Blogger Dinner: Audobon Circle

Last Thursday I was invited to Audobon Circle for a Blogger Dinner.  Jayne invited me and she is the Event and Communications Manager for Tiger and Bears- the resturant group that owns several Boston Resturants and Bars including Miracle of Science, Middlesex Lounge, Audobon Circle, Tory Row and Cambridge 1. I was thrilled to be included and was excited to meet Tina from Carrots N Cake and Elina from Healthy and San, two local blogs I read all the time.

Audobon Circle is on Beacon Street right across the street from AnTuaNua.  In my early twenties, I went to this bar ALL the time! It's really close to Fenway Park but its a little off the beaten path.  However, if you take the D Line to the Fenway stop and go up the stairs, it's only a five minute walk.  Otherwise it's probably a ten minute walk from Kenmore T.  But on non-game nights, there are tons of parking so it's definitely worth the trip!

The dinner was at 6:30 and I arrived exactly at 6:30.  I was the last to arrive- I'm new to these things! So I totally missed the opporutnity to take pictures around the restuarant before we sat down.  Luckily, Tina said I could 'borrow' some of her photos. Thanks Tina!

The inside had a really funky vibe- it definitely looked like a great after work place for dinner or drinks.  The resturant also had a nice outdoor space!

If it wasn't so cold, I would have definitely wanted to sit out here.  I love nice outdoor space in the middle of the city!

When I sat down, I introduced myself to the table and everyone passed out business cards.  Sadly, I'm still new to this and didn't have one to share with the group.  But I did get to meet Jayne, Tina,  Jacqueline, Pam, Athena, and Elina. 

I immediately ordered the Vanilla Eight Ball Martini- which had Stoli vanilla, pineapple, and lemon juice.  My kind of drink!

Pretty soon after the drinks arrived, the food started pouring out.  Jayne ordered a ton of appetizers!

First up:  Artisanal cheese selection, with seasonal jam.

Being pretty obsessed with cheese, this was a nice starter.  I really enjoyed the jam!

Next up: White Bean Puree with Grilled Bread.  

I just made my own white bean dip for the party I had last week and I loved this.  Very garlicky!

Next up:  Beef shin Quesadilla

This was my favorite appetizer! I think I'm really into beef lately and I need to calm it down a little bit. This had so many delicious flavorings- sweet yet smokey, just very very rich!

Next up: Grilled Scallops with Creamed Corn

I think I've mentioned multiple times how much I love summer corn- I was obsessed with this creamed corn and kept going back for me.  The scallops were pretty tasty as well.

Next up: New England Crab Cakes, Chipotle Aioli

I also LOVED this dish.  Served on a bed of arugula, my favorite green! I loved how crispy these cakes were- I wonder if they were fried? 

Next up: Asian potsticker box

I definitely really liked these potstickers, but I have to be honest, I ate it pretty quickly and don't remember much of the flavors.

Next up: Mussels, garlic, spicy tomato, grilled bread

 I love mussels, but usually my favorite part of ordering mussels is the broth!  This was tomato based and not broth based, but still delicious.

Okay so those were JUST the apps.  I think Jayne over did it. Not that I mind- I love food! Next up Jayne ordered salads and main courses.

First: Pork schnitzel, arugula, pickled onion

Did someone say Arugula? Pickled Onion? Umm yum.  I seriously love arugula.  And underneath all that salad was Pork Schnitzel- which I loved.  Breaded thinly cut pork fried (probably).  I definitely want to try to recreate something similar.

Next up: Watermelon, feta, micro greens, sherry vinaigrette

This is a popular dish lately, but I'm still not sold on the flavor combination.  Maybe because I don't like fruit???

Next: Pressed turkey, bacon, swiss, asian slaw

This dish was a little hard to share but since it was convienintely placed right in front of me, I ate lots of it. I'm also on a bacon kick lately- I can't get enough of it.  The dip was also really nice and I loved the slaw.

Next: Local heirloom tomato napoleon, fresh mozzarella, basil

Another fresh delicious salad! Can't beat local ingredients!

And to finish this amazing, fufilling dinner we got: Chevre cheese cake, oreo crumb with a Raspberry Sauce.  

Wow, I'm not a huge dessert person but I loved this dish!!! I want to recreate it immediately!

And here is our table or what's left of it by the end of the night! Athena, Elina, Jayne, me and Tina.

