Recipes Made Easier
.......think easy! Think leftovers! Be creative!

 I have been hearing about Lasagna Soup for awhile but have never tried it.  Today while taking a break from organizing the file cabinet (still) I decided to look up a recipe.  Right away I am not liking what I am seeing because most of the recipes are made from scratch (as opposed to leftovers), are very high in fat, have many unnecessary steps, require the cook to be stirring and watching in the kitchen the whole time, and take a long time to make. I reasoned that if I made lasagna first instead of spending all that time making the soup, I would save time, money and have a very easy, throw-together meal, the soup, for the next day.
So, I made the sauce while I worked on other things. This is what I did:

•  took a previously-frozen quart of tomatoes from last year's garden out of the refrigerator
• opened two small cans of organic tomato paste
• opened and crushed a can of black olives
• sauteed half an onion with about six mushrooms in olive oil so they would carmelize for extra
  flavor since I did not plan to add meat to this particular lasagna. Adding meat to something that
  already has a source of protein in it seems a waste of protein to me, so I usually do not add
  any to those kinds of dishes. If you are looking to economize this saves alot.
• added all in crockpot with basil, Costco's organic salt-free spice, garlic and a glug of red wine, balsamic vinegar and organic
  extra-virgin olive oil
• I dumped it all together, put the lid on, turned it on high and left the kitchen

A few hours later the sauce was done and the house smelled like an Italian restaurant. While I did more work I boiled the pasta and when it was done I put the lasagna together, put it in the oven and went back to what I was doing.

The lasagna is in the oven now, should be done in a few minutes. We will have enough for at least two lasagna dinners which, after tonight will go into the freezer. And we will have enough to make a big pot of lasagna soup, at least half of which will also go into the freezer. I will brown some ground beef or sausage, chop up the leftover lasagna into my crockpot along with some broth I have leftover from soup and perhaps some more tomato paste if it needs it. I will turn the crockpot on medium or low and serve it with some crumbled mozzarella cheese. Having bread with pasta seems redundant to me----both are usually wheat products. I already have some leftover lasagna sauce to freeze to top English muffins along with some veggies and cheese for an easy salad and sandwich meal.

 So, timewise, I did the work of making lasagna soup but instead of having one meal to serve I ended up with two nights or more of lasagna, two nights of lasagna soup and Italian pizza sandwiches. I will not serve them every night in a row but freeze some to use as "freebies" when I know I am having a busy day and when it complements the other meals I have served before and after it. I try to balance not only each evening's meal but those during the week too. After something hearty I will serve a big salad. After spicy meals I will serve something more bland. I alternate colors and types of meat also and try to keep grain products at a  minimum since we both seem to be a little sensitive to grains, especially wheat.

If you're wondering why we aren't having our usual soup on Monday menu----we had soup last night. We had lots of potatoes because of a mis-communication. And we had way too many eggs from our little flock of hens. We had had chicken breasts with asparagus and a dinner salad earlier in the week. I cooked more asparagus than we needed on purpose. I cut up the potatoes, layered the rounds in a big glass pan, added milk, some cheese and chopped, cooked asparagus. We had a small scoop that night to go with the chicken. The next night we had it as a main dish and then served it again as a crockpot soup which cooked on low overnight. This morning the last of the potatoes were had with poached eggs. During this time we also had fish and leftover fish two days later on top of big salads for Sunday evening's meal and one other lunch/snack. I am still not feeling well so cooking extras so I don't have to do that every night has been helpful for me.

Think ahead. Don't waste your time making a meal that will only last one night when you can throw the same meal together free using leftovers. There are many recipes that lend themselves to this kind of cooking. Sometimes you have to think backwards. For example, ask yourself, "What can I make to lead up to this meal?" And of course coordinate with what you have on hand already, doing the best with what you've got, and store sales and coupons.

Hope this helps. Lasagna smells done. It will sit and set up while I make the dinner salads. Dishes are all washed from the prep-----looking forward to a relaxing night with my hubby!

Kathi~