Easy Lasagna

If you haven't guessed by now posting may a bit sporadic in the next month or two. I mentioned in my last post that we are expecting a new daughter in a month. Like always, I have lots of recipes waiting in the wings to be shared, but just not enough time in the day to share them. This is one that's been waiting for a while that I decided I wouldn't let wait any longer. It's so easy and so good and that makes it definitely one our family's favorites. I'm all about taking recipes that are already easy and making them healthier and easier. That's how this recipe was born and it's now my go-to recipe for a quick lasagna. Hope you enjoy!

Easy Lasagna
Printable Recipe

*Serves 8-10

*Note: To make this recipe even easier, I like to make the homemade spaghetti sauce with quinoa ahead of time in a large batch and freeze a recipes worth in quart bags. I will also sometimes precook and freeze the ground beef so you can skip the browning step. These shortcuts make it really easy to whip up this lasagna in just a few minutes.

INGREDIENTS:
15 lasagna noodles
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 recipe Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Quinoa or 3 to 4 Cups Spaghetti Sauce
16 oz. cottage or ricotta cheese
4 Cups cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large pan of boiling water add the lasagna noodles and cook only for about 4 to 5 minutes until very al dente. This is the secret to lasagna without soggy noodles. Meanwhile brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat, draining of the excess grease. Return the skillet to the heat and add the spaghetti sauce and cottage or ricotta cheese. Once the noodles are done, remove from heat and drain to stop the cooking process. You may want to retain just a little bit of hot water in the bottom of the pan to keep them from going stiff or you can lay them out flat. In a 9x13 pan, add a little sauce to the bottom of the pan and then layer 3 noodles followed by sauce and then sprinkle with cheese. Repeat this pattern of layers until all the noodles are used, making sure to reserve enough sauce and cheese for the top layers. Bake 350 F for about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

*Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com