Thursday, May 27, 2010

My Favorite Lasagna

Okay so I am kind of a picky eater. Especially when it comes to Lasagna. This is because I grew up with a Mom that made the BEST Lasagna ever! She really does. I have tasted many Lasagna's and nothing compares to this one. It tastes healthier or fresher than most, at least I think I think so. My Grandpa Neal always wants my Mom to make this for him. A friend of mine said the other day that it was his favorite thing to eat. THIS Lasagna was his favorite thing to eat! And it is definitely up there on my list of favorites. The best part is...it is super easy to make! Give it a try... I know you will love it!

Here are the ingredients. Sorry it is kind of hard to see. Okay so they are 1 lb of Hamburger (pictured in the tin foil), Lasagna Noodles, an Egg, Cottage Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Tomato Paste, Stewed Tomatoes, and Thick and Zesty McCormick's Spaghetti Sauce Mix.

I forgot to take a picture of me frying the hamburger, but first cook the 1 lb of Hamburger on the stove. When it is good and brown remove it from heat and dump out the grease (sometimes I use a paper towel to just wipe it out). Now you get started on this next step! For this step you will need 1 can of Stewed Tomatoes, 1 can of Tomato Paste, 1 packet of McCormick's Spaghetti Sauce Mix, water, and a blender.

Open the cans and put in the paste, and stewed tomatoes. After dumping out the Tomato Paste fill the can 1 1/2 times with water. Add this to the blender. Add the Spaghetti Sauce packet and blend away! It should just take 30 seconds or less.


Then pour this into the pan with hamburger in it! And let it sit until you are done with the next step!

For the next part of this Lasagna you will need the Cottage Cheese, 2 cups of shredded Mozzarella, and an Egg.

Put all 3 into a medium sized bowl and mix it up with a fork.
Now you are ready to create the Lasagna. You need a 9x13 pan. Spray it with grease before you start adding the ingredients.

Pour 1/3 of the hamburger/tomato mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread it around until it is even.

Now you add a layer of UNCOOKED Lasagna noodles. Most people are shocked when they find out that I do not pre-cook the Lasagna noodles but you don't have to for this recipe. It's part of the reason this recipe is so easy! Like the picture shows...I use 3 full noodles and then I break off a little bit of the 4th noodle to get it to fit into the pan.

Now spread 1/2 of the cottage cheese mixture onto the noodles. And repeat! Do another layer of meat (use 1/2 of remaining mixture), then noodles, then cheese (use the rest of mixture).

And then you pour the remaining third of the meat/tomato mixture into the pan!

And then you top with about 1 cup of Mozzarella Cheese! Yum! Cover it with Tin Foil, put it in the oven at 350 degrees and bake it for about 50 minutes. After 50 minutes remove the Tin Foil and Bake it for another 10 minutes. So the total cooking time should equal 1 hour. (The Tin Foil part is very important because otherwise the top will cook too much!)

Doesn't it look good? It tastes great! I like to serve it with a green salad and French bread! It is delicious! Enjoy!

My Favorite Lasagna

Ingredients:

6 oz. can Tomato Paste
14.5 oz. can Stewed Tomatoes
1 lb. of Hamburger

1 packet of McCormick Spaghetti Sauce Mix (pictured below for easy reference)

McCormick Italian Style Spaghetti Sauce Mix Flavored with Mushrooms
16 oz container Cottage Cheese
3 cups of Mozzarella Cheese (grated)
1 box Lasagna Noodles
1 Egg
Tin Foil

Preparation Instructions:

Fry the hamburger on the stove. When brown turn off heat and set aside. (You can pour the grease out of the pan if you want to, I usually do.) Mix the tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, and the spaghetti sauce packet together in a blender. Add 1 1/2 tomato paste cans of water. Blend together. Pour over hamburger meat and mix together in frying pan. Set aside. Mix 2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese, the egg, and the cottage cheese together with a fork. Set aside. Grease a 9x13 pan. Pour 1/3 of hamburger mixture into pan. Put 1 layer of UNCOOKED lasagna noodles on top of hamburger mixture. Put 1/2 of cheese mixture on top of lasagna noodles. Repeat each of these steps once. Put remaining 1/3 of hamburger mixture on top of the last layer of cheese. Put 1 cup of remaining mozzarella cheese on top of hamburger mixture. Cover with tin foil. Cook it in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. After 50 minutes, remove tin foil and cook for another 10 minutes. Enjoy!

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