One-pot Meals

We have unintentionally developed a Saturday morning habit that has its perks and downfalls.  After making breakfast, we bring it downstairs to watch 'our shows' on PBS (Channel 2).  The beauty of this tradition, is that no matter what time we wake up the line up of shows on PBS is all of our favorites.   Starting at 8am we have New Yankee Workshop, Hometime, Ask this Old House, Everyday Food, Rick Bayless, Lidia's Italy and finally America's Test Kitchen.  We just have to be careful not to spend the entire morning in front of the tube.  If you haven't heard of these shows before and enjoy home improvement or cooking, I highly recommend them!!

Last Saturday on Everyday Food, Martha Stewart's cast did episode on one-pot meals.  It was perfect timing with my new meal planning kick. That night I decided to try the three-cheese lasagna with homemade sauce. We modified the recipe by adding Italian sausage and using cottage chese instead of ricotta.  There are certain dishes that I think ricotta is absolutely necessary, like manicotti or stuff shells, but with lasagna I prefer cottage cheese for texture and moisture.  Anyway, the dish was delicious! And SO nice not to have multiple dishes to wash. The homemade sauce and fresh mozarella were a welcomed change from an ordinary lasagna recipe. 

So while we may spend a lot of time in front of the television on Saturday mornings, we convince ourselves it's 'educational' and we often get something out of it.  Thank you Martha!