You may or may not know this about me but I love Italian food! And not just a little bit, but a lot, as in I could eat it every meal of every day. Maybe it’s the pasta or pizza or just plain carbs, who knows, but it’s my favorite. That’s why when I was given this recipe, I thought I needed to make it STAT!
Unfortunately, I needed to go to the store to get some of the items first. I try not to keep lots of pasta and sauces at home or I will make it for every meal… not necessarily a bad thing just not so good for my waistline.
So for this recipe you will need:
2 lbs hamburger
1 lb mild or hot Italian sausage depending on your preference
Half a package of lasagna noodles
1 large jar of your choice of spaghetti sauce (or just a large can of tomato sauce)
2 Tbsp chopped dried onions
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Italian Seasoning
1-2 lb bag Cheddar Cheese
1-2 lb bag Colby Jack Cheese
Optional – Cottage Cheese 1 1/2-2 cups
First things first, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Now grab a pot to boil some water for your noodles. To make it easier, I broke 12 of them in half so I could use a smaller pan. You shouldn’t need more than 10 noodles but I always make 2-3 extra in case they break or turn out funny. Wait for your water to boil and then cook your noodles according to your package directions, mine were about 12 minutes. Then drain and let them cool a little so you can pick them up (or if you’re impatient like me, use a pair of tongs to seperate them and pick them up).
NOTE: Make sure you stir them once or twice or they’ll stick together and when you try to peel them apart, they’re tear and you won’t be able to layer them very well!
As you’re waiting for your water to boil and your noodles to cook, start browning your hamburger and Italian sausage. You can cook them in batches or all together if your pan is big enough. Once it’s all browned, drain the grease off.
Now this pan wasn’t big enough to add the sauce and not over flow so I transferred the meat to my big soup pot and then poured the tomato sauce over it. One jar is usually enough but if you want to make a little more sauce, just add some more. Add your spices to your meat and sauce mixer. I used about 1/2 of the McCormick Italian Seasoning .62 oz bottle or about 4-5 Tbsp, 1 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp onion powder and 2 Tbsp dried onions but it’s completely up to you. Then, bring your sauce to a boil. Once it starts to boil, turn your burner to low and let it simmer about 20 minutes. Make sure you stir is occasionally. Not only does this help make sure it doesn’t burn but it also gives you a chance to taste it to see if it needs more spices. If it’s to spicy, you can add more tomato sauce. If it’s not spicy enough, add some spices. And if it’s to tomatoy, add a little brown sugar, it’s random I know, but it works to make it not so tomato tasting!
I forgot to take a picture of my pot of simmering goodness… I think I was daydreaming about Italy or something.
After your done simmering, if you’re going to use cottage cheese (which I recommend, I just forgot to get some from the store), remove your pan from the heat and add it to your sauce.
And now that your noodles are cooked and drained, your meat sauce perfect for your taste, and your cheese ready to become ooey gooey, you can start your layering.
Start with your noodles in a greased 9×13 pan. I layered mine like this so I didn’t have a gap in the middle:
And yes, there is already a layer under there, I told you I was excited to make this and forgot I was supposed to be taking pictures…
After your pasta, spread on your meat sauce.
Then your cheese. Now it’s completely up to you how much cheese you put on. I really like cheese so I used about 1 1/2 -2 cups of cheese per layer. You can alternate layers of cheddar and colby jack or combine them each layer like so:
Continue to layer until you’ve reached the top. Usually I get about 3 layers out of it. Just make sure to end with your cheese!
Now that your oven is all nice and preheated, bake your lasagna uncovered for 30 minutes and you should get something that looks like this:
Doesn’t it look delicious?? And it smelled so good!
You know you want a close up of all the cheesy goodness so just for you, I got a picture –
Yummmmmm.
You may want to let it sit for a little bit, maybe 10-15 minutes to let your sauce settle a little or it may still be a little runny. But if you’re going to taste and not looks, dig in!
It’s ridiculously hot though (as proof by the steam coming from the top!) so be careful!
And if you’re really in the carb eating, I mean, the full Italian dinner mode, you can serve it with some garlic bread.
AND if you want to be healthier, you can add a salad 🙂
I would say this recipe was a definite success and one I will surely be making again!!
Angel Food N Fun 