[Taken 30 August 2010 | iPhone 3G | processed with TiltShiftGen and Photoshop CS2]
I decided to be all domestic on Monday and bake some pasta for dinner. It’s not as decadent as you might think, either: whole wheat rotini, low-fat Ricotta, fat-free milk, and only five Weight Watchers Points® per one-cup serving.
As I was sitting at my desk at work this afternoon, distracting myself by trying to come up with something to make for dinner, I realized that I probably had the ingredients at home for spinach lasagna. Lasagna noodles, frozen spinach, ricotta cheese, spaghetti sauce… So, I scoured the internet for a recipe that fit the bill, to no avail. I found a couple that sounded delicious, but with a few too many calories from a Béchamel sauce (white sauce), or with ingredients I didn’t have handy.
Finally, I figured: Fuck it. I’ll make my own.
I assembled the ingredients and wrote them down as I added them:
1 pkg frozen spinach
1 cup lowfat ricotta cheese
½ cup lowfat cottage cheese
1 egg
2 cups parmesan cheese, shredded
2 cups nonfat mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 can mushrooms
2 cups spaghetti sauce (e.g. Prego Chunky Garden Style)
6 lasagna noodles, cookedCombine ricotta, cottage cheese, and egg in a bowl. Stir until smooth. Add thawed and dried spinach to the cheese mixture and stir to combine. Set aside.
In the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish, spread ½ cup spaghetti sauce, then layer noodles, spinach mixture, mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, and mushrooms. Repeat. As the top layer, use the remaining noodles, then cover with the remaining sauce, then sprinkle on mozzarella and parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes; remove foil and bake uncovered for an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and the sides of the lasagna are bubbly. Allow to set before serving.
Keep in mind that I intentionally didn’t make a full 9×13 pan worth of lasagna because, hey, it’s just the two of us, and we’re on a diet. If there’s a whole pan of possibly delicious lasagna in the fridge, it’s going DOWN. So, best to keep the leftovers to a minimum.
I was pretty much winging it — really, how hard is it to make lasagna? — and was hoping the end result would be tasty. I’d calculated the calories and Weight Watchers Points while the lasagna was baking, and discovered that it really wasn’t so bad: 340 calories (7 Points) for a small piece.
When I opened the oven door to remove the foil, I knew I’d done it right. The smell of lasagna was… wow. I haven’t had lasagna in quite a while. I literally paced the kitchen floor, just waiting for it to be done so I could a.) take pictures of my lasagna for posterity, then b.) eat it.
Yeah, that first piece always comes out all messed up, but it still tastes delicious. This time was no exception.
When I make this again, I might go a little easier on the parmesan, since that’s where a good part of the calories and fat came from (we didn’t have any low fat or fat-free parmesan, and I’m not sure if it even exists). Other than that, I thought it turned out fantastic — much better than most of my winging-it recipe-free kitchen experiments.
Oh, and despite trying to distract myself with some fruit after my lasagna, I still went back for a second piece. It was just that good.
Doesn’t it figure? We go all the way to Japan — twice — and only see the occasional notable bit of Engrish. Go to the Asian market just down the street, and in one trip, we come up with Engrish comedy gold.
Well, truth be told, the “soya bean crud” wasn’t truly Engrish.
(It also wasn’t stuck to the roof of the cooler; it was upside-down in the cooler, so I flipped the image so it could be more easily read, rather than opening the cooler and turning the bean curd right-side up at the time.)
Although my reading skills have gotten rusty in the months since our last Japan trip, I still find myself able to decode a few things, like biru, or beer:
Finally, we saw these tasty plum candies:
We didn’t buy any of these items; our mission was squid jerky, and we accomplished said mission, along with some azuki beans (aka red beans). The cashier seemed perplexed when she asked, “Ah, making sauce?” and I answered that I didn’t know what I’d be making with them. I’m still not entirely sure what my plans for them are, but I’ll come up with something oishii enough.
I mentioned earlier on Twitter:
It’s rare that one of my concoctions is blog-worthy, but I may have to share my new Orange-Ginger Shrimp For One recipe later tonight.
So, here we are. It’s nothing spectacular — I’m no gourmet — but it’s quick and easy and pretty tasty. Oh, and fairly low-cal, too.
Ingredients:
4 oz. frozen cocktail shrimp, thawed
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. ground ginger (approximate)
½ tsp candied ginger, diced fine
½ cup Tropicana Trop50 orange juice drink
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. canola oil
Directions:
Heat canola oil in small pan over medium-high heat. In a small bowl, toss shrimp with cornstarch and ground ginger. Add coated shrimp to pan; cook, moving constantly, until shrimp is heated through and slightly browned.
In a small measuring cup, combine the orange juice and honey. Add the OJ mixture to the pan — the liquid should quickly come to a boil. Add the diced ginger and simmer until the sauce thickens.
Serve over brown rice.
Weight Watchers Points®: 5 (not including rice)
I realized that I was getting some weird looks this afternoon in Grand Rapids, Ohio, at the Apple Butter Festival. Of course, I *was* wearing my Pump Up The Jam t-shirt from Hot Topic, prominently displaying a piece of toast with jam on each boob.
After discussing this unexpected attention with Aaron, he pointed out to me that I was “That Guy.” You know. Don’t be the guy who wears a condiment t-shirt to the condiment festival. Don’t be that guy.
Not only that, but we purchased condiments at the condiment festival: three pints of apple butter (handmade in Grand Rapids, before an audience of onlookers), a jar of habañero pickles, and one small squeeze-bottle of peanut butter spread (made in Holmes County, Ohio, and which we had previously enjoyed on our 2005 vacation to Amish Country).
Three cheers for a diet which allows apple butter! We’ve never purchased apple butter in Grand Rapids before, since sugary goodness was taboo. Now, though, three or four tablespoons of apple butter is only one WW Point. Spread that on a toasty whole-grain English muffin, and you’ve got one tasty breakfast. Nom nom nom.