Call Me Crazy (Maybe)*

I went to Green Bluff today after church and got a ton of fruits and veggies. It's that time of year, and I love it! Using eggplant and summer squash, I made a Veggie Lasagna that I've wanted to try all summer. The food blogs I follow often post pictures alongside the steps of a recipe, so I thought I'd try it with this lasagna.

First, though, pictures of my Green Bluff bounty. I couldn't help but get another box of peaches--only 99 cents a pound!--to use for pies, cobblers, and the like. I froze every single peach from the previous two boxes I bought and couldn't let peach season pass by without at least one pie. From my favorite farm, Eleven Acres, I bought Gypsy and Bell peppers, green beans, Honey Crisp apples, a Snow Leopard melon (like a Honeydew), a Tuscan Cantaloupe, and more.

 

My other favorite Green Bluff farm is Hansen's, owned by a couple from my church. I came into the barn lugging this box of Red and Green Gravensteins (destined for quarts of applesauce!) and Rod, the owner, winked at me and said, "Been a while since I saw you." We'd both been at the 8:15 service at church and it was now noon. He eyed my overflowing box and asked, "Are you sure you want all those?" The big scale registered nearly 34 pounds. "I'll take 'em," I told Rod. "I'm a working woman." With applesauce, it's all or nothing. Admittedly, I was a little apprehensive since I hadn't paid attention to the price per pound. He looked at the scale and said, "Hmm. 34 pounds, we'll call that 33," and rung me up for $28.05. A bargain when you're expecting $60!

 

At 3pm, I started to make the lasagna, the recipe of which came from a website called Annie's Eats. I started by mixing up a tomato sauce (with fresh basil), stirring together a cream sauce (with heavy cream, cottage cheese, parmesan, etc.), and microwaving cubes of eggplant.

 

 

Then I cut up 8 cups of summer squash including one of my own scalloped squash.

 



After sauteing the squash and eggplant with garlic, olive oil, and fresh thyme, I wilted some spinach and mixed all the vegetables together. Next, I layered: tomato sauce, whole wheat lasagna noodles, half the veggie mixture, cream sauce, etc. For a little while I was afraid my pan wasn't deep enough!

 

Here it is, ready to go in the oven!

 

Here it is out of the oven! The hardest part is letting it sit 25 minutes before diving in.



And here's the first piece, ready to be eaten! It kinda fell apart, but it still tasted great!!

 

With it, I enjoyed this Snow Leopard melon. I had no idea I could get local melons (more local than Hermiston, that is), so I was stoked to try this. I also had a piece of corn. Delicious.

 

Now I hope I like this lasagna enough to eat it all week.

 

And yes, you have permission to call my obsession with fruits and vegetables crazy. :)

 

*Just a note to say that I changed this title to reflect a rather silly pop culture reference. Anyone get it?