Lasagna

My camera and I didn't cooperate today. I had my husband take pictures of me assembling this and none of the pictures were focused. I had to take what I could get, so I'm sorry they aren't the best. We also went to a local trick or treat event, and all of the pictures came out entirely too bright. I would like to say it was my husband's fault, since he took most of the pictures, but the ones I took of the kids didn't come out as well. It was hectic and busy and I didn't pay attention to the settings of the camera. Oops. Good thing we have the real Halloween coming up next week!

The hardest part about this blog for me, the recipes that are mine, are never really recipes. I never make them the same way twice. So this is my way of making a recipe and recording it! I play around with them all the time and make substitutes when needed.

Today I had everything ready to go, vegetables sauteed, noodles cooked and turkey browned..Then I realized I forgot to get ricotta cheese yesterday. The store here doesn't open until 10 am. So I had to wait to go and get it. Once I got the ricotta, I assembled it to be baked later. If I had cottage cheese, I would have substituted that!

I put it all together, popped it in the fridge, and had dinner finished by 11 am! Then we went about our festivities for the day. Trick or treating, fall festival at the school, and some cleaning. I'm totally taking tomorrow to relax. I've been running ragged all week and need a break!

First collect all of your ingredients and prep/cook them.

Put some sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Spread some ground turkey/beef(whatever you want to use!), onions, spinach, and mushrooms. Sprinkle with cheese and spread a layer of sauce.

Cover with more noodles, and spread ricotta mixture on top. Continue layers of meat mixture then ricotta mixture until all used up.

When you get to the final layer, top with sauce and cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes covered. Remove cover and bake for another 30 minutes. If your cheese isn't browned enough on top, turn the broiler on for 2-3 minutes (keep an eye on it to keep from burning!)

Lasagna

Ingredients

1 lb of ground meat
1 small onion, diced
10 oz of spinach, frozen or fresh sauteed (chopped)
1 cup of diced mushrooms
4 cups of marinara sauce
2 cups of mozzarella
15 oz of ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 tsp of salt
3-4 tbsp of chopped parsley
1 box of lasagna noodles
Butter/cooking oil

Directions

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, saute the onions until soft and translucent. Remove from pan, add mushrooms and saute until browned. Remove from heat and saute the spinach of you need to. Brown meat in the pan and drain. Once everything is cooked set aside and add lasagna to pot with a pinch of salt. Boil according to instructions. Rinse with cold water and lay flat on paper towels.

Whisk the egg in a bowl. Add 1 tsp of salt, parsley and ricotta cheese. Mix well.

Begin to assemble the lasagna. First put a thin layer of sauce, followed by noodles. Sprinkle meat, onions, mushrooms, spinach and cheese. Cover in sauce. Add another layer of noodles. Spread 1/3-/12 of the ricotta mixture (depending on how many layers you want). Cover with noodles and continue to layer until ingredients are gone. On the last layer, add sauce and cover with cheese.

Bake immediately, or store in the fridge for 2 days and then bake.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, covered. Remove cover and bake additional 30 minutes. If the cheese isn't browned enough, broil for 2-3 minutes. (Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn!)