dinner - ain't happening any time soon

Every now and then I really screw up the timing for dinner.   On Friday night, I had planned to make a Gluten-Free Veggie Lasagna for us to eat.  This lasagna is not an easy, 1-2-3-make and cook recipe.  It takes time to chop the veggies, saute them, then mix all the other ingredients together and build the lasagna, before you get to the point where you can put it in the oven to bake.  Even though it is time consuming, it is well worth it in the end.  Plus, I assemble it in two smaller pans, bake one for dinner that night and freeze one for a future dinner. 

The baking alone takes an hour, plus another 20 minutes it needs to sit afterwards to firm up.  At 4:45pm on Friday, Sam and I had just started making this lasagna. Not sure why I didn't get it started the minute I walked in the door after getting Ian from school, but somehow those 45 minutes flew by.  Jeff called about 15 minutes later and said he was on his way home.  I told him to take his time because we were tracking to eat dinner at 7:00pm.  This is a good 45 minutes past the time the kids usually eat.  Jeff's reply was, "Let's go out to eat.  We can have the lasagna tomorrow night."  You don't have say that sentence to me twice! 

It was Ian's turn to pick which restaurant we got to go to.  I called Ian upstairs and told him the news. 

Ian: Hmmmm, how about Glory Days? 

Me:  Ok.

Ian:  Or maybe, Red Robin.

Me:  Ok, Ian, it's your choice.  Wherever you want.

Meanwhile Sam is whispering, "Red Robin, Red Robin, Red Robin, Red Robin, Red Robin..."

It was very funny and a sort-of a subliminal message to Ian to pick Red Robin.

Ian:  I need to think about it a little longer.

Me:  Ok, Ian.  Just make your mind up by the time Daddy gets home.

Jeff (walks in the door at 6:00pm):  Ok, where are we going to dinner?

Ian:  Glory Days!
(You know he picked this JUST because Sam wanted Red Robin.)

So let's do the math, shall we?  Friday night.  Glory Days.  A 15 minute wait.  Sitting down, putting the order in, waiting for the food.  Yep!   It's about 6:55pm. 

Here's a picture of the great, long-awaited (finally cooked!) Lasagna.  Looks yummy, doesn't it?