Lasagna

Lasagna can be tricky to make, at least for me.  And by tricky, I mean it never tastes as good as I think it should for all the work put into making and assembling the dish.  Well rest easy, because this recipe is not only reasonably quick to put together, but it also tastes delicious.  The photo above is of the leftovers the following day and it was almost more delicious than the first day. {Possibly because I only had to heat up the microwave?}  I gave myself a break this time around and used pre-made spaghetti sauce. I hope you give it a try!  Next time I'm making one for the freezer.

Lasagna
recipe by Stella B's Kitchen
printer friendly version

{This recipe was made in a glass 8.5 x 10.5 x 2.5 inch baking dish}

1/2 pound lean pork sausage with sage (use ground beef if you prefer)
1/4 bell pepper, chopped fine
1/2 small onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces button mushrooms, chopped fine
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp dried oregano

8 lasagna noodles, cooked per package instructions

24 ounces of your favorite spaghetti sauce

1 cup small curd cottage cheese, 1% milk fat
1 egg, beaten
1/2 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

8 ounces shredded mozzarella or pizza cheese blend

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter or oil baking dish.  Cook, drain and rinse lasagna noodles.  Rinse gently in cool water to prevent noodles from sticking to one another.  Cook pork (and do use a good quality pork sausage, your favorite kind) with bell pepper, onion, garlic, mushrooms, Italian seasoning and oregano until no longer pink and vegetables are soft.  Drain off excess grease if necessary.  Add spaghetti sauce and heat through.

In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg, parsley, pepper and Parmesan cheese.

Begin by spreading 1/2 cup or so of meat sauce in bottom of baking dish.  Layer four noodles, overlapping to fit all four across the bottom of the dish.  Top noodles with half the meat sauce. Next, dot with half the cottage cheese mixture, then half the shredded cheese.  Repeat with one more layer of 4 noodles, remaining meat sauce, remaining cottage cheese mixture, then finally the remaining shredded cheese.  Cover with foil or tent so foil is not touching the lasagna.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until bubbling around the sides and some in the middle.  Remove foil and bake 5-10 more minutes until cheese just begins to brown and bubble.  

Let rest for a few minutes before cutting.  

For more pasta-and-sauce dinner ideas, try these:

Baked Rigatoni with Sausage and Spinach

Goulash

Bolognese Sauce

Spaghetti Hotdish

Easy Marinara Sauce or Cream Sauce

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