Back to the Kitchen

I realized last night that it's been forever since I've tried a new recipe. That's probably because I've been preoccupied with... stuff. And Five Guys and Chik fil A and eating other people's cooking has been way easier than dredging up the motivation to clean, chop, peel, sweat, wipe, shoot, brown, chop, stir, lift, pluck, skewer, simmer, fry, clean some more. I've made one batch of cupcakes since July, and that's it.

But, I've missed it. I've come to enjoy cooking as much as I enjoy baking. And even when I mess up (which is 90% of the time), I still have a lot of fun in the process. And the wine I drink while I cook totally lessens the shame when I mess up (true story!). So when I caught a little bit of Julie and Julia this morning, and when Kristin posted about her delicious lasagna, and when I was suddenly starving after reading it, and then, when she mentioned it in a Facebook chat this afternoon, I was all,

"send. me. recipe."

And she did, because she's fabulous. 

So I got back into the groove with this fatty, fatty, nomalicious noodle-less lasagna. Seriously. She used to make this when we lived together, and we'd basically just sit on the floor and stab it with forks until it was gone. And what's even better about this lasagna is that there's only 2 unhealthy ingredients (and really, how unhealthy is cheese? Cheese is amazing.), so I don't feel that slimy, greasy guilt I usually get when I'm sprawled across the floor in an agonizingly delicious food coma. 

dad's garden grown tomatoes

usually, I sneer at canned tomato sauce. But I was too tired to make one from scratch.

phase 1, delicious sauce

phase 2, using zucchini to replace noodles

phase 3, cheeeeeeese

phase 4, spinach

phase 5, more zucchini 

phase 6, more sauce

phase 7, MOAR CHEEZE

 and voila:

Alternate Title: What Happens When You Overfill Your Lasagna Pan

This was my first time making any type of lasagna. So of course I overloaded the pan, and since it didn't have noodles, there was a lack of structure. But like. if you scoop it up with pita chips or really crusty garlic bread, it's even more amazing. 

And there's nothing wrong with a pile of meat and cheese and veggies. 

If you need me, I'll be passed out and covered in tomato sauce.