Overall it was such a fun night and I really enjoyed getting to know several local bloggers.  Tina/Elina let me know whenver you want to go for a run!

Boston Restaurant Review: Anthem Kitchen + Bar

Yesterday during lunch, I headed over to Anthem Kitchen + Bar with a couple co-workers.  I was really excited about this place!  Before heading over, Gretchen and I checked out the menu online and decided to split two items. I love sharing food!

The menu was extensive and had tons of options.  I'll be honest, I barely looked any further after I found the couple dishes I wanted!  I tend to do that- focus on meals that have one of the following ingredients: arugula, lobster, prosciutto, bacon, avocado and CHEESE!

Gretchen and I switched things up a bit at the restaurant and decided on a flatbread that had:

And an amazing salad!

Lobster Cobb!!! Obviously for me, with no blue cheese.

When the dishes came out, they had separated the salad for us!  It was so nice of Anthem to do that.  Some restaurants don't encourage sharing but Anthem welcomed it.  And look at this presentation!

A deconstructed cobb salad with many of my favorite fixings! Can't beat that : )

One more picture of this deliciousness...

And our flatbread... only one of the most delicious flatbreads I've ever tasted! It definitely rivals the Flatbread I had at Woowdard.

Figs, Prosciutto, Tomato and Arugula with what I thought was a fontina cheese.  It was sooo good.  So good in fact that I pretty much dominated the pizza.  What can I say, I like food! And I can't let good food go to waste!

After I rolled out of the restaurant, I went to pick up my CSA, but I'll show you those delights once I do something with them!

One more thing- I'm not a fan of the sun setting earlier and rising later.  Whats the deal?!?!

Last night, I did get a beautiful shot of the sunset on our way home.  (Don't worry I wasn't driving).

 

Not a fan of the traffic it created though : (

This morning I left as the sun was rising (6am) and saw a beautiful sunrise, but no photos (I was driving). 

Happy Thursday- another restaurant review to come in the next day or two- going to Audobon Circle with some local bloggers.  Can't wait!  And if you are going, I'll see you there : )

CSA Week 10 & Chicken Dinners

Wow, CSA Week 10 already?!?! Actually its Week 11 (I'm about to pick up my CSA), but yet again I'm a week behind.  Mainly because I know you guys want to see what I actually do with my CSA goodies, right? In the mix:

Green Beans

Asian Pears

McIntosh Apples

Onions

Tomatoes

Corn

Romaine Lettuce

and...

BUTTERNUT SQUASH!

And with these fun ingredients, one of the first things I made was Pizza!

I made a Kale/Butternut Squash/Bacon Bechemel Pizza.  
Ingredients:
Store Bought Pizza Dough
2 Pieces of Bacon, Cooked and Crumbled
Kale Chips
Butternut Squash, Cut in 1 inch pieces, roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper
Bechemel Sauce (Made with a roux of butter and flour, cream)
Mozzarella Cheese
Instructions:
Roll out pizza dough on cookie sheet.  Spread Bechemel Sauce over dough.  Cover with Baked Kale Chips, Squash, Crumbled Bacon and Mozzarella Cheese.  Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

In addition, my CSA goodies made an appearance this past weekend in my Panzanella Salad and Grilled Corn.   

Last night I had some fun with Chicken.  I made a lot of food yesterday so I don't have to cook tonight!  First up, Buffalo Chicken Bites.  I had a ton of Buffalo Wing Sauce from my Buffalo Chicken Burgers so I wanted to do something with it and who doesn't love buffalo wings?  So why not use Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts to make bite size pieces of mouthwatering chicken.

Buffalo Chicken Bites
Ingredients
3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into bit size pieces
1/2 Package of Seasoned Shake N Bake Mixture
1/2 Cup of Panko Breadcrumbs
1 Cup of your Favorite Buffalo Wing Sauce
3 Tablespoons of Honey
Instructions:
Preheat Oven to 350. Pour Seasoning Mixture and Panko Breadcrumbs into bowl.  Mix Chicken bites with Mixture until coated.  Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and add Chicken. Bake for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, add sauce and honey to another bowl and microwave for three minutes.  Take chicken out and add to sauce mixture and mix well, then serve!

Serve with Ranch Dressing or Blue Cheese.  (Yes I know I say I don't like white condiments, but I do like them when eating spicy food like buffalo fingers!)

