thecheatingcook

Lasagna is one of those dishes where it is generally universally loved by everyone. It is a common staple at most Italian restaurants, which can be created in many different ways. You can use different cheeses, different meats, different vegetables, you name it.

Despite most people liking lasagna. I think there are several problems with it. And that problem is in the making of lasagna.

Before getting into the problems, lets do an overview of how you make it. Typically you work in layers

• Layer bottom with dish with marina sauce
• Layer noodles on top
• Layer some cooked meat on top of noodles
• Layer noodles again
• Layer ricotta on top
• Layer noodles again
• Put some marina sauce on the last layer
• Put some cheese on the top
• Bake at 350 for half an hour

Problem 1: Time
To make lasagna, you typically have to cook the noodles first (unless you are using oven-ready lasagna). This in itself takes about 15 minutes where you have to bring out a stock pot, fill it with water, wait till it boils, then cook the noodles, then clean-up what you just made. Sound bad? Well you just started the dish.

Problem 2: Cost
In order to make a basic lasagna you need these common ingredients.

• marinara sauce
• lasagna noodles
• some ground meat
• ricotta cheese
• mozzarella cheese

If you tally up all the costs, the ball park number is $14.  And in my book, that’s a tad pricy.

Problem 3: Quantity
After you make the lasagna, you end up having oodles and oodles of it, enough to eat for a week.  Unless you cook this for a family of 8, it’s not really worth cooking for yourself.

Problem 4: Nutritional Value
Italian food is notorious for having unhealthy dishes, and this dish is no exception.  If you think about how the dish is constructed, it is bound together by the combination of all of the required ingredients.  If you take any out, then it won’t taste good.  For instance, if you omit the cheeses then you won’t have that rich yummy flavor.

But again, that is where the problem is.  You are basically eating cheese, marina, meat, and noodles.  And not just a little bit of cheese, A LOT of cheese. 

Pastas are generally better, because you can add vegetables, use different sauces, and top it with a little bit of cheese for flavor.  But if you visualize lasagna into a pasta, it is dumped with oodles and oodles of cheese.

Problem 1 revisited: Time
The worst thing about lasagna is after all of your prep time, you have to bake the darn thing for another half an hour!  At least for pasta, there’s not much more prep time after you cook the pasta noodles.

I’m sorry.. but thecheatingcook.com will not air any lasagna recipes.