When he left, Duke, Jen and baby Hadley came over with dinner! Jen made some delicious 4 Cheese Lasagna from Giada’s recipe.  Here is a similar recipe from Foodnetwork.com:

Ingredients

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 12 dry lasagna noodles (not no-boil)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen spinach, thawed
• 1 pound cottage cheese (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, or a combination
• 1 pound pre-shredded mozzarella, shredded (about 4 cups)
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 4 cups tomato sauce, recipe follows, or your favorite jarred

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat and salt it generously. Add the lasagna noodles and boil, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat until the garlic begins to brown. Add the spinach, season with salt and pepper and stir until the spinach dries out and the garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes. Cool.

Mix the cottage cheese, goat cheese, Parmesan/Pecorino, 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, lemon zest, nutmeg, cayenne, and cooled spinach in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the egg.

Cover the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch casserole with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Cover with 3 of the noodles placed side-to-side, but not overlapping. Top with a 1/4 of the cheese mixture and about a half cup of tomato sauce. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Repeat to make 2 more layers. Cover lasagna layers with remaining noodles, dollop remaining cheese mixture on top. Drizzle with remaining tomato sauce, then scatter the remaining 2 cups mozzarella on top. Bake, uncovered, until the lasagna is hot and bubbly, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let lasagna stand for 10 minutes before serving.

The girls are only 5 months apart – but that seems like a lot at this point!

Dads and Daughters

Delicious lasagna – thanks Jen!

A great salad with feta, craisins and almonds

The play date was great!  It was a party of dirty diapers, feeding, spit up and smiles from Hadley!

Share on Facebook

When I got home, I threw the lasagna I made yesterday into the oven and waited for my brother to arrive and Brady to get home from work. Kevin (my bro) is working in Columbus this week so he decided to stay with us! The pictures of the lasagna turned out so gross. I’ll post them anyways, but don’t judge!

Brady and Kevin each had a plate like this: Laura’s lean ground beef lasagna with Dave’s Killer Bread and a simple salad.

More lasagna:

My plate: with leftover green bean casserole and salad

His and Hers Lasagna Take 2

I made His and Her Lasagna a while ago but this is a different recipe.

His:

• sauce – Whole Foods organic – I am not a huge fan of this, it was very watery
• lasagna noodles
• spinach
• Laura’s lean beef
• low fat cottage cheese
• 2% natural mozz. cheese
• Italian seasonings
• parm. cheese

Hers:

• sauce
• 100% whole wheat lasagna noodles
• spinach
• low fat cottage cheese
• parm cheese
• Italian seasonings
• leftover baked tofu

Layer it up in the same pan! Heat for 30 minutes or until noodles are cooked and dish is hot and bubbly!

Share on Facebook

His/Her Lasagna

Main Ingredients:

• ready to use lasagna noodles (I used a total of 4 sheets for the entire dish – it was in an 8×8)
• low-fat ricotta cheese
• pre-made oil-free pesto (made last week with the end of the basil plant)
• 1 egg white
• salt and pepper
• tomato-basil sauce
• Parmesan cheese

Ali’s side:

• broiled Brussel sprouts (PAM and salt and pepper for 20 min)
• green pepper (diced)
• arugula
• spinach

Brady’s side:

• lean ground beef
• black olives
• green peppers

Step 1: Make cheese mixture by mixing ricotta + pesto + salt and pepper + egg white.

Step 2: Layer sauce + veggies/meat + noodle.

Step 3: Add cheese mixture and sauce and repeat.

Notice the his and her sides. 

Step 4: Bake at 350 degree covered with foil for 20 min. then uncovered for 10 min.  Sprinkle with parm. when you uncover it!

Yum!  This dish took no time at all to make, and it would even take less time if I had made it the night before.  These no-cook noodles are awesome!  They are not whole wheat but there are only 210 calories in 3 noodles.  I used a total of 4 noodles to make this dish, which came out to 2 large servings dinner and 2 large serving for lunches tomorrow. The key is too fill up on the fillings (veggies and lean meat!).

For dessert, while watching the results we had Pom Parfaits.

Pom Parfaits  (in each parfait)

• 1/2 c. Greek 0% yogurt
• 1/4 c. ff strawberry yogurt
• 1/3 c. Bear Naked Fit granola
• 1/4 c. Honey Flax Go Lean Crunch
• 1/2 c. POM!

I should have added frozen blueberries to make them red, white and blue…oops!

Hope you had a great day!

Share on Facebook