Ingredients
- 1 (15-oz.) container part-skim ricotta cheese
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil, divided
- 4 teaspoons grated garlic, divided
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
- 4 pounds firm globe and beefsteak heirloom tomatoes (about 5 large), cored and cut into 1/2-in.-thick slices
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar
- Cooking spray
- 9 no-boil lasagna noodles (such as Barilla), divided
- 2 ounces whole-grain bread, torn into pieces
- 2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
How to Make It
Step 1
Preheat oven to 375°F. Stir together ricotta, eggs, 1/4 cup basil, 2 teaspoons garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Step 2
Remove and discard seeds from one-third of the tomato slices. (If tomatoes are particular seedy or juicy, remove seeds from one-half of the tomatoes.) Combine all tomato slices, 1/4 cup oil, vinegar, remaining 2 teaspoons garlic, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl; toss gently to combine.
Step 3
Coat a 13- x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange one-third of the tomato slices in a single layer on bottom of baking dish; top with 3 lasagna noodles. Spread ricotta mixture evenly over noodles; top with 3 lasagna noodles. Arrange one-third of the tomato slices in a single layer over noodles, and top with remaining 3 noodles. Arrange remaining tomatoes over top, shingling if necessary. Pour any tomato juices from bowl evenly over lasagna. Cover baking dish with foil, and bake at 375°F for 15 minutes.
Step 4
Meanwhile, place bread in a food processor; pulse until coarse crumbs form, 4 to 5 times. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium. Add breadcrumbs; cook, stirring often, until toasted, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl; cool 5 minutes. Add cheese and remaining 1/4 cup basil; toss.
Step 5
Remove lasagna from oven; remove foil. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over lasagna. Return dish to oven; bake at 375°F until top is browned, about 10 minutes.
I honestly had not come across a recipe for tomato gratin lasagna before. I make lasagna about 3 times a year. I do it from scratch. I lay the boiled noodles out on the counter on aluminum foil to cool after cooking. It's a long process and that's why I only make it three times a year.
But this tomato gratin recipe? I saw it Thursday night in the e-mails and went out and bought the ingredients yesterday and then cooked it tonight. It was delicious.
Rita, thank you so much for this recipe.
And I would strong recommend Joseph Kishore's "The Democratic Party politics of the 'Democratic Socialists of America'" at WSWS. And I'm going to provide an excerpt from Nick Barrickman's article:
However, the essentially pro-Democratic Party perspective of the event was provided by Tlaib, the main speaker. While the congresswoman made passing references to broader issues affecting the working class, stating “this isn’t about the undocumented immigrant community, this is about all of us” and calling the American deportation apparatus a “broken system,” her criticisms were framed within the jargon of establishment liberalism; calling merely for a “movement for accountability” for the border and immigration police.
Tlaib said she was also seeking to “humanize” ICE and Border Patrol agents, whom she said had “taken me aside [and whispered] to me” about the conditions at the border camps. “It’s also about them, the agents, who are tired of this,” she said, adding “I wanted to humanize them, even though some of them dehumanized me and other members of Congress on their Facebook page,” she said. Tlaib was referring to the “I’m 10-15” social media group in which agents had exchanged racist and fascist comments about immigrants and Democratic lawmakers.
Tlaib’s appeals for “accountability” and “more training” for agents who are inflicting gross human rights violations on migrants expose both the congresswoman and the DSA, a faction within the Democratic Party, as enablers of the right-wing and authoritarian policies of the Trump administration.
Only two days earlier, Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cast their votes in support of the Republican president’s two-year budget resolution, which granted a gargantuan $738 billion to the Pentagon’s war machine for the fiscal year beginning October 1. The sum was the largest amount for the military in US history. The bill also commits the Democratic Party to dropping any legislative effort to halt the building of Trump’s border wall.
When a reporter from the World Socialist Web Site asked Tlaib about her support for the Democratic Party, despite its record of deportations and votes to fund the fascistic ICE and border patrol agencies, the congresswoman became apoplectic.
