So when I have classes to teach in the evening – Nia or Gentle Yoga, I like to have dinner planned. Sometimes I just have the idea of what I am going to do. Sometimes I have the ingredients and I might make something the day before that last a few days so we can just heat up leftovers. Love them left overs. And sometimes I prepare something that just needs to be baked. This time I decided to make a lasagna. I don’t think I have ever made red sauce lasagna. I make a Chicken Divan lasagna that is super yummy, but not being a fan of tomato sauce, I don’t think I have ever bothered making lasagna with a tomato sauce. Another reason is, I really think that lasagna sauce as with spaghetti sauce is best from scratch, but since I don’t make either, it seems daunting to me. So I have never made the effort with the lasagna because I don’t want to make the sauce. Well, sometimes, in order to get things done, I have to take short cuts. So I used a sauce in a jar. It is a really easy lasagna recipe, however, I made it a bit different.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Super Easy Tomato Sauce Lasagna
Ingredients:
1/4 of an onion
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 pound of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 pound lean ground beef*
1 32 ounce jar of the tomato/pasta sauce of your choice
12 uncooked lasagna noodles (as many as your dish requires)
1/4 of a 32 ounce container ricotta cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
You might want to use the entire jar of sauce and or add the 1/4 cup water to the dish before baking (as instructed in the original recipe)
Preparation:
Heat onion in oil. Cook the mushrooms until half way done. Add salt and garlic powder. Then add the beef. Cook beef in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink; drain, if necessary (our beef does not have anything to drain off). Stir in 3 cups of the pasta sauce.
Spread a thin layer of the remaining sauce into the 9 X 13 casserole dish; layer with enough noodles to cover the bottom of the dish. Then layer the ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese over the noodles. Then add 1/2 of the meat sauce. Then add a little mozzarella. Then a layer of noodles, a layer of ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese. Then a layer of the remainder of the meat sauce. Then add the rest of the mozzarella. (This is where you would pour 1/4 cup hot water around edge of dish.) Tightly cover baking dish with 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
Bake at 375° for 45 minutes; uncover and bake 10 more minutes. Note: Check the lasagna to see if it is done to your liking. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
____________________________________________________________________________________
I covered mine with plastic wrap and foil and froze it. The day I wanted to cook it I took it out to thaw for a few hours. It was still frozen when I put it in the oven. I removed the plastic wrap before I baked it at 375° for 90 minutes. I left it in the oven after the 90 minutes. I SHOULD have taken it out. It was just the tiniest bit over done. But otherwise it was great.
I had put it on time bake so I was not home to check it. I arrived home JUST as the oven was turning off. I had other things to do so I didn’t check the lasagna right away and I should have.
My husband loved it. Since I have given myself permission to use jarred sauce, I might be making this more often. Next time I want to add zucchini. And, yes, we had enough left over for a couple of meals. You know I love that!
Do you have a favorite lasagna recipe? Would you share it?
*I actually am not sure how much ground beef I used because ours is from a cow we bought a portion of. It is wrapped in butcher paper with no weight. I think it is about a pound.
The original Extra-Easy Lasagna.
Terre Pruitt's Blog 