Easy veggie lasagna

Pasta dishes are a dinner staple at our house, but one item that hardly ever makes it onto our menu is lasagna. I think it's because I always associate making lasagna with a lot of WORK. I have to make the meat sauce, make the white sauce, cook the noodles, then layer everything, then bake. That's a lot of pans and a lot of time, especially for someone who usually starts thinking about what to make for dinner 30 minutes before dinnertime!

A few weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and make a lasagna. When planning the ingredients, I decided to use Trader Joe's canned marinara sauce, and that turned out to be the shortcut that turned lasagna into a dreaded time-suck into a dish that I can make as easily as a stir-fry. What I've come to realize is that lasagna is as labor-intensive as you want it to be. You can easily substitute prepared foods for some or all of the ingredients like the white sauce and the red sauce, so all you really have to do is layer the dish.

What's for lunch this week?

I know what you're thinking: your kids will actually eat a green salad for lunch?  Well, yes they will, actually, but the truth is that this wasn't their lunch, it was Alfie's.  A couple of weeks ago the kids had a day off from school for Yom Kippur, but Alfie didn't get the day off so I packed him a lunch.  And I packed him a sandwich to go with the salad because it's not much food, and he's be starving by 3PM otherwise.  By the way, that sludgy-looking goo beside the clementine orange is a lot yummier than it looks -- it's leftover pear crumble.

Here are 4 more lunches for the week.  Hopefully they'll inspire you to keep making and taking your own lunches as well!

What's for lunch?

Ham and cheese sandwich, cucumber slices, grapes

I'm guessing you've figured out by now that the lunches I've been featuring for the week are not the lunches that I actually packed that week.  Other people might be organized enough to have all their kids' lunches for the entire week prepacked by Sunday night, but not me.  We started school in mid-August, and I began this series in September, so I'm actually featuring the lunches I packed 2 weeks ago.  So if you see Halloween-themed lunch photos posted in November, don't be surprised!

Another thing I'm guessing you've figured out is that I bought a BIG bunch of grapes a couple of weeks ago, because four out of five lunches on this post have grapes in them!

What's for lunch?

Who says cereal has to be eaten at breakfast?  My kids love having breakfast food for lunch or dinner! I sometimes pack cereal and milk, waffles with syrup, or yogurt with fruit and granola to have a lunchtime.  They also love homemade Egg McMuffins:  veggie sausage patties, cheese and egg on an English muffin.  The only "breakfast-y" food I've never attempted to pack for lunch is oatmeal.  My packed lunches are mostly cold, so if they want oatmeal, they have to eat it for breakfast.  Or dinner :)

What's for lunch?

I wish I could say that all my kids' lunches are this healthy -- garbanzo nuggets, broccoli spears, Snappea Crisps and dried pineapple -- but the truth is, I sometimes pack fairly junky lunches.  Leftover pizza.  Cookies.  Cupcakes.  Halloween candy.  Even (gasp) Lunchables!  Sometimes I was too lazy forget to stock up on healthy foods at the grocery store.  Sometimes I oversleep and resort to prepackaged foods.  Sometimes I just feel like surprising my kids with a treat.  When that happens, I just try to include a fruit or a vegetable, and tell myself I'll make up for it with a more nutritious dinner. Unless we go to In-N-Out :)

What's for lunch?

The kids aren't the only ones I pack lunch for; most days Alfie takes a packed lunch to work as well.  He likes it because he can eat while he works through lunch, which lets him leave the office earlier, and I like it because it saves money!  Most days I pack exactly the same lunch for Alfie as I do for the kids -- the only difference is that I leave the juice boxes, yogurt tubes and Dora the Explorer ice blocks out of Alfie's lunch.    One of his favorite lunches is  Branston Pickle and sharp cheddar cheese on buttered white bread; in this photo I served it with cucumber slices and plain chocolate McVitie's Digestive biscuits.  It's a very English lunch, and in case you need translation, "plain chocolate" means dark chocolate, and "biscuits" are cookies.

