The other night I had an unexpected free hour before I needed to go to the airport to pick up my guest (flight delayed), so I swung by the grocery to get some beer, cheese and crackers for us to snack on this weekend. While I was there, I thought, why not get stuff to make lasagna?
I've been craving lasagna lately, and wanted to make a big pan of it so I could freeze some for work dinners. This took about 40 minutes to throw together, and would've taken less, except the butternut squash needs time to roast. It was all assembled just in time to toss it in the fridge and head out the door.
So you'll understand why I didn't take photos of the process. But I'm sure I'll make it again.
I use a big foil roasting pan (cheap from the grocery, and reusable). I assemble the lasagna in the middle of it, using three noodles, and there's enough room around the edges so it doesn't overflow. I don't prebake the noodles, and I use jarred sauce, which really cuts down on the prep time.
The cheese is a big tub of ricotta with a bunch of shredded parmesan and a couple eggs mixed in, then a package of frozen, shredded, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed.
The meat is 1/2 pound each of pork and veal, browned and drained.
I used half a butternut squash, cut in small dice and roasted with a drizzle of olive oil until tender and a little caramelized.
The filling goes like this: thin layer of sauce, noodles, layer of cheese, layer of roasted squash, a little sauce, noodles, cheese, meat, sauce, noodles, sauce. Cover and refrigerate to bake later, or bake covered at 350 for about 45 minutes. Take the cover off, sprinkle on mozarella, and let it bake another 15 minutes or so.
I put on so much mozarella that I ended up turning the broiler on for a couple of minutes to brown it at the end.
The bread is
no-knead parmesan. The lasagna came out, the bread went in, and it was all served hot.
And now I've got 10 future dinners ready in my freezer!
(P.S. You might also try
lasagna with asparagus, chard and queso fresco.)
I started to make a small loaf of this no-knead bread yesterday, but seeing that left just a little dough from this batch, I went ahead and made two. One for me (goes great with lasagna!), one for the cow-orkers. Love that cheesy goodness!
I forgot to post about this last night. The weirdest damn thing happened at Starbucks. I went to get my usual late-afternoon latte and I was waiting at the counter for my drink. A tall older black man came in, dressed normally, not scruffy-looking. He looked over the folks lined up, and turned to the bar where the napkins, cream and sugar sit. He started pulling big wodges of napkins out of the dispenser and putting them in a plastic bag he was carrying.
This is in my own yard. There are some white ones, too, and I see evidence of other bulbs coming up.
Meanwhile, the sedum isn't really blooming, but it does look pretty.
I didn't go to California this weekend, but it came to me. Lemons from my guest's tree and avocados from the neighbor's. I see guacamole in my future, and lots of lemon ice cubes.
On Sunday a bunch of poodle owners met up for a romp and a walk in Washington Park. I'd say we had close to 30 poodles in attendance. The dogs had a great time, and the owners, too.
Doesn't this look good? It's a sweet potato waffle at Hotcakes, where we had brunch on Sunday.
I would order this dish again, and just ask them to go easy on the onions.
The other night I had an unexpected free hour before I needed to go to the airport to pick up my guest (flight delayed), so I swung by the grocery to get some beer, cheese and crackers for us to snack on this weekend. While I was there, I thought, why not get stuff to make lasagna?
I use a big foil roasting pan (cheap from the grocery, and reusable). I assemble the lasagna in the middle of it, using three noodles, and there's enough room around the edges so it doesn't overflow. I don't prebake the noodles, and I use jarred sauce, which really cuts down on the prep time.
I used half a butternut squash, cut in small dice and roasted with a drizzle of olive oil until tender and a little caramelized.
Yesterday we had Indian buffet at Gurkhas in Boulder (or technically, Gunbarrel, northeast of town). Nice selection of flavors, chicken curry, saag paneer, samosas, etc., served from a buffet that was clean, well-stocked and not full of stuff that had been congealing for hours.
Here's something you don't get to do every day!
Rosie hangs out in a room full of creepy-crawlies, most of them behind glass, and thankfully so. Hissing cockroaches and giant centipedes? Yeeccchhhh. 
And a yummy egg sandwich with bacon, cheese and pesto.
The food at Gaia is always good!
