I eventually decided to frost my holiday cakes and serve them up for Thanksgiving dessert. I made the frosting out of Earth Balance, Tofutti cream cheese, and powdered sugar, and I sprinkled each with cocoa and cinnamon. Yum…

Before Thanksgiving dinner, we took some family photos. And by family photos, I means my sister and I took pictures of each other with our puppies. Barbara and me…

Jordan and Jackson…

Sometime between the photo shoot and dinner my sister and I decided to take candid shots of every butt in our family. I might have had a little too much wine for someone just recovering from swine flu. Whoops. Then we set the table. Note the dessert buffet.

Vegan options included a nice pretty salad.

And vegan stuffing with apples, walnuts, raisins, and dates. There wasn’t really a way to make this picture look pretty, but it sure tasted good. Stuffing is sort of always hideous looking, am I right?

I made a ‘lasagna’ dish to pass that ended up being a hit. I layered spaghetti squash, tomato basil sauce (I used an organic store-bought one), and my cheesy cashew-spinach spread (only this time I added lemon juice and didn’t soak the cashews). Three layers of each, and baked in the oven on 350 for about half an hour. Perfecto! I am for sure making this again.

My plate… Salad, half a sweet potato, a bit of stuffing, and plenty of lasagna.

And of course I had cake for dessert. All in all, a lovely, silly Thanksgiving dinner with my lovely, silly family. I’m thankful for many things, first and foremost that my baby sister is home for the holidays. Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving…

Almost a week since my last post. Ok don’t kill me i’m just living my life in a slower and faster motion, whichever on what day. Depends. Well Monday was more like a medium motion but still one of the days that i didn’t like that much these days. Was feeling so not good in the morning that had to come home with train in the early morning hours. And in the afternoon went to the doc. So they have sent me to make blood-test. Results were today. I have nothing wrong. Strange, i do feel ill. Well not at the right now moment but once in a week or once in two weeks now recently. And it’s getting worse. Well endocrinologist and i got like 3 or 4 kind of vitamins (yes including calcium) because my body is unable to held down the calcium. Crap! Well i missed one Finnish test which i hope i can have later and won’t be forced to miss 30 points of my total marks cause all my plans would be truly fucked up… Ah and i’m not allowed to coke, energy drinks, coffee, green and black tea, CHOCOLATE and anything that has cocoa in it and fat food… whatever… now that i got addicted to Hot Choco Delight (hot chocolate with coniac).

The Rasmus’ gig was a bit disappointing. Maybe for the fact that i couldn’t watch it properly (RDS internet sucks), was able to see only 3 seconds every minute. But i heard it and watched it on YouTube. All in all it wasn’t that bad, just the set was too short, one hour for an anniversary gig (which happens only once in a life time, i mean the band has 15 years only once) is not that much. But people who were there said it was great and that’s what matters that they have felt good. After all, when do the guys don’t satisfy their fans?

And Sunday going back… seemingly Monday will be free and will have to pay bills and YES YES YES pick up the TR compilation and the book, do shopping cause on Tueday i have some friends coming over and we’ll have a Lasagna day… and yeah me is going to be the cook. I promise i won’t poison anyone

Well, it’s that time of year again. The family is over for our traditional lasagna and chicken and sausage and meatball and braciole  and mushrooms and salad dinner. My half deaf grandmother happily shrieks to my three-fourths deaf uncle that “ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS FROM THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD ARE DEAD NOW, HUH?” Ah, the sounds of the holidays. We’re an odd little family. Talk of lawyers and doctors and cries of “MALOCCHIO!” permeate the air with some frequency, and a set of dentures occasionally clatter on the table after a cough or sneeze. I take a short break from that wondrous atmosphere to wish you, my readers, a happy and a healthy thanksgiving.

I know this has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t even have to – that’s how good it is.

What am I talking about? Turkey Lasagna, kids, Turkey Lasagna.

My recipe is derived from our girlfriend, Ina Garden aka Barefoot Contessa (aka The Butter Queen).

Her recipe for spicey turkey lasagna is SO GOOD! But, it isn’t SO HEALTHY.

We can’t have that, now can we? NO!