What's in our lunch?

It has been a while since I've done a post about what we're having for dinner.  Although I'm happy to note that I've been really good about making most of our dinners from scratch, and about keeping us meat-free most days of the week, the truth is that I've found myself too lazy lacking the inspiration to post about it week after week.

Home-made Hummus

I have finally managed to get The Pea to love hummus as much as Alfie and the boys and I do, but it comes at a cost:  she won't eat store-bought hummus.  She only likes the homemade kind served at proper Middle-Eastern restaurants.  Yes, I know home-made hummus tastes better, but store-bought hummus is fine, and besides, I am a lazy sod who hates washing up the food processor or blender.  So for a while I held out, continuing to buy hummus from the supermarket and giving her ranch dressing to dip her pita bread and veggies in.  But last night, I finally gave in and made my own hummus.

Seven Days of Dinner, May 14-20

Last week I participated in a virtual potluck hosted by my friend Gina, author of the Taste This! series of cookbooks.  All the participating bloggers chose a recipe from Gina's second book, Taste This! The Delicious Sequel, and shared it on their blogs.  I choose two appetizer dishes -- a black olive tapenade and a gorgonzola cheese ball -- that were so delicious, we paired it with roasted red tomatoes and hot, crusty french bread and made a meal out of it.  Two meals, actually!

Seven Days of Dinner, April 23-29

We've got our first lemon of the season! Our dwarf lemon tree only gives us lemons every 2 years, so we're always glad when our tree bears fruit and we can enjoy lemons any time we want. In fact, I'm so excited at the thought of this year's lemon haul, I want to have a whole week's worth of meals featuring lemon! Here's what I'm thinking:

Seven Days of Dinner, April 9-15

The Pea celebrated her 11th birthday last Friday, and we celebrated with a trip to Tahoe for some skiing and poolside fun. Actually, the trip was for Spring Break and her birthday just happened to fall right in the middle of it, but that didn't stop her from commandeering the whole trip as though it was a 3-day birthday celebration. I told her the only person allowed to celebrate their birthday for more than 1 day is me (May is officially My Month since both my birthday and Mother's Day are in May), and our family tradition of letting the birthday celebrant pick the restaurant for birthday dinner was good enough.

Seven Days of Dinner, April 2-8

Normally I write my "Seven Days of Dinner" posts on a Sunday or Monday, so I have a plan in my head for the next seven evening meals. But my mind is on spring break this week, so I'm a day late. Fortunately, I already know I won't be cooking the whole week. Later this week we're going on our final ski trip of the year, and even if we weren't, we'd be going out to a restaurant to celebrate The Pea's 11th birthday this Friday. And since this Sunday is Easter Sunday, I don't have to think too hard about what to eat for dinner (if Alfie and I had our way, it would be chocolate bunnies and Cadbury eggs, but unfortunately we have to set a good example for the kids, so Easter ham it is).

Seven Days of Dinner, March 5-11

Alfie likes to say I'm a control freak, and I do admit that I, um, enjoy planning things out. That's one of the reasons why my Seven Days of Dinner experiment has been such a success. It feels good knowing that our dinners are all planned out for the week. But even though I've gotten lots of inspiration from blogs and websites like BlogHer, CityMama and This Week For Dinner, I've never actually followed any of their meal plans.

Seven Days of Dinner, Feb. 27 - March 4

The weather was so nice this weekend, it got me thinking about spring, and all the fresh, green produce that goes with it. Fortunately, the kids all like salad now, so not all the veggies we consume have to be cooked! Ranch and Blue Cheese dressings are still their favorites, but they've grown to appreciate the taste of olive oil and balsamic vinegar -- especially when the oil is smoked, and the vinegar is red wine vinegar from Napa Valley.

Seven Days of Dinner, Jan. 30 - Feb. 5

Last weekend was a hectic one. We hosted two birthday parties -- one for Jammy on Saturday, and one for 3Po on Sunday. I kind of went a little bit nuts over the preparation (it's the first time we've ever done separate parties for them, so I wanted it to be a big deal), so little details like figuring out what we're going to have for dinner kind of fell by the wayside all of last week and this week.

