#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛
Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged photo, but Lola just has ZERO boundaries and Clifford is exceptionally patient. 😂
I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s so good for you), so when I saw that a local patisserie has a smoked salmon croissant available (weekends only), I added it to my list of things to seek out. I popped into @chocolatinenj early on Mother’s Day and was rewarded with this deliciousness. Layers of soft flaky croissant dough, tender smoked salmon, light whipped cream, thinly sliced red and green onion slivers and dotted with capers… it was every bit as amazing as you’d imagine it would be. If you’re local, don’t sleep on this one. 😋
Weekend photos in review, the belated edition. 1/ Weekend photos in review, the belated edition.

1/ hit up a few yard sales and snagged this beautiful pasta dish from Italy with my favorite color for a buck, 2/ and one of these printer trays came home with me too, 3/ pre Mother’s Day celebrations with 30 local moms, 4/ finished the weekend supervising furniture assembly
Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd bir Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd birthday. Unfortunately she’s not here to celebrate because she died suddenly at age 49. I think of her often … every Mother’s Day because we spent most of them together since her husband worked weekends … when I discover a new food adventure (we once did a day long donut crawl) … when I’m sharing a special time with my kids knowing that her then-11 year old is growing up without her. Before she passed, I always appreciated every day, but since then, even more so. You never know what the next day can bring, so relish in the sunshine, surprise rainstorms, making wishes over railroad tracks and all the wonderful randomness life can throw your way. Don’t waste a single second, say yes, live on the outskirts of your comfort zone, laugh often, tell people you love them, give eight second hugs, and squeeze every ounce of joy you can out of life. Do it for the people who can’t. ✨
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Sweetnicks

Food and Life

Deconstructed Lasagna

August 20, 2008 · Narrative

I’m a firm believer that everything is better with bacon.  And cheese.  And my friend Gwen says everything is better with bourbon.  Now, I’d like to add wine to the list.  I don’t particularly care for wine by itself, although I am a big fan of it in a mixed drink (hello Mom Juice!) and cooking with it.   Cooking with wine is a simple way to take a recipe to a whole ‘nother level.   It gives the dish a deeper flavor level, and in a lot of cases, the cook-all-day taste.

Enter Two Sauce Weeknight Lasagna Bowls.  Leave it to Rachael Ray to have a long name for a simple recipe.  I’m calling it Deconstructed Lasagna.  So there.  I happened to catch a recent episode of her 30 Minute Meals show on Food Network, and this was one of the dishes she made.  It has a lot of the components of traditional lasagna, without the extra time spent in the kitchen to make it.  Now we’re talking. 

In a nutshell, you make the white sauce and coat the pasta with it.  When serving it, you put a couple spoonfuls of the red meat sauce in the middle of the bowl.  By the time the bites get to your mouth, your tastebuds will think “lasagna.”  And with 30 minutes from start to finish (yes, that’s exactly how long it took me), that’s a pretty good trick.  And the wine?  Makes the sauce amazingly good.  Like almost moaning good, and that’s a great compliment for a 30 minute recipe.

Give this one a try the next time you’re craving lasagna.  It’s a tasteworthy reward for little effort.

With the herbs and spices in this one, I’m sending it to Kalyn’s Weekend Herb Blogging, which is being hosted by Cooking 4 All Seasons this weekend.

Hungry for more lasagna recipes?
Elise at Simply Recipes goes classic with a reader’s version of lasagna.
Cooking with Amy goes with an eggplant version.
If you have basil to put to use, you may want to try Andrea’s Spinach and Basil Lasagna.
The Leftover Queen tries out a polenta version with fire-roasted tomatoes.

Two Sauce Weeknight Lasagna Bowls
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray, 2008

Classic lasagna in my family is made by layering thin lasagna noodles, preferable egg pasta, with layers of bechamel or white sauce, and a light meat sauce. Here, curly short-cut pasta is topped with the white sauce and topped with a rich meat sauce for mixing in.

Salt
1 pound Campanelle pasta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 pound pancetta, a couple of thick slices, chopped
3/4 pound ground beef pork and veal mix or ground beef
1/2 large carrot, peeled and grated or finely chopped
1 small to medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, 2 chopped or grated, 1 peeled
1/2 teaspoon allspice, a couple of pinches (I skipped)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 cups beef stock
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Nutmeg, to taste (I skipped)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano, plus some to pass at table
A handful fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

Heat large pot of water to a boil, salt water and cook pasta to al dente. While pasta water comes to a boil, heat olive oil in a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat, add pancetta and render 2 to 3 minutes then add meat and break up as it browns. When the meat has begun to caramelize and develops a nice brown color, 4 to 5 minutes, add carrot, onion, 2 cloves of garlic, allspice, salt and pepper and a bay leaf. Cook 3 to 4 minutes more to soften onions and carrots bits then stir in tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in wine and cook out 1 minute then stir in stock and reduce heat to simmer.While red sauce cooks, cut remaining whole clove of garlic and rub the inside of a medium sauce pot with it. Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Add in flour and whisk together a minute or so then whisk in milk and bring to a bubble, reduce heat then season sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg, thicken 8 to 10 minutes.Toss pasta with white sauce and 1/2 cup grated cheese. Serve pasta in individual bowls and top with a ladle of meat sauce in the middle of the bowl for mixing in. Garnish with parsley.

