This Southern Lady Attempts To Cook

I am not a cook. Really I'm not- but the funny thing is, I can cook when I want to. Not exactly sure what that means. I didn't learn cooking from my mom (sorry, Mom) growing up we mostly ate some kind of meat along with canned veggies. That was what Dad liked. Well that's not totally true- I remember helping Mom break off the ends of snap beans.

Anyways. So yesterday I was off from work for a photoshoot with Sabrina Sikora and I had my history final but in between I decided to cook for myself and David. He let me in to his house and frankly- I think he was scared. Hell he was scared the night before when we made mashed sweet potatoes and pork- he even told me I wasn't allowed to use "the big knife" to cut the potatoes. ("You don't know how to do this?" ummm it's been a while.)

You would think being a Southern Belle such as myself knowing how to cook would be a prerequisite. Eh- not so much. I am a bit more modern for that. Maybe too much so. But the funny thing is I really do wish I knew more.

So two nights ago, I attempted to make mashed sweet potatoes while supervised. And they turned out really well. Although David really should take credit for finding the recipe Martha Stewart I believe. Sweet potatoes, brown sugar, butter and milk. (We used soy milk.)

But last night, all by myself like a big girl, I attempted lasagna. I actually made it before when I worked at Tic Toc and Luigi's, but that was ages ago and David didn't trust me alone in the kitchen.

Imagine his damn surprise when it turned out really well. I'll be honest- I didn't make it as usual. Once before I made them in a "roll-up" style rather than layering the pasta. I really didn't even measure while cooking. I used a smaller pan than the recipe I originally found called for, hell I couldn't find the original recipe either. I had a large can of crushed tomatoes, once regular sized sauce can, tomato paste, lasagna noodles, and a pound of ground beef.

I browned the beef and drained off the fat, and added the crushed tomatoes, sauce and paste. Then some ground oregano leaves and garlic powder and black pepper to taste. Then, let the sauce simmer while I cooked the noodles. While cooking them for about eight minutes each, I pulled out nine pieces and laid them on foil. While cooking the noodles, I took ricotta cheese (15 ounces) and added Parmesan cheese- close to half a pound- and heated up in the microwave to melt the cheeses together. I then took the cheese and placed it along each noodle, and then layered the meat sauce over the cheese.

In the pan I placed enough meat sauce to cover the bottom. Then, I rolled up each lasagna noodle (being careful to not lose much cheese and sauce) and placed them in the pan. Once I got all of them in I placed more meat sauce, then the cheese blend, more meat sauce and then sprinkled the Parmesan over it.

Later that night we cooked it at 350 for 30 minutes- but it probably should have been at 375, as it wasn't quite as hot as it should have been. But it was still very good. At least, that's what he said ;) Maybe I am a cook after all.

Oh and- thankfully we did have a lovely McManis zinfandel to go with it. Cheers!