Winner Winner Spinach Lasagna Dinner

So I have been cooking a ton lately. My new years resolution was not to lose weight but to simply take better care of myself. This means putting myself first and not only cooking for my family but actually taking the time to cook for myself. I never took the time to cook breakfast for myself or lunch. I have been trying a lot of new healthy recipes this week and I have been over the moon excited about the results. I want to eat cleaner and healthier but I want my family to eat with me and to be honest that shit needs to be delicious. Don't come at me with a 7 grain sunflower seeds buckwheat bread. Its not realistic for me because I just think that stuff is gross. If I am going to eat bread its going to be white, sourdough and preferably with a crusty crust :) Having said that I have been trying to find simple alternatives that hopefully the children and the husband wouldn't turn their nose to. Cue Americans Test Kitchen Spinach Lasagna. This book is INCREDIBLE and everything that I have made has been spot on and well received by the boys. Like most moms I dont have time for recipes that dont work! A lot of people asked for the recipe and rather than sending a facebook message and subjecting everyone to a bazillion replies I thought I'd share it here. I checked this book out from the library but will definitely be buying it and I already ordered their other healthy recipe book.

Source:Light & Healthy 2010: The Year's Best Recipes Lightened Up

Serves:8

Calories 350

Fat: 14g

Sat Fat: 7g

Cholesterol: 70mg

Sauce: 

1 onion, minced

1 tsp canola oil

salt

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups 1% milk

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 tbs cornstarch

2 (10oz) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeeze dry and finely chop

1 oz grated parmesan cheese (around a 1/2 cup)

Layers:

8 oz whole-milk cottage cheese (about 1 cup) dont freak out i thought it was weird too but it works

1 large egg

1/4 tsp salt

12 no-boil lasagna noodles  (I used Barilla)

2 oz grated parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)

vegetable oil spray (i used my misto and sprayed olive oil)

6 oz fontina Italian fontina cheese, shredded (i used whole milk mozarella it was just easier to find and i didnt want to go to another store)

Directions

For the sauce:

1. Combine the onion, oil and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan. Cover and cook on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant (30 seconds). Stir in 2 3/4 cups of milk, bay leaves and nutmeg. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. 

2. Whisk the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup milk together, then whisk into the pot. Continue to simmer, whisking constantly until thickened, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves. Stir in the spinach and Parmesan until incorporated and no clumps of spinach remain.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover to keep warm and set it aside.

For the layers:

3. Position oven rack 6" from broiler element, adjust a second oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425º.

4. Process the cottage cheese, egg, and salt in a food processor until very smooth. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

5. Pour 1" of boiling water in a 13x9 baking dish, then add noodles one at a time. Let the noodles soak about 5 minutes and use a knife to separate them so they dont stick. Remove the noodles from the water and place them in a single layer on a kitchen towel. Discard the water, dry the baking dish and coat the inside with vegetable oil spray.

Assembling 

6. Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce evenly over the bottom of the baking disk. Position 3 noodles on top of the sauce. Spread 3/4 cup more sauce evenly oer the noodles, sprinkle with the parmesan, and top with 3 more noodles. Spread 3/4 cup more sauce evenly over the noodles, sprinkle with 3/4 cup of fontina, and top with 3 more noodles. Spread 3/4 cup more sauce evenly over the noodles, followed by the cottage cheese mixture.  Finish with remaining 3/4 cup fontina.

7. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake the lasagna on the middle oven rack for 20 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and remove the foil. Heat the broiler and broil the lasagna until the cheese is browning about 4 to 6 minutes. Let it cool for 15 min before serving (its hard but really let it or it will be difficult to cut and serve. 

Routine

I crack up thinking how excited I was for Summer to start. This was the first time in two years that I hadn't just had a baby, and I had big dreams. I dreamt of bonfires at the beach, concerts in the park, the farmers market, and doing all sorts of fun activities with the boys. In public. Where there were other people. Clearly I was not in my right from of mind when I was dreaming up that summer scenario. Truth is, with the boys at completely different stages, and not having any help (i totally get why people hire nanny's now) it's really difficult to take the boys out on my own. When I do it usually ends with me sweating enough to fill an olympic size pool, and just being completely stressed out, thinking I may have lost a child. If I have learned anything this summer, it is that it's ok that we didn't have a bonfire at the beach, that we only made it to one concert in the park, and I haven't visited a single farmers market. Its OK. Its OK! This is life right now. It challenging and I learned that the boys were content going to an indoor play gym, to a friends house, doing a craft at home or simply going out into the backyard for water play. Lets not forget we went camping. Like in a tent. There was that. We actually had a great summer, Nick is always there on the weekend ready to do something with them and during the week we were lucky enough to visit friends. It was enough and they were happy. At the end of summer I was ready for the school year to begin and it took us about a week to get our routine back but its in full swing and everyone seems to be much more content. I love my routine. Even if its the same every day, but I know come June I will be dreaming of bonfires, concerts in the park and the farmers market again ;) 

Here is a little glimpse of an average day. For those of you who have instagram find me under araxi! I try to post something daily and you can see pictures without having to read all my ramblings.

   

The One Where He Made A Video

When I see my life I see it in snippets. In moments, and those moments are always very specific. I remember the people, the faces, the moments but rarely is it fluid and rarely do I see it in motion. Luckily for me I married a man who sees the motion, so now I have the best of both of those worlds. Nick compiled our home videos, and since last night when he uploaded it, the kids and I have easily watched it 1348924132 times :)

A Little Pick Me Up

The weather lately has been so unbearably hot and we have been trying to make the most out of our time indoors with fort building, coloring, and movie watching but quite frankly I was out of ideas (i think its time to revisit pinterest for some help!). Yesterday we had the treat of getting out of the house and going to hang with our dear friends. The boys had a great time swimming and I got to relax,  and have some much needed and always welcome girly conversation.

Quietest car ride ever :)