Look at what you’re cooking tonight and see how you can do a variation—divide the recipe in half and serve both. See what everyone thinks.

Here are two riffs on that family favorite, lasagna. The one at the bottom is actually “faux” lasagna, called pasta al forno.

> July 29th is National Lasagna Day.

> The history of lasagna.

> 18 more lasagna recipes, including gluten-free options made without noodles!
 
 
RECIPE #1: SPINACH LASAGNA

Ingredients

How to get your family to eat more spinach: spinach lasagna! You can substitute kale (photo and recipe © Westside Market
\ | NYC).

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

2. HEAT olive oil in a skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté for 2 minutes. Add spinach, oregano, and basil. Set aside.

3. MIX ricotta/cottage cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses in a large bowl with parsley, salt, pepper, and egg.

4. SPREAD half of the spinach mixture in an 8 x 8-inch ovenproof baking dish. Spread half of the cheese mixture on top. Add one layer of lasagna noodles. Repeat. Cover with foil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

5. REMOVE foil and bake another 15 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.
 
 

Pasta al forno, which means “pasta in the oven” or baked pasta (and defines lasagna), is a variation that provides the flavor and relative appearance of lasagna without the effort of cooking and layering lasagna noodles.

Ingredients

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 375°F. COAT a 2-1/2-quart baking dish with vegetable cooking spray.

2. REMOVE Remove from casing, break up into pieces and sauté in a skillet until sausage loses its color.

3. COOK pasta. While the pasta is cooking, combine marinara sauce, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, peas, ricotta, 6 tablespoons Pecorino Romano/Parmesan, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in pasta and sausage, and pour mixture into the baking dish.

4. STIR together in a small bowl 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 tablespoons Pecorino Romano and oil. Sprinkle over top of pasta. Bake until hot, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let pasta sit for 10 minutes before serving.
 
 

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One of our favorite juice producers, R.W. Knudsen, is offering another way to eat more veggies—or in this case, drink more veggies.

The 100% juice blends are 50:50 fruit juice and vegetable juice from concentrate or purée. But the flavor profiles lean toward the sweet, so no veggie-hater need know.

An eight-ounce glass contains 100 to 120 calories.

The blends include:

 
HOW TO ENJOY THEM

 
And feel good that you’re sneaking more veggies into your diet.

The recipe comes from Lexington Brass restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

RECIPE: IRISH CEREAL MILK COCKTAIL

Ingredients Per Drink

Preparation

1. MAKE Cinnamon Toast Crunch milk: Soak the cereal in 3 ounces of milk for 30 minutes, then strain out the cereal (and eat it, if you like). (The cereal will absorb some of the milk, which is why we recommend starting with 3 ounces to end up with the 2 ounces for the drink.)

2. FILL a rocks glass with ice; pour in whiskey and simple syrup. Top off with Cinnamon Toast Crunch Milk and stir.

3. GARNISH with fresh Cinnamon Toast Crunch pieces and an optional cinnamon stick. Serve with a straw and a spoon.

Fried, grilled, roasted and sautéed proteins are all candidates to be topped with an alluring crown of vegetables and herbs—not a dinner salad or dressed lettuce, but something that looks great. Dress the salad very lightly with olive oil or vinaigrette.

The “salad topping” doesn’t preclude your ability to serve the side salad of your choice.

A recipe for Chicken Breasts With Broccoli Rabe & Mozzarella is below.
 
 
SALAD TOPPERS

Aim to mix at least three bright colors and ideally four: green plus orange, red or yellow. Different shades of green don’t count as different colors. We’ve also included green salad-friendly fruits.
 
 
THE GREEN GROUP

 
 
THE ORANGE GROUP

 
 
THE RED GROUP

 
 
THE PURPLE/BLUE GROUP

 
 
THE YELLOW GROUP

 
 
THE WHITE GROUP

 
 
Thanks to Wendy Thorpe Copley, author of one of our favorite new books, Everyday Bento, for organizing lists of fruits and veggies by color. We’ll be reviewing her book shortly.
 
 
RECIPE: CHICKEN CUTLETS WITH BROCCOLI RABE & MOZZARELLA

This dish may look familiar: Italian restaurants frequently top cutlets with a bit of red and green.

You can prepare this dish in just 15 minutes, plus 30 minutes of cooking time.

You can cut calories and cholesterol by eliminating the mozzarella.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Sauté garlic until golden, then discard.

2. SPRINKLE chicken breasts with salt and pepper on each side. Dip chicken into beaten egg and then coat with breadcrumbs. Place chicken in skillet and cook until brown on both sides, about 5 minutes.

3. PLACE cutlets in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray or greased with oil. Bake the cutlets for 10 minutes, and top them with mozzarella, rabe, and tomato slivers. Continue baking until cooked through, another 10 to minutes or so.

3. ARRANGE chicken on four plates and top with mozzarella and broccoli rabe. Garnish with tomato slivers and serve.

[1] Pan-sautéed catfish topped with a parsley and tomato salad (photo courtesy Whole Foods Market.

[2] Salad-topped root vegetable soup. Here’s the recipe (photo © Jeanette’s Healthy Living).

[3] Salad-topped pressed sushi, also called box or hako sushi (photo © Miyako’s 21 grams | NYC [now closed]).

[4] Salad-topped grilled chicken cutlet (phot © Gardenia Restaurant| NYC [now closed]).

[5] Salad-topped lamb loin (photo © Kindred Restaurant | Davidson, NC).

[6] Salad-topped scallops (photo © Chianina Steakhouse | Long Beach, CA [now closed]).

[7] Chicken cutlets topped with broccoli rabe and sundried tomatoes (recipe and photo © Westside Market | NYC).

[8] A rainbow of egetables (photo © Good Eggs).

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If you can’t find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you can drink a shot of gold from a bottle of Goldschläger.

Goldschläger, created in Switzerland, is cinnamon schnapps with gold flakes of gold flakes floating throughout the bottle.

While there are many Goldschläger cocktails, we think the nicest way to enjoy it is after St. Patrick’s dinner, with or without a cup of coffee.
 
 
FLECKING YOUR DRINK WITH GOLD

You can use Goldschläger to make a gold-flecked Martini, or you can buy gold flakes and make your own

How about cinnamon shots: cinnamon-flavored Goldschlager liqueur with real gold flakes? Photo courtesy Goldschlager.

For drinks, think Champagne with gold flakes for a special toast; or a gold-flecked lemon-lime soda mocktail for the kids. If you’re in the chips, make gold flake drink rimmers.
 
 
RECIPE #1: GOLDSCHLÄGER POT O’ GOLDTINI

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice cubes.

2. SHAKE and strain into a Martini glass.

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice cubes.

2. SHAKE and strain into a Martini glass.
 

If you meet any leprechauns, invite them to join you.