Without further ado, I give you my altered recipe for Healthy Turkey Lasagna:

Turkey Lasagna

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound lasagna noodles
1 small package fat free ricotta cheese
1 small package fat free cottage cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling  (I just buy the pre-shredded bag)
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 pound fat free mozzarella, (again, I buy the pre-shredded bag)

TIP: Before getting started, I recommend that you make the meat sauce a day or two in advance, this really enhances the flavors and makes the whole dish about 10 times better, no joke.  See, since I’ve removed basically all of the fat from the dish, you need a way to replace the deep flavors. Letting things combine overnight (or two) really helps this dish regain its zesty richness.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large (10 to 12-inch) skillet.
3. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent.
4.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the turkey and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork/spatula, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink.
5. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened.
6. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, cottage cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.
7. Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9 by 12 by 2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish.
8.  Then add the layers as follows: pasta (cover “wall to wall”), half the mozzarella, half the ricotta/cottage mix, and one third of the sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, and finally, sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

Queste sono lasagne bianche, senza sugo di nessun tipo, con solo besciamella un pò più morbida del solito.

Per la preparazione delle basi, vige la mia consuetudine, per le melanzane è necessario prima grigliarle o servirsi delle melanzane già grigliate e surgelate, in confezioni più comode all’uso.

Volendo si possono aggiungere anche dei funghi porcini, freschi o secchi e poi ammorbiditi, però in questa occasione, non li avevo sotto mano.

Ho utilizzato anche una confezione di mozzarella per pizza, circa 400 gr, tagliata in fettine sottili.

Il primo strato con le melanzane grigliate.

Per il gorgonzola ha usato circa 200 gr. ma se ne possono utilizzare di più, stando attenti che sia dolce, altrimenti il sapore risulterà troppo forte.

L'aggiunta di gorgonzola e mozzarella.

Si procede alla solita stesura degli strati, partendo sempre dalla besciamella, poi la sfoglia di pasta (uso quella fresca), ancora besciamella, le fette di melanzane grigliate, il gorgonzola tagliato a cubetti sopra alle melanzane, così da rimanere più fermo.

La teglia uscita dal forno.

negli interstizi, fra una fetta di melanzana e l’altra, depongo la mozzarella, poi la sfoglia di pasta e continuo così fino all’ultimo strato, dove termino la besciamella e cospargo il tutto con parmigiano reggiano grattugiato.

Nella teglia per le porzioni.

La mozzarella per la pizza aiuta a tenere il tutto morbido, senza troppo liquido, che altrimenti si formerebbe con la mozzarella normale, più buona, ma di sicuro con più siero all’interno.

Bye 

For a while, there were a lot of pumpkins bouncing around this blog. Usually the most frequent bright orange ingredient you’ll find here is a sweet potato, but it is pumpkin season, and we’ve been using the big fruit a lot. This may be one of, if not the final, pumpkin recipe you’ll see here until the need to overdose on pumpkin returns. Although it can be applied to recipes in a great way, there comes a time when you have to say ‘No more!’ Maybe you haven’t boarded the train to See You Laterville yet, but we may just be ready to bid adieu to pumpkin after this.
This recipe was inspired by the pumpkin mascarpone dip we made for Amir’s birthday dinner. It was smooth, creamy and rich–perfect to layer in between sheets of pasta. The sausage adds a noticeable spicy and obviously meaty level to a dish that is full of vegetables and lots of cheese. The best part may just be the bites of sage that mesh well with just about everything. One of our friends had a couple of servings, and she really loved the way sweet and savory do a sexy tango in this dish!

Pumpkin and Sausage Lasagna – Serves 8 to 10
1 pound lasagna noodles, cooked
16 ounces mascarpone cheese
3 cups pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 links spicy Italian sausage, casings removed
1 small red onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
12-14 fresh sage leaves, chopped
5 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped
3 cups mozzarella, shredded
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn
Olive oil

1. Using an electric mixer, beat mascarpone cheese, pumpkin puree, honey, cumin, ginger, cinnamon and salt until smooth. Set aside.

2. Swirl a bit of olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. When oil is hot enough, add garlic and onions, tossing until coated. Slide in sausage and mushrooms and cook down until sausage has browned fully, approximately 10-12 minutes. Break up sausage as it cooks. Remove from heat and stir in sage. Set aside.

3. Spread a thin layer of olive oil over the bottom and sides of a deep 9″x13″ baking dish. Add about 1/4 cup of pumpkin mascarpone spread to the bottom of the dish and spread evenly to both sides. Top with three lasagna noodles, followed by another layer of mascarpone spread, a handful of spinach, a bit of the sausage and vegetables and a handful of shredded mozzarella. Repeat until all of the ingredients have been used.

4. Top the final layer with the fresh mozzarella pieces and cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees. Uncover and bake another 5-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Click HERE for printable recipe.

