my belly is round with pleasure. i am rocking that "3 months pregnant" look. you know that look right? your abdomen is poochy, distended, still squishy. it's hard to tell if you have eaten too much, are carrying some extra water because you are coming up on your favorite monthly visitor, or you are indeed nearing the end of that first and usually awful trimester. well i am not pregnant just happily full. whoever invented elastic is genius. i would be in a world of hurt right now if i was in say a pair of jeans or a girdle.
i have become a pinterest addict. i love the food section. i am constantly pinning recipes that i want to make. some i will probably never ever make, but tonight i made one that i have been wanting and waiting to make. i think that we all foods that we consider our comfort foods. for some it is homemade mac-n-cheese, definitely one of my favorites. for others it might be mashed potatoes with gravy. puke! i don't like potatoes and for me burying the potatoes in gravy does not make them taste better.
one of my comfort foods is lasagna. cheese. sausage. noodles. cheese. sauce. i mean really what is not to love? eating lasagna is heavenly. preparing lasagna is a tedious chore, one that i don't do often. i dust more than i make lasagna. it takes just as long to prepare it as it does to cook it and you consume it faster than you can spell L-A-S-A-G-N-A. not to mention the mountains of dishes in your sink. complete pain in the rear. so when i stumbled on lasagna soup, yes you read that right lasagna soup, i was completely intrigued; no layering, no grating blocks of cheese, no boiling noodles then letting them cool so you don't burn you fingers, less dishes and virtually same taste? sweet! the soup met and exceeded my expectations.
i consider myself a pretty darn good cook, but i haven't always been. my early years of cooking had many flops and to no surprise i have a lasagna disaster worth telling. i don't remember exactly how long ago it was but i know that my ex was still in his apprenticeship and we had another apprentice staying with us, john. in an effort to be the perfect hostess and perfect wife i prepared a feast for my two hardworking men, too bad it was disgusting.
it took me all morning to prepare the lasagna so i could have it on the table when the boys came home. i remember while i was browning the sausage that it smelled funny, but i couldn't place my finger on why. it was most definitely ground sausage, it wasn't rotten, but it smelled funny. i decided to proceed and assembled the whole 9x13 pan, it looked fabulous.
the boys came home. the table was set. the house was filled with a wonderful aroma, not the same lasagna aroma, but still wonderful. it was like walking into grandma's house. i was so proud of myself. i had pulled it off. or so i thought. the boys sat down and i pulled this perfectly done lasagna out of the oven and set it in the middle of the table. i think we all kind of gasped at the perfection of it. i cut huge slices and placed it on their plates. they dug into it before i had a chance to say grace. inside i was smiling. my smile quickly faded. neither one of them took another bite and they both had this screwed up look on their faces.
"is there something wrong with it?" i asked. "just taste it." so i took my first bite and new instantly there was something really wrong. remember, the sausage had smelled funny but i couldn't figure out why? well, there was definitely something wrong with the sausage, it was maple sausage! oh my word. i have a whole pan of maple sausage flavored lasagna. john started laughing and said, "i can't decide if i want a side of eggs or more garlic bread." the boys laughed like hyenas and i turned the color of the tomato sauce.
this was a serious rookie mistake. i learned that maple flavored sausage comes in bulk instead of just links. i don't know why? i can't think of reason when you need bulk maple sausage, but someone must use it this way. i also learned that lasagna is not good with breakfast sausage, even in a pinch this is not a good substitute. unless you are pulling a prank on someone don't ever try it.
so there you have my very own lasagna disaster. i have never made that mistake again. my kids got a good giggle hearing this story for the first time, hope you did too.
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