Very Orange, Squash Lasagna

Just to give you an idea how this works, it is 4:06 am. Saturday mornings I generally wake up around 2:30-3:00 am. Sleeping during the day Monday through Friday can only be adjusted a little while remaining happy.

Today, I woke up and started to think I had slept a lot! So rested and ready to start my day. Here I am, just loaded the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, checked email, had a banana and some juice. Now, I can update my blog, pay my bills, or finish my book... You can see the choice I've made.

A beautiful, all vegetable lasagna on Thursday was created and I'm dying to show off the photos. I don't know about you, but any winter squash just makes me-a-hongry! Roasted, mashed, stuffed, sauteed, in a soup, or any other way you can dream up - I will try it.

Over Thanksgiving, we stayed at the Kidder's and took care of the Kridders. So, thanks to Wicket and Roger, I had a squash that Jane grew in her garden. Another reason I am thankful for the Kidder's - they have a bountiful garden and they share the yummy results with us!

We hadn't been grocery shopping since before the Thanksgiving-leftovers-turkey-and-gravy-binge, so I stopped off at the store and picked up everything I could think of that I wanted to add to my squash lasagna. Layer by layer, I built this lasagna. Jane's butternut squash was the perfect foundation.

On Thanksgiving, my dad cut the squash, which, I must say was great!! If you are strong and have a sharp knife, it is easy to cut a raw squash... I guess I am not as strong as I need to be. I tried to use the mandolin, which wasn't tough enough for squash, then I moved to a big sharp knife, which still lead to some challenges. But look at this - we have slices of butternut!

When I walked into Royal River Natural Foods, the first things my eyes went to were the parsnips. They are related to a carrot, but sweeter, and more nutritious. Sounds good to me!

Baby Spinach, something green, to get me away from all of the sweet vegetables I was finding. Extra sharp, New York Cheddar cheese is always in our refrigerator, not matter what. We often buy other cheeses, though being lactose intolerant doesn't lend itself to eating lots of creamy cheeses, which I generally prefer. Cheddar has never lead me astray and is always there in my time of need! It is perfect in any lasagna, and it gives me little to no trouble.

I love that when you walk into Royal River, they always have fresh greens. No matter the day, there is spinach, salad mix, kale, arugula, and usually more. Mostly, they have the greens I need, just when I need them. This spinach was perfectly fresh, and less expensive than conventional spinach at Shaw's that morning. Another thing I should mention is that they often have bins of wine on sale in the front of the store. I buy a bottle every so often - and it is a great way to try different organic wines that would usually be outside of my price range.

Onion, carrots, pesto, sliced ham, and more cheese - the next layers. Whenever I make lasagna, I use as many layers as I possibly can, until it is bubbling out the top of the dish while it is cooking. It always settles back into the pan, and ends up being yummy every time!

The last of the butternut squash, orange peppers, and a final layer of cheese finished off this very Fall lasagna.

It doesn't look quite so orange from the side! I almost forgot that there was also some fresh basil in there. Pesto is amazing, specially Pecan, Garlic Pesto, but I love the flavor of fresh basil. So that had to go in too! Also - the basil aisle is before the pesto aisle... once you have basil in your basket, you absolutely can't put it back!

I have eaten this for 2 meals, the last 2 days! This should tell you that the end result was scrumptious. Yesterday morning when I came home, after a particularly physically demanding day at work the lasagna was calling my name. Though I usually have some whole grains at least once a day, and I had been missing that. I took a piece of the lasagna, warmed it, put it between two pieces of bread, and had a roasted vegetable sandwich! AMAZING! It was perfect because the vegetables settled into a rather thin dish in the end. I will try this again, and again. I think anytime you can take squash and have an excuse to eat it for a few days with leftovers - you have a winner!

We did it!

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, squash, turnip, salad, corn, cranberry sauce, beets, pickles, and pies galore! And yes, I do see John's fingers in the turkey platter!

Aunt Jeanne, Uncle Peter, Bill, Amy, Dad, Nathan, Jenn, Brian, Beth, Uncle John, Tina, Dee, Kristen, John, Chip, Cleopatra, LT, Vinnie....... I think that was everyone!

I like to think that LT stands for Little Turkey

The Gravy Tutorial

Here it is, plain and simple. How to make Dad's gravy. With the color photos to remind me to be patient until things look a certain way... No need to rush the gravy!

Gravy starts with a roux. It really depends on how many people love gravy, but 2 sticks of butter - a good round number to start. Dad reminded us to melt the butter and cook it for a few minutes to burn off any water that is in the stick. I think when you are using butter that isn't the finest quality, you find this problem. Easily solved with an extra minute of melting and this little steps keeps you from ending up with butter and dumplings rather than roux. So butter, and lots of flour go into the pan. Mix it together and let it bubble and cook.

You will continue with a series of bubble and cook, then scrape and mix, bubble and cook, scrape and mix, until you get to the color you desire for your gravy. The more you toast the flour, the nuttier the roux tastes. Once you have the roux to where you like it, remove half of it. You might not need it all, and you can add more to your stock as you go.

