the interwebs
Posted by Peter Owen | Filed under blog
I’m burned out on the interwebs for now. I’m going to take a break from them for a while.
Please enjoy thegreatandsecretthing.com in the meantime.
Tags: blog
music monday – birdy nam nam – abbesses
Posted by Peter Owen | Filed under music, music monday, video
Tags: abbesses, birdy nam nam, music monday, video
veggie treasure lasagna recipe
Posted by Peter Owen | Filed under food, recipe
This veggie lasagna was amazing! I loved it and I didn’t even notice the missing meat. I felt lighter when I was full. There are a couple things that Diana did differently with this recipe. First of all she didn’t use cottage cheese, but she used double the ricotta cheese. Secondly, she added broccoli florets. The one thing I’d probably do differently next time is to cut the squash and zucchini thinner. Overall, this one is a winner.
Yield
9 servings
Ingredients
Sauce:
* 1 teaspoon olive oil
* 1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
* 3 cloves of garlic, minced
* 1/2 cup yellow squash, sliced
* 1/2 cup zucchini, sliced
* 1 14.5 ounce can peeled diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1 8 oz can tomato paste
* 2 6.5 ounce cans of plain spaghetti sauce
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
* 1 teaspoon rosemary
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* pinch of white sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/4 cup red wine (1/4 cup water can be substituted here.)
* 1 tsp olive oil
Filling:
* 8 ounces small curd cottage cheese
* 8 ounces part skim ricotta cheese
* 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
* 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
* 8 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
* 1/2 tablespoons parsley
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 large zucchini, sliced
* 1/2 large yellow squash, sliced
Lasagna:
* 12 sheets flat lasagna noodles, cooked according to box directions
* 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
* 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
* dash of chopped parsley
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
To make the sauce:
Over medium heat, combine olive oil, onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, or until fragrant and soft.
Add squash and zucchini and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add diced tomatoes, remaining can of spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, rosemary, salt, sugar, pepper, water and/or wine and olive oil. Turn heat down to low and let simmer, stirring occasionally while you prepare the filling.
To make the filling:
Place the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, parmesan, mozzarella, spinach, parsley, egg and garlic powder in a large bowl. Mix well.
To assemble the lasagna:
Layer 4 noodles over sauce in pan. Layer ½ of the sliced zucchini & squash over the noodles. Layer 1/2 of the cheese filling over the veggies, followed by 1 cup of the sauce.
Layer 4 more noodles over the sauce. Repeat process with another layer of veggies, then cheese, then sauce.
Layer on four more noodles, top with the remaining sauce, cheese and a layer of foil.
Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes, or until bubbly.
Remove foil from pan and top with remaining cheeses and parsley.
Place dish in oven uncovered and bake an additional 10 minutes until cheese is melted.
Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.
Veggie Treasure Lasagna « Meatless Monday.
Tags: Meatless Monday, recipe, veggie lasagna, Veggie Treasure Lasagna
music monday – basement jaxx feat. lightspeed champion – my turn
Posted by Peter Owen | Filed under music, music monday, video
Tags: basement jaxx, lightspeed champion, music monday, my turn
halloween and fingerpaints 09
Posted by Peter Owen | Filed under family, photo, Picture
Several days before Halloween we carved a jack-o-lantern. Elek attempted to help, however, he thought the pumpkin guts were nasty and wouldn’t touch it much. I think his favorite part was at the end when we got to take it out on the front porch and light it together. He enjoyed lighting it with me last week. I think next year we should carve 3 pumpkins and try to be a little more festive for Halloween. Elek will probably help us get in the spirit. We also managed to let Elek watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”, which is essentially timeless.
In this picture Elek is dressed as a clown in the clown suit I wore at Halloween when I was three years old. I thought the big bright red nose was a nice touch, though after the first time he wore it, we decided to put red makeup on his nose so he wouldn’t have to keep up with it. Last year unfortunately we didn’t get to trick-or-treat like we wanted to. This year we planned our route much more efficiently and we were able to trick-or-treat around a large block, visit my mom’s house, and make it to the cooper young neighborhood party for a few minutes.
The Friday night before Halloween we were lucky enough to be invited to the Donati’s annual kid friendly Halloween party. Diana dressed as a mobster’s woman who took the fall for him, went to jail, then broke out. I was that mobster. Kristen and Justin followed suit with the police officer and prisoner costumes. The food (and alcohol) was catered by Swanky’s Taco Shop and was very tasty! The next picture is of Elek finger painting with Mama at home.
There’s a few things I’d like to change about Halloween next year which include the following:
- Carve more pumpkins
- Decorate more with fake spiderwebs, lights, and maybe even fog
- Have an even better game plan about when we’re going to start trick-or-treating and where
- Maybe even have time to hand out more candy
Tags: halloween
weekend in new orleans, la
Posted by Peter Owen | Filed under family, friends, Personal, photo, travel
Diana and I met Mike (my college roommate) and Camie (his wife) in New Orleans for Jared Barcenas and his wife, Ezgi’s, reception/celebration. Elek stayed with my mom (we owe her big) for the weekend and had apparently come down with the flu, though we thought it was a 24 hour virus or something of the sort after Diana took him to the doctor. We almost had to turn around halfway there. We left later than we thought we were going to, but we arrived in New Orleans at exactly the same time as Mike and Camie. No really. EXACTLY. We drove under their plane as it was landing. Sure enough Mike called me 2 minutes later and we went directly to the airport to pick them up.
We had just enough time to drop by Target for a couple of things we needed and to get settled in the Biscuit Palace.
The first night we got ready and wandered around looking for a place to eat. We got some general directions for cajun food from a local shop keeper. Ralph and Kacoo’s was where we ended up eating. It looked just as good as any other place. It turned out to be sub par and I’m really upset we didn’t get a chance to try out Mr. B’s! After the disappointing meal, we walked to the party which was in a luxurious suite with a large balcony and an open bar. As you can see everyone there had a great time. We met some new people and celebrated Jared and Ezgi’s marriage.
After waking up and walking to Cafe du Monde (which we did make it back to), we decided we didn’t want to wait in a line that long. On the other side of Jackson Square there was another recommended restaurant called Stanley’s. Despite the almost equally as long wait, the food was amazing!
After that meal we HAD to walk off the food. With no real agenda, we walked up to the trolley station and hopped on. When the trolley came to the end of the line there was the aquarium, right in front of us. I’ve been before, but it had been a very long time. We decided to go in and luckily both Mike and I had our triple A cards with us for the discount. The aquarium is a must see if you’re ever in New Orleans.
Afterward, we got a transfer on another trolley and went back to Cafe du Monde where we ate some wonderful beignets and drank coffee (hot chocolate for me).
After a fun filled, touristy morning most of us took a nap with the exception of Diana who walked about 4 miles to get a sweater. What a great nap! We were all recharged and ready for the reception that night at a beautiful inside courtyard. The food was exactly what I love about New Orleans. Everything was perfect. The guests, the food, the dessert, the location. Later that night we went out on Bourbon Street again, but unfortunately that was the night that Diana woke up shivering. She had gotten the flu from Elek. I was sent out at 5AM in the French Quarter to find some place with Sprite and crackers. Luckily I didn’t come back empty handed. It took Diana about 6 days to recover from the flu thanks to Tamiflu. We drove back after breakfast at a 24 hour diner across the street from our hotel.
It was a wonderful weekend in New Orleans and I wish Jared and Ezgi the best! You can see more pictures from the festivities below.
Tags: biscuit palace, bourbon street, cafe du monde, french quarter, new orleans, stanleys
