Birthday Lasagna!

It was Ian's birthday this week and instead of going out to dinner, I wanted to make him dinner and dessert at home. Dinner is more Ian's domain than mine, so I knew I needed to pick something hearty, meaty (I am not one for cooking with meat) and not labor intensive. He has told me before that he doesn't like lasagna because it is mushy and not very flavorful. What? It can't be. This needed to be corrected, so with that, I was off to the store for some major Italian food item purchases.

This recipe from epicurious seemed like the best option for numerous reasons. I like the idea of making it with turkey, I like mozzarella and I noticed the use of no boil noodles. If Ian thought his previous experience with lasagna was too mushy, I didn't want to take any chances. Turns out, no boil is the way to go. It was so good!

The reviews for the recipe said it was a little bland and to double the herbs and spices. This is definitely a must. I also used 1 lb ground turkey and 1/2 lb ground pork to give it some fat and flavor. The recipe calls for no salt, which seemed odd, so I salted to taste (Ian leans more towards the saltier side).

In addition to the lasagna, I also made what is now deemed Ian's birthday cake of choice. It happened through an accident, but he asks for it every year. A chocolate chip sour cream cake. Two things: for someone who hates white and fatty sauces (sour cream, mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce), he loves this cake; secondly, this all started in an attempt to make a chocolate sour cream cake and in a hurry, and not reading the directions carefully, I just threw the chopped chocolate in the batter. And so the chocolate chip sour cream cake was born. The Boston Globe has a pretty good recipe, so that is what I used this year. However, I cut out the cinnamon and sugar topping, made it in a cake pan and frosted it with vanilla buttercream. It is hard to screw up this cake because of all the delicious ingredients. Overall, it was a wonderful low-key birthday spent at home with good food, good wine and Indiana Jones.