The last week of my pregnancy, I wanted three things: meat, cheese, and not to do any work. But I wanted to do something that might convince my husband I was someone resembling the woman he married, so I made one last big meal before the hospital stay.
When he walked in the door, I had created little parcel-like appetizers by wrapping buffalo mozzarella slices, tomato slices, and fresh basil in prosciutto. I found the prosciutto at HALF PRICE at my new favorite store, Valli produce in Arlington Heights.
And yeah, the mozzarella was pre-sliced. Think that's lazy? Oh wait, it gets better.
When I had crammed about four of those into my maw, I decided to make dinner. I used JAR spaghetti sauce, and JAR bechamel or alfredo sauce. And before you have that thought, do me one favor: strap a fifty-pound weight to your stomach. Then cinch it up so that it presses on your heart. Then get someone to kick it up into your ribcage every fifteen seconds. Climb the stairs a few times, go to work for the day, and THEN you judge me.
I alternated the layers of ricotta, egg, parsely and mozzarella mixture with layers of tomato sauce and layers of the alfredo sauce. It was also my first outing with the no-bake lasagna noodles. I'd always feared them in the past, but desperate times...
The result was nothing like homemade or from scratch, but it definitely scratched the itch, if you know what I mean. It was rich, warm, and right on time!
Oh, yeah, that looks plenty good to me. I make my own sauce when I am making just flat out pasta with sauce, but if I am going with something that requires more effort, such as the layering of lasagna or the stuffing of manicotti, then bring on the jars of sauce...I ain't got all day and my dishwasher can only hold so many big pans.
ReplyDeleteI reserve my judgments since it involved a hormonal pregnant woman that might have tracked me down and beat my sorry behind! :)
ReplyDeleteEh, even I loathe to admit that once or twice I've bought jarred vodka sauce AND I lived on Spaghetti O's during finals in college. So I guess I can't judge too badly.
Hi Gina! I love your site! This particular post makes my mouth water!
ReplyDeleteMMM your husband has good taste. The Sunset Wheat is SO yummy!
That mozzarella, tomato and basil rolled in prosciutto looks fantastic! I'll need to try that sometime. And even the lasagna looks good, despite the jarred sauces. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you posting and commenting again!
Hehehe... Yuh! Just make sure you pat the cheese and tomatoes dry first. Works better that way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, and hanging with me everyone. I'll be back more often (the baby is sleeping through the night now...)
G
Hey Gina... that prosciutto makes it good. But my God ... I can't find for less than one arm and a leg!!! I cruise through COSTO looking for deals like that.
ReplyDeleteYour food always looks so good -- and I bet its the bomb for taste! Good luck with the new baby.
=Paul
G just brought home prosciutto for (I think) $7/pound. It's pretty good, too.
ReplyDeleteShe bought one full pound, and I'd swear to look at it that it's actually five. It's a giant BRICK of cured meat. You could ward off a mugger with that thing. Good eats.
Gosh, that looks so good. I bet the taste must be awesome. That is definitely something I would love to try making. hehe...
ReplyDelete