Lasagna Recipe *Edited*

Hi all

I have had a few people ask my for my lasagna recipe, so here it is! This recipe makes two large lasagnas, one to eat tonight and one to freeze for a later date :)

To start with, you need to make a tasty sauce. You will need:

1 package of lean ground beef

2 hot italian sausages (out of their casings)

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped up finely

1 small zucchini (chopped up into small pieces so that your picky eaters don't notice it is in the sauce)

4-5 roma tomatoes or a small can of diced tomatoes

2 large cans of plain tomato sauce (the kind with no seasoning)

*You need to use a lot of sauce because you want the sauce to be on the thin side, so that it cooks the noodles later on*

italian spice mix, oregano, hot pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste

pinch of sugar

Begin by sauteing the chopped onion is a small amount of olive oil. Cook until soft. Remove onion from pan and add in ground beef and sausages. Brown meat until it is cooked. *I know that some people brown their meat with the onions, but this is a bad idea because when you drain off the fat from the meat and onion mixture, you loose the onion flavour as well*. Once the meat has cooked, drain of most of the fat and add in: the cooked onions, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, both cans of sauce and season well with all of the spices. Add in the pinch of sugar at this time. Don't add the garlic to the onions because you don't want it to burn when you cook the onions and it will cook while you simmer the sauce.

Stir and simmer for a few hours on low. When you think it is done, TASTE it and re-season if you need to.

The other ingredients you need are:

2 boxes of lasanga noodles - I use the oven-ready ones, they are so easy to use

1 large and 1 small container of cottage cheese (I use 1%)

1 egg

a large chunk of mozzarella cheese

parmesan cheese

1 package of frozen spinach

To make the cheese layer, combine all of the cottage cheese, the mozzarella and the egg. At this time, you need to squeeze out the excess water from the spinach but don't add it to the cheese mixture!

**Edited section here** When making the cheese mixture, give your black lab the cottage cheese containers to lick out. This will entertain your baby to no end and greatly pleases your black lab**

To assemble:

1. Put a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of each dish

2. Cover the sauce with one layer of noodles

3. Spread a layer of spinach over the noodles

4. Cover the spinach with the cheese mixture (half in each pan) and spread it out evenly

5. Cover the cheese with noodles

6. Add another layer of sauce

7. Add another layer of noodles

8. Add a thin layer of sauce and cover the sauce with a generous amount of parmesan cheese

Bake, covered with foil, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, uncover and cook for another 15 minutes. This is an important step taught to me by my mom - be patient and let the lasagna sit for at least 10 minutes once you take it out of the oven! This lets it all set up nicely.

Enjoy!

E