Recipe of the week: Vegetarian lasagna for two :)

I've experimented with various vegetarian lasagnas and this one is my favorite concoction.

What you need:

-A box of no-boil lasagna noodles (Barilla makes them, or I get them at Trader Joe's with the other dry pastas...though they didn't have them the last time I was there)

-Whatever pasta/marinara sauce you like

-Ricotta

-Mozzarella

-Parmesan

-A bag of frozen chopped spinach

-A few cloves of garlic

What you do:

Set the oven for 375.

Thaw the spinach. I do this by dumping the bag into a colander and running scalding hot water over the spinach for a couple minutes. I suppose you could thaw in the fridge overnight, but I don't think of these things in advance.

Once it's thawed, squeeze out the excess water and transfer your spinach into a mixing bowl.

In the bowl, add sauce to the spinach -- enough to make a soupy mess (probably a couple cups of sauce).

Chop up your garlic cloves (2-3 is good) and throw in with the spinach and sauce mixture.

Grease an 8"x8" pan. Cover the bottom of the pan lightly with a few spoonfuls of sauce. Then, put down 2 of the lasagna noodles.

Now, I meant to take more pictures of the layering process, but I totally spaced out. To be perfectly frank, I feel really weird taking pictures of food. Anyway, it's pretty easy:

-On your two noodles, put about 1/4 of the spinach mixture. If you do a little more or less, it's okay; you'll compensate with the next layers. Then, spoon out some ricotta on top. I do about 6 heaping-ish spoonfuls and just spread it around. Top with a bit of mozzarella and parmesan.

-Repeat the layering: 2 lasagna noodles, 1/4 spinach mixture, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan.

-Repeat again: 2 lasagna noodles, 1/4 spinach mixture, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan.

-Then: 2 lasagna noodles and the rest of the spinach mixture. Then top with a lot of mozzarella and parmesan.

It looks like this before you put it in the oven (or, rather, it looks like this after you put it in the oven, but then remember you haven't taken a picture, so you take it out again):

Cover loosely with foil and bake about 30 minutes.

Remove foil and bake another 20 minutes. Then the cheese gets nice and crispy.

Eat! Larry and I pretty much eat half the pan each, for reference.

***

Today's gratitude:

The list today will be based on the Happy 101 award, passed on to me by Sara at Sprinkle of Cinnamon. The instructions are to: List 10 things that make me happy, do at least one of them today, and pass it along to 10 bloggies. I figure "things that make me happy" are synonymous with "things I'm grateful for," so here are my 10:

1. My husband. I've never experienced such all-out acceptance from another human being before. It's a great comfort to me. He's my best friend, my partner in crime, and all the other cliches. I love him.

2. Kitties! I feel a little embarrassed about how much joy the cats bring me on a daily basis. I'm even more embarrassed to admit how many times throughout the day I think, "I wonder what the kitties are doing right now."

3. Yoga. I'm slowly learning to have a healthy relationship with exercise. I really do love yoga. When I'm in that zone, I feel so calm and my body feels so happy. But, I have days when I just don't feel like it, and I have to honor those or I get resentful and dictator-like with myself.

4. Reading. I will forever find happiness in good books. Getting into bed with a book, determined to read until my eyes close, is complete bliss for me. My Amazon cart, full of "save for later" books, gives me goosebumps.

5. Netflix. I love movies almost as much as books. I devour them. What would I do without Netflix? I cherish my Netflix queue almost as much as my Amazon cart. It's weird, I know. I also keep a list of movies I've seen and my ratings. It's like a 30 page Word document right now.

6. Sunshine. I love California's bright, clear days. I like rain too, but sun is wonderful.

7. Therapy. It grounds me, makes me feel okay with who I am and, consequently, okay in the world. I always have this background hope that I won't need it at some point, but right now, I'm just happy I have someone who "gets" me (and has weekend appointment times).

8. Writing. I've always loved words and creating fictional stories. Something changed for me after grad school, when I started pursuing publication. I lost the joy of it because it became a "have to." I love the moments when I can forget about the pressure and get lost with characters. It doesn't happen as much as it did when I was younger, but it still happens.

9. My friends. I'm not someone with a slew of friends. I have a handful of friends I'd call "good friends." Some live out of state. I may not see them for months. We rely on e-mail much of the time. But, the closeness I have with them is something not to be taken for granted. I realize as I'm older that it's hard for me to feel at ease with new people and make new friends. I think about the five or six people I have who love me as I am. I feel little to no anxiety around them. And that's something.

10. My family. My parents and sister have always been a huge part of my life. Just getting a nostalgic CD of 90s music from my sister reminds me of how much I've shared over the years with my family. Through all the changes, ups and downs, they've been there.

Many of you have probably already been tagged, but here are my 10 shout-outs:

Sarah at Bearing, Eating, Being

Cammy at Building Beauty Beyond Body

Katie at Under the Stars

Tiptoe at Between Living and Existing

Abby at I Have Issues

Kim at ilaxSTUDIO

Jessie at Synecdoche

Lynn at The Actor's Diet

Melissa at I Hate to Weight

Sophia at Burp and Slurp

Thanks, ladies!