Dr. Livingston Bear paid a visit to his friend Tigger. "I hear you'll be leaving soon to explore the world. We should get together before then, I've got a great recipe for roasted vegetable lasagna."

Tigger replied, "I'm a carnivore."

Livingston replied, "No problem, let it not be said that this bear can not accommodate friends. I'll make a meat lasagna!"

Bear set about making sure he had his ingredients all assembled. He set to slicing and chopping away at mushrooms, onions, and a whole bag of basil. Oops, Livingston accidentally twisted the filter off his oregano, and almost the whole bottle went into the marinara sauce, but surely it just means extra tastiness. A ton of basil goes into the ricotta cheese. And we're ready for assembly business: sauce, noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, meat, repeat, and top with mozzarella and grated parmesan cheese. Nuts, forgot to add the nutmeg to the ricotta.

Livingston tucks the lasagna away with tin foil on top and into the fridge to marinade flavors overnight. Good night, Lasagna, I'll cook you in the morning. Or, er, tomorrow night, after I get home from work. 

Then, 375 degrees, 25 minutes with the tinfoil on, and 25 minutes with the tinfoil off. Before you know it, it's done!

A good friend once asked if Livingston Bear helped with clean up. Responsible bear that he is, of course he's sure to scrub down the oven range and wash clean the pots and pans.

"Cheers, dear Friend!" Bear toasts Tigger.

Tigger cheerfully shares his broccoli.

By: Maria Tom

Dr. Livingston Bear diligently researched for a promising recipe, annotating it with recommendations from the comments section. With all his ingredients assembled, Bear hypothesized that perhaps his pyrex baking pan may not fit all the ingredients he had assembled. Oh, but he so loves vegetables! Perhaps the good doctor is not the best when it come to judging matters of size and scale. His eyes are so frequently hungrier than the limits of stomach.

Nevertheless, setting doubts aside, Bear begins preparing his marinara sauce with 4 cans of tomatoes, plenty of oregano, and heaps of basil. He slices and dices yellow squash, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplants, garlic, and onions. Once they're all roasted, he begins assembling a layer of marinara, then lasagna noodles, then ricotta, then vegetables, and repeat, until the pan is filled to the brim and topped with cheese. Into the oven it goes! Bear is ever so excited, as this is his first foray into using his new gas oven, and it surely is very hot! 

Alas, he mourns the steamed spinach and extra noodles that indeed could not fit into his pan. However, the results are lovely, and he serves the spinach on the side. After all, how could he pass up such a lovely source of vitamins K,A, B6, B1, E, and C and iron, manganese, folate, copper, calcium, and potassium? To say nothing of the dietary fiber!

By: Maria Tom