Now This is Something I Can Do!

One thing that I am proud to say I can cook is my Momma's lasagna. Carl says my mom's is still better, but give me some time and I'll catch up to her...hopefully. :) I know this isn't a cooking blog, but I thought I would share this recipe with you because, well, who doesn't like a home-cooked lasagna? Unfortunately though, my I-need-a-recipe-to-cook-absolutely-anything abilities still reign true. Although, it's more of a paper with some notes scribbled on it that I've had for at least three years and used goodness-knows how many times. I'm not quite sure why I haven't written it on a recipe card yet. Anyway...

You will need:

- 2 small jars of spaghetti sauce or 1 large one (I buy mine at Costco, I'm not sure if they sell them in this size elsewhere)

- a box of lasagna noodles

- 1 container of cottage cheese (You can you ricotta cheese instead, but add an extra egg)

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup of parmesan cheese

- 1 tablespoon of parsley

- 1 package of ground turkey or beef

- salt

- pepper

- garlic powder

- minced onion

- 1 package of mozzarella cheese (I like mine really cheesy so I usually use a little more than 1 package)

*Note: I usually use all non-fat or low-fat ingredients, which is probably why Carl thinks my mom's tastes better. But, I think it tastes the exact same. CJ's pediatrician is concerned with his weight because he's a little on the skinny-side and has actually lost a couple of plans so higher-calorie ingredients it is (Ugh!)

The first thing you want to do is start your water for your noodles, it seems like lasagna noodle water always takes longer to boil than any other kind of water. I know that's ridiculous, but you'll see what I'm talking about! Lol! You'll want to lay your noodles out in your dish before you cook them so you'll know how many you will need. I use 6 noodles for the dish I use. While your noodles are boiling you will:

Mix the cottage cheese, eggs, parmesan cheese, and parsley together. Set aside.

Then brown the meat with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and minced onions. Once it's cooked add the sauce and turn down to low. Allow to cook until you are ready to assemble.

Then grate the mozzarella cheese. If you put the cheese in the freezer for a few minutes it makes it easier to grate since it is so soft.

Once the noodles are done cooking, layer your lasagna in the following order in your dish:

noodles, cottage cheese mix, mozzarella cheese, and then meat/sauce mix.

I repeat one more time, but you would need to alter that depending on how deep your dish is.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. And just an FYI...it will boil over and make a huge mess all over your spotless oven (we all have shiny-clean ovens, right?) so you may want to put it on a cookie sheet while you bake it.

And that's it. Lasagna makes for amazing leftovers, too! I actually prefer it on the second day because it has had time to sit and absorb all of the liquid. Depending on how well you drain everything, it may be a little runny the first night. I actually made this to freeze for Carl. He isn't going to North Carolina with us and is having minor knee surgery while we're gone so I didn't want to leave him stranded and starving! Aren't I such a nice wife? :)