everything but the kitchen sink

I have a love-hate relationship with the holidays. I love them because it puts me in a great mood, I get to spend lots of time with my family, there's always a lot of good food and I get to do Christmas shopping! A chore many people dread, but I love finding that perfect gift you know they'll love. Then seeing their face after the open it — that's the best feeling.

The part I hate? Paying my credit card bill. This year especially. I decided to buy a couch back in October, not realizing that the bill would hit me right in the middle of December. Anyway, to make up for my excessive spending, I've been eating a lot of leftovers and creating dishes from food that's already in my pantry. I love doing this because it's always a challenge and makes me get creative with all the random ingredients.

Last night was no exception. I opened the fridge to find mushrooms, carrots, pancetta, eggs, onion, some fresh herbs, a random assortment of cheeses, and pre-cooked sausage leftover from the company Christmas party. I looked in the pantry: canned tomatoes, garlic, lasagna noodles (both whole wheat and regular, but not enough of either to use just one). Hmmmmm... how about LASAGNA!

I made a tomato sauce with onion, carrot, pancetta, tomatoes, fresh & dried herbs and a splash of white wine. I pureed it until it was smooth then added the chopped sausage and sliced mushrooms and simmered it for 20 minutes. As for the cheese mixture, I mixed a couple of spoonfuls of lowfat ricotta, about a quarter cup of 2% mozzarella, fresh chopped basil, 1 egg and seasoned it with salt. Sidenote: The egg helps the lasagna set up nicely so it doesn't fall completely apart when you scoop it out of the pan. I cooked the whole wheat and regular lasagna noodles and started layering my lasagna in a greased loaf pan. I added some more grated mozzarella to the top and baked it until it was hot, bubbly and nicely browned.

Who would have guessed that "leftovers" could taste this delicious?
Need ideas on what to do with random ingredients? Send me the list and I'll do my best to come up with something tasty!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Lasagna, serves 2-3
Tomato Sauce

• 1 oz. pancetta, diced
• 1/2 white or yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, ends removed, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 - 28oz. can whole tomatoes, I like Cento
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• S & P to taste
• 1 Tbsp fresh chopped basil
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, stems removed, sliced, optional
• 1 cup chopped pre-cooked Italian sausage, optional (if you live in Dallas, I used Campisi's- they make it in-house!)

Cheese mixture

• 1/2 cup low fat ricotta cheese
• 1/3 cup shredded 2% mozzarella, plus more for sprinking on top
• 1 Tbsp chopped basil
• Salt to taste
• 1 egg

Lasagna

• 6-8 sheets of lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

In a large saucepan over medium heat, add the pancetta and render the fat. Once it starts to brown and crisp, add the onions and carrots and cook in the fat. If necessary, add a little olive oil. Cook for about 8 minutes until the carrots and onion are starting to get tender and the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for one minute, stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes, red wine, oregano, parsley and bay leaves and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and puree the sauce with an immersion blender (regular blender works well too). Add the chopped basil, mushrooms and sausage and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Start cooking the pasta after you add the sausage and mushrooms.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl mix the cheeses, basil, egg and salt until it reaches a uniform consistency. Set aside.

Once the pasta is done, strain. Grease a loaf pan with Pam cooking spray and layer the lasagna starting with a layer of pasta, then cheese, then sauce, then pasta, etc. until you reach the top. Sprinkle the top with extra mozzarella and bake for 35 minutes until the top is golden brown and it's bubbling. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes to help it set. Scoop it out and devour.

Hopefully this will change your opinion of leftovers!