Cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, kale, cabbage etc.) are primarily known to prevent cancer. They contain phytonutrients that promote liver detoxification (making them very helpful to me!) and fight free radicals that can harm your body’s DNA and cause cancer. Additionally, cauliflower has a very high percentage of vitamin C (91.5% of daily value in one cup) and thus carries all the health benefits of vitamin C as well. So be sure to work in plenty of cauliflower during this upcoming flu season!

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, sliced into pencil-thick slices (these will likely fall apart, no worries, just toss them all into the bowl)

4-5 red potatoes, thinly sliced

5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

¼ cup butter, melted

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups mozzarella, grated

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 cup milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the potatoes, cauliflower, garlic, shallots, butter and salt in pepper in a large bowl. Toss to coat the vegetables with all the flavor-containing goodness. In another bowl, mix together the cheeses, milk and eggs. Spread the potato-cauliflower mixture in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Top with cheese mixture, be sure to spread evenly with a spoon. Bake for 35 minutes covered, then 25 minutes uncovered or until top gets brown and bubbly.

Ingredients:

12 strips whole wheat lasagna (I used Westbrae Natural Vegetarian, which has thinner strips, about 2.5 inches wide – this recipe uses about half of the box)

9 oz. bag spinach

2 small zucchini, sliced into ½ inch pieces, then quartered

1 large red onion, chopped

8 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon dried red pepper

2 eggs

15 oz. container of part skim ricotta cheese

12 oz. package of low-fat mozzarella cheese, shredded

¼ cup skim milk

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon dried sage

½ teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 very large heirloom tomato, cut into pencil-thick slices

5 medium-sized potatoes (I used purple ones for their color, but any will do), sliced very thin, approximately 1/16 of an inch

2 tablespoons olive oil

¾ cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Directions:

First, use olive oil to grease a 13 x 9 inch baking dish, set aside. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Boil 4 quarts of water with a few dashes of salt, then cook lasagna noodles to al dente – for me, this was approximately 6 minutes. Set out three stainless steel bowls – you will be using them to hold the three of the layers: the cheese mixture, the potatoes, and the tomatoes. Once pasta is done cooking (I usually use this time to shred/chop the other items), drain but don’t rinse, then lay out lasagna noodles in a single layer on waxed paper, somewhere out of the way.

Using that same pot (rinsed and dried), pour a little olive oil to coat the bottom, bring the burner to medium-high heat and dump the bag of spinach in. Allow to wilt slightly, then add the zucchini, chopped onion, garlic and red pepper, plus salt and pepper to taste. Sauté for approximately 10 minutes, or until spinach is wilted and zucchini is soft. Let cool in the pot.

Meanwhile, in a stainless steel bowl, make the cheese mixture. Start with two eggs, lightly whisked, and then add the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and nutmeg. Stir to blend.

Next comes the herb mixture – using the small glass bowl, combine the sage, oregano, basil and salt. Toss the potatoes with a bit of olive oil and approximately 2/3 of the herb mixture in a stainless steel bowl. Save the rest of the herbs for later.

So, to recap, at this point you should have a greased baking dish, several strips of cooked lasagna sitting on waxed paper, spinach mixture in a pot, a small glass bowl with some dried herb mixture, a cutting board with shredded parmesan on top, one stainless steel bowl filled with the cheese mixture, one filled with herbed potatoes, and one filled with slices of heirloom tomato. Now it’s time to assemble them all into one scrumptious lasagna.

Start by placing half of the potatoes in a single layer on the bottom of the pan. Follow by laying strips of lasagna on top, also in a single layer (I lay three lengthwise, then shorten one strip by a couple of inches, and lay that widthwise at the end). Spread half of the spinach mixture on top of the strips, as evenly as possible. Follow with half of the cheese mixture. Top that with the other half of the potatoes, then another layer of lasagna noodles, then the remaining spinach mixture, then the remaining cheese mixture, then the remaining lasagna noodles. At this point, I spread the slices of heirloom tomatoes evenly on the very top, sprinkle with the remainder of the herb mixture, and top with generous sprinkles of parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, covered, in the 375-degree oven. Then remove cover and bake for an additional 15. Let stand for at least 5 minutes, and serve!

Ingredients:

2 3-inch balls of fresh buffalo mozzarella, stored in liquid

4 heirloom tomatoes of varying size and color

4 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh basil

4 tablespoons high-quality extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Serves 4

Directions:

Cut the mozzarella and tomatoes into circles approximately ½ inch thick. Arrange slices on four separate plates on top of each other, with the largest forming the base and smaller slices at the top. Sprinkle each plate with one tablespoon of basil, and then drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over each stack. Sprinkle with sea salt. Serve and enjoy!