I finally made the pan of lasagna tonight for dinner.  I woke up in a panic because I don’t own a pan big enough to cook lasagna in, and I really wanted to make it for SQ because I’m going to be out of town for the next 4 days.  On a business trip.  In Cleveland.  In January.  That’s all I have to say about that.  I drove to the Le Creuset outlet store in Leesburg – with a budget in mind – to get a larger baking pan.  My choice was the less expensive stoneware for $59 or the cast-iron for $155.  Yikes….no money as it is, so I went with the stoneware rectangular baking pan.  SQ talked me into the signature ‘Flame’ color.  I think I like it.

I made Giada’s classic lasagna, and followed the recipe exactly. Except I swapped fresh spinach for the frozen chopped spinach the recipe calls for.  My first crack at lasagna – ever.  This is a very rich recipe, and I have several tweaks I would make next time.  It’s quite time-consuming if you make the homemade tomato sauce, but SO worth it.  And you end up with extra sauce that you can freeze for another day.  I also should have used non-stick foil when I covered the pan to bake in the oven.  A lot of the cheese stuck to the foil, which makes it less pretty, but it still tasted divine.  Hmm, I think it tasted divine…I was too busy shoving it in my mouth so I could make it out the door in time to meet Stacey for a movie.  We went to see ‘Leap Year’ – not a bad movie, silly romantic comedy.  But the scenery of Ireland was worth the $10.50 admission.  I also think SQ may need to pick up an Irish accent now.

Well, I’m over and out for the next 4 days.  Yep, in Cleveland.  In January.  I guess I did have more to say about that.