Tlaib falsely claimed that she had not used the rally to call for support for the Democratic Party, before doing exactly that: “Let me tell you, that Democratic Party belongs to all of us. It’s like family [when] you have that one person who’s just out of control, but you outnumber them, well go outnumber them! Take over your party, sir!” she declared demagogically. “If you want to be independent, be independent, but I’m not ready to give up on the people’s party.”
If I could, I would post the entire article here. It's very important.
Tulsi Gabbard's latest ads are about protecting the Constitution (okay, fine), protecting free speech, fighting political correctness, and her military service. Girl, you sound like a Republican. Annoying. #TulsiGabbard
She has become annoying. Her refusal to take on Joe Biden Wednesday night and the excuses she's offered for him since make clear she cannot take on War Hawks or the War Party. It's been a bye-Felicia moment for Tulsi all week.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Friday:
Friday, August 2, 2019. Tulsi Gabbard holds Joe Biden's old man balls for him and much more.
In the US, the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues. 25 are vying for it, many of whom stand no chance.
US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, blew her chances on Wendesday night. Joe Biden's personal handmaiden made that clear in the debate but for those who are a little slow to pick up on reality, she clarified even more on Thursday. THE HILL reports:
Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) defended fellow White House contender Joe Biden after he addressed his record on the Iraq War, an issue that the former vice president faced criticism for during Wednesday’s presidential primary debate.
“He was wrong — he said he was wrong and he has apologized for it more than once,” Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, told Hill.TV on Thursday in response to why she wasn't more critical of Biden over the issue.
Vapid.
Let's all say a big f**k you to Tulsi because she's flipped everyone the bird.
She's not anti-war. She's a whore and she's an idiot.
"He was wrong and he said he was wrong."
What was he wrong about, Tulsi?
You want to play this game, let's play it but understand how it ends -- with you losing the election. I don't mean the presidential election, I mean the serious effort on the part of Democrats to defeat you and remove you from the House.
Tulsi is an idiot.
She served in Iraq and we would hope that meant she had some value or knowledge from that illegal war but the reality is she has none.
The reality is she knows nothing about Joe Biden's actions and is too damn stupid to realize how uninformed she is.
Tulsi has chosen to be Joe Biden's personal bitch. That's on her.
That choice demonstrates that she does not know how to hold the powerful accountable -- so much for fearless Tulsi, right? It demonstrates that she's an idiot.
Without any expertise or knowledge, she looks like a bigger joke onstage.
Tulsi never speaks of the Iraqi people, does she?
Irag's all about her and her 'brothers and sisters.' The Iraqi people?
F**k 'em seems to be Tulsi's take.
Iraq didn't invade the US. Iraq didn't attack the US. The US -- people like Tulsi -- went over and invaded Iraq.
Iraqis died and continue to die because of this war.
When does Tulsi take any responsibility for that?
She loves to glorify herself as a veteran but she has no sympathies for the Iraqi people.
She was a fake ass and she exposed herself -- at the debate and now to THE HILL.
Anyone still pinning their hopes on her losing campaign is kidding themselves.
In this community, last night's roundtable for the gina & krista roundrobin found Beth providing the results of Thursday's poll and, in this community, Tulsi's support has dried up. She's dead in the water and she better enjoy this moment of press attention. It'll last a few more days.
It won't do a damn thing to improve her standing. Remember, after the June debate, the same press covering Tulsi now was ignoring her. But they were pimping Julian Castro, he was now going to be a top tier candidate, this was going to put him on the map.
I was in New Hampshire speaking to various groups -- and these were left groups -- and the press had a hard on for Julian that the people didn't.
So after the press fussed and fawned over him for nearly two weeks, how high did he go up in the polling? Not at all.
Tulsi's yesterdays news and someone needs to toss her out with the rest of the garbage.
She is an apologist for War Makers and War Criminals -- I'm referring to Joe Biden, for example, but others refer to Bashar al-Assad. And Tulsi meets with him -- which is fine -- but has a hissy fit when asked about it.
