What happened to Home Economics? Schools no longer teach cursive and apparently they’re doing away with Home Economics too. I get that our world is changing but at least replace them with something equally valuable. Maybe business email etiquette or How to properly network via DM or the nutrition of organic versus processed foods. My instincts tell me the removal of these skills from curricula are more based on budget than the idea that they are archaic and unnecessary. Side note: Home Economics was one of my favorite courses in school. But that makes sense because I’m a practical person and anytime I learn something that I can apply to my actual life, I enjoy it.
Truth be told, there wasn’t much economics involved in the one course I took in 8th grade but there was cooking which I love till this day. We did have this one assignment where I had to plan a meal with $40. I had to shop for it and prepare it myself and I did, with the help of my mother of course. And looky looky I still remember it and it’s something I literally do every week. Anywho, I won’t waste anymore time trying to figure out the wacky decisions that are made in schools at the expense of students. Life skills are naturally a part of homeschool. I get my children familiar with appliances in the kitchen and tools we use. My 7 year old watches as I budget for our groceries and they all help me cook or bake at some point. We all do laundry, even the baby; and we all clean. These skills are necessary parts of managing adult life.
Since all of our favorite people (cousins and my niece) are here for the Summer it just means, on some days, our class is a little larger. The other day, it was supposed to rain so I decided to do a cooking workshop with them. We made a vegetarian lasagna. Do you smell something? Sniff sniff. Mmm, the recipe is down below.
First things first, we washed our hands. Then we soaked our squash and zucchini’s, in baking soda and water for 12 minutes to remove pesticides. I had two veggie choppers on deck, 12 and 13 years old respectively. While we waited the 12 minutes I went over some rules. Like don’t taste test while we are cooking. This rule was broken almost immediately. Sigh. I went over the ingredients we would be using which involved an explanation of why pink Himalayan salt opposed to white table salt (white salt contains salt and glass and is abrasive to arteries).
Once the 12 minutes were up my choppers began to chop. My 6 year old peeled the skin off the onions and everyone else started on the lasagna foundation in the pans. Oh yeah and there was a rotation to have one person on baby duty as we cooked. It sounds so organized right? It wasn’t! Lol. We were all over the place but it was okay. I was still able to explain what we were doing and why we were doing it through the chaos. And when I asked questions about info I had already given, I got correct answers every time. So it was all good.
So let’s get to the recipe.
Vegetable Lasagna
2 boxes oven ready lasagna noodles
3 24oz jars Classico Traditional Sweet Basil spaghetti sauce
2 8oz jars Classico Basil Pesto
1 large onion
1 bag baby spinach
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
2 bags Mozzarella Parmesan shredded cheese
1 tub ricotta cheese
Pink Himalayan salt
2 Tbsp Minced garlic
Garlic powder
Preheat oven to 375
1. Thinly slice zucchini, squash, and onions. Set them aside separately.
2. In a bowl mix ricotta cheese, 1 jar of pesto, 2/3 cups of shredded cheese, and minced garlic.
3. Pour 1 jar of spaghetti sauce into the bottom of a 9×13″ lasagna pan.
4. Place a row of lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Fit as many as you can without them overlapping.
5. Layer zucchini and squash in alternating pattern on top of noodles.
6. Spread a row of ricotta mixture in between rows of zucchini and squash. Should be two rows.
7. Place another row of lasagna noodles on top.
8. Pour spaghetti sauce over noodles.
9. Place spinach leaves and onions on top of sauce. Dollop pesto sauce evenly all over. Sprinkle an even layer of salt on top.
10. Repeat step 7 and 8.
11. Repeat step 5 and 6.
12. Repeat step 7, 8, and 9.
13. Repeat step 7 and 8. Be very liberal with sauce and cover all exposed noodles.
14. Sprinkle shredded cheese blend liberally. Season top lightly with garlic powder.
15. Cover with foil and place in oven for 45 minutes.
16. Remove foil and cook for another 20 minutes or until sauce it bubbling.
Here is a video so you can see how it’s prepared.
Eat and Enjoy!! Tell me what you think of this recipe below. Be blessed and Shalom.
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