Busy busy busy…
Things have been a little busy…
We just made Mushroom Risotto and Lasagna with Bolognese sauce. I have to say it was pretty good! That was the most recent cooking labs. For dessert I made chocolate Mousse and biscotti.
Now we have 3 projects to finish- 2 on Japan and one on Israeli couscous… Due in one week…
But school is good!!
Thought I would let my readers (if I have any:P) know what’s going on
I can’t wait for strawberry shortcake!!!!!!! But I still hate baking
Well, hope u can’t wait for my next post!!

INGREDIENTES

Masa

• 5 Huevos
• 2 cditas Sal
• 2 cdas Aceite
• 500 g Harina de trigo 0000

Salsa

• Aceite
• 1 Cebolla
• 1 Pimiento
• 600 g Carne de ternera (paleta)
• 1 Zanahoria
• 1 k Pulpa de tomate
• 250 cc Vino tinto
• Sal y pimienta
• 1 pizca Azúcar
• Laurel
• Tomillo
• 1 cdita Extracto de tomate
• 60 cc Caldo

Relleno

• 300 g Salchichas parrilleras
• 500 g Ricota
• 4 atados Espinacas
• Sal y pimienta

Varios

• 6 cdas Queso provolone
• 200 g Mozzarella

PREPARACION

Masa

Batir apenas los huevos con la sal y el aceite. Añadir la harina, amasar, tapar y dejar descansar 30 minutos. Estirar la masa fina. Cortar rectángulos de 6 por 10 cm. Hervirlos en agua con sal y aceite de 10 a 12 minutos. Escurrirlos, enjuagarlos con agua fría y secarlos con un lienzo.

Salsa

En una cacerola con aceite rehogar la cebolla y el pimiento picados. Agregar la carne trozada y saltearla. Incorporar la zanahoria rallada, la pulpa de tomate, el vino y los condimentos; cocinar 5 minutos. Sumar el extracto diluido en el caldo. Cocinar a fuego lento hasta que la salsa espese y la carne esté tierna.

Relleno

Desmenuzar la salchicha, descartando la piel. Cocinarla a fuego suave en una sartén con algo de aceite y escurrirla. Mezclarla con la ricota, la espinaca cocida, exprimida y picada, sal y pimienta.

Armado

En una fuente térmica colocar salsa, lasañas, provolone rallado y relleno.

Continuar con salsa, lasañas, provolone y rodajas finas de mozzarella. Repetir las capas. Terminar con lasañas, salsa y provolone.

Llevar al horno moderado hasta calentar.

INGREDIENTES

Base

• 2 paquetes Panqueques

Relleno

• 1 Pimiento verde
• 1 Pimiento rojo
• 1 Pimiento amarillo
• 300 g Langostinos
• 300 g Calamar
• Sal y pimienta
• 3 Tomates
• 200 g Queso de barra
• 250 g Salsa blanca

PREPARACION

Base

Cortar los panqueques en rectángulos, colocar en una placa rociados con aceite y llevar al horno para secar.

Relleno

Cortar los pimientos en juliana y saltear. Limpiar los langostinos y los calamares, cortar éstos últimos en juliana. Colocar en la sartén los langostinos limpios y los calamares, dejar unos instantes y retirar. Salpimentar. Cortar los tomates en rodajas.

Armado

Servir en el plato una base de panqueque, disponer el queso barra y por encima los tomates en rodajas y los calamares. Cubrir con otra capa de panqueque y colocar los pimientos. Servir con langostinos y salsear con la salsa blanca.

]]> http://beansfigsandkatz.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/hummus-lasagna/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:04:34 +0000 Beans, Figs and Katz http://beansfigsandkatz.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/hummus-lasagna/

This is basically the same recipe as the pasta bake, but with better photos. I made two lasagnas, one for us to eat NOW and one for Thanksgiving.

For 2 9 x 13 lasagnas

1 box lasagna noodles (18)

2.5 jars pasta sauce (this time I cheated and used Wholefood’s Mushroom Marinara and Tomato Basil sauces)

4 cans chickpeas,  rinsed and drained

3/4 cup lemon juice

6-8 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup tahini

2 TBL olive oil

1/4 cup water

1 12 oz. package arugula

4 TBL nutritional yeast

1/4 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

First, make the arugula pesto. Blend arugula, nutritional yeast, 2-3 garlic cloves, and 1/4 cup water until smooth. Set aside.

Next, make the hummus. Blend garlic, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add chickpeas and water. Blend until smooth. Add more water or lemon juice until hummus is your desired texture.

In a 9 x 13 pan, layer the ingredients in this order:

1. Sauce, noodles, hummus, pesto

2. Sauce, noodles, hummus, pesto

3. Sauce, noodles, sauce

Bake for one hour and 15 minutes, covered with foil (with slits). Or if you are planning to freeze one or more of these babies, bake only 1 hour, then allow to cool, cover in plastic wrap and foil and freeze.

