Thursday, May 1, 2008

Finding small ways around having an "India Day"

"India Day": adj. when everything you try to do is just difficult enough that by the end of the day you wish you could a) transport away to deserted island with plenty of freshly cleaned veggies and a nice grilled steak and no need to drive anywhere; or more close to home b) drown your sorrows in a bag of chocolate and/or bottle of wine [whatever won't get you arrested, I guess]

A friend of mine in the neighborhood had an India Day yesterday when she tried to put together a lasagna dinner for guests and ran into the problem of having only rank ricotta cheese in the freezer and no cottage cheese available. They made the best of it with the cheese they had but I have a recommendation for next time.

A decent substitute for lasagna cheese can be found with a package or two of paneer. Put the paneer through a food processor to crumble it up. It's a tough food to mash with a fork so the processor really does a nice job. But paneer is also a very dry food, so you'll need to mix in some additional things like 3 or 4 eggs, and maybe even a touch of milk to make it a little creamier. Toss in a bunch of parmesan cheese and/or mozarella cheese, whatever herbs you want and you have a decent cheese layer for a tasty lasagna.

So there you go. My one suggestion for being served lemons and making lemonade. It's a small substitution victory but some days, that's all it takes to feel like we're doing alright.

How do you define your "India Day"?

And what suggestions do you have for turning an "India Day" into a "Victory Day"?

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