The other Chicken dinner I made was Tex Mex Buttermilk Chicken over Creamy Buttermilk Polenta.  I bought buttermilk for some recipe for my BBQ and I was looking to finish it up so I found two recipes that looked interesting.  I did slightly fry this chicken tender to get this nice crunch.

Tex Mex Buttermilk Chicken over Creamy Buttermilk Polenta
inspired by Rachael Ray
Ingredients
1 Cup of Flour
1 Cup of Buttermilk
Assorted Spices- I used Chili Powder, Paprika, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Poultry Seasoning, Salt and Pepper
4 Chicken Tenders
Vegetable Oil, 1/2 Cup for Frying
2 Cup of Chicken Broth
1 Cup of Buttermilk
1 Cup of Cornmeal/Polenta
1/4 Cup of Cheese of Choice-Shredded (I use Monterey Jack)
Instructions:
In a large pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. In a bowl, combine the chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, poultry seasoning. In a shallow bowl or plate, combine the buttermilk and half of the spice mixture. In another shallow bowl or plate, combine the flour and the remaining spice mixture. Season the chicken tenders with salt and pepper. Using tongs (or your handy hands!), dip the chicken tenders in the buttermilk, then coat with the flour; repeat for a second coating. Working in batches, add the chicken fingers to the skillet and cook until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain on a rack.  While frying heat broth and milk over medium high heat.  Once boiling, add in 1 cup of cornmeal and lower heat.  Stir often for 20 minutes until all combined.  Take off from heat and add in cheese until combined.

Two great uses to get rid of extra buttermilk you may have lying around the house.


Running Update:  Went to Physical Therapy this morning and got checked out. My physical therapist told me to ice 3-5X a day and no running until Sunday.  But he thinks I will be fine.  Another common wear and tear injury of long distance runners, he says.  I got stim and an ultrasound done today and I'm hoping it will all be gone by Sunday since my first 20 Miler is coming up!  I doubt the pain will be completely gone because you're going to have some pain if you run 20 miles. See here.  And if you don't, you're either really lucky or ... really lucky.
Happy Wednesday!

NYC Marathon Training Week 10

This week started off well and then on Thursday I felt a different kind of pain.  One that is kinda scary. After deciding to defer my number last year for NY and realizing if I had the right Physical Therapist I probably could have run, I'm not freaking out quite yet.  The week started off with 4.5 miles with my friend Meg. Tuesday I overslept so I pushed off speed until Wednesday.  Wednesday I did 3X1 miles at 10K pace with 400 rest.  My hamstring hurt during this run so I went over to Physical Therapy after I got off the treadmill. Jake took a look at my leg and told me it was a common sprain in long-distance runners and wasn't a big deal.  I left feeling relieved.  Thursday morning I jumped on the treadmill and within the first step, my left heel/ankle/achilles was hurting.  I got off the treadmill at 1.5 miles, rolled it using the foam roller then tried to jump back on the treadmill.  It was still in pain so I decided to stop and do the eliptical. I just hoped for the best.  Took Friday off from running and then ran from my house to Nancy's Saturday morning.  My house to Nancy's is 4.5 miles. (Nancy did 20 on the treadmill on Friday so she only wanted to do 6-8 on Saturday). I felt a little pain in the same area on the run to Nancys but I hoped I would shake it off.  Usually it takes me 4+ miles to get into a run.  Once I met up with Nancy, we were running along, and I was trying to pretend the pain wasn't there.  When we hit 9 miles, I had to stop and we had to walk the remaining mile back to Nancy's. It was so painful. 

I've now been icing for three days and I'm still limping a bit.  There is also a small bump where my heel meets my ankle.  I cannot wait to go to Physical Therapy tomorrow and figure out what I did!  I'm pretty sure I just need to take it easy for a few days. I hope its nothing serious! But the bump thing definitely scares me!

Week of 8/30-9/4

Date: Monday August 30 
Route/Workout:  Charles River Run with Meg 
Mileage: 4.5 miles 
Total Time: 41:38

Avg Pace: 9:15

Date: Wednesday Sept 1
Route/Workout: Speed Treadmill
Mileage: 6 miles
Total Time: 60 min

1 mile 10 min
1 mile 7:55
400 Rest
1 mile 7:50
400 Rest
1 mile 7:46
1.5 mile cooldown
6 miles TOTAL 60 min.

