My 1st Ever Lasagna!

Is it pathetic to admit that at 27 years old, I finally mustered up the courage to make my first lasagna??  For some reason, the many layers always seemed so daunting to me, but when I finally tried my hand at it this past week, it wasn’t hard at all!  I found a good recipe and followed it to the tee.  It turned out delicious and tasted even better the next day!  My husband and I happily gobbled it up for 3 days straight.

The sauce is also from scratch, though some lasagna recipes call for store bought spaghetti sauce to cut down on the prep time.  I think this sauce really made the recipe, and I plan to use it for many future pasta dishes, not just spaghetti!  It makes a really great stand alone meat sauce.  Eat up and Enjoy!

*Note: I doubled the sauce called for in the original recipe and still used ALL of it.  So I have double the ingredients here that the original recipe suggested.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
• 1 (28 ounce) can of crushed or diced tomatoes
• 4 cups water
• 2 TBSP dried oregano
• 4 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 TBSP white sugar

• 12 ounces cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg

• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook meat until brown.  Drain.
2. In another skillet over medium heat, cook onions until translucent.
3. Combine beef and onion in a large saucepan with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sugar.  Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil.  Then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
4. While sauce is simmering, blend cottage cheese, parmesan, and egg until smooth.  Set aside.
5. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook for another 8-10 minutes until al dente.  Drain.  Set pasta side by side on foil or parchment paper so it doesn’t stick together.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Spread 1/4 of the sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish.  Cover sauce with 3 noodles.  Cover noodles with another 1/4 of the sauce.  Top with half the mozzarella.  Place another layer of 3 noodles over the mozzarella.  Spread another 1/4 of the sauce.  Top with the cottage cheese mixture.  Top with remaining 3 noodles and the rest of the sauce.
8. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top and bake uncovered for 15 minutes more, until golden and bubbly.

Calories: 473 per serving.

Recipe from: Linda’s Lasagna Recipe from AllRecipes.

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