I'm supposed to be on a diet, and I've got 5-10 more pounds that I'd like to lose, but I'm enjoying cooking food and sharing it with others too much right now to really focus on losing weight. Last night, I was in the mood to make lasagna, so I picked up the ingredients and set about putting it together. I've never really been satisfied by hamburger in my lasagna, so I browned a pound of Jimmy Dean Sage sausage in a skillet with chopped sweet onion. Sometimes I drain the drippings, but there didn't seem to be much last night, so I added two cans of Hunts Tomato Sauce and two can of Hunts Petite Diced Tomatoes. I like my lasagna to have a generous amount of sauce, so I tend to make a large pot. I added thyme, basil, oregano, garlic salt, and minced garlic to taste plus a tablespoon of sugar and a bit of white wine. I find I don't have to let the sauce simmer too long. 15 minutes should be more than adequate. I also don't like to use uncooked noodles, so I cooked mine for the minimum time while the sauce was heating up. With a pound of finely shredded mozzarella cheese, 15 oz. of Ricotta cheese whipped with two eggs and some chives, and a bag of baby spinach leaves, I set out to build the layers: sauce, noodles, sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, baby spinach leaves, noodles, sauce, etc. 45 minutes at 350 seems to work fine. Yum! Serve with a salad and/or garlic bread depending on how good or bad you are trying to be with your food;-)
Lunch was a colorful treat too:
Hamburger roll, lefter strip steak sliced thing, cheddar cheese, and sweet onion and red pepper sauteed to perfection. Double yum!
