Columbus

I really liked this , one thing for me is I found it to be a bit dry but that's probably my fault since I didn't freeze it but I baked it twice! I personally would do this again with egg substitute and without baking it to firm up the tofu at the beginning.

After reading the reviews, I decided that I must make this and see how it turned out. The only substitution in the beginning was to double the chicken broth because I didn't have any wine on hand and use tomato paste instead of sauce. I did saute the Holy Trinity and garlic in the bacon grease and olive oil because that is essential in releasing the flavors of the carrots, onions and celery. The sliced mushrooms were mixed in with the ground beef as it browned. I repeatedly tasted the sauce as it was cooking and found that it lacked something. I added 3 additional whole cloves of garlic and a couple of beef bouillon cubes and it was still missing something. Salt, garlic powder, two chicken bouillon cubes and it was still off. Finally added about a 1/4 to a 1/3 cup of sugar in order stave off some of the bitterness and it was just what the sauce needed. I also let the sauce simmer for about 4 hours to help the flavors to develop. To finish it off, I added 1/4 cup of milk and fresh grated Parmesan cheese. My kids raved and I enjoyed the finished product. However, when making this, you must continually taste the sauce to see how it is progressing and make adjustments as necessary. Thank you for the good base for our dinner tonight.

I've been looking for a better pesto recipe for a while and think I've found it in this one. My modifications were using walnuts instead of pine nuts for cost reasons. And toasting the garlic to remove the fresh garlic bite. Love the addition of the lemon zest & juice.