I dread the nights we get home late from sports and look at each other wondering what’s for dinner?

Kim at Write Shop mentioned the other day that her family had become a huge fan of Pioneer Woman’s vegetable lasagna.

Uh, yeah … who wouldn’t, right?

We will be gone all day tomorrow, have sports tomorrow night, and will once again have a late night. Yet, thanks to our concoction of dinner tonight, we won’t be left wondering what’s for dinner. We have enough leftovers for days.

mind you:: i thawed ground chuck today for my lasagna. knowing the entire time i was planning to make veggie lasagna. y’all, i really think i am losing my mind. i am guessing we’ll now be having tacos or meatloaf at some point this week.

We used Ree’s recipe as a base and altered it to make our version of Gluten Free Veggie Lasagna.

Ready for the goodness? Here is what we used … (y’all know I have a bad habit of not measuring, so adjust as you see fit)

• 1 lg onion, diced
• 3T minced garlic (i really think it was more)
• 1C diced bell peppers (we used a variety)
• 16oz diced fresh mushrooms (this makes the dish!)
• 10oz gluten free lasagna noodles (we used De Boles )
• 4 zucchini squash, diced
• 1 can whole tomatoes
• 1tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2C white wine
• 2 eggs
• 4C shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2C parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
• salt and pepper to taste

Here’s what we did::

In a very large skillet (because the one I used was too small), sauté onion and garlic.

Add peppers, mushrooms, zucchini and spices.

While simmering, (per Ree) use your hands and squish the whole tomatoes.

(thank you, ree. this was nicholas’ favorite part)


Add tomatoes to the skillet, stir well and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, in a separate bowl, mix eggs, ricotta and 1/2C parmesan cheese.

check it out:: the instructions on the noodles we used read do not precook.
easy-peasy.


Maggie-Peyton assigned herself a job. (why, hello, self-governed child. i am so glad you have arrived)

She volunteered to ‘apply’ (paint) the noodles with ricotta. And, by all means, why shouldn’t she??

The messier the better for kids, right?

Working together, the kids layered veggies, mozzarella cheese and noodles (smothered in ricotta mix) until pan was full.

We covered the pan with foil and baked at 350° for 30ish minutes (note: our oven is old and seems to take longer than most)

We removed the foil, coated the top with (a lot of) parmesan cheese and baked for another 10 minutes. (We let it set for 10ish minutes before serving. Not that we were happy about that.)

Voila!

While I was making dinner tonight, a friend was texting me about going to a dinner tonight with George and Laura. Bush that is.

(if she wasn’t such a great friend…)

{I jest}

As the four of us sat down to eat, she texted me a picture of their menu for tonight.

Y’all, if you’re not eating dinner with a President, hear me when I tell you this gluten free veggie lasagna is the next best thing.

Far from low cal with all that cheese, but nothing less than delish!

Nicholas has been asking for a mini-donut maker.  I almost bought one a month or so ago, but I didn’t thinking ‘they are just trendy. we’ll use it for a while and it will end up at Goodwill.’

MawMaw thought differently and mailed him one last week. (thanks, MawMaw)

I posted this picture on Instagram yesterday morning and tweeted …

Some of the answers made me laugh.

The brilliant little invention came with a recipe book. But of course we only had 4 of 5 of the necessary ingredients on any given recipe. So, we improvised.

And made our own.

Surprising, huh?

(grab a pencil to add to your grocery list. you are going to want to try these. i promise.)

1/2C Gluten free Bisquik
3oz box Cheesecake jello
1 egg
1T oil
2T French Vanilla CoffeeMate
3T Lignon Berries
Powdered sugar

Pre-heat the mini-donut maker and coat with non-stick spray. Sift dry ingredients into bowl. In separate bowl, mix egg, oil, and CoffeeMate. Add to dry ingredients. Add berries. Mix well.

The hardest part for me was getting the right amount of batter into the slots and not covering the donut hole.

hint:: don’t worry about covering the holes; you can use the end of a nutcracker to pop out the holes to make them picture Pinterest pretty.

For the topping, I heated 3T of lignon berries and 1T CoffeeMate in the microwave for 10second increments, stirring after each time, until I got the consistency I wanted.

This hodge-podge of ingredients made some of the best gluten free mini-donuts evva!

I see donuts being added to our monthly menu on a regular basis.

For the kids. Not Mommy.

Seems when you surpass 35, you have to limit the number of mini-donuts you consume in your life.

Because, unfortunately, these bad boys aren’t fat-free.

This morning, we had our version of pumpkin donuts. Which, sadly for me, are even more addictive.