Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Hearty Lasagna

Hearty Lasagna: 8+ servings for the Price of 1 Frozen Feast...
1.5 lbs Ground Beef
(2) 26 oz cans Tomato Sauce (or 2 cans Hunts Four Cheese Pasta Sauce)
16 oz Ricotta Cheese
2-3 cups Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Eggs
1 Yellow Onion, chopped (optional if you just hate onions!)
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Garlic Powder + 1/2 tsp for Sauce
Salt
Pepper
4 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Parsley Flakes (Plus some for garnishing) :
1 lb Lasagna Noodles*
* (Gluten Free/ Quinoa Pasta great also!)

What do I do now?!
Step 1A: Start browning the Ground Beef and chopped onions in a large sauce pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper while cooking.
Step 1B: Start a large pot of water (with a pinch of salt) to boil the Noodles. When the water is
ready, cook the noodles until they are al-dente (do not completely boil or your lasagna will be mush. And nobody wants to be served meaty mush....at least I hope not!) Let the pasta chill, but be sure to drizzle slightly with olive oil so they do not stick together... would be an epic disaster!

Step 2: In a large mixing bowl, mix the ricotta, parmesan cheese, eggs, italian seasoning, parsley flakes, and 1 tsp garlic powder (this is the "glue" of the dish)

Step 3: Add the sauce to the browned meat, along with the bay leaves, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and some italian seasoning (about 1 tsp). Cover, lower heat to simmer, and walk away. Have a beer... watch the news.. set and alarm for 45min to an hour and nap...

Step 4: Remove the bay leaves from the sauce. In a 9X13" baking dish, ladle about 2/3 cup of
sauce into the bottom of the baking dish. This will prevent the pasta from burning on the bottom--another disaster would prevail! Lay down 4 noodles across the dish... yes there is a space on on side, so lay one noodle across that space, and alternate this side as you layer up. Now, spoon a ladle of sauce, top with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, top with noodles. Spread a good amount of the ricotta mixture over this layer of noodles, repeat sauce, cheese, more noodles, ricotta..etc. Press the past down with your hands before the ricotta to adhere all layers. The last layer will be close to over flowing, so just do noodles, sauce, mozzarella. This pasta will rise slightly in the over, so by placing a baking sheet on the lower rack, you can catch
any drippings. Cover the lasagna with foil, and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Step 5: Remove foil, and top with some extra mozzarella, let this cook 5 more minutes. remove and let chill for 15 mins at least, otherwise you will again have a mess when you go to cut! There will be extra sauce, and this is great to serve with the lasagna! --OR-- Make the




Ultimate Garlic Bread see past blogs and dip that into the sauce! WHOAH! Delicious!!!!


It's not difficult. Seriously. And this recipe is about $15 but serves up to 14
servings! AKA a little less that a dollar a meal! Hello savings!

Check out some of the sweet advertisements on the site. They are relative to cooking as well, and can help you save by providing coupons. No joke. Those are good too ;)

Email me or comment! Let me know what you're in the mood for!!!


XOXO,

Aimee

2 comments:

  1. YAY food with no sugar!!! You should add a diabetic "did you know" to the front of your sugary recipes like you do for vegitarians... afterall:
    diabetics > vegitarians

    ReplyDelete
  2. lol you make fun of me but honey, VEGETARIAN ;) Kisses from Utah! I tried to fix my typos ps...but a had 10 cups of coffee and im shaking.... Opps! haha Yay for yummy food!!!!

    ReplyDelete

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