I Love Cooking Again! or, A Night of Passionate Lasagna

Since my rededication to posting more regularly, I have been cooking more out of necessity. I mean, I figure what I really need are easy, workable, healthy recipes--and if I need them, more people certainly do!

I am having so much fun!

Seriously, I'm starting to love to cook again the way I used to do in college, when it seemed I could make anything and was always inspired to cook. Of course, this was before I was worried about how many calories were in what I cooked. I just figured that if it was made from scratch it was probably good for me.

I think there's a lot more wisdom in that than I realized at the time. I went through a no-olive-oil faze that wasn't exactly torture, but now that I look back on it was completely unnecessary. I figured out pretty quickly that my body wouldn't tolerate Pam or one of those non-fat cooking sprays, so I just cooked everything in water. I even cooked omelets in water. Don't ask me how I did that; I can't even make an omelet now without it falling apart half the time despite drowning in butter.

This isn't about eating without regard to caloric intake (although I don't count calories anymore ever). It's about eating without worrying or obsessing. And now it's about cooking without worrying or obsessing. It does help to have groceries in the house. I'm still working on getting my weekly Whole Foods bill under $100, but just having some staples around makes cooking a lot easier.

If you have a basic recipe, you can tweak it in any number of ways. I never follow a recipe exactly. For example, I promised Mike, my boyfriend, that I would make him lasagna, which he's been craving recently. His grandmother was 100% Italian, so I know he's had the real thing--but I also know he doesn't like ricotta cheese. So I decided to try to make lasagna without ricotta cheese. (And then I found out he likes ricotta cheese when it's in Italian food. But I like my "ricotta" better.)

This is what I started with:

• 1/2 lb ground beef leftover from Taco Night (yay, leftovers!)
• 1 jar Muir Glen organic tomato sauce (one of the few brands that does not contain soy or canola oil)
• 1 package Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 package Monterrey Jack cheese (also leftover from Taco Night)
• 1 egg (literally, I had one egg in the entire house)
• a little half and half
  
• fresh & dried herbs
  
• onion and garlic

All this I already had on hand. I only had to specifically buy:

• 1 pkg Bionature organic lasagna noodles
• Parmesan cheese
• really yummy bread to have with balsamic vinegar and olive oil as an appetizer

And then, based on this delicious looking from-scratch lasagna recipe I found online, I made the following (and you thought I was kidding about being a magician!):

That said, ideally you would have little more meat sauce and a lot more cheese--or you could just do two layers. With three layers, I just had to spread everything a little thinly, but it worked. Anyway, here's the basic recipe:

Almost From Scratch Lasagna
Serves 4

• 1/2 onion
• 1 Tbsp garlic
• 6 lasagna noodles
  
• 1/2 lb ground beef, already cooked
  
• 1 jar Muir Glen organic tomato sauce
  
• 2 cups Mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese
• 2 cups Parmesan cheese
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/4 cup half and half
• a little nutmeg
• lots of fresh basil and parsley
• Italian herb mix
• red pepper flakes (optional)

1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil, then add sauce and stir. (If you are using raw meat, brown this before adding sauce
   
2. Add cooked meat, a bunch of chopped basil and parsley, and some Italian herb seasoning. Stir and simmer 10-15 minutes, depending on how much of a hurry you are in. :)
3. While meat is simmering, soak 6 lasagna noodles in water that has just boiled.
4. While noodles are soaking, grate Mozzarella and Monterrey Jack. Mix all of the Jack and 1/2 the Mozzarella with egg, half and half, and about half the Parmesan cheese. Mix thoroughly with a fork till it forms a kind of paste; if it's too clumpy add a little more half and half till it's slightly liquid, but not runny. Sprinkle with nutmeg and mix in.
5. Test noodles for tenderness, then layer two noodles in the bottom of a 9x9 glass casserole dish. Top with a coating of meat sauce, (if you like red pepper flakes, sprinkle them on now) then spread cheese mixture over top.
   
6. Repeat layering: two more noodles, meat, red pepper flakes, cheese sauce; then do another layer of noodles, meat, and red pepper flakes, and top with the rest of the Mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake at 350 uncovered for 10-15 minutes (again, depending on how much of a hurry you are in) until cheese is melted on top. Serve immediately or cool, cover, and serve the next day when the sauce has had a chance to marinate. Let me tell you, the Monterrey Jack cheese really makes this good.


Now, there are no vegetables in this dish, and I'd like to try it again with a layer of zucchini strips added. But if you don't want veggies in your lasagna, there are plenty of other ways to get them.

Grilled Italian Zucchini & Squash

• 1/2 lb (about 2 large) each zucchini and summer squash, sliced in chunks
• 1 large white onion, quartered and then sliced in half

Marinate for one hour in:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
  
• 1 Tbsp or 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbsp Italian herbs blend, or chop a bunch of fresh basil, parsley, sage, and oregano
• red pepper flakes to taste

Skewer onion, zucchini, and squash alternately and grill or broil for about 10 minutes, till tender.

If you'd rather cook on the stove, an alternative is to slice the veggies thinner and saute them in the marinade.

Balsamic Mushrooms
There is nothing like mushrooms with balsamic vinegar.

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 10-12 mushrooms, sliced
• 3-4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 5 sprigs of thyme, stripped
• dash salt

Saute those babies! Or leave them whole, marinate for one hour, and stick on the skewers with zucchini and squash, and head for the grill.

Tomato Cucumber Salad
This is a great recipe of my mom's.

• 1 pkg cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup cucumber chunks
• 1 cup green pepper chunks
  
• lots of fresh basil
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything in a bowl and marinate in the fridge for at least an hour, mixing occasionally.

I hope you noticed--no kale anywhere in this post!