Their father is a professional chef of Greek ancestry, so it'll be lamb. Also my preference. I'm not fond of ham -- too salty.

Spent many Easters in the Tampa area, we always went to Tarpon Springs for dinner. The town is full of Greek Restaurants.

Our daughter and her husband moved so this is the first Easter in 10 years we are not in Florida.

and lamb goes through me like a wildcat, backwards.

So I'd have to load up on the sides if I did Easter. Which I don't.

That reminds me, I haven't gotten any malted milk eggs this year. Oh well, they'll be on sale Monday.

Just pulling some out of the freezer cause it's easy.

Made the tomato sauce for it yesterday, so it should not be too much work today.


Cher

I'm not very good at making lasagna and with just two of us it's a lot of work and makes too much for us to use in any reasonable length of time. So I'm trying the Publix brand frozen version to see if it's any good.

If it's not good - as I have found most store bought lasagna - I'm going to consider buying some inexpensive individual size containers, similar to ramekins but that can frozen. Then I can learn to make lasagna from scratch in individual servings, freeze them and thaw as needed. I've tried making large pans - but my pans aren't deep enough - chilling, then cutting into portions and freezing them, but that is messy and hard to reheat as needed.

One of our favorites, so neither of us mind eating it all week, but have cut into individual servings and frozen them, too, sometimes. When doing it homemade, it's much easier to go ahead and make the whole pan and do it that way than making in individual servings.

I also had a recipe at one time for lasagna roll ups that make great individual servings, too. Just roll up the meat and ricotta in each individual lasagna noodle, put them in the pan and top with sauce and shredded cheese and bake. That might work better for you than using individual containers, plus less clean up.

Can't find the recipe anymore, and use my homemade sauce so don't really need one, but if you Google it, there are many recipes that will give you the basic idea.

I spent some time looking for disposable containers - the best bet might be to cook in loaf pans. They would be deep enough and one loaf pan would be several meals for the two of us. But most disposable loaf pans are aluminum which doesn't play well with tomato sauce. I did find some paper ones but they wouldn't hold up to the wetness.

So I may try lining my glass loaf pans with wax or parchment paper, bake the lasagnas, chill, remove from the pans, and freeze. When it's time to thaw and reheat, I could just put back into the loaf pans.

Of course, we haven't cooked the Publix lasagna yet - it could turn out to be very good. Many of their pre-made dishes are very good for store bought. I do have to worry about the spices now that many cuisines are adding hot peppers to their seasonings. Sausage based lasagnas are totally out for me and I have to be careful about many other things.

Have used both glass casseroles and cake pans to make these. Just coated with a little cooking oil (I don't buy the sprays as they're too expensive for me and seem such a waste) and no problems with anything sticking. Even if something does nothing a short soak in water and a scrubby sponge couldn't take care of in short order.

And to keep it together while freezing. It's been way too long since I made lasagna for me to remember how it handled!

is that you can make only as many as you need for a meal or two. I usually still make a whole large pan of them, because we'll eat them until gone, but can still take them out with a spatula, place them one or two to a serving in the freezer in empty leftover containers (such as from cottage cheese, etc.), top with a little extra sauce if I have more, cover with saran wrap and put the lid on. Placing the saran wrap right on top of/against the food, rather across the top of the container, prevents big ice crystals developing on the food itself in any open space remaining between the food and the lid. Mark and date the lid, good to go.

If you mix some of your shredded cheese with the ricotta, when they cool it will help hold it together. I also mix a raw egg, garlic, salt and pepper into the ricotta, too, even when making regular lasagna.

Though right now I don't have room in the freezer for them. I stocked up on meats as they went on sale and got a little ahead of myself. But I love the idea of putting up individual servings. I'll add this to my list of things to try next time I cook ahead.

Off to clean the kitchen and start the Publix lasagna. I'll post on how it is.

work, too. Wrap in saran wrap first then the foil and seal well. Freeze extra sauce separately.

Good luck with your Publix lasagna.