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Posted In: Narrative

Comments

  1. Tommy V says

    August 20, 2008 at 11:52 pm

    mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm that looks good. I will have to try it.

    Reply
  2. Kristen says

    August 21, 2008 at 8:01 am

    I love the thought of this recipe. Such a great idea and much less time consuming!

    Reply
  3. Kris says

    August 21, 2008 at 8:11 am

    Just printed this out for a “Must try soon” dinner.

    Reply
  4. Patsy says

    August 21, 2008 at 8:18 am

    I love when one of her recipes really hits the table in 30 minutes! This one looks like a winner!

    Reply
  5. claire says

    August 21, 2008 at 10:58 am

    I have a recipe that was a favorite of mine when I was a kid. We called it “fake lasagna.” It looks very similar to this but uses cream cheese in the white sauce. It is SO good and very simple. I’ll have to pull out the recipe and send it to you.

    Reply
  6. Srivalli says

    August 21, 2008 at 11:18 am

    thanks for the lovely entry!

    Reply
  7. shannon says

    August 21, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    Yum! Looks great. I can’t wait to try it. The family all loves lasagna, but it is one thing I hate to make. Too much effort.

    Reply
  8. Aggie says

    August 23, 2008 at 9:38 pm

    I like this Deconstructed Lasagna! Looks delish!

    Thanks for visiting my blog! Hope you post your Gruyere and Ham pizza!! That sounds awesome!

    Reply
  9. Kim/hormone-colored days says

    August 24, 2008 at 10:32 am

    The last time I made lasagna, I had my husband cooke the noodles and he made too many. I also had extras of some of the other ingredients. So the next night, I simply heated them all up in a pot and told my boys it was “Lasagna Mix-up.” It didn’t look pretty, but it tasted like lasagna and everyone ate it up.

    Reply
  10. Susan says

    August 25, 2008 at 11:02 am

    I made my own version of this over the weekend and it was fabulous. I’ve renamed it Mock-sagna. :-P

    Reply
  11. Kalyn says

    August 30, 2008 at 7:14 pm

    Sorry I am so slow at catching up on the WHB entries. I had a very rough week going back to school! Sounds tasty. Sometimes RR really comes up with a good one.

    Reply
  12. George says

    May 8, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    It is true that everything is better with bacon and cheese. Only one thing is even better though – organic bacon and organic cheese.

    Reply

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#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛

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#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛
Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged photo, but Lola just has ZERO boundaries and Clifford is exceptionally patient. 😂
I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s so good for you), so when I saw that a local patisserie has a smoked salmon croissant available (weekends only), I added it to my list of things to seek out. I popped into @chocolatinenj early on Mother’s Day and was rewarded with this deliciousness. Layers of soft flaky croissant dough, tender smoked salmon, light whipped cream, thinly sliced red and green onion slivers and dotted with capers… it was every bit as amazing as you’d imagine it would be. If you’re local, don’t sleep on this one. 😋
Weekend photos in review, the belated edition. 1/ Weekend photos in review, the belated edition.

1/ hit up a few yard sales and snagged this beautiful pasta dish from Italy with my favorite color for a buck, 2/ and one of these printer trays came home with me too, 3/ pre Mother’s Day celebrations with 30 local moms, 4/ finished the weekend supervising furniture assembly
Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd bir Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd birthday. Unfortunately she’s not here to celebrate because she died suddenly at age 49. I think of her often … every Mother’s Day because we spent most of them together since her husband worked weekends … when I discover a new food adventure (we once did a day long donut crawl) … when I’m sharing a special time with my kids knowing that her then-11 year old is growing up without her. Before she passed, I always appreciated every day, but since then, even more so. You never know what the next day can bring, so relish in the sunshine, surprise rainstorms, making wishes over railroad tracks and all the wonderful randomness life can throw your way. Don’t waste a single second, say yes, live on the outskirts of your comfort zone, laugh often, tell people you love them, give eight second hugs, and squeeze every ounce of joy you can out of life. Do it for the people who can’t. ✨

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