Recipe of the Week: Lasagna My Way

I'm hoping to begin sharing some of our family's favorite recipes.  Today, I will begin with one that is much loved.  I did however forget to take pictures last time I made it, but I think the process is fairly straight forward so here we go......

I cook from my pantry so all acceptable substitutions will be listed.  I rarely make this exactly the same every time.  We don't live in town and have a fairly strict grocery budget so I don't just run to the store if I am out of something.

Ingredients:
1/2-1 lb of ground beef, sausage or a combination of the two
1-2 pints homemade pizza sauce (1-2 pint of tomato sauce seasoned with basil or 1 jar store-bought pizza sauce thinned down a little bit - homemade pizza sauce is thinner than store bought)
Seasonings (basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley)
1 cup Ricotta cheese  (you can use cottage cheese in a pinch but I don't think its as good)
1 egg
6 lasagna noodles - par boiled (I let them finish cooking in the oven)
1-2 bags of mozzarella cheese (I don't measure cheese, maybe 3 cups?)

Process:
Set the meat to cooking if it isn't already (this is a great use for extra meat from previous meals).  Boil water in a big pot and add lasagna noodles.  Boil them for approximately 5 minutes.

Add sauce to meat.  I start with 1 pint of sauce, adding more if it doesn't look like there will be enough.  Add seasonings to taste, don't be skimpy.

Add 1 egg to ricotta cheese and a good pinch of parsley.  Combine, set aside.

Drain noodles.

Put a 1/2 cup sauce in bottom of 8x8 baking dish.  Then layer with 2-3 noodles.  Top with more sauce, a few spoons of ricotta (roughly 1/3 of mixture) and a handful of cheese.  Noodles, sauce, ricotta, cheese......noodles, sauce, ricotta, cheese.  I use extra cheese on the top layer.  If you didn't use all your sauce, pour it on now.  If you felt your quantity of sauce was skimpy, add some of the reserved.  Remember that your noodles will finish cooking in the oven so they need some liquid.  A 1/4 c water will also suffice.

At this point the whole thing can be put in the fridge or freezer to bake later.  Otherwise, pop it into a 350 degree oven.  If the oven wasn't preheated just plan on cooking it a little longer.  I bake it until the cheese starts to brown, usually 45-60 mins.

Remove from oven and let set 5 mins before serving.  Feeds 4-5 people.

I try to find time to make French bread or breadsticks and a salad would go great with this, but we rarely have one.  My mom always made green beans with lasagna but my people don't eat green beans.

If there are leftovers, they are very good re-heated.

Enjoy!