Around-the-Table Lasagna

jacqui_monet
November 17, 2016

In The Porcupine of Truth Carson Smith’s family has never been close. His grandfather ran out on his grandmother, his dad drank himself right out of a relationship with his mother and his mother has always been, well, an ice queen. Family dinners were never really a thing that Carson got to experience growing up, but it’s something that he and his friend Aisha  find themselves desperately needing. Living most of his life in New York I thought, what would more fitting than one of the most amazing dishes you can snag in the Big Apple? With all of the Italian restaurants (and all of the Italian Nonnas in every neighborhood), lasagna is a staple! Below is a recipe so easy, even Carson could make it.

You will need:

Box of lasagna noodles (I mean, you could make it fresh but that requires a lot of work appliances that most folks don’t have.)

Water for boiling

Ricotta Cheese 1 tub

Shredded Cheese

Ground Turkey 1 lb

Spinach (washed)

Salt

Garlic Powder

Optional: olive oil

Cooking spray

Bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I like Ragu’s Chunky Sun-dried Tomato and Sweet Basil. Or, you could be fancy and make your own.)

13×9 baking pan or casserole dish, large pot, large frying pan, strainer

Oven, stove

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

In the large pot boil water and cook the lasagna noodles per the box’s instructions.

Meanwhile, brown the ground turkey in the frying pan season with garlic powder and the optional olive oil. Strain and return to the pan and mix in the spaghetti sauce. Let it simmer.

 

Let’s talk layering: this part can be a little tricky if you have over cooked you noodles. The order that I think is the best/easiest is as follows:

Noodles. Spread ricotta cheese evenly. Meat sauce. spinach. Repeat and then, if you have anything left over, add meet sauce and a couple of spoonfuls of ricotta.

 

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 mins. Remove foil and sprinkle on a layer of the shredded cheese. Bake for another 10 mins.

Alternative: If you want to assemble one day and then bake on the next you will have to refrigerate it and then bake for 40 mins covered, sprinkle the shredded cheese and then bake for 10 mins uncovered.

This lasagna recipe is so easy! Pair this with a simple salad and some garlic bread and your family won’t know what hit ’em!

img_0227

The Porcupine of Truth

jacqui_monet
November 7, 2016

img_4461

Title: The Porcupine of Truth

Author: Bill Konigsberg

Series: N/A

Genre: YA/ Coming of Age

Pages: 336

Review:

Okay, I’m just going to start this off by saying that I absolutely loved The Porcupine of Truth. I like, jump-up-and-down-cried-in-the-middle-recommend-it-to-everyone loved this book! I connected to this book in a way that I haven’t experienced in a really long time. Seriously, I haven’t sobbed while reading since Shadows in Flight, the final book in the ‘Bean Saga’ of the Enders Game series.

So what’s the book about in a nutshell? The Porcupine of Truth follows teenagers Carson and Aisha and they search for his grandfather. See, Carson’s dad is dying and he wants to reconnect the two before it’s too late. What starts out as an hours long trip ends up being and epic journey across the western United States. During their trek, the friends learn a lot about each other and even more about themselves. This book is about growing up and coming into your own; discovering what makes you you.

I don’t want to say anything about the plot. So much happens that I feel the slightest  detail will give something away. I will say that I think everyone should read it. I gave it to my brother to read and if they made a movie I’d watch it. Heck, if they made a miniseries I’d watch it. This book made me laugh out loud one moment and cry the next. Mr. Konigsberg wrote an incredible and I found myself very deeply moved. That’s it, that’s all I can say.

 

Check out the links below to get the book yourself:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

What Goes Around

jacqui_monet
June 12, 2016

This time last year, I was sitting on a plane headed back to Phoenix when I struck up a conversation with my seatmate. She was a pretty black musician going home to Montana. We talked about  music, the gig life and other randomness. Then the man sitting next to my left begins to converse with us because he just had his novel, which takes place in Billings, published. We talked for a good hour or so and it was a very cool experience to see an author out in the wild like that. Later I bought The Porcupine of Truth and I’ve been holding on to it in hopes that one day I would meet the author again and have him sign it.

Here we are, a year and some days later, and it happened! I saw the Bill Konigsberg would be at a Barnes and Noble signing is books and speaking. When I got there, I sat in the car to put on some lipstick and I got way too excited and dropped the open tube on my white shirt. Grrr! Anyway, I approached the door to the bookstore and there he was, holding it open for me. I played it cool though and acted like a normal person. I walked around the store for a while and then set out to find him again.

Long story short: I didn’t act like a total fool, Mr. Konigsberg signed my book and remembered me! He even remembered that I was an actress; he was super cool!

IMG_4458