One of *Those* Weeks

Most of the time, my weekday life is boring and predictable. I like it that way. Get up, go to work, bang my head against my desk, go home. My meals are under control — if it’s not something I’ve made myself, then it’s likely a meal from a restaurant that I’ve vetted and trust.

There is great comfort in knowing your lunch won’t make you sick for the next week or two.

Sometimes, life is less controlled. Maybe I’m traveling. Maybe I’m attending a conference. Maybe I’m involved in a work situation that doesn’t allow the flexibility of my normal life. Whatever the circumstance, I can’t rely on my safe, gluten-free kitchen or familiar restaurants with familiar options, and bringing my own meals is challenging.

Those weeks means a lot of bad salads. While some restaurants get salads right, most treat them with indifference. Huge pieces of lettuce, way too much dressing (even though you’ve ordered it on the side!), tomatoes that look anemic. You know what I mean.

This is not satisfying food. It’s safe food, sure, and that matters when you need to be able to rely on your body. But satisfying? No. A regular diet of unsatisfying food just makes the week that much longer.

At the end of one of *those* weeks, the last thing I want is another salad. Even if it’s my favorite salad with my favorite dressing made with my own two hands. I want to avoid anything that can be construed as healthy. What I want is something hearty, full of carbs, and decidedly not green.

Basically, I want old-fashioned lasagna, dripping with cheese, layered with hearty, meaty Bolognese sauce. When I make lasagna, it’s a big affair. Sauce that simmers for hours. A mix of cheeses. Calories on top of calories.

Gluten-free lasagna noodles are easily found at Whole Foods or any online resource. If you’re using the “no boil” style noodles, make sure your sauce covers the noodles completely. Even when you cook the lasagna under a foil cover, these noodles don’t get soft enough without that layer of sauce.

I use a good amount of cheese in my lasagna, and one trick I’ve learned is to mix cottage cheese with ricotta and black pepper to make the mixture more spreadable. The cottage cheese gets creamy when baked. And, if you want to make it healthy, it’s okay if you add more veggies to the mix. I won’t tell.

What foods do you crave at the end of one of *those* weeks?

Tip of the Week

Making Bolognese sauce from scratch is a time-consuming process, but worth it. Double the batch and freeze a portion before adding the heavy cream so you’ll have plenty of sauce on hand for the next time the craving hits!

Meal of the Week

• Gluten-Free Lasagna with Bolognese Sauce
• Soft Breadsticks (here’s a link to a great recipe courtesy of Nicole Hunn of Gluten Free on a Shoestring)
• Fruit with a Dollop of Greek Yogurt (skip this dessert if you prefer to keep this meal 100% decadent)