I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, but I changed several things, so I think it would be easier to just re-type than to try and explain all the things I did differently. But that’s the link to the original if you want a nice printable version. I made it for the first time about a month ago, with my friend Berkley. I tend to measure difficulty level by the number of pans I have to wash…there were four, which put this one a little high on my scale. However, if you have a friend in the kitchen to help you with the chopping and stirring (like I did), it helps, and the finished product is SOOOO worth it (even though it looks kinda messy over there).
Ingredients: 1 8 oz. package of oven-ready lasagna noodles, 3 cups heavy cream, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup butter, 1 Tbl olive oil, 1/2 large onion diced, 4 cloves fresh minced garlic, 1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 yellow bell pepper, 1 Rotisserie chicken shredded, salt and pepper to taste, 2 cans diced Italian tomatoes, 1 cup Ricotta cheese, 1 bag fresh spinach, 3 cups shredded mozzarella, disposable lasagna pan as pictured above (this is not a necessity, but don’t think this is gonna fit in one of your regular 9×13’s. You gotta have something deeper and it is nice not of have to scrub the pan when it’s all over. ONE less notch on the difficulty level)
Ok, so there are a lot of [FATTENING] ingredients, but just think how impressed your husband will be when you tell him you’ve made lasagna from SCRATCH, and then it is the most delicious thing you’ve ever put in your mouth. It’s worth the fat, and besides I feel like fat doesn’t count nearly as much when it’s something I made myself 🙂
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. If you didn’t buy the “oven ready” noodles like I told you to, then boil some water, cook the noodles, and add another difficulty notch to your belt.
2. In a saucepan over low heat, mix together cream, mushroom soup, Parmesan cheese, and butter. Simmer, stirring frequently until well blended. Leave on warm while you do the next step, but don’t you scald that cream!
3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion until tender (I HATE crunchy onion), then add garlic and peppers. Cook until lightly browned and then add chicken. Let the chicken pick up some of the flavor (black bits, lets just be honest) from the bottom of the pan. Cook until heated through. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. Drain (but not completely) your two cans of diced tomatoes, and stir them into your cream sauce. This is one of those steps that wasn’t in the directions, but I think is crucial. Adding those tomatoes cuts the rich cream sauce in a good way. I am sure it breaks some chef’s etiquette–adding tomato to Alfredo sauce–but just trust me.
5. Lightly coat the bottom of your baking dish with enough cream sauce to coat. Layer lasagna noodles, 1/2 ricotta (I am just going to tell you I used my whole tub of ricotta and not the measly cup), 1/2 spinach (I know it looks funny to lay fresh spinach in there but just do it), 1/2 chicken mixture, and top with mozzarella. Top with half the cream sauce and repeat the layers. Finish with other half of cream sauce.
6. Bake 1 hour, or until brown and bubbly. Top with remaining mozzarella and continue baking until cheese is lightly browned.
The real recipe actually calls for one more layer of noodles (just below that second half of cream sauce) on top. I don’t do that, but your lasagna may be more likely to slice into pretty pieces if you do. It will also slice better if you let it sit and cool for 20 minutes. HOWEVER, I prefer my lasagna hot and messy over starchy and pretty and room temp.
Serve with salad and watch your children and husband smile:
(Latte–my Aunt Alice–gave Pace this cute little outfit. Dapples got one too, but she was refusing to be part of pictures this particular evening :))
While we were in San Francisco, the girls were doing this with…MY DAD’S GIRLFRIEND. ooohhhh Do you like how I dropped that one on you? Yep, it’s true. It’s been going on for quite a while, and I haven’t talked to you about it. So, pull up a chair if you care to hear, because I figure now is as good a time as any to let the cat out of the bag.
First, I’ll tell you about Konie–which is her name. Konie Bryant, from right here in Birmingham. Her husband, who was an Orthopaedic surgeon, passed away (from cancer) three years ago. She has four awesome children–two girls and two boys. One of her daughters was my sister Taylor’s grand-big sister in KD. Her other daughter, is pledge sisters with my sister Caroline. There are a lot more eery connections– like her husband was in medical school with John David’s (Taylor’s husband) dad and they were good friends. My mom’s best childhood friend was good friends with Konie and is actually the first person who mentioned her to my Dad…it goes on. But mainly, there is a good reason why she has such awesome children and so many great friends–she is wonderful. She is pretty on the outside, but even prettier on the inside. You cannot help but smile when you’re around her because she is always overflowing with joy. She is laid back, take me as you see me, loves children…I mean, we (as in my sisters and me) could not ask for anymore than she is.
Saying all of that, and as wonderful as she is, this whole process has not been easy and seamless. Mom has only been gone a year and a half, and I have this grating memory that likes to play over and over in my mind of two Augusts ago, Mom being sick, worried she was not going to be healed, and sobbing these words into my ear, “Your Dad is such a good man, and he is mine. I can’t imagine him ever being with anybody else. I can’t bear it.” And me reassuring her, “Mom the reason you can’t imagine it is because it’s never going to happen. God’s going to heal you. Dad won’t ever be with anybody else.” And here we are, what seems like two very short summers later.
