Lasagna

Lasagna

What do you think of when you hear 

Lasagna

Warm, gooey, cheese

Tomato sauce goodness

Baked and bubbly
All of the above?

Us too.

You could cheat and use a jar of sauce

but with just a little time

you can get some delicious 

homemade sauce.

Start with some onion, garlic,

and sausage.

Yes, we know many people use ground beef,

but we find that using sausage 

just gives it a little more flavor. 

We use regular Jimmy Dean, 

but you could use Italian sausage instead.

A little tip we found on the internet 

about peeling your garlic:

Take as many cloves of garlic as you like.

Put them in a mixing bowl.

Then turn another mixing bowl upside down on top.

So now you have a "dome" 

with unpeeled cloves of garlic in it.

Pick up your "garlic dome" and shake it.

Shake it hard.

Shake, shake, shake!

Open your garlic dome.

Presto!

Peeled garlic cloves!

Brown the sausage, onions and those awesome garlic cloves.
(You'll probably want to mince the garlic first!) 

Now time to add the tomatoey goodness.

Is that a word?

Tomatoey?

We know you could can your own tomatoes,

make your own paste and sauce.

But seriously who has time to do that.

Not us!

So this is what we use.

Dump in the whole tomatoes.

Chop them up.

We use this great Pampered Chef chopper.

Works great to chop up the sausage too.

 

 Add the can of sauce and paste.

 

And seasonings.

While it is cooking get your cheese filling ready.

And don't forget to cook your lasagna noodles.

Just follow the directions on the box.

Ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella cheese.

 Look good yet?

How about now?

The sauce is ready!

  

And it looks good!

Time to start layering your sauce, noodles, and filling.

We always start with a little sauce 

on the bottom of the casserole dish.

Put a layer of lasagna noodles on top of the sauce.

Then the cheese filling.

More sauce.

 Repeat a few more times.

End up with sauce as the last item.

 Sprinkle some mozzarella on top 

and bake!

Lasagna

1 pound Jimmy Dean sausage
1 onion, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

42 oz. can whole tomatoes
15 oz. tomato sauce
12 oz. tomato paste
2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 tsp. salt

 8 oz. of lasagna noodles
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups Ricotta cheese (we use part skim)
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded to sprinkle on top


Cook the sausage, onion, and garlic
until the sausage is done.
Drain grease.

Add in the whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste.
 Break up the whole tomatoes.
Add the basil, oregano, and salt. 
Stir well.

Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Cook the lasagna noodles
according to the directions on the box.
Drain.

Mix together the eggs, Ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, salt,pepper, 
and 1 pound of mozzarella cheese.


Put a small amount of sauce in the bottom
of a greased 9 x 13" casserole dish.
Then layer noodles,
cheese mixture,
sauce.
Repeat until you have used all of the items.
Finishing with sauce on the top.
Sprinkle the 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese on top.

Bake in a 375 degree oven 
for about 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove from the oven.
Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

Add a fresh garden salad and garlic bread
and 
instantly you are transported 
to a garden patio in a villa in Italy 
eating a delicious meal.
Not really, but sounds good.

Enjoy!