Easter Celebration Here and In Heaven

It’s been quite a remarkable weekend. My husband and I ventured into Minneapolis on Saturday for an early Easter Celebration with my husband’s mom and sis. There is something so special about time with family, espeically on holidays.

It’s no secret one of our favorite things to do is explore new restaurants. We all agreed, THE RED RABBIT will be seeing us again. Everything from the food to the service was outstanding.

They definitley led up to their theme….Uncomplicated Authentic Italian food! I can honestly say it was almost as good as what we had in Italy. In fact the only thing missing was the Italian wait staff and the language barrier?.

We all agreed the Roasted Cauliflower with Turmeric Oil….FANTASTIC! It’s similar to this one but when someone else makes it, it always tastes better?.

Easter Sunday we slept in a little since we had all ready planned on attending 11:00 am church. After my run I was met at the door by my husband and I knew by the look on his face there was something terribly wrong. I was right.

My dear friend who had been fighting a long hard battle with cancer celebrated Resurrection Sunday with her Father in Heaven. I shed lots of tears but I also thought to myself, maybe it was God’s plan all along? Of course it was? After all it was my friends favorite holiday. I’ll miss her but one thing I know for sure, she is at peace, and I will see her again in heaven some day.

Thankfully we had a low key day planned with a 4:00 dinner. I threw tradition totally out the window and made a round lasagna. Yes, a round lasagna. It certainly makes for a great presentation! I wish I would have dug out my raised cake platter. DARN!

All the ingredients are nicely contained within and the best part is it can be cut into picture perfect wedges without any cheesey mess…that is if you allow it set up for a while…. Patience!

I decided to do a veggie version for Easter since my brother was bringing a smoked ham and some ribs. The veggie lasagna was a perfect companion with a simple green salad. I originally had planned on making my spring time lasagna but decided after church to switch things up a bit. I used about three bunches of roasted asparagus, sautéed some leeks, a yellow onion, roasted red peppers, and used some of my slow roasted grape tomatoes. My cheese of choice was ricotta, parmesan and fresh mozzarella, but honestly you can do any version you want, your own favorite combination of ingredients that you and your family love in lasagna.

This recipe is really all about the pan, you have to use a spring form pan!

A spring form pan will give it the perfect shape, just don’t be in a hurry to release it, let it rest when it comes out of the oven, a lasagna stays hot for a good hour. Are you ready to start layering….

MY ROUND VEGGIE LASAGNA

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 or 9 inch spring form pan with removable bottom

• Your favorite Marinara Sauce

• ½ lb or more depending on what size pan you have of boil your own pasta sheets, cooked al’dente.

• Ingredients of your choice for layering. I used pre-roasted asparagus, leeks, yellow onion, roasted red peppers, slow roasted tomatoes, and fresh herbs.

• Roughly 1½ lbs of ricotta cheese mixed with generous amounts of romano or parmesan, 2 eggs, salt, pepper and fresh herbs like basil or parsley.

• A nice shredded melting cheese like fontina or mozzarella.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cover the bottom of a baking sheet that has sides with tin foil, you’ll thank me for this because there might be some leakage of juices.
2. Brush or spray olive oil on the inside and bottom of your spring form pan.
3. Start layering. Sauce first, then pasta sheets, cutting to form around the pan, more sauce, ricotta cheese mixture, other ingredients like veggies, sprinkle the shredded cheese and more Parmesan on top.
4. Repeat for three layers total, ending with sauce and some cheese on top.
5. Place filled pan on the foil lined baking sheet and bake at 375 F. for 45 minutes.
6. Cool on a rack so air gets on the bottom and let it rest for ½ hour, take a knife and go around the sides of the pan before you release it.
7. Release clasp and place the whole lasagna on a nice platter.
8. Make sure it’s not steaming hot when you cut into it.

---

Have you made a round lasagna?

Do you prefer traditional meat lasagna or veggie?

Have you ever lost a best friend to cancer? It hurts so much. If you are a prayer warrior, I could use some. THANK YOU!