Summer Time Saver

While I love the summer, it's probably the least productive season for me, writing-wise. With my kids home full time, it's just impossible to get in the writing I can accomplish when they are at school all day. So I want to use every spare second I have to get some wordage in. Which means I'm always on the lookout for fast and easy recipes that I can throw together quickly so I can dive right back into my current WIP :)

One of the favorites in my house is what my mom calls Lasagna-In-A-Pot. It came about one night when she had planned to make lasagna for dinner only to realize she didn't have any lasagna noodles. She did, however, have rotini noodles (those cool corkscrew ones). So she tossed all the ingredients in the pot with the rotini noodles and ta-dah! Lasagna-In-A-Pot. It became our preferred way to eat this tasty dinner. And you can make it in half the time because it doesn't need to bake. Win!

Here's what you need (please note this recipe is never anything my mom wrote down. It's sort of an "eye-ball it" recipe so the amounts listed below are approximately what I use. Feel free to change according to your preference):

Ingredients:

1 pound ground hamburger

1 jar spaghetti sauce

2 cups cottage cheese

shredded mozerella cheese (probably about 2 cups, though honestly I just toss it in 'til it looks good) :)

1 package rotini noodles

Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic salt, italian seasonings - to taste

Directions:

Cook noodles according to directions on package; drain 

In a skillet: Brown hamburger (add seasonings to taste)

Drain and put in a pot that will be large enough to hold the entire dish

Stir in cottage cheese (this needs to be added to the meat before the sauce or it won't incorporate right)

Stir in noodles and sauce

Stir in mozerella cheese until nice and melted

Enjoy!

Suffering and Lasagna

Lately, I’ve been working on amping up tension in scenes that are perfectly pleasant but not all that exciting. In the process, I’ve come to a conclusion: liking your characters too much can be dangerous. When you become enraptured with your characters, you never want anything bad to happen to them. You never experiment with their motivations, let them make big mistakes, or throw suffering at them as often as necessary—which, of course, is nearly constantly. 

I realized I was playing it safe, and I promised not to take it easy anymore. As a result, even in happy, restful scenes, I now find myself looking for the splinter or the stubbed toe, the tiny suffering that will linger and develop into a true obstacle—a deadly infection or debilitating limp—in the next chapter. Always ask if a character is suffering enough. If not, the reader might not have enough to root for and enough reason to worry.

Is your character lonely? Perhaps, she needs to be lonely and afraid. But is a general fear enough? No way! Add in a specific fear, a terrifying sight or sound. But is even that enough? Perhaps not. While this could end up in a ridiculous place, piling on a bit more suffering is almost always a good choice. You can’t like your characters so much that you sacrifice tension in the process.

Likewise, being in love with your own recipes can limit their development. When you enjoy the product too much, you might become afraid of experimenting, of switching out one ingredient or one technique for another. For many people, lasagna is one of those unchanging recipes, because, let’s face it, lasagna is almost always good.

After poking around a few places, though, and tweaking some ingredients, I stumbled into a lasagna recipe that tops all those I’d made before. I just hope that when the time comes I won’t be too afraid to change it up one more time, even if I have to suffer some along the way. 

Sweet and Savory Lasagna

Meat Sauce
1 lb. ground beef or sausage
1 1/2 c. finely chopped onion
2 tsp. garlic salt
cloves garlic, minced
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 c. red wine
1 T. Italian seasoning
1 T. chili powder
1 T. brown sugar

1 package lasagna noodles

Ricotta Mixture
2 eggs
1 c. grated parmesan cheese
15 oz. ricotta cheese
5–10 oz. chopped spinach
2 1/2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 c. milk
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. basil
1 T. parsley

1 lb. shredded provel cheese (or mozzarella if you must)

Cook beef, onion, and 1 tsp. garlic salt in skillet until mostly browned. Drain. Add the second teaspoon of garlic salt, garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste, diced tomato, and wine, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add Italian seasoning, chili powder, and brown sugar, and cook uncovered for another 5 minutes, stirring often. Set aside.

Cook lasagna noodles as directed on package, drain, rinse, and set aside.

In large bowl, beat two eggs. Stir in parmesan, ricotta, spinach. Refrigerate.

Melt butter, then add flour. Cook 2 minutes on medium heat, stirring constantly. Whisk in the milk and cook on medium high for about 3 minutes until thick. Stir in pepper, nutmeg, basil, and parsley. Pour into refrigerated cheese mixture and mix well.

Spray large baking dish (13x9x2) or lightly brush with olive oil. Layer 1/3 of noodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1/3 meat, and 1/3 provel. Repeat layering twice more. Bake at 375˚ for 30–35 minutes or until golden brown and heated through.