Aunt Jeanne had cooked down the turkey bones from the day before so we had a solid lump of pure goodness all ready for the gravy. (We could have used the drippings from the turkey...but we saved that since the soup hadn't yet been made!) Dad added the stock to the pan with the leftover roux, and mixed in the spices. Nathan Stepped in and rescued me, moving the pan to the (now free) larger burner and getting it up to the simmer point to help it thicken. Now, you just wait again, simmer, stir, simmer, stir, until it starts to thicken. Adding more roux as needed if you like your gravy spoon to stand in the pan.

All this time we are squeezed into a 3x3 foot space cooking together. Nathan working on the gravy, Dad carving the turkey, and I mashed the potatoes of course! Our gravy is always important to the family - but this Thanksgiving it had extra love, all four of us took part in it's perfection, Nathan, Dad and me - all while Brian documented it!! Thanks Brian!

11/25 Soup Brigade

Chop, Chop, Chop, Chop...

Celery, carrots, onions, peppers, a giant can of tomatoes, turkey stock, barley or pasta and then the secret spices. Dad cut 2/3 of the veggies, I cut 1/3. I was busy sniffling and blubbering over the onions. My fingers still smell like onion today.

We never did taste the soup, but the 2nd wave of holiday guests surely enjoyed it! Aunt Jeanne cooked 3 turkeys in all - one especially for this soup! A family tradition to eat the real meal for lunch then the leftovers for dinner in a giant pot of Dad's turkey soup - also know as Pepere's turkey soup.

Do you prefer your soup with pasta or with barley? You can have both - we are that picky so Dad makes 2 different pots! Spoiled. Yes.

Mama Dodge's Desserts

The other half of my family only cooks for a few - so this beautiful pie was more than enough! We have 2 more slices in the refrigerator!

(I know, we are very lucky!)

I have never seen such a pretty Apple Pie! It was at least 6 inches tall!

The hard work with the crispy apples paid off because it was delicious!

We arrived at the Dodge's around 2:30, just in time to eat again! Luckily they allowed us to enjoy their company without eating any more, then packed us SO many leftovers, we will not be hungry for a month - with proper planning! I had a slice of this for breakfast too! This time, it was my 10:45 pm on Thanksgiving night breakfast, before I returned to work.

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake...

Amazing for SO many reasons. It is basically pumpkin, egg whites, flour, a little sugar and spices. I would call it Pumpkin Angel Food cake. It is SO fluffy and light. You could eat this for breakfast or dessert. What a tasty recipe. Lot's of hard work went into this one too - whipping that many egg whites was a bit of a project - but the tidbit taken away from this one is - if I used my stand mixer, it would be done in a flash! I need to get this recipe!

11/25/10 Dad's Pies

It is important to remember that we have 2 shifts of Thanksgiving at Aunt Jeanne's house - so we need to have pie at least twice on this day.

Lemon Pie

Since Amy and Bill love this one so much and they asked... here it is!

Smooth lemony filling, thin crust.... mmmmm.... And it's pretty to look at.

Blueberry Pie

I think this one came about as a result of opening the freezer. The last time I opened Dad's freezer, there were at least 10 pounds of Maine blueberries sitting on the shelf just waiting for their job assignment. A happy day for these berries, a feature at the Dumas Thanksgiving table.

(Dad's oven is not healthy... this poor pie was almost boiling out of the crust when Dad rescued it!)

Pumpkin Pudding Pie

This is the lighter fluffier alternative to the usual dark, dense custard pumpkin pie that Dad is known for. I guess if you were looking for a pie that is healthier - this is the one. Pumpkin, pudding, and spices. It's easy, fast, and you can use a ready made graham cracker crust too. This one is made on a granola crust.

Dad's famous tried and true Pumpkin Pie

There were 2 of these pies at Thanksgiving. This one was actually served after we ate turkey. It's brother was eaten before we started boiling the potatoes!

Breakfast on Thanksgiving Day

Everyone probably knows that I work 3rd shift, and so I had to work from 12 am to 7 am on Thanksgiving morning. After stopping by Wicket's house for his tinkle break I went home to get Brian. Two showers later, and packing for an overnight, we got ourselves on the road.

I had an english muffin at about 3:30 am and so I was starving! All I could think about all night long while I was at work was having a slice of Dad's pumpkin pie. I told Brian not to eat breakfast because we were having pie! We arrived at Aunt Jeanne's around 10 and Dad arrived at 10:30. This photo was taken at 10:35 as I dove into a slice of the perfect pumpkin pie.

Brian, Aunt Jeanne and I, all had a piece of pumpkin pie, then got to work.

PS - by the time we left at 1:30, I had tried all of the pie with the exception of Blueberry! They were all FANTASTIC!

Heinz 57 Hotel

Marco's Room

How many bottles of Heinz

Ketchup are sold around the world each year?

650 million bottles in 140 countries...

How fast does Heinz Ketchup leave it's fancy glass bottle?

If it is any faster than .028 miles per hour - the Heinz company will not sell the product! I guess this is why they have created the squeeze bottles for those of us in a hurry.

What does "57 Varieties" stand for?

I'm happy to clear up any rumors! It is simply Mr. Heinz's lucky number. He saw another company was boasting "21 Styles of Shoes" so he decided that he would use 57, since it was lucky, to advertise his products.

There is a special purpose for the 57 on the Heinz glass bottle - you tap the bottle there to get the ketchup flowing! Oh the wonder!

Marco loves his new Heinz 57 Hotel! Thanks Dad - for his lovely new toy!