Results from night one:

So last night we had the tofu lasagna alluded to in the previous post. And...despite my lack of ability to follow directions....it came out great!

Here's the recipe.

Tofu Lasagna:

• 3/4 package of no-boil lasagna noodles (try to get whole wheat if you can. $1.50
• 26oz(ish) Can of garden vegetable spaghetti sauce (get garden veggie because it is usually the lowest in sodium and highest in fiber! Get a can because it's cheaper and you're going to use it all at once anyway.) $.99
• 12oz block of firm tofu (tofu tip: Check with your local health food or asian grocery stores to see if you can buy tofu out of a bucket or in a resealable tupperware - way cheaper and easier to store leftovers!) 1/3 of a $1.99 bucket - $.67
• 2 eggs. 1/9 of $1.99 container - $.22
• 2 cups part skim shredded mozzerella cheese. 2/3 of a $2.19 bag - $1.46
• 1/4 cup soy or dairy milk (negligible because we make our own soy...)
• 1 tsp each: oregano, basil, parsley (sorry - not going to try to calculate the cost there)
  
• Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
  
• Total Cost: $4.84

To Make: Beat the eggs slightly in a large bowl. Add the milk, spices, and spaghetti sauce. Then remove the tofu from it's packaging and press it well (ie: between two plates held at an angle over the sink). Don't worry about squashing it- that's what you're going to do next. Crumble the tofu into the sauce mixture and combine well. Finally, add one cup of the mozzarella. Preheat the oven to 350 and get a 9/13 pan ready. Begin with a half inch thick layer of sauce, cover it with noodles, then cover those with a slightly thicker layer of sauce, then noodles, and finish with sauce. If you like your noodles chewier (as it turns out we do) then make your last layer of sauce thin. Top the whole thing with the last cup of mozzarella cheese and sprinkle some parsley if you want it to look fancy (I used a few shakes of Parmesan cheese). Cover well with tinfoil and bake 25-40 mins. If you want the top to brown, remove the tinfoil for the last 5-10mins.



And the best mistake of the night? I didn't reserve enough sauce for the top layer, and 2/3 of the way through the cooking process the top layer noodles were a bit, ahem, "crunchy." So I thought like the science major I am and decided that I would add 1/2 cup of water on top of the noodles, cover, and let it boil for 10 mins. Then I removed the cover and cooked until the remaining water evaporated. After this little escapade you can imagine the apprehension I felt as I cut and served the meal...but after one bite my test subject (my husband), declared that it was the best lasagna he had ever had and that he LOVED the slightly "chewy" top layer of noodles! whew!

Obviously this was a cost effective meal - even if I added the 1/2 of an eggplant that we purchased on sale this week ($.50), it works out to $5.84. (by the way, if you want to add eggplant, zucchini, or mushrooms, saute then for 5 mins in a tsp of extra virgin olive oil before adding them to bump up the flavor!) Now I know what you're thinking. Dinner for $2.50 a person? That's pretty good! But it wasn't dinner - oh no. That 13x9 pan was dinner, lunch the next day, and will be leftovers for lunch at work and school tomorrow. Altogether that's 6 healthy sized servings, working out to $.89 each! At that cost you could splurge and serve it with a tossed salad or a bottle of wine!

Incidentally, if you're looking for good cheap wine, I recommend the Barefoot Bubbly brand. http://www.barefootwine.com/ Nice taste (even for non-wine snobs) and good price (less than $10/bottle). However, if you're really trying to stick to $50/week or less for groceries, you'd better wait until someone gifts you with a bottle. ;-)

Happy Cooking!