Well hello there fabulous friends… how ya doin’ today?!

I must say I am a wee bit tired   Combine a very late night + lovely neighbors who decided to mow their lawn + have their children screaming in the yard at 9am = only 6 hours of sleep for this lady = just not cool!  Simple math right?!

I am really hoping to get a nap in today, let’s just say that much hahaha.

Before I get into it I wanted to remind all you fabulous friends to email me (smlane1369@yahoo.com) your Blogger Secret Ingredient recipes by 9pm tonight — bleu cheese! – so that I can announce the winner tomorrow & award them with their prize

So after I saw you last…. woah forever ago (?!) The Man and I spent a good chunk of the afternoon at the mall doin’ some shopping and also running some errands.  We came back and proceeded to get addicted to Wii Mario Bros. for a few hours before getting ready to head downtown for some birthday celebratin’! 

While we were Mario’ing it up we decided on an easy dinner to fill us up before our night out:  Roasted Veggie MultiGrain Lasagna!

Popped into the oven & about 1 hour later here’s what we were working with

All served up, carb-loadin’ for the night if you know what I’m sayin

There may or may not have been some Dove bliss peanut butter chocolates alongside (shhhhh!)

After getting all spiffy-ed up

…we headed downtown to one of his friend’s houses in The Fan.  

This is the area of Richmond a bit west of the downtown center filled with beautiful old-style architecture, lots of restaurants & bars…. and also happens to be where I used to live before buying the new house in suburbia  

We proceeded to have a few beers there (who is this girl?!) and then walked over to a local bar for yet some more brews.

I may or may not have sampled 2 large Blue Moon’s there plus a few other beers earlier in the night (eh hmmmm 5 what?!) so let’s just say ’twas a superfun night hahaha!!!  

We took a cab back to our neck of the woods and proceeded to play yet more Mario Bros. & munch on some more lasagna… let’s just say that both of these activities were pretty funny by this point hahaha.

I’m not a big beer drinker, but sometimes you just gotta go with the flow peeps…. and it was so much fun!  The Man had a great birthday out & about, and to me was the best part of all

After staying up WAY past our bedtime we finally hit the sack…..

…..until being woken up by our obnoxious neighbors at 9am.  I won’t go there, for everyone’s sake, k friends?!

Well, once awake I am awake (The Man on the otherhand will most likely sleep like a rock til noon) so I figured why not make the most of it.   Luckily I wasn’t feeling too bad this morning, just sleep deprived (phew!) so I was pretty happy about that. 

This morning’s oats just had to be my new fave banana & cream cheese combo.  Had a few questions on how I made these, so here goes!

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 banana, sliced
• chia seeds
• cream cheese (lowfat)

Bring water/milk to boil, add next 3 ingredients over medium heat until the oats thicken up…. at this point plop in however much cream cheese ya like and swirl it through as it warms up

And there you have it, holy deelish served with a LARGE iced coffee this morning

Did the trick! 

After breakfast I did some dirty work around the house, i.e. proceeded to start sneaking in Christmas decorations  into random places hoping that The Man doesn’t fully notice until after Thanksgiving.  Gahhh I can’t wait any longer & The Man says we should probably hold out til after Thanksgiving for this - wwwwwhat?!

Example 1:

He’ll never notice, right?!

Alright friends, gotta run, more Christmas decorations must be strategically placed around the house before sleeping beauty awakens!

Today’s agenda includes a trip to Pier 1 hopefully and then The Man’s birthday dinner at my parents house tonight!  Fanatic Mom is making:

• Pork bbq
• Homemade mac n’ cheese
• CHOCOLATE FONDUE!!!

I’ll have more to report back later no doubt, have a wonderful day friends!

My Mother’s Lasagna

Originally uploaded by creampuffsinvenice

i don’t know about everyone but i normally can’t stand the tarty-ness of the tomato sauce in lasagna’s. just always wished it had more ummph -like spice perhaps, so yesterday replaced the usual tomato sauce with sambal tumis (http://www.asianfoodathome.com/products.php?product=Brahim’s-Sambal-Tumis-Sauce) and it worked!

