We all know about Garfield who is a cat who can’t get enough of lasagna and in that aspect I am the same way- I love lasagna. The pasta, cheese, sausage, and more cheese on top of all that is something that I wish I could eat everyday, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. This lasagna that I like takes a while to cook and it isn’t the most enjoyable process for the one who makes it. Regardless the reason I like it is more than just the taste and it represents a way that I have a connection to my family.
For this dish it isn’t as though I can’t make it but the amount of time it takes compared to the amount of time it takes to make it doesn’t always add up. Now I don’t work a 9 to 5 job like my parents so they don’t get a lot of time either to make it so it i only made a few times a year. My dad doesn’t make it either so the only person other than me who has made it is my mother and let me tell you one thing- she does not like to cook. After asking my mother questions, she responded about relationship to lasagna, and said “I didn’t have lasagna too much growing up, however because everyone in the family now enjoys it, i like to make it because it makes me happy seeing my family enjoy something I made.” Here she stated what I already knew which was that she doesn’t like cooking in a way but that making food and seeing her family enjoy it makes it worth it to her so that is the driving reason that she makes it other than my constant asking for it. Growing up, my mom always got out of work earlier than my dad so she could pick us up from school and since that happened she would always make dinner and when I was younger both my sister and I were picky about what we ate so it caused her stress from trying to make us happy but because we would complain about the food sometimes it would bring down her mood and deter her from cooking. Her mood at the beginning was not all that bad, however more recently she has become more visibly upset after we say something. Luckily my dad just retired so she doesn’t have to worry about making dinner anymore.
Lasagna has now become something we only have a few times a year roughly sometime around the middle of summer and then when I ask for it around my birthday. It’s tough to have more than that because there is a lot of cheese in it but also both my mom and sister are lactose intolerant so they prefer not to have it that often. I asked my mom about what she likes the most to eat to which she replied “My favorite meal would involve some type of seafood, either lobster or fried scallops.” Seafood has become a big part of my life because we always have it multiple times a year and my dad always makes it but its expensive. Lasagna does not require that much money to make, the total for all the pasta, cheese, sausage, and sauce comes out to around 20 dollars so it is relatively cheap and the amount we make lasts more than 3 days.
Lasagna has helped me bond with my mom more than just because she likes seeing me happy. Whenever my mom asked what I wanted for dinner I would always tell her that I wanted lasagna and that ended up becoming a running joke with me and her and then later we ended up making lasagna together and it is something that keeps us close to each other. My relationship with my dad is not as close as it is with my mom and stuff like this is the reason that it happened I think but that is okay because a lot of the time I don’t tell my parents anything and I don’t talk to them a lot so when stuff like this happens I believe it makes my mom happy too because she gets to enjoy time with her son and now that I am at college for most of the time and I don’t see her, I enjoy being able to talk with her and catch up because I know she misses me and that a lot of the time she is busy so she doesn’t get the relaxing time that she wants a lot. My mom answered the question of why she thinks that I like the lasagna and stated that “I think you like it because it has a lot of the ingredients you like.” To an extent that is the reason, but now I don’t love the taste as much as before so now it is more of a reason to make sure my bond with my mother is still strong but I don’t know if she has realized that at all or if she has even considered it, but I know for me that that is the reason that I like it so much, especially because I am the one who comes off as cold or that I do not care when in fact I do.
Lasagna may be this amazing dish to some and for some people they may hate it. I know that I have never met another lasagna other than my mom’s and that might be because is I don’t think about the taste as much as that I like seeing my mom happy and that her lasagna has that connotation about it. Regardless I will always tell her to make lasagna because I know she enjoys hearing that I like what she made and that I enjoy making sure she is happy because being the only one that works, she can get very stressed.
RECIPE
Lasagna
1 package lasagna noodles
8oz container ricotta cheese
1 package sausage
2 jars spaghetti sauce
2 packages mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.Boil lasagna noodles until cooked. Strain water.
3.Slice sausages in half lengthwise, removing casings. Place on cookie sheet and bake in oven for 20 minutes, flipping over half way. Remove from oven and place on paper towels to eliminate grease.
4.Cut sausages into smaller pieces.
5.Mix ricotta cheese with one egg and Italian Seasoning in bowl.
6.Spoon a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 13×9 baking pan.
7.Next, layer lasagna noodles, a thin layer of ricotta cheese mixture, sausages, sauce and mozzarella cheese.
8.Repeat layers ending with the final layer of lasagna noodles.
9.Cover with a thin layer of sauce.
10.Place in oven on top of a cookie sheet and bake until bubbling, about 45 minutes to an hour.
11.Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and return to oven until cheese is melted.
12.Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