Seven Days of Dinner, Jan. 8-14

Alfie and I love Indian food, but I can't say that the kids share our passion for aloo gobi, chicken vindaloo, rogan josh and other mouth-watering yummies. 3Po and Jammy do like a curry now and then, but despite numerous attemps, we've only managed limited success with The Pea. She'll eat a bit of most (mild) curries that I prepare, but without much enthusiasm.

Seven Days of Dinner, Jan. 1-7

New year, new menus!

Here's what's on for dinner this week:
* Enchilada bake
* Baked salmon with pesto, beans and roasted potatoes
* Cold sesame noodles
* Scrambled eggs with tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese
* Spinach salad with goat cheese, cranberries and walnuts
* Nan bread pizza with caramelized onions and peppers, goat cheese and olives
* Veggie "meat"balls with rigatoni and tomato sauce

Seven Days of Dinner, Dec. 18-31

Woo-hoo, the holiday break has started! The kids are out of school and Alfie's office has given everyone the whole of next week off, so I've decided to give Seven Days of dinner a holiday break as well.

Happy holidays!

Seven Days of Dinner, Dec. 11-17

I'm atoning for last week's meat extravaganza with a week composed of entirely vegetarian dishes. Not that it's going to be a huge hardship; meat is no longer an indispensible ingredient in our household, and I have a sizeable collection of meatless dishes that the whole family loves. In fact, Alfie insists that he would switch to a 100% vegetarian lifestyle tomorrow; all I have to do is say the word. Of course, he says that knowing full well that I love my In-N-Out burgers and fish and chips and pulled pork sandwiches too much to pull the plug on meat. Personally, given his own passion for fish and chips, I think he's just a teensy bit relieved.

Here's this week's meatless menu:
* Veggie burgers
* Tofu and boy choy stir-fried with Thai basil, over rice
* Spinach and cheese omelet
* Spaghetti with marinara sauce
* Lentil and spinach soup
* Eggs and beans on toast
* Fetuccine with cream sauce and peas

Bon appetit!

Seven Days of Dinner, Dec. 4-10

I've decided to give week's menu has a Hispanic theme. Maybe it's the weather, but I find myself craving hearty dishes with lots of onions and garlic. Filipino cuisine is heavily influenced by Spanish cuisine, and foods with Spanish names like adobo, menudo and empanada are very common. This week I'm breaking my 3 meat dishes per week rule, but these dishes are so yummy, I don't care.

Seven Days of Dinner, Nov. 27- Dec. 3

I don't know if you've noticed, but I've managed to go over 6 weeks (not counting the time my mom did the cooking) without repeating a single dish for dinner! Last week was the first time I repeated a dish (the better-for-you egg salad). The variety is great, but we're starting to miss some of our favorites, so from now on you'll be seeing some repeat dishes along with some new dishes I want to try.

Here's what's on this week's menu:
* Caprese quesadilla
* Curried butternut squash soup
* Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato-cucumber salad
* Mushroom bhaji over rice
* Chicken curry over rice
* Chicken chow mein
* Veggie burgers

Bon appetit!

Seven Days of Dinner, Nov. 20-26

Now that my parents have left, I'm back in the kitchen and back to planning our weekly dinner menus. It has been a delicious two weeks, but I must admit, it will be nice to lay off the meat for a bit! Of course, that's a funny thing to say given that this is Thanksgiving week. No way I'm substituting veggie turkey slices for the real thing.