Can someone explain to the little girl that when you run for public office you have to explain your actions? And can someone explain to her that you don't make a bold move if you're not up to explaining it?
If she really believed in what she did, instead of whining like a titty baby, she should welcome the opportunity to talk about it each time it's asked.
Instead, she wants to whine. Yesterday MSNBC was mean to her, before that it was GOOGLE and before that it was George on ABC's THIS WEEK and before that . . .
What a little cry baby. She lacks the maturity for leadership.
In this community, Tulsi's followers are supporting or examining Bernie Sanders (52%) and Elizabeth Warren (48%) -- that's Beth's polling with a 4.9% margin of error. So basically the community is deciding between those two -- the community members who were Tulsi followers. The community also includes Greens and independents and Socialist and Communists and a few Republicans. How they'll vote or if they'll vote was not determined by Beth's poll. She only surveyed those who had made clear in previous polling that they were supporting Tulsi.
Meanwhile in Iraq . . .
In the US, the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues. 25 are vying for it, many of whom stand no chance.
US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, blew her chances on Wendesday night. Joe Biden's personal handmaiden made that clear in the debate but for those who are a little slow to pick up on reality, she clarified even more on Thursday. THE HILL reports:
Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) defended fellow White House contender Joe Biden after he addressed his record on the Iraq War, an issue that the former vice president faced criticism for during Wednesday’s presidential primary debate.
“He was wrong — he said he was wrong and he has apologized for it more than once,” Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, told Hill.TV on Thursday in response to why she wasn't more critical of Biden over the issue.
Vapid.
Let's all say a big f**k you to Tulsi because she's flipped everyone the bird.
She's not anti-war. She's a whore and she's an idiot.
"He was wrong and he said he was wrong."
What was he wrong about, Tulsi?
You want to play this game, let's play it but understand how it ends -- with you losing the election. I don't mean the presidential election, I mean the serious effort on the part of Democrats to defeat you and remove you from the House.
Tulsi is an idiot.
She served in Iraq and we would hope that meant she had some value or knowledge from that illegal war but the reality is she has none.
The reality is she knows nothing about Joe Biden's actions and is too damn stupid to realize how uninformed she is.
Tulsi has chosen to be Joe Biden's personal bitch. That's on her.
That choice demonstrates that she does not know how to hold the powerful accountable -- so much for fearless Tulsi, right? It demonstrates that she's an idiot.
Without any expertise or knowledge, she looks like a bigger joke onstage.
Tulsi never speaks of the Iraqi people, does she?
Irag's all about her and her 'brothers and sisters.' The Iraqi people?
F**k 'em seems to be Tulsi's take.
Iraq didn't invade the US. Iraq didn't attack the US. The US -- people like Tulsi -- went over and invaded Iraq.
Iraqis died and continue to die because of this war.
When does Tulsi take any responsibility for that?
She loves to glorify herself as a veteran but she has no sympathies for the Iraqi people.
She was a fake ass and she exposed herself -- at the debate and now to THE HILL.
Anyone still pinning their hopes on her losing campaign is kidding themselves.
In this community, last night's roundtable for the gina & krista roundrobin found Beth providing the results of Thursday's poll and, in this community, Tulsi's support has dried up. She's dead in the water and she better enjoy this moment of press attention. It'll last a few more days.
It won't do a damn thing to improve her standing. Remember, after the June debate, the same press covering Tulsi now was ignoring her. But they were pimping Julian Castro, he was now going to be a top tier candidate, this was going to put him on the map.
I was in New Hampshire speaking to various groups -- and these were left groups -- and the press had a hard on for Julian that the people didn't.
So after the press fussed and fawned over him for nearly two weeks, how high did he go up in the polling? Not at all.
Tulsi's yesterdays news and someone needs to toss her out with the rest of the garbage.
She is an apologist for War Makers and War Criminals -- I'm referring to Joe Biden, for example, but others refer to Bashar al-Assad. And Tulsi meets with him -- which is fine -- but has a hissy fit when asked about it.