Date: 9.02.10 (best date ever!!!)
Route/Workout:  Treadmill
Mileage: 1.5 miles- pAIN
Total Time: 

Date: Saturday Sept 4
Route/Workout: Outside
Mileage: 10 miles
Total Time: 8.76 running- 1:19:56/ 9:08 pace, then 1 + mile walk
Mile 1: 8:35
Mile 2: 9:04
Mile 3: 9:09
Mile 4: 9:03
Mile 5: 9:03
Mile 6: 9:00
Mile 7: 9:03
Mile 8: 9:13
As you can tell, we were making great time until my leg started killing : (  The pain is right where my shoe hits my heel.

TOTAL MILEAGE: 22 Miles

Labor Day - Denim Party BBQ

Yesterday, we had a Labor Day Party.  More specifically, we had a Denim/Jorts Party. The invite:

I'm not sure how my husband came up with the idea but we were all pretty excited about it.  Remember skorts? Jorts? Some people showed up totally decked out and some people didn't but it was another great excuse to get our friends together and for me to cook up some delicious food!

Good times... now on to food!  For starters I made mini baked bries and upside down mushroom tartlets. I wish I could take credit with the idea for mini-baked bries, but Cara came up with the genuis idea!

Mini-Baked Bries
Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
1/2 Wheel of Brie
Jam of choice (I used Apricot Jam)
Instructions:
Cut 8-10 2X2 squares of puff pastry.  Cut 8-10 squares of brie.  Place a teaspoon of jam in the center of the square of puff pastry, add brie and enclose.  Repeat 8-10 times and place in a muffin tin.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Upside Down Mushroom Tart, inspired by Everyday Food
Ingredients:
Sliced Mushrooms of Choice (Bella is probably best)
Shredded Cheese of Choice (I used Montery Jack)
Puff Pastry
Salt, Pepper, Thyme
Instructions
Saute mushrooms in olive oil for 10 minutes.  Using a circle cookie cutter (or bottom of a glass) cut 8 circles.  Take saute mushrooms and put a tablespoon in the bottom of a cucpcake pan.  Add salt, pepper and tyme.  Add a little cheese on top and then add the puff pastry circle.  Bake at 375 for 15-25 minutes.

 Next up, I made mini Mac N Cheeses (I was going with a BBQ theme).

I had a cupcake pan theme going on it seems...
Mini Mac N Cheese
Ingredients
Cork screw Pasta (or your favorite pasta for mac and cheese), cooked according to package directions
2 tablespoond of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup of skim milk
3/4 cup of cream
1 cup of cheese of choice (I used cheddar and monterey jack)
Salt and Pepper
Breadcrumbs
Instructions:
Make creamy cheese bechemel sauce by combining butter and flour, and slowly whisking milk and cream.  Once bubbly and thick add in cheese by the quarter cup doing figure eights until you have a thick creamy sauce.  Add in salt and pepper.  Combine with cooked pasta. Take a 1/4 cup of mixture and add to cupcake pan.  Sprinkle breadcrumbs and cheese on top and cook at 350 for 25 minutes.

Cornbread Panzanella
Ingredients:
Cornbread recipe from here
Inspiration from here

Dressing:

2 Tbs red wine vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp honey

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper

Salad:

1/2 loaf cheesy cornbread

1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

3 cups of arugula

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 cucumber, sliced thinly

Instructions:

For Dressing: whisk together, vinegar, mustard and honey.  Slowly pour in olive oil while whisking to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Can be made a ahead of time and stored in fridge. For Salad: After baking and cooling bread, cut into little croutons.  Mix arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion with croutons. Mix in dressing.

 Grilled Corn (thanks Pete)

All you do is remove silk from corn, keep husks.  Rub vegetable oil on corn.  Season with salt and pepper.  Grill for 15-20 minutes.

And the main course!  BURGERS!  Cheeseburgers! I wish I could remember everything I put in these, but the main ingredient is love : )  Making your own burgers is soooo much better.

The burgers had ground sirloin, ground pork, worcestorshire sauce, bbq sauce, eggs, breadcrumbs, tons of seasoning- salt, pepper, cayenne, chili powder, grill seasoning, cumin.. maybe thats it? And cheese stuffed in the middle and on top. Yum!

I also made burgers inspired by How Sweet It is: Buffalo Chicken Burgers.  These went so fast, I should have made more!

