dinner to go

my mom is hosting my grandpa’s birthday party tomorrow night (i mentioned this the other day, in case it sounds familiar!), and she asked me to bring food. at first i thought she just meant that i should bring something to eat so that i’d HAVE something to eat, but then i realized that: (a) she was making a meat dish, so i would be feeding not only myself, but my vegetarian sister, brother-in-law, and niece… and (b) she actually wanted me to bring an entire pan of lasagna. once i caught on, i asked her, "do you want me to bring food so that there’s more food? or do you just want me to bring something that the four of us can eat?" and she said, "well, both, kinda." all righty then.

so now i will be making a big ol’ pan of lasagna tomorrow, so that there will be vegan lasagna (which i just call "spinach lasagna" in mixed company) in addition to my mom’s meaty lasagna. my husband is the lasagna master, so he’ll be helping me assemble fo’ sho’.

in addition to that, i’m on the hook for cupcakes, and i’m trying to decide how many to make/bring. originally i planned to just do one dozen, and i was leaning toward cookies & cream, because i’ve already made them successfully and my family is definitely a chocolate crowd… but since then, two more people have been added to dinner (the pleasant side effect of an otherwise sad event–a family funeral today means out-of-town guests), and i’ve also become tempted to try a new flavor in addition to the cookies & cream. i’m thinking about trying the chocolate mint cupcakes as a second dozen. i bought green food coloring and a little pack of whizzers today, in anticipation of making them. (the whizzers are the "cherry on top," if you get my drift… i’d like to use chocolate lentils but i can’t find them here–i’ll have to order some!)

my fancy-schmancy cupcake carrier only handles 18 cuppers, but i think that will be plenty, considering there will be apple cake and leftover christmas cookies there. plus, that way i can leave 6 at home for guaranteed eating by ME! heh.