Who doesn't love Lasagna?

I confess I could eat Lasagna every day.  It is so delicious, and so bad for you.  And--a pain to make.  A friend shared a recipe that simplifies the process, and I have played with over several years, and I am happy with my present version.  We had it again the other night, and GF asked for the recipe, so I decided to put it up here on good ol' Grammy Confesses.  I hope you give it a try!

No Boil No Bake Lasagna

First, the sauce:

1 lb ground beef (recipe says "or half ground pork"--bet it would be awesome with Italian sausage...)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

1-28 oz can tomatoes (you can use crushed, or whole that you have put through the food processor)

1 Tbs dried oregano

2 Tsp dried basil

1 Tsp salt

1/2 Tsp black pepper

2 Tsp brown sugar

1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

Brown  the beef, add in the onion and after it looks softened, add in the garlic, and cook until fragrant. Then add the tomatoes, and all the rest.  This doesn't need to simmer more than a couple of minutes before you turn off the heat.

Next:

9 lasagna noodles--the regular kind, right out of the box

2 c ricotta

8 oz shredded mozzarella

Put the noodles into a flat pan filled with water, and leave them there while you hunt up a baking dish that will fit into your microwave.  (Mine measures 7 1/2x11" inside dimensions, and is perfect for three noodles.)  Spoon about 1/4 of the sauce into the bottom of the baking dish--I kind of scoop up the tomato, leaving the meat for the middle, but it doesn't matter.  Lay in the first three noodles over the sauce.  Put half the ricotta in spoonfuls on top of the noodles, and spread it out as best you can.  Sprinkle on half the mozzarella, and cover with another 1/4 of the sauce.  Do another layer the same way, using most of the meat into the two center layers, with the last layer of noodles on top, and cover with the last of the sauce.  (You don't have to be scrupulous about the meat...)

Cover the baking dish with waxed paper.  I cut a long piece that will tuck under the short ends of the baking dish to keep most of the steam in.  Set the dish onto the microwave tray, and rotate it to check that those ends are underneath.  Microwave for 33 minutes.  Now for the tricky part.  I use 80% power--high is too much, and medium is too low.  I don't know how your's will work, so you just have to give it a shot.  The top noodles should be soft, but not dried out, the sauce and cheeses set up, not loose.

Remove the waxed paper, and sprinkle with 1/2 c Parmesan cheese, and microwave for another 5 minutes. Let it rest another 5-10 minutes before cutting.  

The last time I made this, I let it sit for quite a while before we were ready to eat, doing the last microwaving when we were ready for it, and it was perfect--noodles soft, cheeses all firmed up nicely.  I would never go back to wrestling with cooked, slippery noodles again!

Crumbling Foundations

Any sewer relies on having sturdy thread, and spools of every color they make.   Leftover threads are saved for future projects, and predictably, the thread storage box is pretty large.  And, I confess--some if it has been in there a long time....Who can resist the basket at the cash register that has all the odd colors reduced--one never knows what the next fabric will require.

The newer threads are packaged on long tubes instead of spools now, and I have a number of them all lined up neatly on the side of my thread box.  I was noticing whitish powdery flakes, but didn't think too much of it until I went to wind thread onto a bobbin, and the tube started to break into pieces and finally fly up and off the spool holder of my sewing machine.  The whole tube just disintegrated.

I figured I could salvage the thread by winding it onto plastic bobbins, but it takes about six bobbins for one unused tube.  I ordered bobbins and storage boxes (thank you, ebay) and set to work.  After a few tries, I figured out how not to end up with a big tangled mess, and how not to have pieces of white plastic flying all over the room.  I still have quite a mess to clean up.

Initially, I thought the thread was Guttermann's, and I dropped them an email to tell them what was happening.  I heard back, and they were concerned--asked me to send them some of the defective plastic tubes, and they would send me some thread.  When I went back to my thread box, I discovered that the crumbling threads were all from Singer, so I emailed back, and apologized for my mistake, and had a nice note back.

I emailed Singer, and they answered and said that they sub-contract the thread to another company, and if I wanted to contact them, etc, etc.  So much for brand reliability.  The Singer thread is made in China.  Well, you get what you pay for.  Stick with the Germans.  BTW, I still have wood spools that came out of my grandmother's, and even my great grandmother's....