A Spring in my step

Well after much anticipation and false starts I do believe Spring has finally arrived. A tad late I would say but here nonetheless. The crab apples are showing the threat of blooms

which thrills me no end. Even though one of them seems to have a bit of fire blight, quite a bit actually so I'm afraid it may have to go. Part of it still has these though

which makes me rethink the "has to go" comment. I believe this is the third Spring I've had this conversation with myself. I grow attached to my trees, hard to let them go

we'll see, the replacement possibilities are endless. Lilacs are starting to show also

which means that soon their heady scent will be filling the house. The dogwood and wisteria are showing sings of life and the hostas, daylillies and peonies are all pushing through the ground in that amazing way they do. The hydrangeas are quickly filling up with leaves as are the astilbes and the roses. The Lilly of the valley is ready to burst it's little white blooms and the azaleas are suddenly looking very colorful. The temperature was exactly where it was supposed to be this weekend with a clear blue cloudless sky and Spring had finally, if tardily arrived.

So we cleaned the yard, and cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned, and weeded, and weeded, and weeded, and trimmed and cut back and pulled out, and raked, and raked, and raked, and raked, and played with Max

who was ecstatic to be outside most of the day. And then we collapsed. And after a while we came in and made a nice lovely Spring dinner which recipe I stole from Jane, OK I didn't steal it; I made a comment on her post about it that I was going to come back and steal it, but Jane being Jane not two minutes later sent an email with the recipe which she had invented. So here is my version of

Jane's Spring Spinach Lasagna. (Jane adds zucchini, which I didn't), adapted by me.

Serves 4

1 10 oz. bag of frozen chopped Spinach, thawed and the water squeezed out.
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves minced
salt and pepper, to taste
grated nutmeg, to taste
one cup of basil pesto
1/2 to 3/4 lb. borgata sliced
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups of bechamel sauce (recipe below)
6 oz. of lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions.

Saute the onion in olive oil slowly until translucent, add garlic and saute for about two more minutes. Add spinach, stirring constantly to break it up, add salt, pepper and grated nutmeg. Cook until warmed through.

Drain the pasta. Place one layer of overlapping pasta at the bottom of the baking dish. Spread 1/3 of the spinach mixture over the pasta, place slices of borgata over the spinach mixture then spread a couple of tablespoons of pesto over that. Cover with some of the bechamel sauce, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over, then start again with a layer of pasta repeating two more times. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for about 25 minutes, remove the foil and cook an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit about ten minutes before digging in.

Bechamel Sauce

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat, careful not to brown. When melted add two tablespoons of flour and whisk in until incorporated. Slowly add to cups of milk and continue whisking until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve and enjoy a bit of Spring.