especially if you went along with this first recipe:

http://mylasagnarecipe.com/

My husband has a tomato paste sensitivity, every time he eats something with tomato paste in it, he would have a sore and burning feeling on his tongue. Strangely, he’s not reacting to fresh tomato, tomato sauce, or sundried tomato.  Therefore, I tried to find a good lasagna recipe that has no tomato paste in the recipe. This tomato-less lasagna recipe is taken from vegie food cookbook, with a little changes. The original recipe was actually a free-form lasagna, meaning that you assemble the lasagna individually, I decided to bake it in the a baking dish, and I also add grated mozzarella cheese on top. Next time, I will mashed the pumpkin, and place it on the upper layer, cause what happened was, when I tried to slice and transfer a piece, it just disintegrate, which is not pretty, but still yummy though. I will not skimp on the mozzarella cheese either to glue the layers properly. I had the lasagna with some baked kipfler potato wedges, and broad beans salad with some ricotta, olive oil, and lemon juice dressing (oh my God,  peeling the broad beans shell was such a ‘fun’ chore!). The lasagna was alright, I will definitely perfecting it in the future. I’m still in search of a perfect vegie lasagna recipe, if anyone has one, please share.. . By the way, this is the recipe..

ingredients :

• 4 fresh lasagna sheets
• 1 package frozen chopped spinach
• 350 g pumpkin, diced
• 500 g / 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

place pumpkin in baking dish, drizzle with olive oli and bake for 20 min in the oven or until tender

defrost the spinach in the microwave, and squeeze excess water

mix in ricotta and parmesan cheese to the spinach, season with salt and pepper

boil about 4 cups of water in a big pot

oil a baking dish

cook 1 lasagna sheets in boiling water for a few seconds until tender (don’t overcook, or the lasagna will rip, and that’s really annoying..!)

place in baking dish, spread with spinach mixture, sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese

cook another sheet of lasagna, and put no top of spinach

arrange the baked pumpkin on top of it, and add some more grated mozzarella

repeat with another sheet of lasagna, and top with the spinach mix, mozzarella, and the last sheet.

sprinkle with the remaining of grated cheese, or add some more mozzarella cheese to cover all surface.

bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and browning a little bit.

Here are the menus for Week 4 of the James Beard Project. (Of course, we will be closed Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving — Gobble Gobble!):

Monday, Nov. 23 — Basil Lasagna (Beard on Pasta, p. 157)

Tuesday, Nov. 24 — Halibut with Crab (James Beard’s Fish Cookery, p. 107)

Wednesday, Nov. 25 — Sole with Shrimp Sauce (James Beard’s Fish Cookery, p. 192)

Friday, Nov. 27 — Chicken Sauté with Figs and Cognac (James Beard’s Theory and Practice of Good Cooking, p. 166)

Saturday, Nov. 28 — Steak Au Poivre (James Beard’s Theory and Practice of Good Cooking, p. 159)

I saw a recipe for lasagna roll ups over at Apartment Therapy and tried them. I liked the roll-up concept, but the lasagna recipe was slightly lacking. I turned to good ol’ Jeanne Lemlin, used her recipe, and ta-da! So good.

Today is a shortness of breath day due to the rain… seems wet weather throws me off…sooo I am trying to see what the day’s priorities are and go from there.  I have determined that as much as is possible making supper is a priority and often it needs to be thought about and prepped in the morning.

Yesterday I used up some roast beef and made a stew that was in the crockpot all day.  It was delicious. Today I need to use up some fresh grated parmesan cheese.  I found a classic lasagna recipe and made that this morning over several hours.

Wow, that worked!  I cooked it at noon knowing I would put some of it into the freezer and would reheat what we wanted for supper.  I have bread dough rising for garlic bread .  The recipe I have called for 5 minutes of work four times in the space of a few hours. Works for me.

I also need, yes, need, to do something of a doll nature regularly.  Today I got started on a couple of bunting dolls because they are recliner friendly.

Figuring out priortities has become very important as my energy ebbs and flows.

I’m not happy with the lasagna recipe I’ve been using. Cooking one with cottage, cream and cheddar cheese just didn’t feel authentic enough for me and trust me, I’m no purist. The problem with finding a replacement has been the internet. This is a great example of how the internet gives you loads of information but doesn’t make it easy to filter through it. There were just so many recipes to look through it was like searching through a roll of toilet paper looking for one particular square.

Finally I started looking through a few cookbooks I had and found a great candidate in an Ina Garten book. It’s pretty basic even though it did include goat cheese which in lasagna, I refuse to use on principle. It also isn’t unnecessarily indulgent which a lot of the recipes I saw are, suggesting the use of turkey sausage instead of pork. No matter how the recipe worked, I knew it was going to have the taste of victory with the Giants eeking out a win over the Falcons. After four straight losses, I’ll take it.

