Lasagna

Tonight we had some dinner guests over. Whenever we’re having company it takes me awhile to decide what I want to make. I took a look in my pantry to see what I had in there. I saw that I had almost all the ingredients for lasagna. Lasagna is something I like to make when we have guests because it makes so much. That way we don’t have a ton of leftovers. Even with guests we have some for lunch tomorrow.

Now I am pretty picky when it comes to lasagna. I’m a ricotta cheese snob!  If you want to switch this recipe out to use cottage cheese you can, just don’t tell me you did. 😉

This lasagna is based on my mom’s recipe with a few additions. I personally think it’s the best lasagna out there, but I could be biased.

Tonight I added spinach to the recipe, because I love to hide” good for you” ingredients in recipes that my kids won’t notice it in. It’s not in the original recipe, but you will see it in the pictures.

Tonight I paired the lasagna with green beans, and of course garlic toast.  You have to have garlic toast with lasagna, it wouldn’t be right to not.

So if you see this recipe and it looks like something you might like, try it out and let me know what you thought.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 6 oz. cans of tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder (I always add a little more, I love garlic)
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
•  1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 16 oz. container of ricotta cheese
• 8 lasagna noodles, cooked
• 4 cups mozzarella cheese (divided)
• Shredded Parmesan cheese (Optional)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease a 13X9 baking pan.
2. Brown ground beef with the chopped onion in a sauce pan.
3. Add the salt, garlic powder, basil, rosemary, oregano, and pepper.
4. Add the 2 cans of tomato paste and water. Mix until combined. Simmer until ready to use.
5. Boil water and cook lasagna noodles according to package. Set aside.
6. Whisk an egg with parsley together. Add the ricotta cheese and grated parmesan cheese. Mix until combined. Set aside.
7. Lay four cooked noodles on the bottom of the greased pan.
8. Pour half the tomato mixture over the noodles.
9. Spoon the ricotta cheese mixture over the tomato layer and spread it out.
10. Sprinkle about 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella cheese on the ricotta mixture.
11. Add desired amount of shredded parmesan cheese over the mozzarella cheese. (optional)
12. Add the remaining 4 cooked noodles.
13. Spread the remaining tomato mixture over the noodles.
14. Top with 2 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese and a little more shredded parmesan.
15. Cook for 60 minutes. If the cheese starts to get too dark, cover with tin foil.
16. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes before you cut into it.

Enjoy!