As the SS Club convened on New Years Eve to drink champagne on the streets on Northampton and watch the disappointing town glass ball RISE, we decide to make a club resolution: Blog posts every week! We're responsible adults, right? There are 2 of us, we should easily be able to assign ourselves the task of writing once every 2 weeks, right? Well, as you can see by the dates between this post and the last, we were shooting a bit too high. But don't you worry, we have excuses! One of them being the main topic of today's post: Moving.
As of mid January, 50% of The SS Club has picked up and moved East in search of better jobs and big city livin'. We refused to look at this as the club disbanding, but instead as us branching out and starting individual chapters; you are currently looking at the President of SS Club: Boston. Moving wasn't easy. Not being a stones throw away from my other SS President, and our band of loyal followers who would show up to an impromptu dinner at the drop of a hat, has been a hard adjustment. But another bump in the road I was not expecting was the concept of relocating to a brand new kitchen.
In my old house, my kitchen was MINE. No one else that lived there really cooked, so I pretty much ran the show. I bought and cooked the majority of the food, I controlled what items were found where, what times things happened, and operated under the overall assumption that the kitchen was my domain, and anyone else there was merely a visitor (other SS Presidents excluded). Then I arrived in Boston, and I had to learn how to, ::gasp::, share! I quickly noticed that I was living in a house where all the people cooked at least a little, and that this was now a shared space. Also, that this kitchen setup was established long before I arrived, and it was my job to find my place in it. Lastly, I was the only vegetarian, so if I wanted to keep my cookware animal free, I had to wash and put away everything immediately after eating, in a separate place that was established to be only mine.
Things weren't easy right away; it took a long while to feel comfortable. The new roommates didn't always eat what I made, so my normal habits of cooking for 4+ people had to be scaled down. My pride took a bit of a blow there too. (What's wrong with the dinner I'm making? Not good enough for ya?) They didn't always eat at the same time either, so dining with at least a few people on a regular basis changed as well; sometimes, it was just me. I didn't always know what was in the refrigerator, because I was not the only person putting food in or taking it out of there. It made me long for the days for a kitchen all to my very own.
It wasn't until the night that I made the lasagna that things all changed. It was my first serious dinner attempt in my new apartment, after living off frozen crap and Chipotle while I finished the daunting task of unpacking and generally getting used to life in a completely different location. I decided it was finally time to find my place in the kitchen that was partly mine, whether I was ready for it or not. I gathered my ingredients and made the 'Peace Offering Lasagna' and garlic bread.*
Lasagna is one of the easiest things I know how to make, and is often the most impressive. It was actually the first real dinner I ever cooked by myself, after I dragged an unopened cookbook off my bookshelf in college, went to my kitchen and said "I am going to do this". The good thing about lasagna is that once you get the basic idea of how to do it, you can put whatever the heck you want in it: for example some asparagus and summer squash in the warmer months, sweet potatoes and cauliflower in the colder ones (the recipe I include at the bottom is for a more Spring version).
The lasagna was a big hit and was enjoyed by all the new roommates, and even some visiting friends. I'd like to think that it was a big step in our relationship with each other, the experience leading us to a point where we realized that we were people who we in fact actually wanted to spend time with, and not just people who all happened to live in the same place. They've eaten a lot more of my food since, and we've spent a lot more time together. To that I ponder, maybe sharing is caring.
-Nikki
*Recipes featured in this meeting
Peace Offering Lasagna (Spring version) with Garlic Bread
You will need-
Box of lasagna noodles
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 large sweet onion
3 large carrots
1 green pepper
1 package Tofurkey Spicy Italian Sausage
Bunch of asparagus
1 Portobello mushroom cap
1/2 bag of fresh spinach
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese
1 loaf of french bread
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon parsley
1. Set oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large salted pot of water to a boil, and cook 10 lasagna noodles (3 for each of the 3 layers, plus 1 extra in case one breaks) for 2 minutes less than stated on the package. I suggest chopping vegetables while the whole boiling/cooking process is happening, so the noodles aren't sitting around for too long. When they are finished drain all the hot water and fill the pot with cold, so the noodles stop cooking and keep from sticking together.
2. In a large frying pan (biggest you got) heat a few tablespoons of olive oil and add chopped garlic. Add chopped onions and carrots, cook for 3 minutes uncovered. Next add chopped green pepper, asparagus (about 6-10 shoots, depending on the size) and Tofurkey sausage (I suggest cutting each sausage lengthwise first, then into half moon shapes); cook 3 more minutes. Lastly add chopped mushroom and spinach, cooking for about 3 more minutes. Sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. It's ok if vegetables are still crunchy when they are done, as this is going in the oven.
3. In a 9x13 pan, cover the bottom in a thin layer of sauce to prevent sticking. Lay down 3 noodles side by side. In your frying pan, mix veggies and sauce together, leaving about 1/3 of the jar left for the top. Scoop half of veggie mixture and spread evenly over noodles. Cover in a layer of cheese. Lay down 3 more noodles and repeat. Lay down the last 3 noodles, cover with remaining sauce and cheese. Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes, until edges are brown and cheese is fully melted.
4. For garlic bread, mix butter, garlic and parsley in a bowl. Cut 1 inch thick slices in the garlic bread, but stop before you cut through the bottom so that all pieces are connected. Spread butter mixture on each side of the slice. Wrap the loaf in tin foil, and heat in 350 oven for 10 minutes.
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