Half Day Wednesday

I still have no confirmation that I am really going back to full time, so I had to leave work at 11:00 AM for the rest of the week (I did my usual full day on Friday this week on Tuesday, due to the Holiday).

It's warm, but windy today (High near 67 degrees F. at 4:00 PM., they say). So, after treating the cats, I went out and did the Wednesday refill of the bird feeder. Since I was out there anyhow, I walked all the way out to the back wall. Hmmm... not too many branches down and those that were are small enough to cut up with the lawn tractor. I did check out the plants, starting to push up in the rear garden, and then removed the Styrofoam cone rose protectors.

On the way back to the house, I also checked the raised bed garden (needs a little weeding and more compost) and the St. Francis garden (hyacinths are poking up). I put the Styrofoam cones in the garage to dry out a bit before putting them up in the attic.

Then, because I can no longer justify putting them off, I did my Federal and State taxes. Wow! I actually figured this one out pretty close! The Feds owe me $53.00 and I owe the State of Michigan $2.00. I was done and had printed out all the copies I need to save by 1:00 PM.

Oh yeah, while I was doing that, I also ran six cups of white vinegar through the coffee machine with just a filter. When it cooled, I did it again. Jake says this cleans out the mechanism. I'll put the pot and its top in the dishwasher, next load.

I cleaned up the humidifier, threw away the old wick and took it up into the attic (I am hoping the long nights of running the furnace are over). While I was up there, I finally found my other pair of shoes! Hurray!!

I took a nap around 3:00 PM since I'll have the next three days to work outside.

The trouble with lasagna: There are two problems for me with lasagna. One is that, living alone, whenever I make it, it's WAY too much food. Yes, I know I could freeze them, but I never do. I just eat leftovers until I am sick of them and then just throw them away. The other (and I guess it's probably just a personal issue) is that no matter how beautiful it looks out of the oven, when you cut into it most of the time it squishes down and the presentation suffers.

So, you can imagine how pleased I was when Jake sent me a link to "The Food Addicts" where they showed a different way to make lasagna. That's what I am making tonight.

First I boiled five lasagna noodles (in case one breaks). When they were al dente, I rinsed them with cold water until cool.

Meanwhile, I put four cloves of garlic (sliced) and four fresh leaves of basil into some olive oil. NOTE: Be careful! The fresh basil leaves will sputter when they hit the hot oil. When these began to turn brown, I pulled them out with a slotted spoon. This is just to perfume the oil, you see.

Then I added one medium onion (fine diced). When that softened, I put in one 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes (you would normally use regular plum or Italian tomatoes, but they are not in season now in Michigan). I let that come up to a boil and then simmered it to make a quick tomato sauce. I seasoned it with some kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar (to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes).

While that was getting happy, I took some ricotta cheese out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature.

I spread about 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese on four of the lasagna noodles (see photos). Then I layered on the thawed chopped spinach (after squeezing it dry in a kitchen towel), some sliced roasted red peppers (from a jar), about 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella and 2/3 cup of my homemade tomato sauce.

Then, starting from one end, I carefully rolled up the lasagna noodles and stood them on end into a 9 x 9 inch baking dish. I topped that with the rest of the tomato sauce and more of the mozzarella cheese. I popped that into a preheated 400 degrees F. oven. I posted pictures of the whole process so you could understand it better.

I checked it after 30 minutes and the cheese was brown, so I pulled it out and let it rest. Then I took out one of the rolls and plated it.

Hmmm... It was good, but there were two problems. One is that I didn't let my tomato sauce cook long enough to become sauce (or I should have used either crushed tomatoes or a jar of tomato pasta sauce - it just wasn't "wet" enough). And, two, I really am not that fond of spinach lasagna. But the concept was good and I will try this again with meat and a wetter sauce.

I left the mess to clean up tomorrow morning and started watching TV. I assume it was because I took a nap, but I stayed up until 12:30 AM.