LINO (lasagna in name only)

I've been a bit delinquent in posting to our wonderful BB&C blog, but I'm glad to see that others have not fallen behind in their duties. And as I prepare for another sweep of the Barnhart Bloggies look back on some of my recent meals, I find a lot of fodder for some food posts.

The last time David was in town, we made a Butternut Squash and Mushroom lasagna (with copious amounts of help from Olivia). The thing is, though, that this is only "lasagna" in the sense that a spotted dog is a "slow cheetah." I think lasagna (real lasagna) should be somewhat spicy, tomatoey, unbelievably cheesy, and so filling that you almost can't stand to eat a third piece.

While it doesn't really fit those attributes, this one was was pretty delicious. Though we saw room for some improvement after we'd sampled the recipe.

First things first—the lasagna was going to take a long time to cook, so we made up some Devils on Horseback. Here they are, about to go into the oven.

Slice a bunch of butternut squash. For good measure, set a pitted date (Medjool, preferably) on the edge of your cutting board. It wards off bad cooking spirits.

Simmer squash in stock (we used chicken) with some thyme.

Assemble into a beautiful-looking lasagna! (Okay, okay, it seems I missed a few pictures in the middle. Inside there are whole layers of lasagna noodles, a cheese mixture that goes between the layers, as well as crimini/baby bella mushrooms, and onions/garlic, etc.)

Bake for about an hour, and when it looks like this, you're done! Eat it! Enjoy it! That Woody doll (in the background) is wishing he had a real stomach so he could eat this delicious lasagna!

The best way to follow a delicious meal of anti-lasagna lasagna is with bananas foster. The flame is burning away the fat, which makes this dessert much better for the health-conscious.

Suggested improvements:

• I'm of the opinion that you almost can't have enough garlic, and this recipe is no exception to that rule. Even though the recipe calls for no garlic (NO GARLIC!?!?), we added three cloves. Not nearly enough, as it turns out. It could take about six, I think.
• Following some of the recipe comments, we used about two-thirds of the cheese/ricotta mixture. Which was smart. David noted that the squash almost has the consistency of ricotta, and could probably take the ricotta's place. Which would make room for crumbled Italian sausage in this "lasagna."
• The colors here were a bit bland—all orange and white. We thought of adding spinach to the layers, which would have been a nice flavor addition too.