New Digs

What do y'all think of my schmancy new banner, courtesy my handsome and talented husband? Last night, I told him, hey, I think I need a new look around the blog, and in an hour he had whipped this up for me.

He rules.

On tap for this weekend: Hauling out Petra's room so Scarlett has a place to sleep, playing in the snow we're supposed to get, a consultation with my June bride (the one I'm doing flowers for!!!), and a lot of sleeping. This has been a tough week; I can't wait for it to be over.

Thing that has been captivating my attention, thanks to having cable: VH1's Top 100 One-hit Wonders of the 80s. I remember most of them, and it's so much fun to think, oh yeah! I remember that song! because I have no idea who the artists were on most of them (I was 1-10 in the 80s) so I didn't realize they WERE one-hit wonders.

Also, I love the Food Network. I love this show they have called Chopped, and love Ace of Cakes (mmm cake), and love Iron Chef. Food porn is great.

And, in honor of Food on Friday (something I think I've neglected for a couple of weeks now), here's what we had for dinner last night. (Granted, I made this a few months ago, so what we had was actually reheated from the freezer.)(we also had salad to go with)

Healthy-ish Lasagne by MLE

1/2 box of whole wheat lasagne noodles (cooked)(about 9 noodles)
2 cups lowfat ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
2 cups grated part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 egg
herbs of your choice (fresh or dried) (I use italian herbs like oregano and basil)
jar of pasta sauce (if you're lazy like me)
1 tube of ground turkey (I think this is 16 oz), browned and drained
1 zucchini, chopped into rounds and quartered
6-8 white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
1-4 cloves fresh garlic, put through press (depending on how garlicky you like stuff)

Preheat oven to 375. Boil noodles in large pot of water until done but still al dente, about 5-7 minutes. Chop veggies and cook ground turkey. Sautee all veggies (including garlic but not including spinach) in a very large frying pan in a bit of olive oil until soft; add cooked ground turkey and jar of sauce (you may not need the whole jar). Heat through. Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix ricotta/cottage cheese with 1 cup grated mozzarella, egg, and whatever herbs you'd like.

When sauce is heated through, mix in chopped spinach. Drain the noodles. In a 9x13 pan, lay 3 noodles lengthwise. Top with 1/3 of the red sauce. Top with 1/2 of the ricotta/mozz mixture. Lay 3 more noodles, sauce, and the rest of the cheese mixture. 3 more noodles, top with the last 1/3 of the sauce. Top with remaining cup of shredded mozzarella, any herbs you like, and some grated parmesan if you'd like. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until you can see the stuff bubbling in the pan and the cheese is melted, 30-50 minutes. For the last few minutes, you can uncover the pan and let the cheese brown if you'd like. Makes about 8 dinner-sized servings; I always make a full pan and freeze the leftovers in 2-serving increments to have later.