Meaty, Cheesy Homemade Lasagna

Hey everyone! Today's post is one that is time consuming but totally worth it. Our friends, Jorge and Tricia, have been coming over this summer to try my new recipes. It has been so much fun and I am so thankful for their friendship. Good times....Anyway onto the recipe...this was the first of many meals I have made and will be making this summer. I had a blast making it and will make it again. I got it from my Pioneer Woman cookbook and when I saw it I knew it was a must have. Another thing that is so great about it is that you can assemble it and freeze until ready to bake. So if you are in the mood for amore you will fall in love with this...all it takes is one bite of this cheesy goodness and you will be sold.

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Salt
10 Oz. lasagna noodles
1 Lb. mozzarella Cheese
1 1/2 Lbs. hamburger
1 Lb. hot breakfast sausage
4 Finely chopped garlic cloves
2 14.5-Ounce cans whole tomatoes
2 6-Oz. cans tomato paste
Freshly ground black pepper
10-12 Basil Leaves
1/4 Cup flat-leaf parsley
3 Cups low fat cottage cheese (I used ricotta cheese)
2 Beaten eggs
1 Cup grated parmesan cheese

Begin by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees
Now you can kind of do this recipe in a few different orders. In my cookbook it said to make the noodles and then make your sausage mixture; however, I decided to make the sausage mixture first so here it goes....

Grab a large skillet and combine your hamburger, hot sausage, and garlic cook until brown. You should be able to get this done over medium heat. When done drain off fat.


Wipe skillet clean and place meat back into it. Add tomatoes(with juice), tomato paste, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir together and let simmer, uncovered, for about 45 min. I would recommend stirring occasionally just to make sure everything is getting cooked properly.


While this simmers, cut up some flat-leaf parsley and fresh basil. Add about half to the meat mixture.


Stir it all together and it should begin to look very yummy. Once done just set aside.


At this point it would be a good time to grate all your cheeses and have them ready.


In a medium sized bowl combing the cottage or ricotta cheese. Personally, I cannot handle cottage cheese which is why I substituted it for ricotta which is a great alternative but if you love it go for it! So before I went on my cottage cheese rant, I was saying that you add that, eggs, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, and the other half of the herbs.


Stir together well and all that is left is for you to make your noodles.


Simply get a large pot of water and add olive oil and a dash of salt. Allow to come to a boil and cook noodles until al dente (which basically means still a tad soft) I learned that from Italian cook Giada from the Food Network. Funny what you can learn from t.v...


When done drain the noodles and lay them on a plate covered with foil. Now all you have to do is assemble and cook! Take a deep rectangular pan. I used a 13 X 9 and it was perfect but whatever you think will work. Be sure and spray with PAM so that your lasagna does not stick. Place 4 noodles on the bottom of the pan. It is ok if they overlap. Then spread half of your cottage(ricotta) cheese mixture on top.


Sprinkle half of the mozzarella on top...It is beginning to look wonderful!!!


The last step is to add half of the meat mixture and then repeat beginning with the noodles...When everything is assembled the last thing to do is to add the other half of the parmesan on top... it should look like this...


Stick into the oven for about 35-45 min. The lasagna should be bubbly and a wonderful aroma should be coming from your oven. Allow to cool about 10 min. before serving.

When it is all said and done the finished product should make your mouth water.


OH MY GOODNESS.... this is so incredibly sensational. I also made some garlic bread which I was going to post the link for if you wanted to make it but the reason I am not posting it is because it was not very good. If you are really curious I believe it was called "Gotta Have it Garlic Bread" from Aaron McCargo Jr. However, I could not find the recipe online to post and it simply was not good enough to type out.


Oh man...


Enjoy and I know you will have love at first bite! Lots of amore from the Splendid Kitchen! See yall later!

Printable Directions:
Note that these printable directions are slightly different but all in all essentially the same especially since they are made by the Pioneer Woman too.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_lasagn/