a note from me ...
Homemade lasagna is near and dear to my heart. I consider it one of my specialties, and it was the first meal I ever cooked for my husband (who was my boyfriend at the time). Almost 10 years later I still love making this recipe for us, especially over the weekends, because everyone knows lasagna is one of those meals that is just as good if not better the next day.
As you all know because of COVID-19 we have all been staying home and social distancing. I was trying to limit our grocery store trips and ordering out, and we had leftover sloppy joe meat, so I thought it would be a great idea to make us lasagna and use the sloppy joe leftovers as the meat for the lasagna.
I also used oven ready lasagna noodles that do not need to be boiled first. This plus using leftover sloppy joe meat cut the prep time in half – otherwise boiling the noodles and browning meat usually takes at least 20 – 30 mins.
You can also not use any meat for this recipe, and it would be a vegetarian cheese lasagna that is also delicious.
Check out the recipe below with a step-by-step pictorial from my Instastories – I screenshot these from the video clips I had posted live while making the lasagna last week.
INGREDIENTS
MAKES 8-11 SERVINGS
prep time: 15 mins
cook time: 50 mins
total time: 1hr 5mins
1 1/2 Packages of Oven Ready Lasagna (or cooked lasagna noodles)
1 (15 oz) container of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
4 cups (1 lb) mozzarella cheese, divided
salt *
pepper *
italian seasoning *
2 (26 oz) jars of pasta sauce
1 lb ground beef ** – cooked, drained, and crumbled
* to taste
** optional
STEP 1:
Preheat oven to 350°F
In a medium size bowl (or pot). combine ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, eggs, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, salt, pepper. and italian seasoning.
Step 2:
In a 13x9x2 baking pan (or any pan you have), spread about 1 cup pasta sauce on the bottom. Add one layer of noodles as the base of the lasagna. Make sure you cover the bottom of the pan completely, overlapping noodles if necessary.
Step 3:
Layer noodles with some of the ricotta cheese mixture, beef**, pasta sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Add noodles and repeat layers until you reach the last remaining noodles for the top layer.
Step 4:
When you reach the top layer of noodles, make sure they are slightly overlapping to form the top layer. And remaining pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese. Enough cheese to cover the sauce.
Step 5:
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes, uncover and cook for another 10 minutes.
And VOILÀ!
This is what your lasagna should look like fresh out the oven. (Garlic bread optional)
Please let me know if you decide to try and make it at home for yourself!
Talk soon!
XO, Sabrine
