We’ve been here in Copenhagen a little over a week now, and we have begun to fall into a little routine. One of my favorite parts of the day (and of being here) is dinner time. Back at home, dinner normally consists of something yummy that Jason cooks, eaten in front Community or if we’re lucky MadMen or Game of Thrones. Ida is normally asleep and it’s nice and cozy–but not the ‘family dinner’ scenario that I grew up with.
Since being here in Europe with my in-laws and my little family, we have had every dinner together as a family, and it stays light until late here–and so Ida gets to eat with us too. It’s SO nice.
Yesterday I cooked for us and I ran around the corner to the local grocery store. I LOVE going to grocery stores in foreign places and checking out how others do things. I picked up a few yummies to make veggie lasagna and walked back home, with one bag of groceries in tow.
I have to say that this is SO different from how we do things in LA. Grocery shopping is quite a chore–even just getting our station wagon into the Silverlake Trader Joes parking lot is feat. Then we get groceries for the whole week and it’s a game to try and get just the right amount of stuff for the week–so that things don’t spoil and go to waste–and also making sure that there is always something yummy in the fridge. It’s a delicate dance. I much prefer the way of doing things here in Europe where you shop every day at your little local market and get just what you need to last a day or two. What do you prefer, shopping in bulk for long periods of time or little bits every day?
Anyway, I hope to incorporate some of our Danish lifestyle into our Cali-life when we get home–especially the part where we eat all together not in front of the T.V.. Do you have dinners as a family?
After seven years in Italy, I got pretty good at cooking Italian eats. According to my mother-in-law, this was the best veggie lasagna she’s ever had, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you all here.
Serves 4
What you’ll need:
3 cups fresh Spinach
Pitted Olives
Two dozen cherry tomatoes (I used tiny yellow ones)
4 large Mushrooms
One Red onion Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Egg Lasagna Noodles
Ricotta
Fresh Mozarella
Grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh Basil
What you do:
- Preheat over to 350. Chop and sautee the red onion. Add the tomatoes (whole) the sliced mushrooms and lastly the spinach. Sautee until the spinach gets a bit wilty and the tomatoes get soft. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Boil the noodles as directed on package–keep them al dente.
- Oil the pan you’re cooking in and cover the bottom layer of the pan with noodles. Add a layer or crumbled mozarella and spread a couple of tablespoons of ricotta onto the noodles. Cover the layer with the spinach and tomato ‘sauce.’
- Add noodles and repeat until you have four layers.
- Add olives, basil and fresh, grated Parmesan to the top layer.
- Bake in the oven until the cheese turns golden brown (about 30 minutes.)
Buon Apetito…and have a great weekend, my friends!
Recipe and Photos by j. blakeney
susan says
This is so useful to me right now, and SO sweet! I am learning to get serious about cooking (at the age of 33 ha) and am working on meals that we can all enjoy as a family. Adding this to my list of things to try!
mary @ bgjournals says
agreed, and definitely looking forward to giving this recipe a try–thanks so much for sharing! random question, but i LOVE the font you used in your images. would you mind sharing what it is?
Justina Blakeney says
thanks Mary. The font is called Estilo.
Natasha says
I love foreign grocery stores. It’s so interesting to look at all the new products. I like to shop in bulk so I don’t have to leave the house every day. But if we live close to a nice store I might feel different.
Yetunde says
With Having 3 kids, all older than 6, we have fallen into a little routine ourselves. Before I went back to work full-time (ugh, a job I don’t care for at that), we ate dinner together every night. It was our time to catch up with each other. Now with my erratic work schedule I’m never home for dinner during the week. So our catch up time now falls to breakfast. Weekends are when I do my big deal cooking from scratch. I must say I really hate that I don’t get to cook for my family daily like I used to.
As for grocery shopping, that erratic at best. We usually end up running to the store a few times a week. If I had my way, I’d buy fresh everyday, at a neighborhood store. But since I don’t live in NY or someplace cool like that (I live in the land of crockpot/once a month cooking, ugh!) I have to do the best I can.
Justina Blakeney says
three kids!! wow! you go mama! I’m impressed you have time to cook anything at all. Even with one kid and just working from home I find this challenging. You’re a super woman!
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