Upbeat Lasagne

Okay, the subtitle of this blog says these are supposed to be (mainly) upbeat posts, and I feel that I have been pretty poor about that recently.  So, here are two happy dining experiences / hints I wanted to share.

Last night I went to a pot luck lunch party.  I spent the morning doing laundry, and at work, and got home with no time to spare.  "What can I bring for a Chanukah lunch?  I'm not gonna start deep-frying now, and I bet they already have the basics (and they did).  I don't have the produce for an interesting salad, and I'm not gonna start soaking lettuce, besides, I bet somebody else will bring that too (and they did).  Well, I have lots of assorted dairy (from the last time a friend went to the big kosher supermarket an hour away).  I have lots of tomato products, and I have no-boil lasagne noodles (note-to-self: tell goat story sometime). And since I am just going next door, I can let it cook while I am out."  Okay, here we go with my quick and clumsy lasagne; no big whoop if you already are used to making lasagne, this is just for those of you who might fear the task, especially if you wonder how there can be any consistancy with out meat.  Also, this will work with minimal dairy if you use tofu for the filling, although it doesn't taste half as good.  This is one of the first things I taught my son to cook start-to-finish.

Filling:  Blend together in food processor:

• one pound farmer's cheese, ricotta, or cottage cheese if you must, or tofu, or any combination.
• 2 eggs
• about 1 cup bread crumbs or cracker meal (we usually use saltines and left over bread, just throw it into the bood processor with the cheese)
• some (sorry I'm bad at measurements) salt, pepper, garden spices e.g. oregano, parsley, basil, marjoram. 
• Just enough water to get a thick paste that is spreadable.  Actually, if you have yoghurt, that is even better.

Sauce:
At least 24oz of spagetti or pizza sauce. 
What ever jarred sauce you have is okay, but you have to add at least 1/2 cup water per jar of sauce to properly soften the noodles.
I like to add a little red pepper paste, like 1Tbsp pepper/ 1cup tomato.  It's one of the things I usually have on hand.  You could also add any pepper dip, eggplant dip, pesto, you get the idea. something easy for YOU.

Spread:

• Very watery sauce
• noodles (try to not over-lap no-boil-noodles)
• sauce, some shredded cheese
• noodles
• filling
• a little more water
• noodles
• sauce 
• lots of shredded cheese

Cook covered at 350 for about 40 min.  Then cook uncovered at 425 for another 10 min to let the top solidify and cheese grill.

Okay this looks hard the way I wrote it, but it IS NOT HARD.  Really, as I said, it was one of the first things my teenage son would make regularly (most shabboses!)  Just go with the some-of-this-some-of -that flow, if you can.  It does make a big mess, be prepared for big clean-up.


Next hint is much simpler.  Fell into this in another "what have I got here?" happenstance.
Best simple dessert: cranberry sauce parfait.

Fill a wine glass with whole cranberry sauce (use the recipe on the bag of cranberries - it is super easy, or canned if you must);
Cover with a layer of manderine oranges or crushed pineapple or similar canned fruit;
Scoop on a dollop of whipped topping.
Yum, yum, yum, looks pretty, super quick, adults and kids both love it.

Okay, be happy.