A lasagna kind of day

Saturday felt like a lasagna kind of day as we would be having company, Jeanette, over for dinner. So I recorded my cooking exploits of the day. It's very satisfying to create something delicious for friends and loved ones to enjoy. I hadn't made lasagna since Jerry's 60th birthday in November, so lasagna it was for Saturday's company dinner.

First I boiled the lasagna noodles.

Then I took 2 pounds of 95% fat-free ground beef and browned it in the pan.

Next came the onion and garlic cloves which I chopped up without too many tears...

...and cooked them with the ground beef till the onions were tender.

By that time, the noodles were good to go so I spread them out on a big cutting board.

Then I gathered a frozen quart of marinara sauce, 2 cans of Italian style tomato paste (thank you Western Family brand), basil, oregano and pepper, and started them simmering with the meat mixture.

While the sauce simmered,

I walked a quarter mile (418 meters) with my neighbor, Janet, down Oak Lane to our newspaper box and picked up our paper. I found out that her daughter, Annelise, has applied for the Peace Corps, as well as some other young people I know (Carmen Springer and Tim Edwards). I walked the quarter mile back to our house with our newspaper, the Sacramento Bee. I mainly read it for the Jumble, health and fitness articles, local news, non-political articles (except for George Will's column) and the advice columns, since I am negatively affected by their liberal, left-wing bias. They almost never have anything positive to say about a conservative politician, only negative all the time, which I take personally, because I am a political conservative. Sorry, I just have to vent sometimes. It's frustrating being in a minority political group and feeling helpless about the slide into socialism and entitlement mentality in our country today.

Then it was time for the next stage of lasagna-making.

... mixing up the ricotta cheese with a beaten egg...

...get out the grated mozzarella cheese (again, thank you again, Western Family)...

...spread some sauce on the bottom and put a layer of noodles on that,

...then a layer of sauce, and 15 dollops of the ricotta mixture. I love the word "dollop" because you know that something deliciously rich comes after that word.

Then I sprinkled mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese on top of the ricotta, and then made two more layers like that.

It's just not an Italian dish if it doesn't have olive oil in it! And it must be evoo if I'm making it.

I drizzled evoo on top of it all...

...Here's a side view of it. I love the way layered foods look.

I made some chocolate chunk and pecan cookies for dessert.

Lasagna, all cooked and partly eaten. Jerry, Jeanette and I all enjoyed it.

Jeanette brought a colorful and delicious green salad with tomatoes, dried cranberries and glazed walnuts. We had a very pleasant evening of dining and fellowship.