monday meditation on the fruit of the spirit – joy

“Be joyful always.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16

Bonjour and welcome to my last monday meditation… while in furlough. Yes, I have been called back to work, for which I am grateful, but I’m just feeling a little wistful. The time has flown for me since my first blog post during my “rest and relaxation” and I will miss my time at home, especially time with my Razzmatazz. So this week, instead of being melancholy, I will try to focus on the positive (which includes making zucchini lasagna!). It’s time for some monday meditation on the fruit of the spirit – joy.

what is joy

The definition of joy in my Life Application Study Bible NIV is “emotion evoked by well-being, success or good fortune; gladness or delight.” Well-being is, according the the Oxford Dictionary “The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.” (If you like a good quiz, here is a well-being one from Berkeley.) As you know from my other posts, I am continually trying to improve my well-being. Taking time, self-care, yoga, meditation, un regime, all are things I have been working on since I have been at home. In fact, just looking at this list of what I have accomplished and learned brings me joy. Thank you God!

just be joyful

Our joy, and also our gratitude and prayers, should not fluctuate with our circumstances or feelings. I’m sure you’ve heard some version of you can’t control your circumstances, but you can control your reaction to them. When we make a conscious decision to be joyful, give thanks and pray, we will see things in a new perspective. Joy greatly depends on how you view life. Try to look at the lighter side of life today. We were created to enjoy our life. Tune in to your sense of humor today, find something that makes you laugh, then laugh out loud. Joy is contagious. Do your part and spread it around.

eat, drink and be merry

“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.” – Ecclesiastes 9:7 This blog is about living well, and of course a large part of that for me includes good food. And isn’t it wonderful? He loves it when you enjoy your food! I definitely find some of my greatest joys in the beautiful food I’ve prepared. On the menu tonight for Meatless Monday? Goop’s Balsamic Lentil Salad. Doesn’t it look beautiful? And if you’ve read my blog before, you know Goop brings me joy 😉

For Sunday night I am getting ready to make a Zucchini Lasagna with a giant zucchini, straight from my garden. Before I leave you with the recipe, let me leave you with a mantra for your week: “Joie de vivre“. Here is a great article about it. It will be my centering thought this week. Really, joie de vivre is the whole essence of this blog! That’s it for my monday meditation on the fruit of the spirit – joy. I am going to cut my Wednesday Quoi de Neuf down to once a month for now, so I will see you back here Friday. À bientôt!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Joyeux Zucchini Lasagna

A joyful zucchini lasagna with layers of sliced zucchini, zesty chicken sausage sauce, mushrooms and 3 cheeses. A beautiful, delicious summer Sunday dinner!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Summer

Keyword: summer, low carb, lasagna

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• ½ giant zucchini or 2 medium
• 2 links Gilbert's Caprese Chicken Sausage, chopped *or aprox. 5 oz. of chicken or turkey sausage, casing removed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced *I used cremini
• 2 medium garden tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• ½ cup red wine
• 8 basil leaves *plus extra for serving
• 6 ounces ricotta cheese
• 5 ounces Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded *I used a mozzarella/provolone blend
• olive oil
• truffle oil *optional
• salt, pepper
• parmesan cheese, grated *for serving

Instructions

• Slice the zucchini as thinly as you can lengthwise. (Here's a great video how to – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptA3wlLnoKY) Salt the zucchini well and set aside.

  Heat oil in non-stick pan. Add chopped Caprese sausage. If using uncooked sausage, add it and break up in small pieces with wooden spoon. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are soft. Stir in tomatoes, red wine, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium heat about 20 minutes, stirring and breaking up/crushing mixture with your wooden spoon while it's cooking.

  Preheat oven to 375°. Spray 8×8 baking dish with non-stick spray. Dry salted zucchini slices with a towel.

  To assemble the lasagna, spread ⅓ of the tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Place ⅓ zucchini slices over sauce. Spread ⅓ of ricotta over zucchini and top with ⅓ mozzarella. Spread another ⅓ sauce over mozzarella and sprinkle with parmesan and 4 basil leaves. Drizzle with a splash of truffle oil, if using. Repeat layers. Top with remaining zucchini, sauce, basil leaves mozzarella and parmesan. Drizzle with another splash of truffle oil.

  Cover lasagna with large sheet of aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray. Bake in oven 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until bubbling and lightly browned, 25-30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Top with additional basil leaves, slice into 4 pieces and serve with grated parmesan.

Notes

It was difficult to slice lengths of zucchini thinly, next time I might try to slice thin round and layer them instead.

The Caprese sausage from Gilbert’s just looked too good not to try.  It has basil, sun dried tomato and mozzarella in it, but it is already cooked.  Normally I would just use Italian turkey sausage.