What We Ate: a seasonal reminder of dinner at our house.

My daughter told me recently that she thought she liked lasagna but she realized that actually what she likes is my lasagna which is, in a lot of ways, not like other people's lasagna but still mostly fits the definition of what lasagna is. I looked it up. Lasagna:  noun - pasta in the form of wide strips. A baked Italian dish consisting of wide strips of pasta cooked and layered with meat or vegetables, cheese, and tomato. You'll recall, if you've been hanging around here at all, that for a good portion of last year we had one veg kid and one dairy free kid which basically meant we ate vegan meals when we were all together. That is no longer the case, but some of the recipes have stuck or been updated to meet current eating preferences. This is one of them. It takes a bit of time so sometimes I make this over two days. And, it's a great way to use up veg that is ever so slightly past it's prime Ingredients suggestions: 9 lasagna noodles a large yellow...

We are not, for the most part, eaters of red meat. We have a great source for chicken (free range, anti-biotic free, rocked to sleep nightly with chicken lull-a-byes - you know the type), but have had a harder time finding a consistent and convenient source for beef. And also we were vegan last year for 7 months whenever we ate together as a family. But that's for a different post. All this means, I make chili twice a year. This recipe is just mine, based only on years of experimenting with lots of different recipes and figuring out what we like and what we don't. It's also highly dependent on what we have in the pantry. One whole sweet onion, chopped. One pound of grass fed, organic beef. 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 zucchinis - partially skinned - and chopped 1 can (or two cups) kidney beans, drained (haphazardly) 28 oz can of crushed plum tomatoes with juices. 2 t cumin 2 t chili powder 1 t salt (more to taste) 1/4 t black pepper freshly ground (more to taste...