Mexican inspired tortilla lasagna & quick & easy squashgetti with vegan meat sauce + meal plan update

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Good afternoon lovelies, I hope you have had a great week? ♥
It is time for a little update on my meal plan challenge + I want to share a couple of recipes from the meal plan I shared with you guys Monday as well. I have been following meal plans for almost two weeks now and while it is not a very long time, then I can already tell that I am saving a lot of time and money + I am reducing food waste and my meals are a lot more varied (anyone else who tends to make the same things over and over?).

It has been a bit hard though, I am quite spontaneous and also a bit lazy to be honest, so planning and grocery shopping for an entire week isn’t my favorite thing to do, but it is so worth it in the end and thank’s to the challenge Lidl set me last week to get all my shopping (and I mean EVERYTHING, spices, household items etc.) done for the week in one of their stores have made me realize how much time you can really save by getting everything in one place. See how that challenge went right here!

Today I want to share two of the recipes from my meal plan – my Mexican inspired tortilla lasagna and my quick and easy squashgetti meat sauce – everything is made with the groceries I got in Lidl and most of the items are organic and/or locally grown here in Denmark, which is very important to me – especially when it comes to meat, which I will be using in my lasagna recipe (for my vegetarians/vegans out there, you can easily sub the ground beef for more beans and the cheese for vegan cheese or simply leave it out.)

The lasagna is a recipe that I love to make when I am having guests over as everyone always seems to love it and it is super filling and easy to put together. I also got us a nice bottle of wine as you can see below and some really yummy organic root veggie chips that I showed you guys here.

The squashgetti recipe is more of a quick and easy everyday dish that you can put together in less than 10 minutes, which is perfect for stressful evenings where you do not have the energy to make anything time consuming. In the meat sauce I actually use vegan ground beef, which I was so excited to find in my local Lidl store as I have never tried any meat substitute before (their plantbased selection is really good, I also found coconut yoghurt, vegan ready meals, plant milks and lots of budget-friendly vegan meat substitutes).

Mexican inspired tortilla lasagna
Yields 4-6 servings
400 grams organic ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1⁄2 squash, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 carton red kidney beans (black beans works perfectly as well), drained and rinsed
120 grams sweet corn
2 tablespoons tex-mex spice mix or 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin*
2-3 teaspoons chiliflakes
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt + peber
2 cans chopped tomatoes
4 medium sized wholegrain tortillas
140 grams shredded cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella)

Toppings:
Sliced tomatoes and fresh herbs (I used basil)

*ground cumin was the only thing on my very long shopping list that I couldn’t find in Lidl, but I easily made it work with one of their tex-mex spice mixes instead.

Directions:
Start by preheating your oven to 200 c / 400 f. Then add the ground beef to a pot with the olive oil on medium to high heat and let it sweat for a couple of minutes before adding in the finely chopped red bell pepper, squash and onion. Give it 10 minutes more and then add the garlic, spices, beans and corn, give it a minute or two while stirring, before adding the chopped tomatoes and let it simmer for 10 more minutes.

Then arrange the lasagna in an ovenproof dish. Start with a thin layer of the tomato sauce, then a tortilla layer, another layer of the tomato sauce, a shredded cheese layer and repeat with two more layers of tomato sauce and tortillas. I like to top the lasagna with tomato slices and herbs, but you can easily leave it out or maybe even add some more cheese.

Bake the lasagna for 25 minutes at 200 c / 400 f. Let i rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy ♥

Quick and easy squashgetti with vegan meat sauce
Vemondo vegan ground beef
Olive oil
Organic Bio arrabbiata pasta sauce
Squash
Grana Padano (this one from Lidl is actually a test winner) or Parmigano Reggiano
fresh basil

Directions:
Start by roasting the vegan ground beef on a pan with a little olive oil on medium to high heat for 3-4 minutes. Then add the pasta sauce and let it simmer for 5 minutes until everything is heated through. Taste the sauce and add extra spices if needed, I just served it as is.

Use a spiralizer to make your squashgetti and serve it with the meat sauce, thin slices of the Grana Padano (sub for vegan cheese or nutritional yeast if you want to keep the meal plantbased) and some fresh herbs, enjoy! ♥