Lasagna Three Way

Being home with my parents can be a little difficult when it comes to making dinners.  I’m usually home for a weekend at a time, so we usually cook one big meal, and have others over, or end up eating out.  Since we’ve had to plan a bunch of dinners, there have been some challenges!  I don’t eat meat, so of course a lot of options are knocked out right there.  My father LOVES meat, and while he will eat vegetables without a problem, likes to have meat or poultry with dinner.  My mom is allergic to wheat (not celiac’s disease, just a wheat allergy), so that limits us in some ways.  Time to get really creative, huh? 

We found a great solution for dinner last night!  My mom picked up this really cool lasagna pan that was perfect for making dinner for 3 people with very different likes and needs.

There are some things we could all agree on for dinner. 

1. We like our tomato sauce spicy!

2. Cheese was a necessity (ricotta, an egg, minced garlic, oregano and lots of red pepper flakes mixed in)

That’s pretty much where the similarities ended!  My father had a somewhat more traditional lasagna with ground beef (and the dogs ended up having a delicious dinner of drippings and beef).  I managed to sneak some veggies into his, and either he didn’t notice, or didn’t say.  My mom had a lasagna that was a mix of mine and dad’s-a little bit of meat, lots of veggies, made with rice lasagna noodles!  My lasagna was inspired by something Meghann made a few weeks ago, and had no noodles.  Instead I used slices of zucchini and squash.  I also threw in some artichoke hearts, and went really light on the cheese. 

Before:

After:

Look at all of that delicious burnt cheese!  Mine was yummy, but I think next time I would thaw out some frozen spinach to mix in with the ricotta.  I loved using veggies for noodles, and I bet this would be awesome if the veggies were roasted first, like I do for eggplant lasagna! 

I also got one of these pans, and I can’t wait to experiment with it!  It could be a lot of fun for making different dips and maybe different fruit cobblers?  I don’t know, but my head is swimming with ideas!

How do you cook for people who all have different tastes?  What are your tips and tricks for making everyone happy?

Don’t forget to enter Ellie’s Chobani giveaway!

If you haven’t please be sure to register for Natlie’s Project Feed Me, a 9 week program designed to feed as many hungry families as possible.  It’s as simple as donating food to your local food bank, and getting as many people as you can involved.  I know it’s a tough economy, but I have heard to “Give enough so you feel it.”  If donating food means I have to go without a few luxuries, that’s fine by me!