By Toni

I was born in Memphis, Tennessee. For those of you not from the general vicinity, or at all familiar with Memphis other than Elvis and the Blues, let me clue you in what else Memphis is legendary for: Bar-B-Que.

Memphis is home to the World Championship Bar-B-Que Cookoff Competition on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River every May. I was raised in a family that competed every single year in this competition. For five days every May, my life revolved around the mighty god Pork. The smell of hickory chips in the smoker, the constant attending to the pork butt, hoping and praying that this year would be the year we would take home the Grand Prize. Those five days on the spent basking in the smell of charred pig skin were the things my fantasies began with.

Yes- being a carnivore is in my blood.

That is why everyone’s jaw hit the floor a year ago when I announced that my household would all become vegetarian. The next day. It was not a fun night in the Summers’ household that night, let me tell ya.

But, a year later, I am happy to tell you, we have all survived. In fact, I think it is safe to say we not only have survived, we all have adapted, adjusted, and actually much prefer the vegetarian lifestyle now. But it was not without it’s bumps as we figured out things along the way.

It is with a very red face, that I share with all of you my most embarrassing failure as a cook: My first attempt at making vegetarian meatloaf. I found a recipe on-line that looked promising one day, and thought I would surprise my darling husband by making it for dinner that night.

He came home, and the house smelled downright delicious! I was so excited because I just knew it was going to be amazing, as good as it smelled. The timer went off, and out it came. It looked wonderful! We sat down to eat. I eagerly sliced into it, anticipating a yummy vegetarian delight.

Only on the inside it was a solid white, tofu nightmare. Not exactly what I would call my idea of a “meat”loaf- if you know what I mean. It was baaaaaad. Needless to say, we ate out that night. I have since improved my “meat”loaf making skills, here is my very own recipe. My family is very thankful for this, I assure you.

However, meatloaf is not what I am here to share with all of you. I want to share my brand new, never been seen recipe that my husband is very happy to have been the guinea pig for many times the last few weeks while I worked the kinks in the recipe out. I know many people are scared when it comes to trying anything that has the label “vegetarian” attached to it, but almost everybody loves lasagna. I hope you’ll give this recipe a try and let me know if you do!

Mushroom, Spinach and Goat Cheese Lasagna

{Or, as my husband likes to call it: “Baaa-ad Ass Lasagna” . No, you can’t have him, he’s mine.}

Ingredients:
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 c. goat cheese
9 lasagna noodles a pound of fresh spinach, washed, drained, and chopped
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
dash Nutmeg seasoning
2 eggs, lightly whisked
2 Portabella mushroom caps, or 1 c. Baby Bella mushrooms, cleaned and finely chopped
1 1/2 c. Romano cheese
16 oz. ricotta cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the lasagna noodles. Drain, reserving one cup of the boiling water and set aside.

To make cheese sauce: Melt the butter over low heat in small pan. Add garlic powder and flour, whisking to incorporate. Stir in goat cheese and reserved water from lasagna noodles. Whisk until creamy and smooth. Remove from heat. Add in nutmeg, Italian seasoning, and eggs.

Spray 13 x 9 inch casserole dish with non-stick spray. Layer first white sauce, followed by three noodles. The next layer is the mushrooms and spinach. Top with ricotta and Romano cheeses. Add another layer of noodles, white sauce and continue layers up.

Cover, then bake for twenty-five minutes. Uncover and bake for another ten to fifteen minutes, or until bubbly and brown on top.

Enjoy!

Make sure to add your favorite recipes to this week’s Meal Planning Menu! Seven of them will be featured next week!

Toni is a full time stay-at- home mom, a wanna-be (but not too shabby) vegetarian cook, a sometimes not-so-bad photographer, and all around sweet heart. You can find her musings over at Hemp and High Heels.

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