I like to keep a well packed freezer but end up with odd spaces that these could fill.

The Publix lasagna was OK. Not as much garlic or herb seasonings as I'd have liked but OK. If I'm in the mood for lasagna but don't want to make it, it would be alright. I got it on sale so it was a cheap option. I would NOT serve it to company.

I've been looking at "lasagna roll ups" on AllRecipes.com and they have several variations including one with tofu. The one I'm considering making calls for spinach (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-Lasagna-Rolls) - the original recipe uses chopped frozen but several of the reviewers used fresh. People also added mushrooms and some added meat to the sauce.

What I usually do with AllRecipes.com is pint the recipe I like the best, then go through the comments and make notes on variations. Then I come up with my own version. I think for this one I'll probably get fresh spinach and mushrooms, sauteed them a little, mix with seasonings and the cheese for the filling. They used cream cheese but I think I'd prefer ricotta or maybe mix ricotta with cream cheese. Some also added egg to the cheese so that it held together better once baked - that would be good for the servings to be stored.

It's a little hard to doctor a frozen lasagna, no?

Have fun experimenting with your roll ups. Just like regular lasagna, it's pretty open to ones own modifications. (I've never heard of cream cheese used in lasagna before. I've seen people use cottage cheese, but haven't done it myself, preferring the ricotta with shredded mozz and parm mixed into it with the egg and seasonings.)

From some community cookbook. The recipe used elbow macaroni and you layered red sauce with beef, macaroni and a mixture of cream cheese and cottage cheese, maybe with some mozzarella. It wasn't too bad, but the layering didn't work well at all. Once you started spooning it out, it just turned into a mess. OK for a family meal but not good for guests.

I much prefer ricotta to any ersatz variation, though I do love cream cheese.

I was just looking at this week's sale flyer - they have big pasta shells on sale. I may get some of them and try stuffing them rather than rolling up lasagna noodles.

But since we still have another lasagna meal, it could be weeks before I get around to trying it. Tomorrow I think I'm going to try a chicken with quinoa and vegetables recipe. Publix has chicken, zucchini, yellow squash and feta cheese on sale this week and I have some quinoa in the pantry that needs to be used up.

is an even more convenient idea. Good thinking. I love cream cheese, too, just not in my lasagna.

Your chicken, vegetables and feta with quinoa sounds delish, too. I'm betting a generous squeeze of fresh lemon at serving would put that right over the top. Yum!

Enjoy!

Dinner for 7 adults plus the grandkids (4 and 10 months). I enjoy making the ham dinner as it's so much easier than turkey with the obligatory mashed potatoes and gravy. The only one who likes lamb is my son who's outnumbered.

n/t

I tried the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Can't say I was wild about it—too much like BBQ sauce.

i used the recipe from the kitchn

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-slow-cooker-brisket-and-onions-recipes-from-the-kitchn-45437

came out perfectly

Ham is something I can very much take or leave alone. And since I do both the cooking and the grocery shopping, no one else gets a vote.

I like:

turkey for thanksgiving
ham/goose for christmas
corned beef for new years
chicken/lamb for easter

cooking so I have a corned beef and cabbage dinner cooking even as we speak. Oh well! Maybe next year a more traditional Easter meal. Sure smells good though.

just some kind of reconstituted thing.

Potato salad, marinated rajas and tomatoes, caesar salad. Did you know the caesar salad was invented in Mexico!

Feliz Semana Santa!

angel hair 'sketti with pork in homemade sauce.

Drizzled with truffle oil.

at least she got a honey baked instead of an overly salted fatty store ham.

It's rude to complain about food when so many have none, but we are so over the cooked to death veggies, cheesy casseroles, and cold turkey and ham dinners.

correctly and you get a great cut. Shoulders are the absolute best, imho, and why they are one of the cheaper cuts, I'll never know.

Bathe your shoulder chops in rosemary, garlic and olive oil, then throw them on the grill.

Tender, juicy and so delicious that you will wonder why you were eating hormone laden beef.