Friday lasagna - with a twist

A few weeks ago, I was inspired by this video and decided to get the ingredients at Trader Joe's this past weekend.

700-year-old Lasagna
 
I decided to make lasagna - on a Friday night. I must be crazy. Well, it was easy. As soon as I came home from work, I set the oven to preheat at 350 and put a big pot of water on the stove to boil. And then I took the dog out for a walk and checked the mail.

I accidentally used no-boil lasagna instead of regular lasagna, but I put it in the water for 8 minutes and it worked out just fine.

I veered a bit from the original recipe:

• Lasagna
• Feta
• Goat cheese
• Parmesan
• Cardamom
• Cinnamon
• Clove

My recipe:

• Lasagna - no-boil, boiled in water for 8 minutes, worked out just fine.
• Whole cardamom - only thing I had in the house. Mortared and pestled, as I don't even have a spice grinder.
• Whole cloves - only thing I had in the house. Mortared and pestled, too.
• Ceylon cinnamon, ground - only the best.
• Feta
• Ciliegine (small mozzarella balls)
• Ricotta, part-skim 
• Four-cheese shredded cheese (parmesan, asiago, etc.)
• Nutmeg, ground
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Mushrooms
• Spinach

I really need to start getting ready for holiday baking. Time to get some holiday baking spices soon, such as fresh cardamom, cloves, etc.

Anyway, back to the recipe prep and assembly. I actually had fun making this recipe. I made a big mess in the kitchen as usual, but I cleaned it up after I was done. My husband would be so proud of me!

Anyway, I sauteed spinach and mushrooms in a pan. I didn't even add olive oil. I did add nutmeg, though.

Boiled the no-boil lasagna noodles - not sure why I did that. I didn't read the instructions. Read somewhere that it takes 8 minutes for lasagna noodles to boil, so I put it for 8 minutes. OK, they stuck together, but I managed to separate a few of them. I took out what I thought was a lasagna pan, but it ended up being a bit too small to be a lasagna pan. I ended up not using all of the lasagna noodles. Only 12 noodles. Must have been a big box.

Lasagna:

• Layer 1: spinach & mushrooms
• Layer 2: 3 lasagna noodles
• Layer 3: ricotta - I decided to spread this out with my hands - of course my hands were washed before commencing.
• Layer 4: spice mixture (nutmeg, black pepper, clove, cinnamon and cardamom)
• Layer 5: feta
• Layer 6: ciliegine
• Layer 7: 4-cheese mixture
• Repeat layers 1-7 2 more times
• Next layer: 3 lasagna noodles
• Next layer: 4-cheese mixture
• Last layer: salt and pepper and nutmeg

Put the lasagna pan on a baking tray and cover with foil. Place in 350 degree preheated oven. Set the timer for 1 hour. It really only needed 30-45 minutes. Check the lasagna 30 minutes in. Uncover the foil. Cook for 15-30 more minutes. Take it out of the oven. Let rest for 10 minutes. Oh, wow, yum! It was unique and different. My husband loved it. Very cheesy. Might be a bit too cheesy for me. But it was really good.

Now that the holidays are getting closer, perhaps I am feeling a bit more inspired to cook again. I know that my posts have been very far in between, but I've been struggling with being an empty nester and trying to figure out who I am as a person. I've enjoyed every moment of discovering who I am as a person. So there is no time wasted. It's been a good year thus far.