Roasted Vegetable Lasagna (with meat too)

Over the years, I've tried a lot of different lasagna recipes.  Finally, I just ditched all the recipes and did my own thing.  But then, when I happened across this recipe for Roasted Vegetable Lasagna on the "a hint of honey" blog, I decided to try it.  Delicious!  All these vegetables go into one pan of lasagna.

The recipe uses no-cook lasagna noodles, which I'd never cooked with before, but I really can't recommend them highly enough.  It simplifies the whole lasagna process by eliminating the need to cook the noodles.  And the added benefit is that as the noodles cook while the lasagna is cooking, they absorb the liquids, and hence the flavors, of the marinara sauce and the vegetables, making them really flavorful.  

My family, even though they enjoyed it, missed meat (the carnivores!).  So, the next time I made it, I added in a mixture of ground beef and hot Italian sausages and just mixed that in with the vegetables when I layered the lasagna.  

I really can't recommend this recipe enough!  Click here to get the recipe.

A Day in Maine

Colette works hard (six days a week) all summer long.  So, yesterday I treated her to a day off…in Maine!  On the agenda were the towns of: Kennebunkport, Ogunquit, York, and Kittery.

First stop, and farthest up the Maine coast on our travels, was Kennebunkport.  It’s a charming seaside town with beautiful, colonial homes on tree-lined streets.

The center of action though is Dock Square with its charming selection of shops and restaurants.  Although it’s impossible to tell from this photo, many of these buildings are up on pilings, as they are above the water when the tide comes in.

Kennebunkport is a popular tourist destination, and we saw many charming inns throughout the town (like the one in the background here).

We sampled a few of the 50 flavors of salt water taffy sold in this shop.  Colette liked the pear and the pomegranate, while I preferred the apple pie.

Every restaurant, bistro, cafe, pub, and shack sold lobster…in almost every form imaginable.

 The day was blisteringly hot…ugh…90 degrees with almost no breeze.  Consequently, what captured our attention the most was this tiny business selling fresh-squeezed lemonade.  The whole business was not much bigger than my pantry, which as pantries go is large, but as businesses go (especially one with three people inside), it was very small.  But the staff was cheerful, and the lemonade refreshing!  Ahhh.

Then we moved on down the coast to Ogunquit, a popular beach destination.

But we were here to visit the bakery...

…and the candy shop, where everything chocolate, and sparkly, and delicious can be found!

How beautiful this little inlet is in Kittery, with its grasses growing along the shore.  All the rain we’ve had this summer has made everything so very green.

It was a beautiful mother-daughter day out!

Triple Berry Pie Bars

For dessert on the 4th of July, I made Triple Berry Pie Bars.  They’re sort of like a lemon bar, but with berries.  Yum!

Click here to go to the recipe.

4th of July

The 4th of July was hot, hot, HOT here in New Hampshire!  But, undaunted, we attended the parade in our town.  We LOVE going to the parade!  It’s just what every small town parade ought to be like.  And this year is the 250th anniversary of the founding of our town, so the parade was bigger and better than ever!

The town hall was decked out with flags and buntings at every window.

All along the parade route, including in front of the general store (shown here), the red, white, and blue crowd gathered to watch the festivities.

The parade’s official start was signaled by the ringing of the Paul Revere bell in the belfry of the Community Church.

One of the highlights of the parade each year, at least for me, is to see the Molly Stark Cannon paraded through town.

Some of the other parade highlights included: a Dixieland band, floats by local residents, cars carrying the oldest citizen of town and it’s newest resident (just a few days old!), Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, horses, reenactors, bagpipers(!), old cars, tractors, and more!

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Then we went to a barbecue, where Melissa’s sweet little face told the story…it’s HOT!