Start by heating 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a big skillet over medium heat. Add a chopped onion, cooking until translucent, maybe 10 minutes or so. Add a couple of chopped garlic cloves and cook another minute.

I couldn’t find any turkey Italian sausage. Surprisingly, Whole Foods (where I was sure I’d find some) only had chicken Italian sausage. So I got 1 1/2 pounds of it, removed the casing and then added that to the onions.

Make sure to break it up as it cooks until no pink remains. I’ve found the best way to break it up at the end is to use a potato masher. At this point I drained a fair amount of the fat.

Add a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, 1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil, 1/4 cup of chopped flat parsley (chop 1/2 a cup and save the other 1/4 cup for later), 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and 1 whole 6-ounce can of tomato paste. Cheers to Ina Garten for creating a recipe that uses a whole can of tomato paste. Every other recipe that uses it only calls for a tablespoon or so. The amount of tomato paste our society wastes and discards will come back to haunt us one day. Mark my words.

Mix that together and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat for 15 – 20 minutes, thickening it. Give it a good stir now and then. Next time I need to use a larger skillet. This one was at the very limit of maximum capacity. It all worked out though.

Meanwhile in a medium-sized bowl, combine 16 ounces of ricotta cheese, a beaten egg, the remaining chopped parsley (1/4 cup), 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and some pepper. It was at this point that the original recipe called for 4 ounces of goat cheese and I didn’t use any. More on that later.

Now it’s time to build some lasagna. I used three layers of noodles so portion the ingredients appropriately. Ladle some sauce to cover the bottom of a baking pan. Add noodles, the ricotta mixture, some mozzarella cheese and more sauce. Repeat twice. Then top with 1/4 cup of shredded parmesan cheese.

At this point I stashed it in the refrigerator to catch the rest of the Giants’ game. Though ugly, at least we got the win.

Put the lasagna in a 400 degree oven. If your cooking without refrigerating, it probably needs about 30 minutes. From the refrigerator I gave it 40 minutes.

Man, was it good. There’s a few things I’m going to change next time. First off, I’m going to use a little less sausage next time. Maybe around a pound. Second, I’m going to use a bigger skillet. Third, without the goat cheese I think I need to add around 4 ounces of cream cheese to the ricotta mixture to make it a bit creamier. Lastly, I need to make sure all the noodles are completely covered with sauce because the exposed parts of the noodles got too dry and crunchy. So live, eat and learn.

Ingredientes:

Lasagna de Carne

Preparación:

Tiempo: 130 minutos| Dificultad: Media | Raciones: 2 personas

This past weekend, we invited Surabhi and Ziga over for dinner. I was really looking forward to this, as we have never had them over (a bad mistake on our part!) and I was glad that we had a chance to rectify it before the bustle of the holidays!

Both Ziga and Surabhi are vegetarian and I had such trouble trying to figure out what to serve! It wasn’t until that point that I realized how often a protein factors into the dishes I make. Usually, if I make a “vegetarian” meal, it’s a mishmash of things that don’t go together that just happen to have no meat. But for our dinner, I wanted food that fit together, that was hearty enough to be a whole meal.  I also was leaning away from pasta, because another vegetarian friend commented that “going over to a friend’s for dinner” usually resulted in pasta and I was hoping to be a bit more “original.”

But after clicking around the internets and not feeling particularly inspired, I decided to take Amy’s recommendation of Butternut Squash and Kale lasagna.

I think it worked out, except afterwards I wish I had cut back on the cheese in my menu.  For appetizers, I had caprese skewers and curried devilled eggs.  Then we ate lasagna, served with a cheesy bread and salad. If I had made it just a nice buttery garlic bread, I think it would have been just right and I wouldn’t have felt like everything on my menu was cheese!

The lasagna as super delicious in my opinion, so thank you, Amy, for the recommendation! My favorite way to eat it was layer by layer – there were so many different textures and tastes that way. There is a lot going on, and it tastes even better the next day, after it’s had time to sit and for the flavors to really mingle. Like I told Amy, it’s like all the flavors just decided to hug it out and become even more delicious!

I was a bit worried about the kale being bitter, but boiling it helped that.  Of course, I probably destroyed some very good nutrients in the process.  It’s always such a hard balance.

A few tips that Amy gave me and that I would second:

- Buy pre-cut, pre-peeled butternut squash, it will save you SO MUCH time. It already takes about an hour to assemble with that shortcut. Trader Joe’s even conveniently packages them in 2 lb. bags for you!

- Cottage cheese in place of ricotta cheese.  I learned this trick from another lasagna recipe and I found I like the milder taste of cottage cheese, having never been a fan of ricotta cheese.  I am glad Amy told me she made the substitute, though, or I may have forgotten to.