Buffalo Chicken Burgers

 Ingredients:

2 lb ground chicken

salt, pepper

tablespoon of italian seasoning

1/2 cup of buffalo wing sauce

1 egg

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

10 slices of colby jack cheese

10-12 buns

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix together ground chicken, seasonings, sauce, eggs and breadcrumbs.  Form 10-12 patties.  The patties will be wet and will stick a bit to your hands- trust me, its okay! About half of these burgers I put a half slice of cheese folded in the middle.  Mmmm. Grill burgers until cooked through. (If I remembered, I would have served these with Ranch Dressing and extra cheese... but these burgers went so fast I didn't get a chance)

I also made pulled pork.  Pulled pork is A-MAZINGLY delicious! Wow! And so easy.  All you need is a slow cooker and BBQ Sauce.

Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

3lbs of Pork Butt

1 Bottle of BBQ Sauce (you can make your own if you have time)

Salt, Pepper, Mustard Powder

Instructions:

Heat Slow Cooker on Low Setting.  Place 1 Cup of Sauce and 1/4 Cup of Water in Slow Cooker.  Add in Pork.  Cook on Low for 8-10 Hours.  At the point, I shredded the meat and put it in an airtight container and refridgerated overnight. The day of the party, I heated the slow cooker back up, added the shredded pork and another cup of sauce. Delicious and so simple!

For dessert, I made another Fruit Pizza!  My mom used to make this all the time growing up and I loved it! I saw this recipe also on Jessica's How Sweet It is Blog and knew I had to make it.  One thing I can say is pay attention to the dough- I overcooked half of the sugar cookie crust so I only used half the cookie dough.  Ooops!

Fruit Pizza

Ingredients

1 Pillsbury sugar cookie dough

4 oz of light cream cheese, softened

1 tub of light Cool Whip

1 teaspoon of vanilla

10 strawberries, sliced in half

1/2 cup of blueberres

2 kiwis

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough on cookie sheet and cook according to package directions.  Do not over cook (like I did). Once cookie dough has cooled, beat cream cheese and cool whip and vanilla extract with hand mixer. Spread over cookie dough.  Design fruit on top.  Refrigerate for a couple hours.  Then make glaze.

Glaze

Ingredients

1/3 cup of orange juice

1/3 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Whisk together until mixture is thick.  Drizzle on top of pizza and refrigerate.

Yum, brings me back to my childhood!

And after all the food was gone, time for flipcup!

And beeruit...

Funness!

 

PS- I've done nothing today and it feels sooo good!  I needed a relaxing day : )

PPS- I ran yesterday morning and from the moment I left my house, my left ankle/achilles hurt.  By the time I hit 8 miles, I could barely run and ended up walking the last mile.  I've been icing a lot and I hope its nothing too serious.  I think its just smart to take some time off.

Weekly Menus & Lasagna- Two Ways

Well, I've completely filled up my notebook with recipe ideas and Grocery Lists so I thought I would show you how I plan my Weekly Menus.

I bring this notebook around with me everywhere.  On the train, to work, around the house, upstairs, downstairs... in the kitchen, everywhere.  I never know when I'm going to get inspiration for meals!  On the train, I read a lot of cooking magazines and jot down recipes I want to try out. When I'm on the web, and looking at blogs, I often get inspired by the amazing blog community and jot down names of dishes and ingredients.  By the end of the week, I usually have a decent amount of recipes to try for the following week so I then make my grocery list.

And plan my Weekly Menus-

 

I plan this out before I go grocery shopping but I know during a busy week things don't always go as planned.  (For instance, I still haven't made that Swiss Chard Pie!)

This week, because of the bbq on Sunday, I haven't been as organized.  When looking around for recipe ideas yesterday for dinner I came across two amazing dinner ideas: one healthy and one not so much.  Then I decided to make them both on the same night so I don't have to cook tonight.  (Hello, WE love leftovers!)

*I cooked my face off last night and didn't take the time to make my pictures look great- I was hungry!*

The first recipe I saw was from Peas and Thank You.  (Only the best vegan blog ever!!!). I love vegetables and I love turning veggies into something different and interesting.   I don't always have time to read blogs everyday so I often read several posts at once and when I saw a recipe for Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna, I knew I had to try it.  PS- I always spell zuchinni wrong.  Are we sure it has two c's and one n?

So I looked at this recipe and I thought about how I had tons of leftovers from my Quinoa Veggie Salad I made on Sunday.  Why not take the recipe and just use my leftovers mixed with tomato sauce and the cream cheese?  (Obviously, mine is not vegan).  Simple and easy. (Have I mentioned how much I love quinoa?  If you haven't tried it- you should.  It's just like cous cous only sooo much better!)

Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna
Ingredients: 
2 large zucchini, cut into 12 thin, 1/4 in. thick slices (I didn't use the end slices with skin- just the middle)
salt
1 and 1/2 cups of Quinoa Veggie Salad, (which was 1 cup of quinoa, 2 cups of water, cooked, mixed with sliced cooked portobellas, eggplant, scallions, corn and black beans and lime juice)
1/8 cup of veggie light cream cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 Jar Tomato Sauce (I used Classico, my favorite)
3/4 cup of Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Thinly slice zucchini into about 12 pieces. Place noodles on papertowels, layered and sprinkle with salt. Let this sit for 15 minutes to absorb the liquid.  Next you can either cook the quinoa with veggie broth and tomato sauce and herbs like Sarah says, or you can take your precooked quinoa salad and mix a 1/2 jar of sauce with the cream cheese and put it over heat to blend everything together.  Then pour 1/8 cup of  tomato sauce on the bottom of an 8X8 pan.  Next layer the zucchini, then the quinoa mixture, 

Then add more tomato sauce, some cheese, then repeat. Bake for twenty minutes and then dive in.

Yeah, mine didn't stay together quite as pretty as Mama Peas, but I tried. It still tasted delicious though!

And since I'm all about the multi-tasking, I also made another recipe I saw on one of the many blogs I read (not using google reader).


I found a recipe for... are you ready.... Zucchini & Bacon Lasagna.  I told you one recipe was healthy and the other was not.  But this is Lasagna Two Ways! I found this recipe on Kevin and Amanda's blog who I found through PickyPalate.  I love the blog world, seriously.  One click and you get tons of amazing, delicious, intriguing recipes! Anyway, Amanda posted this recipe a little over a month ago and it fascinated me.  Bacon in a lasagna? Bechemel and Tomato Sauce? Sauting your veggies in Bacon Fat? Umm, sign me up. Oh wait that last part was my addition. I added some Lizzy touches to this- used different cheeses and sauteed zucchini, corn and onions but for the most part, I followed Amanda's recipe.

I wish my pictures looked as good as hers so you can truly understand the deliciousness of this recipe.  But it was late, I was STARVING and I just wanted to eat.

Zucchini & Bacon Lasagna

Béchamel Sauce:
1 tablespoon butter
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk (I used 1/4 cup skim, 1/4 cup heavy cream)
Pinch of salt, pepper, & freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
Lasagna:
1 zucchini, diced (I used the outside pieces of the zucchini from the recipe above)
2 ears of corn, cut off cob
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
3 ounces Mexican blend Cheese cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
4 slices bacon, cooked and cut into bite sized pieces
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
1 cup of your favorite marinara or spaghetti sauce (I used Classico)
1 cup mozzarella cheese
4 oven ready (no boil) lasagna noodles
Directions:
First thing, cook your bacon in a pan over medium high heat.  Once cooked, remove to a plate with paper towels.  Remove all but 1 teaspoon of bacon fat and add your diced zucchini, corn, garlic, onion and salt and pepper to the hot skillet.  Cook until the veggies start to get soft, about 7 minutes.
Combine the zucchini mixture, Parmesan, Mexican blend cheese, egg, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper in a medium bowl to blend. Add crumbled bacon.
To make the béchamel sauce: Melt 1 tbsp butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk and cream. Increase the heat to medium-high. Whisk the sauce until it comes to a simmer and is thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Whisk a pinch of salt, pepper, and nutmeg into the béchamel sauce. Add the cheese and do figure eights with your whisk until smooth and creamy.
Pour the béchamel sauce into the bottom of the 8×8 dish. Top with 3 lasagna noodles, the zucchini mixture, tomato sauce, cheese, 3 more lasagna noodles, bechemel sauce, another layer of the zucchini mixture, tomato sauce, cheese, 3 more noodles, the rest of the bechemel sauce and parmesan cheese to top and salt and pepper.

 Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 400 until heated through and the sauce bubbles, about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until the cheese on top becomes golden, about 15 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes.

 Mmm. I can't wait to get home and eat these lasagnas again tonight!

Oh, Dave (my husband) always jokes that I use every pan/pot we have in the house when I cook.  He may be on to something...

Good thing I'm the cook and he's the dishwasher!