Can someone explain to the little girl that when you run for public office you have to explain your actions? And can someone explain to her that you don't make a bold move if you're not up to explaining it?
If she really believed in what she did, instead of whining like a titty baby, she should welcome the opportunity to talk about it each time it's asked.
Instead, she wants to whine. Yesterday MSNBC was mean to her, before that it was GOOGLE and before that it was George on ABC's THIS WEEK and before that . . .
What a little cry baby. She lacks the maturity for leadership.
In this community, Tulsi's followers are supporting or examining Bernie Sanders (52%) and Elizabeth Warren (48%) -- that's Beth's polling with a 4.9% margin of error. So basically the community is deciding between those two -- the community members who were Tulsi followers. The community also includes Greens and independents and Socialist and Communists and a few Republicans. How they'll vote or if they'll vote was not determined by Beth's poll. She only surveyed those who had made clear in previous polling that they were supporting Tulsi.
Meanwhile in Iraq . . .
Oil rich Iraq. Where the economy is dominated by oil and there are no jobs for engineers? Iraq which is a war torn country in need of rebuilding -- not just cities like Mosul but the entire infrastructure -- public works (sewage and gutters) repairs alone would save homes from damage from flooding -- not to mention cut down the numbers of deaths that come with the floods.
But there's no need for engineers? There's no jobs the Iraqi government can find or create for engineers?
The Iraq 'experiment' has been a failure.
At some point in the future, some neocon will float that as a reality but will pin it on the Iraqi people and say they just didn't want democracy enough or their values didn't merge with self-rule or some such nonsense.
Iraq is a failed nation.
That has nothing to do with the Iraqi people.
The corrupt government doesn't represent them and never has. That's why the puppet government that the US keeps trying to graft onto that country never takes hold.
It doesn't help that the US keeps choosing cowards who fled Iraq decades before to be prime minister. No one wants to be ruled by someone who fled the country. It especially doesn't help that when an election takes place, there's no effort to conceal the farce. 2010, Iraqis go to the polls and vote Nouri al-Maliki out and then Barack Obama and Joe Biden overturn their votes via The Erbil Agreement and Nouri gets a second term wherein he gives birth to ISIS via his thuggery.
Last month, Senator Chris Murphy insisted US troops must remain in Iraq and that the US must fix what they broke. Chris either doesn't understand reality or chooses to ignore it. The US government has never wanted to 'fix' Iraq. It's wanted to control the country. The US decision to give Nouri a second term gave Iraq ISIS. That's on the US government. The best thing the US could do would be to get out of Iraq and let the Iraqi people control their own destiny. That would, after all, be democracy but, despite being elected to Congress, our representatives don't seem to actually support democracy. Like the Founding Fathers who needed the Electoral College to control the American people, the representatives in both houses of Congress fear the will of the people and feel the need to 'manage' it.
We'll note this:
THE FACES BEHIND THE OIL AMERICA WENT TO WAR FOR
Photo report by David Bacon
Equal Times, July 5, 2019
Despite the geopolitical importance of Iraq's oil, and the central role that oil played in its invasion by a US-led coalition in March 2003, 16 years ago people in the US and Europe knew very little about the workers who made the world's second biggest oil industry function. In October 2003, the US photographer David Bacon went to Baghdad to learn how the occupation was affecting Iraq's workers and unions. At the Daura Oil Refinery and at other factories in Baghdad, he documented the lives of workers. In 2005 he returned to Iraq, this time to Basra, where he photographed and interviewed oil workers and the leaders of their union.
See the report in Equal Times at
https://www.equaltimes.org/the-faces-behind-the-oil-america?var_mode=recalcul#.XR8UAehKg2w
Equal Times is a trilingual (English, French and Spanish) global news and opinion website focusing on labour, human rights, culture, development, the environment, politics and the economy from a social justice perspective. Located in the heart of Europe, we are supported by the 200 million-member International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
The following sites updated:
