Lasagna

I made a lasagna for dinner on Tuesday night. I made a huge one so that we'd have plenty of leftovers - I froze a couple dinners' worth, plus had lunches for Kevin all week, and thought I had some for dinner during the week, too (but I ended up not being able to eat it b/c I came down with the flu). I never follow a recipe when I make lasagna and I don't think I ever make it exactly the same way twice. I'll try to write down what I did this week and make notes of things that I change up.

Lasagna

1 box lasagna noodles
1 container ricotta cheese
1 container cottage cheese
1 egg
parmesan cheese
2 jars pasta sauce (homemade, favorite store-bought, etc.)
1 pound ground meat (turkey, chicken, lamb, beef)
any veggies you have on hand, frozen or fresh
shredded mozzarella

I never boil my noodles first, but if you feel better by doing so then go for it.

Brown your ground meat, drain grease if necessary, and add pasta sauce.

Mix the ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, egg, and parmesan cheese in a bowl. You don't have to use both ricotta and cottage cheese, but I usually do because Kevin doesn't care for ricotta and I don't care for just cottage cheese - and we both seem to do ok when they're mixed. I just eye-ball the parmesan cheese, but I bet its about a cup.

Begin by spraying your pan/baking dish with cooking spray (I usually use a 9x13 baking dish or my huge enameled cast-iron lasagna pan - I used the lasagna pan this time). Then spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of your pan. Put down a layer of noodles. Next spread some of the cheese mixture on top of the noodles - probably about half of it on this layer. Next layer on some veggies - I have used spinach (usually a staple in my lasagnas), zucchini, summer squash, carrots, broccoli, peas, cauliflower, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, celery, etc. Top the veggies with about a little less than a third of the meat sauce. I then sprinkle on a little parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. Repeat all of these steps again. After repeating the steps again, top the mozzarella/parmesan cheese with another layer of noodles. Spread remaining meat sauce on top of the noodles. You can then drop some more spinach on top of the sauce, or skip this and top with lots of mozzarella cheese and sprinkle some more parmesan on top of the mozzarella.

I know, its totally NOT healthy, but its so good! :)