Messing with a good thing

I got the cutest apron in my Christmas stocking from Luc's parents - it looks like a saucy little cocktail dress. Luc got one too, but his is much more manly. And since receiving these aprons, we've had several culinary adventures, including homemade guacamole and my very first lasagna.

Tonight was the lasagna. We were at Superstore when I decided that I would make one, and since I've never made one before, I nipped over to the book section and grabbed a cookbook that could tell me everything I would need to make a lasagna. But of course, I missed something - BASIL! Who doesn't have basil at home? Apparently we don't, but my neighbour Callie (who is also a wizard in the kitchen and one of my lovely bridesmaids) always has a stocked kitchen. And as I ran across the street to borrow basil from Callie, decked out in my new apron, I didn't even feel silly. From behind, I was dressed normally, and from the front, it pretty much looked like I was wearing a dress....with jeans underneath...so maybe a tiny bit silly?

I found a recipe online for a meat lasagna, and it had a ton of great ratings. So, naturally, I made some substitutions, added some stuff, and then kinda winged it. I'm writing this as it bakes in the oven, so I don't even know yet if it turned out well. Fingers crossed!

The original recipe only called for a meat sauce, but that seemed kind of boring.

One of the additions I made was vegetables: mushrooms, red peppers, celery, and carrots.

I also added chopped spinach to the cheese mixture and used 1/2 ricotta and 1/2 cottage cheese rather than only cottage cheese. So nothing revolutionary - just tidbits from other recipes. I'm not going to add this to my list of "healthy go-to recipes"...because I'm pretty sure this contains somewhere between 8-10 pounds of cheese.

ET VOILA!