Today is my dear Lee’s second week of the Meatless Monday pledge, and I’m happy to report that he’s still on board! (I never doubted him. Really.)

It’s not much of a struggle to find non-meat dishes for Lee to enjoy and this Monday is no exception. Last week, my mind was swimming with baked pasta dishes (I blame the cold snap!) so I made my classic vegan lasagna. I love baked dishes not only because they are warm and comforting and satisfying, but also because they yield copious amounts of leftovers that make great Monday lunches after a busy weekend.

Plus, it occurred to me that I haven’t yet shared this particular lasagna recipe with you yet, dear readers, and it’d be a crying shame if you lived another day without learning about it. I mean that sincerely.

Classic Vegan Lasagna
Yield: 6 servings (but easily adaptable to make more!)

6 no-boil lasagna noodles
1-1/2 cups tofu ricotta
1-10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 cups tomato sauce (homemade, I hope, but store-bought will suffice. Canned crushed tomatoes will also work.)
6 oz non-dairy mozzarella (almond is my favorite, soy is permissible), shredded

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spoon 3-4 Tbsp of tomato sauce into a 7×9 inch baking dish and spread to coat the bottom. Place two noodles in the baking dish, overlapping them slightly.

In a medium bowl and using a fork, stir about two-thirds of your squeezed-out spinach into the tofu ricotta along with the salt and garlic. Just break up the spinach as much as possible, but don’t worry too much about uniformity. Lasagna is supposed to have character.

Speaking of character, most lasagna recipes give very specific instructions on how to layer your dish, how much of each filling to add and when, and I’m not going to do that. I’ll tell you how I constructed this particular lasagna and I’ll even confess a little kitcheneering faux pas, but I’m also going to urge you strongly to remember that every lasagna dish can and (I think) should be different. I never build my layers the same way twice.

Here’s what I did this time:

Layer 1: Lasagna noodles (already done, above, and yes, you should always start with sauce and then noodles)
Layer 2: About one-third of the spinach-ricotta mixture
Layer 3: About half of the shredded cheese
Layer 4: 3/4 cup tomato sauce
Layer 5: Two lasagna noodles
Layer 6: Another third of spinach-ricotta mixture
Layer 7: 3/4 cup tomato sauce
Layer 8: Last two lasagna noodles
Layer 9: Final third of spinach ricotta
Layer 10:Reserved spinach (about one-third of the package, remember?)
Layer 11: Remaining tomato sauce, being sure to cover every inch of noodle
Layer 12: Final half of shredded cheese

Cover with foil and bake at 375°F for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes or until your top layer of noodles is fully cooked. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before cutting into 6 squares and serving with a side of something green, like steamed broccoli. Voila!

Ok, so what about that faux pas I promised to confess? If you peeked closely at the photo above, you noticed something kind of funky going on with the top layer of lasagna noodles. You probably noticed that it’s not lasagna noodles at all there on top, but ditalini instead. Ditalini are small, short tubes of pasta that I typically think are delicious in soups and with heavy sauces. What the heck are they doing in my lasagna?

Here’s the confession: Despite your suspicions, I do not keep the most organized pantry and I am not capable of staying on top of my inventory much of the time. Thus, when the mood struck me to whip up a quick lasagna dish, I found myself in possession of only 4, count ‘em, four lasagna noodles. I almost panicked, it’s true, but then I remembered that I had some precooked and dehydrated ditalini in the back of my pantry, which I had made for backpacking meals. As fate would have it, there was just enough ditalini hanging out in there to sprinkle on that layer where the last two lasagna noodles shoulda-coulda been. Since the pasta was precooked, just like the lasagna noodles, it rehydrated beautifully and we were happy campers!

Let this be a lesson to you, though. Either pay more attention to your pantry stock when you’re making that grocery list, or try looking at your pantry items in different ways. If I hadn’t had that dried ditalini on hand, I might have ventured as far as to spread a healthy layer of couscous instead, or perhaps even a couple of pieces of toast. Think I’m crazy? Maybe. But remember this the next time you run into what looks like a culinary roadblock!

There you have it, folks. My omnivore’s second Meatless Monday, a spectacular classic lasagna dish, and a deep dark secret. I hope you’ve enjoyed it all!

