In and Around the Garden

Written by Judy Crosby

The beautiful spring day had turned gloomy, with dark gray skies hanging on the horizon. I had just unsaddled my horse, putting her back in the pasture. I was going to miss this spring storm by minutes. It seems to be getting harder and harder to miss the storms, because we have had nothing but rain this year. I know we need it, but I am ready for a change.

I board my horse 30 minutes from Lodi, so on the drive home I have time to think about what I will be having for dinner that evening. Today I vacillated between picking up hamburgers at a fast food place or cooking a real dinner.  My husband and I usually try to eat healthy, but every couple of weeks we splurge and eat the dreaded fast food.

Rain pelted down on my car as I drove and my desire for comfort food emerged and I remembered the wonderful lasagna recipe my daughter had given me a few weeks earlier.

My daughter had invited my husband and me for dinner and when I ate the lasagna she served I exclaimed, “This is delicious.”

I am not crazy about all lasagna, I don’t like those made with cottage cheese and the ones made with ricotta cheese are only a little better, for me. When I buy frozen lasagna’s I don’t care for the sauce on them.

My daughter replied, “Really, it is a recipe I concocted myself and it is vegetarian.”

My daughter is not vegetarian and neither are my husband or myself, but a couple times a week I do try to fix meatless dishes, it makes it easier on the pocketbook and I also feel it is healthy for us. With this said, I immediately made her write out the recipe for me.

Tonight was the night I would be fixing this recipe and I hoped it would be as good as I remembered.

I followed the recipe to the letter, which I don’t always do and even though it was vegetarian; I didn’t save any money by it being meatless, because my daughter used Smart Meat. This is a soy-based product that resembles ground meat. (Safeway and Raley’s carry this product.)

 The lasagna was just as I remembered, DELECIOUS, try it.

Vegetarian Lasagna

1-2 pkg. of Smart Meat (I used 1 pkg.)

½ chopped onion

1 clove garlic

2 zucchini’s chopped     

1 cup chopped olive      

9 lasagna noodles                                        

1 jar marinara sauce      

1 small can tomato sauce

1 small can of tomato paste

½ ball of mozzarella cheese

1-cup cheddar cheese

Sauté Smart Meat, onion, garlic and zucchini until vegetables are soft. Add marinara sauce, tomato sauce, tomato paste and olives, let simmer. Cook noodles as directed on the box. Put three lasagna noodles in pan, cover with some sauce and cheese. Layer again two more times, noodles, sauce and cheese, ending with sauce and cheese on top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve with a salad, French bread and you have dinner.