved the recipe (except for the garlic, of course) and it made 4 good sized portions. 

 

Prep 

 - 1/2 pound ground beef or turkey 

 - 3 cloves garlic, minced

 - 1/4 onion, chopped

 - 1 15-oz can of tomato sauce 

 - 2 tablespoons basil

 - 3 medium zucchini, sliced ⅛” thick

 - 7-oz ricotta cheese

 - 8-oz mozzarella, shredded

 - ¼ cup Parmesan

 - 1 egg 

 - Seasoning: Salt & pepper, onion powder, garlic powder 

  -*Secret Ingredient: Palmful of crushed red pepper flakes to add some heat  

 

 

Cook 

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground meat in a large skillet over medium heat with onion, garlic, basil, seasonings and secret. Add sauce and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella, and egg in a bowl and mix. Feel free to add any cheese you'd like to this mix. I threw in some asiago because I had it on hand. 

 

 2. Arrange zucchini slices into the base of a loaf pan. Layer with half of meat sauce and cheese mixture. Repeat layering and top with final layer of zucchini slices. 

 

3. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. 

 

 

What is your favorite low carb dish? 

 

 

Drink

 

I enjoyed one of my Naked Wines with this dish, a Fletcher Shiraz from Western Australia. This was by no means a calculated choice, it's just what I had open, but it worked well, especially since the dish was lighter than a normal pasta lasagna so it went well with this medium-bodied, tart, easy-drinking wine.  

 

Angel Price: $14.99

 

 

Third Thursday 

 

Last but certainly not least, I was tickled pink to see that Cowtown Eats - a website focused on Sacramento's Happy Hour and dining establishment scene (AKA my dream website)  - mentioned my blog post about Restaurant Thir13en's Third Thursday on their website today! I have no idea why, but I think that's pretty cool, especially for this little unknown blog of mine. Someone is reading! 

 

Thank goodness they did, because I had almost forgotten about the next Third Thursday which is coming up on May 16th! This one is going to feature the cuisine of Mexico (gourmet Mexico, no doubt!). Of course I hurried to make reservations and now I can think of nothing but what the menu is going to look like. 

 

I encourage everyone in Sac to check it out. Head to their website for more info. 

Hope to see you there!