Yesterday I made lasagna for supper. From scratch. I guess it wasn't technically lasagna. I followed a lasagna recipe (World's Best Lasagna) but actually made cannelloni. I'd be craving lasagna for a while, and although we had it recently at our friend's house, I needed more. It wouldn't totally be accurate to say that it was a pregnancy craving, but it certainly was something I'd been wanting to eat for quite some time. And I wasn't about to spend the money on ricotta cheese -- I don't even know how much it costs here (when you can manage to find some), but it is a LOT. But, thanks again to my friend Becky (the queen of cooking from scratch!), I learned that you can make ricotta from scratch. Seriously. Yesterday I made cheese. From powdered milk. And it tasted delicious! I promise to share the ricotta recipe and a photo-tutorial soon. It is so easy, but I think photos would be helpful. I'm adding it to my list of foods that I will never buy again. It is that easy! And that much cheaper than buying the premade stuff. Especially if you use powdered milk, because it does take a lot of milk.
I also made my tomato sauce from scratch. Like, I mean from whole, fresh tomatoes. You can buy the jarred stuff here, but for way, way more than making your own. It is really quite a simple process though. I don't peel my tomatoes at all. I just dice up a lot of tomatoes (this week I did 5 kilos!), if there is a lot of tomato liquid I pour some off, and cook them on the stove, covered, until they are very mushy. Then I pull out my hand blender and puree them until you'd never know they still had skins. Voila. Tomato sauce. The easy way. If it seems too runny, and depending what you're using it for, you can add some tomato paste to thicken it some. I just freeze it in containers that are about the size of a can of tomato sauce back in Canada.
But even if you don't make your own ricotta or tomato sauce, I'm sure that the lasagna recipe would still be amazing. Stew and I agreed that it really is the World's Best Lasagna.
P.S. It is stinkin' cold here this morning. 16 degrees! Which is numbingly cold, when you are acclimatized to HOT. I am sitting in my house wearing socks, pants, a tank top, long sleeves, and a hoodie. Brrr. Still cold.
Charisa I am really looking forward to your recipe for ricotta cheese - I don't buy it because it is so expensive but . . .thanks to you I will be able to use it in recipes soon! You are amazing with all the homemade things you learn to make - that is what I did when I was home with our little ones! (I still make lots of homemade things, just tend to do ones that are quicker and not as many things since both the kids cook as well)Good for you! It is one of the ways that it can be affordable to stay home with your children while they are young. I'll have to try that lasagne as well - haven't made that for a long time. Have a great weekend! Hope you warm up soon! Love, Auntie Coke
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