My house is hot as hell right now because I’m making a pan of Pioneer Woman lasagna on a 90-degree day. I’ve got a niece and nephew coming up from Florida in a couple of days, and they love this stuff (I sent the recipe down to the in-laws, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive), so I’m making it for them…and for me. I haven’t had any in a couple of months now and I really miss it, even in the heat of summer. It’s that good.

It sure doesn’t look like it would be that good. This is Betty Crocker 1950s cookbook Italian-American cooking: No fresh herbs, a tube of breakfast sausage, tomato paste and canned tomatoes instead of fresh ones, and cheeses that will cause your Italian friends to consider an intervention: Sliced deli mozzarella instead of the good fresh stuff, cottage cheese instead of ricotta, and freakin’ stinky-foot shake parmesan cheese instead of fresh grated parmesan. And it’s only two layers thick. And it’s got enough meat in it (2.5 pounds) to overwhelm an army, plus almost three pounds of cheese. You can get a good arm workout just lifting the pan.

But trust me: Follow the recipe. I’ve subbed in fresh mozz, ricotta and hot Italian sausage in the recipe, and guess what? The original is better. Your cultured friends will snub you, and you’ll want to do it the ‘authentic’ way, but you’ll know the truth in your heart of hearts.

And after you’ve made it and hated yourself for loving it, try this recipe as well (again, way better when the weather’s not hot): Pioneer Woman Pot Roast. I’ve never been a big pot roast guy — my mother’s pot roast tasted mostly like the pot — but I’ve come around over the years, thanks first to the Dixie Cafe pot roast and then because of this recipe. I think you’ll love it as well.

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P.S. to Mom: Look, you’ve been gone almost 20 years. I should be able to speak this truth: We all miss you terribly and we all hated your pot roast. There, I said it.