Lasagna

Lasagna has to be my family's favorite dish. Over the years I've used the knowledge my mother gave to me, and tweaked it a little to fit the finickiest member of my family.

This recipe feeds my family of 5 with leftovers. (no leftovers when my son's best friend comes over, conveniently at meal time).

Starting with the cheese mixture

Cheese Mixture

2 cups parmesan cheese
2 cups romano cheese
2 cups mozzerella cheese
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground parsely
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground basil
1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped as fine as you like it

Mix in a large bowl. I find that an old-fashioned potato masher works great for this, and it's fun for the kids too if they like to help. Refrigerate while going on to the next step.

Meat Mixture

1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or more if you like garlic)
1 teaspoon olive oil (more if the ground beef is lower fat content)
1 teaspoon pepper

Place all meat mixture ingredients into a skillet and brown beef thoroughly. Using a spatula to stir, break up any large chunks into tiny pieces. You want the pieces small so it will spread evenly in the lasagna

Tomato Sauce

If you find you would rather skip this part, that's fine... Occasionally I discover jarred or canned spagetti sauce on sale and I snap them up as often as I can. However, lately those days are few and far between. So here's a simple recipe for the sauce.

2 twelve ounce cans tomato sauce
2 ten ounce cans diced tomatoes, drained well
1 diced bell pepper
1/2 diced onion
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon ground parsely
1 basil leaf or 1/2 teaspoon ground basil
1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Add all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Turn heat to low and simmer until desired consistency, stirring occasionally.

Lasagna Noodles

Follow directions on the box... Different brands have different ways of cooking...
Personally, I find that the noodles you don't have to cook work just fine, even if it's not as frugal as I would like. But for the sake of time (which is also precious) it's what I do.

Now for the Fun Part... Assembly

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Spread a small amount of the sauce on the bottom of a large lasagna pan or casserole dish. Make sure it covers the entire bottom of the pan.

Place a layer of the noodles over that.
Spread a layer of the meat mixture over that.
Spread a layer of sauce over that.
Spread a layer of cheese mixture over that.
Place a layer of noodles over that
Repeat until you are out of ingredients, ending with sauce on the top layer, with a layer of Mozzerella cheese on the very top.

Cook for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve with garlic bread and a salad, and you have a yummy, filling meal.