Lita and Ma's Lasagna

Tonight for dinner I made a well-loved favorite back home and my college housemates love it as well! Everyone who has tried it has had nothing but good things to say about it. Instead of using Ricotta Cheese like most people do, my mom and I like to use Cottage Cheese because it's less fattening AND it gives the lasagna a sweeter taste (which is always a bonus for me. I have a terrible sweet tooth)!

1/2 a box of Lasagna

1 pkg of Shredded Mozzarella

1/2 cup of Parmesan Cheese grated (or you can use 1 pkg of shredded parm)

1/4 lb of ground beef (or you can use chicken)

1 (24 oz) container of Cottage Cheese

1 jar of Francesco Rinaldi's Tomato Sauce (they have a wide variety of flavors but my mom and I use either Original or Three Cheese)

Parsley

Black Pepper

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Thaw out any meat that you are using BEFORE you start cooking everything! Running frozen meat under hot water for 10 minutes usually helps speed up the process.

Fill a Soup/Stock Pot about halfway with water and bring to a hard boil. Then place Lasagna noodles into the pot (Add a little olive oil to help the noodles from sticking to each other).

In a large bowl, combine your three cheeses (use only ½ of the mozzarella pkg. You’ll need the rest for the topping) and spices. Stir so that everything is evenly distributed throughout the mix. Set aside.

While noodles are boiling, spray cooking spray onto a frying pan and place meat inside to start browning and breaking off into smaller chunks (so it can be spread out throughout the dish). You can add spices (black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, etc.) if you like but most of the time my mom and I just let the sauce flavor the meat while the lasagna bakes in the oven. The meat doesn’t have to be completely brown (if there is some pink in the middle that’s ok!) because it’ll cook more in the oven. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven at 375.

Once noodles are done drain with a colander. Spray with cooking spray an 8x12 glassware pan, (or you can spread a thin, even coat of olive oil). Using a spoon spread a thin layer of Rinaldi’s sauce in the bottom of the pan. Put three noodles in the bottom of the pan (long ways). Take a small amount of your cheese mixture and spread it along each noodle (doesn’t have to be even. The cheese mix is hard to work with so do the best you can. Add a small amount of sauce then cover with three more noodles. Press gently down onto the noodles. Add a thin layer of sauce. Then add your meat. Continue alternating the layers until you have three noodles left for the top.

For topping your lasagna, cover with leftover sauce (if you have more than ½ of the jar left just use enough to make sure the top is covered). Sprinkle with leftover mozzarella and shake some parmesan cheese on top as well. Then use leftover meat to spread over the top layer. Wrap with aluminum foil and Bake in the oven for about 35-45 minutes (keep an eye on it though just in case).

*Tip! If you have sensitive fingers like I do, when working with the lasagna noodles run them under cold water for about 10 seconds before adding a new layer. That way you don’t burn your fingers too badly. Enjoy and if you have any questions, feel free to ask! :) As always, feel free to share the recipe with other people that love cooking.