Seven Days of Dinner, Oct. 30-Nov. 5

My parents have come to visit, which is a real treat for the whole family. The kids get doting grandparents, Alfie and I get trusted (and free) babysitters -- and I get a cook. While she's here, my mother usually takes over kitchen duty, which I love, because her food is awesome, and which she loves, because she's usually too busy to cook in the Philippines, and she likes to cook. So my Seven Days for Dinner posts will be taking a temporary hiatus while my mom plans the meals. I may decide to do some posts listing the dishes she actually prepared, but for now, I'll leave you with several mouthwatering dishes I'm hoping she will prepare:

* Arroz a la Cubana with rice (actually, we'll probably have rice with every meal since that's how people do it in the Philippines!)
* Roast chicken
* Paella Valenciana
* Sauteed cabbage and mushrooms with garlic
* Salmon Teriyaki
* Chicken adobo
* Chicken fetuccine
* Chicken chuletas
* Chicken chow mein
* Chicken croquettes
* Pork fried rice
* Pork chorizo and garlic fried rice
* Spanish omelette
* Menudo
* Pork lumpia
* Spaghetti bolognese

Ahhh... my happiness levels (and cholesterol levels) are rising already. This is bonggamom, signing off kitchen duty for the next few weeks. See you soon!

Seven Days of Dinner, Oct. 23-29

When you're planning the week's dinner menu, it really helps if you're not sick with a cold and the thought of slaving away over a hot stove is enough to make your heart palpitate even more than it's palpitating already. This week I think I'm going to take it easy, get some takeout, and rely on simmering pots of soup to get me through. No doubt my kids will be excited at the prospect of school pizza, PBJ and cereal for lunch this week! I've deliberately left off three nights this week because my parents are arriving for a visit this Friday, and I look forward to relinquishing control of the kitchen and letting my mom take over.

Seven Days of Dinner, Oct. 16-22

For the past several weeks, most of the dishes I've cooked have been from a cookbook. I don't have much patience with following recipes, and I'm usually a throw-everything-together-and-see-how-it-turns-out kind of cook, so I've probably used recipes more in these past three weeks than I have all year. But this week, I'm going back to my usual modus operandi and using some of my tried-and-true "recipes". I've loved everything I've tried, but my cookbooks need a rest.

Seven Days of Dinner, Oct. 9-15

I've broken one of my Seven Days of Dinner rules this week. I said vegetables have to be part of each and every meal, yet here I am, putting pancakes on the menu. It is October, so I guess I could make pumpkin pancakes. Or I could sneak some beets into the pancake batter like Jessica Seinfeld does in her Deceptively Delicious cookbook. Or I could just serve the pancakes with blueberries and change the rule to Veggies or Fruit must be part of every meal. Yeah, I like the last option better.

Seven Days of Dinner, Oct. 2-8

We've got eggs on the menu two times this week. No, make that three: Filipinos traditionally eat arroz a la cubana with a fried egg on top. We love eggs -- scrambled, fried, boiled, poached, baked, whatever. Without eggs, I doubt if I could maintain our resolution to limit meat-based meals to three days a week. In fact, eggs and cheese are really the only things that stop us from adopting a vegan-based diet. Here's to the incredible, edible egg!

Seven Days of Dinner, Sept. 25-Oct. 1

This is actually Brie, not Camembert.

When I get started with an idea, I really like to flesh it out. Take this Seven Days of Dinner thing, for instance. I'm happy with it. It's working for me. It's working so well, I've already listed down about 3 weeks' worth of dishes that I want to try. But in typical Type-A personality style, I've decided to set some criteria for the dishes I pick:

Seven Days of Dinner

Here's some of the bounty from our local farmer's market that I plan to use to cook our dinners this week. Needless to say, the flowers are for decoration only.

Several years ago, drawing inspiration from two of my favorite foodie blogs, CityMama and This Week for Dinner, I did a month-long, weekly series of posts about what I was planning to cook for the week. I stopped writing the meal-planning posts, but I haven't stopped cooking. In fact, I've been cooking more than ever.

This year, I've made three food-related goals that I want to accomplish this year: to eat less processed foods, to get my kids to like Indian food, and to get my kids to like eggplant. Since all three goals involve a lot more cooking, and since I have less time than ever to cook (thanks to the kids' late afternoon schedules), I've had to spend more time planning our meals in advance. Last week I planned dinner for all 7 days: