No pickles, please: One big happy family.

I had another Sunday kitchen marathon. And it felt nice. :) Haven't done anything too hard core in a while, so it was good to spend a few hours gettin down to business. Plus, Beth is here for a few days, and her boyfriend was over, so I had a whole family to feed! Brad requested lasagna, so Beth and I headed over to Arbor Farms to get the provisions. As we were walking in, they had a huge display of local peaches. Who could resist that? We decided a pie was in order.

Back home, had to make the crust first. I used my go-to recipe (thanks, Jess) and threw that in the fridge to set for an hour. Then back in the kitchen to chop the peaches and put the pie together. Nothing fancy, literally "simple peach pie." I suppose someday I should venture beyond simple, but right now, while all the fruit is so fresh, do you really need anything more? Once that was in the oven, it was time to start putting the lasagna together.

It's been six weeks since I've eaten any meat. While I came to the conclusion the other day that I'm not prepared for a life without a single gyro more, I'm not ready to give up yet. What I'm exactly "giving up" on I'm not sure. But it feels like I would be giving up. Anyway, this just means a veggie lasagna was called for. I didn't really follow a recipe -- I honestly just threw it all together w/o paying too much attention.

Like always, simple simple. A spoonful of tomato basil sauce on the bottom of the pan, topped with a layer of yellow squash. Then noodles. Then about 2/3 a container of ricotta (I didn't even buy low-fat! eep!), a handful of chopped onions and purple (!) peppers, a scattering of zucchini, a handful of fresh spinach, and some sauce. More noodles, a ball of mozzarella, sauce, noodles. On top, basil, Parmesan, and the rest of the sauce. In the oven for 40 minutes or so.

I can smell the yumminess by just looking.

Luckily, given my just throwing-stuff-togetherness, the lasagna turned out quite nice, and we ate the whole thing, save one piece for Brad's lunch. It was light and tasty fo show. Next time, though, I would have an extra layer of noodles and use lots more cheese -- I forget, when portioning cheese, one person is not eating ALL that cheese, so it's ok to use more. :) Duh! I think I'd also use a tad more spinach, too. But as it was, it was a lovely Sunday dinner.

Time for pie!!!

I made sure to get whipped cream, as Brad cries like a girly man when there is no whipped cream for pie. I even whipped up real whipped cream for the occasion. I have such vivid memories of my mom, and my grandpa even, I think, whipping up cream for pie on holidays. Never had that silly can stuff! So I always think back to those days.... And, is it not just so satisfying to take something from liquid form and make it whipped?! I like it.

As for the pie..... Look... at.... this...

YUM!! The crust was perfect, the filling was the perfect consistency, and the peaches tasted SO lovely! I think this might be the favoritest pie I've ever made! Between the four of us, we killed nearly the entire pie. Simple pie or no, I could eat this every night -- the peaches were so strong and tasty. I can't wait to make another one soon. Mmm.