Snow is always at the top of my Christmas list but Santa has not been listening to me lately . . . .
Do you have Christmas family traditions? This morning I got up early to put together the star of our traditional Christmas Eve dinner - Christmas Lasagna. This tradition began years ago when I decided to include on the holiday menu a few international dishes like Swedish Meatballs, Pierogis, Sweet and Sour Cabbage, Baklava (bakery bought). Eggrolls as an appetizer. It was a lot of fun to do this and the one tradition that really stuck was the lasagna. It now makes an appearance every Christmas. When my daughter was a vegetarian I began making it with spinach instead of meat and now that has become our main Christmas dish. The family probably wouldn't miss ham or turkey but they'd cry if I didn't make lasagna every year.
Easy recipe - Sauce, cooked lasagna noodles, a bag of frozen spinach sauteed with garlic, shredded mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese mixed with a beaten egg and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Place a bit of sauce in bottom of lasagna pan. Then, layer one at a time - noodles, spinach, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, sauce. Layer each ingredient twice, except for noodles - end with a layer of noodles on top. Then top with mozzarella cheese and more sauce. Yes, I find that Prego is just as good as the sauce my mom used to make from scratch and I copied for years. I often spice it up if I feel like it. My sister the cook likes to use Italian sausage in hers. With everything else I have to do or worry about around Christmastime, the last thing I need to do is make my own sauce or feel bad about myself if I don't. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Enjoy!
Merry Christmas! And all good wishes for the New Year!
-Kathy
