Today's guest post comes from one of my good friends. She's a pharmacist, and also a very healthy eater. She saw the lasagna recipe I posted last week and wanted us all to consider a healthier version. Thanks to her, we now have a terrific and tasty option. :) Her sharing continues now...

I know, a rather odd picture to post on vegetarian lasagna.The thing is, this recipe from Saveur magazine, feeds 6-8, and I don't have any company coming over. Long story short, I'm not making it just for myself, since I know I'd probably end up eating all myself. It's just that good :)

You're in for a treat.  This dish will be the main course for the first night of my upcoming retreat. I've made it twice now, and I will say that I think it tastes much better the second day.  Delicious either way, and I'm sure, if you try it, you'll be making it time and time again.

Pasta with Lentil Marinara Sauce

Serves 5

1 lb. pasta

1 jar (26 oz) tomato based pasta sauce (I used...

I was in the public library the other day, and as I walked past a display of fall cookbooks, one caught my eye.Entitled An Everlasting Meal, it was the subtitle which led me to pick it up:Cooking with Economy and Grace. Wow, if I could just master that. :)

A few days after Christmas, some of my family came together again for a simple dinner.My mom had asked Deirdre, my brother's wife, to make this tart, which she found inThe Tuscan Sun Cookbook by Frances Mayes. Dierdre did a superb job, and the tart tasted as good as it looks :) I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did. Grazie mille, Deirdre!

Ah, olive oil. Years ago, I took a group of young people over to Italy. For months afterwards, a group of them and I would sit around doing a Bible study, all the while dipping pieces of bread into a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Heavenly.Over the years, I've grown to love olive oil, and have tried many different types.

This is a shot of my mom and sister on their last visit to Maryland a few years ago. I've had the chance to take mom to Assateague Island to see the famous wild ponies a couple of times, and that's where this photo was taken.

If you were in a Catholic Church today, you heard the story of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), where the Angel Gabriel told Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus.Talking about a whopper of a conversation! In the end, however, Mary's yesset the stage for an event that would radically change the world forever.Earlier today, I was reminded of the song Gabriel's Message, sung by Sting for a...

Emmanuel is one of the most profound titles of Jesus. The Hebrew word means God is with us. When St. Francis of Assisi set up the first Nativity scene, he wanted to show simple, uneducated people that God chose to come down from heaven and be like us in all things but sin.Following in the footsteps of St. Francis, people all over the world bring out their own nativity sets each year, but for...

Giotto in the 13th century (middle part of the cloud on the right. Look for the hooked nose).The image above is from Reuters. The scene is from a cycle of frescos in theBasilica of St. Francis in Assisi.