Company's Coming

Week One with the fall menu has gone incredibly well. While last night found us eating out as a family (something we almost never do, especially on a week night), it was prompted by the simultaneous demands on my time to help B with a science project and clean both my kitchen and living room of drywall dust (no easy tasks). I finished these things up at about 6:45, making it necessary to skip the planned Chicken & Biscuits and head to Las Maracas. So Thursday night was a wash. But Wednesday night went as planned. Two dear friends came over for dinner and I thought lasagna was just the thing. I rarely make lasagna the same way twice. Here's what I did this time around:

Veggie Lasagna
Uncooked Lasagna Noodles
2 jars spaghetti sauce
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
5-8 leaves fresh basil
16 oz. ricotta cheese
12 oz. cottage cheese
1/2 cup frozen spinach
2 yellow squash, grated
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
3/4 cup romano cheese, shredded

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions, celery and peppers until soft. (Next time, I will leave out the celery. While a soup softens the celery to the point of being a non-issue, I was unable to get the crunch completely out of them and I thought they took away from the overall lasagna.)
Add jars of spaghetti sauce to sauteed vegetables.
In separate bowl, mix together ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, grated squash and spinach.
Ladle one cup of sauce into a greased 9 x 13 and 1/2 cup of sauce into an 8 x 8.
Put a layer of uncooked noodles down.
Top noodles with ricotta mixture, then sauce, then mozzarella and romano.
Repeat.
For final layer, put more sauce on top of noodles and top with mozzarella and romano.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered.

We had this with a nice crusty bread and steamed broccoli that was topped with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The entire meal was a big hit. K ate three helpings and both B, A and our guests all had seconds of everything (including the broccoli!).