Second hurdle–The me who loves her Daddy. My Dad and I have always had such an open, true, sweet relationship. We stay up late at night, we sit for hours at a time, we take long walks–and just talk. It’s always been like that. I feel like, for whatever reason, even when I was small, we each sought out the other’s company. And then, after he started dating Konie, I realized that I wasn’t as close to the center of his universe as I used to be, and it hurt pretty bad. There was one trip he made to Birmingham, that particularly brought out these feelings. I was being snappy at Jeremiah and the girls (and had no idea why, truly) when Jeremiah turned to me and said, “Have I done something to you for you to be so aggravated?” I whipped around and said, “NO! It’s just that my Dad has been in town for almost three days and he has not so much as stopped by to see me or his grandchildren!” Woah!! I threw my hand over my mouth and started crying. It was strange to just have the truth tumble right out of my mouth when I didn’t even know it was in there. But once I realized what the problem was, and once Dad finally did stop by, you can believe I told him how bad he was hurting my feelings.
If this doesn’t make you laugh at the end of this post, then I don’t know what will. That Dapples 🙂
I’d like to start by saying…We had such a blast with these two. Can you see Mrs. Personality over there on the left and Mr. Can Carry a Conversation on Any Topic in the Universe on the right? That would be Jeremiah’s Mom and Dad. For those of you who don’t know us in real life, his Dad is an orthopod like Jeremiah and his Mom rescues dogs (like seriously she keeps around twenty something at any given time–anybody looking for a new pet?) and manages their sprawling farm. When you add the fact that his Dad also has a horse farm/hay business on the side of operating on people’s spines and dreaming up new and crazy “projects” for their farm…it’s hard to get all the QT (does everybody know that means Quality Time?) you might want. But for three and half days Jeremiah and I had them–and San Francisco–all to out little selves.
We made our way to the Ghiradelli “factory” and watched how they make chocolate (we also ate a Ghiradelli chocolate sunday with a still-warm waffle cone shell).
We sampled some Boudin sourdough bread with our fresh-from Fisherman’s Wharf seafood dinner.
Jeremiah did some sight-seeing (dressed like a pimp)–still in a suit from his Spine conference and wearing some of his Mom’s sunglasses (throughout the trip) since he left his at home 🙂
We hopped on a ferry to go to…
Alcatraz.
This was such an unforgettable experience. You do a walking tour with a headset, and the people talking gruffly in your ears are men who were imprisoned or worked there. It was fascinating to hear about their daily routines, their escape attempts, and peek into the actual cells where they spent such large, morbid periods of their lives. There is background noise of guards yelling, doors sliding, men cat-calling…all while you walk around with a whole lot of silent people just as engrossed in the stories as you are.
We had lunch looking out at this view while we were in Sausalito–just before we perused their quaint shops and art galleries.
We had dinner across the grassy square from this church in the Italian district. This is the church that Marilyn Monroe wanted to marry Joe DiMaggio in (he grew up in this neighborhood), but the priest wouldn’t let her since it was her second marriage…so they just had pictures made inside instead 🙂
We also were not afraid to be TOURISTS! Check us out in the double-decker bus, along with everybody else with their cameras…and even a fannypack or two was spotted.
I normally shy away from the whole idea of being a tourist. Something about it seems…humiliating. But let me tell you, that double decker bus was the best thing we did! We saw ALL the sights. We hopped off and explored when we wanted to, and then caught the next bus. We leisurely sat back and enjoyed the sunshine and breezes, and heard catchy side stories about places we passed on our way to the next big attraction.
I will never again be too cool for the bus…and you shouldn’t be either. Our fellow red bus traveler snapped this one for us in front of the Academy of the Arts. Jeremiah’s still lookin‘ hot in those glasses. [My sister also just pointed out that I might should address what the HECK I am wearing. I started out the day wearing that as a dress,…then started freezing so I pulled out the jeans that I had handily stored in my purse, and there you have it–pregnant Abby.]
We had our breath taken away by the Redwood trees of Muir Woods.
And we took another of several brisk walks in improper female footwear. Jeremiah can’t bear to spend money on cabs, so we huffed it everywhere across not only this rocky terrain, but also those steep San Francisco hills.
He can never seem to convince me to wear “proper” things. I say, “Do you really want me to wear Isotoners with black socks??” And he replies, “No, but I would also like to not ALWAYS be over the bag weight limit in the airport because you’ve had to pack eighteen different pairs of high-heeled shoes and flip-flops to match all of your ‘outfits’.” Thankfully, his Mom sides with me on this issue, so at least I wasn’t the only one…I digress.
We went to Sonoma valley for a little wine tasting.
It was GORGEOUS and GOOD 🙂
And while we talked a lot of smack to our fellow tourists and tour guide–warning us about the heat when we reached Sonoma–we told them that it couldn’t compare to the temperatures we’d left in south Alabama. Well, we were swallowing our words by the days’ end and looking for the nearest shade 🙂
Finally, after all this beautiful scenery, mind invigorating conversation (with no sweet babies to interrupt), sumptuous food, and, well, wine-tasting, we all four went home feeling like this…
I love San Francisco.