I’ve tried.  Really, I have.  I have tried to use the boxes and cans and the jars and it doesn’t work for me, I can’t do it.  I taste the difference and it just doesn’t feel right to me.  I love cooking.  I enjoy spending an afternoon making a homemade meat sauce for my lasagna.  I think my caesar dressing is better than any I’ve had at a restaurant.  Mac n cheese is so easy to make from scratch – why use a box – same steps, boil, add ingredients, and stir. No need for salsa from a jar when fresh ingredients are readily available.  Cooking like this takes longer, I know that, but it’s also more enjoyable to me.  I guess if i didn’t like cooking then I wouldn’t want to spend MORE time in the kitchen, but to me, it’s relaxing and enjoyable.

I did recently try to streamline my processes in the name of brevity and it did not work.  I made stuffing one night as a side dish.  I got a box of stuffing – very popular brand that is made on a stove top – figuring it must be good b/c this is what people use all the time!! Well – it was inedible.  I could not do it.  I even added some embellishments to it and still the bread was mush and had a processed taste.  Don’t get me started on Mashed Potatoes.  I love mashed potatoes, but can taste a mix from a mile away.  This, too, I can’t fathom – using re-hydrated potato flakes and calling it mashed potatoes.  This is one dish that is time consuming, and a lot of work – peeling, boiling, mashing is labor intensive but so worth it in the end!  There is no mystery meat in my pork dumplings or fried rice.  I know the grocery stores are full of things that make our life easier – the pork and chicken come already marinated, ground beef is pre-made into hamburger patties, etc.  I can appreciate how this does save time and makes it possible for people to make dinner at home every night.  For me, I want to know and choose exactly what goes into a marinade, I want to add the spices for my cheeseburger, I don’t need a packet of seasoning for meatloaf, I have everything I need in my pantry and fridge.

If you were to look in my pantry you will see my attempts – i have jars of pasta sauce, the canister of remaining stuffing mix, and more.  I may use them again one night (not the stuffing) to see how the sauces are, but more than likely they will sit there.   I don’t judge others for their time-savers in the kitchen.  I don’t turn my nose up at jar pasta sauces.  It’s just not my choice.  I cook the way I do b/c I enjoy it.  It makes me happy to have a finished product that people really like eating and I know that it was made by me, the way i wanted it t come out. I also think part of it was how I grew up.  My dad is the same way I am.  He loves cooking and making big elaborate meals, he’s a great cook.  That’s what I was used to.  That wore off on me.  i hope to pass along my love of cooking to my daughter – i would love for her to grow up as my sous chef and use cooking as a way to relax.  It’s true what so many chefs say – you can taste the difference when food is made with love and I like to think that my food is made that way!!

And I don’t mind sharing any of my tips or recipes – feel free to ask!!

There are reasons why I never make lasagna because it usually takes roughly two-three hours to cook and another hour to set and who wants to put that much time into something that’s really bad for your health? But, this recipe from nine years ago Tomato and Mozzarella Lasagna only took an hour to cook and no time to set given the status of our hunger.

I made tomato sauce for the first time. It’s real easy- just some canned tomatoes, onions, garlic and a touch of OJ. The recipe called for a ¼ cup of orange juice but I thought it was a cup so instead of salty tomato sauce, it was tangy.  Wade took a bite and said, “We sure got our dose of vitamin C today.”

Week Five was roommate reunion night. I came home and started dicing onions immediately.  You’d think I’d know how to cut onions by now but nope.  See all the different sizes and shapes? I gotta learn to cut an onion.

Ange and La came over around 8:30 with garlic bread and it was the best garlic bread we ever had.  They kept it wrapped up in tin foil to keep the flavors in, and then put it in the oven at 350 degrees F. It was a good thing we didn’t go out after because Ange was very generous with the garlic.  It was crispy on the outside but the dough was really soft and easy to chew.

Nick, (Steph’s BFF from fifth grade), came over and made a Greek salad.  It looked simple to make and it was tasty.  I have to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Greek salad usually, but this one was just perfect- it had the right amount of oil and vinegar, feta cheese and the stars of the dish- cucumbers and tomatoes.   Perhaps, I’ve never been a fan because the Chef has always over done it with the feta or the olive oil- and if it’s too much of one thing- it’s soggy and gross.  You have to be careful because feta is a very acquired taste.

Finally, the lasagna was ready and we were starving! No one cared about the set time at that point in the night.  All we wanted was our food.  Serving it was quite a challenge- I did my best to serve perfect squares but instead it looked like tomato cheese mushy pudding.

I think we all agreed that we’ve had better lasagna- even if Steph wet up for more.

Rating: 1=bad, 5=good

Flavor: 3, should have had additional cheeses besides mozzarella- even if I love mozzarella.

Do-Ability: 1=Hard, 5=Easy

4- Very easy to make but messed up on the tomato sauce.

Guinea Pigs, what do you think?