Mom P's Lasagna

I actually made this lasagna 2 weeks ago and am just now getting around to posting about it. I had plenty of other baked goods to share with you so this one got put off until now. Yes, I'm posting about dinner at 8am. Gives you time to make it to night if you want!

This is my mother-in-law's recipe for lasagna. It's simple + yummy. She gave it to me with a handful of other recipes with my Christmas gift. I didn't realize until making it this time around that I am now also "Mom P." and I had to smile to myself while I was cooking with my little one under foot...

{really underfoot}

So the ingredients first because I always skim through the list of stuff I need when looking at a new recipe. Then either keep reading because I happen to have all those ingredients in my house at that moment, or save for another day when I've had a chance to go to the store. We don't keep a lot of exotic ingredients in my house, so I have to be really inspired to make something to go out to the store and get something for one specific recipe. 

3/4 cup chopped onion (in keeping with the above I used what I had left which was about 1/4 cup)

2 cloves minced garlic 

2 Tablespoons oil (I used olive oil)

1 lb. ground beef (I used turkey)

3 cans, 8 oz. each, tomato sauce (or whatever combo gets you to about 24 oz.)

2 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

8 oz.  cottage cheese (which is 1/2 a container, I used more )

1 egg

8 oz. mozzarella cheese

3 oz. parmesan cheese ( I think I used 6 oz. we really like cheese!)

9 pieces lasagna noodles

Whew! That's a lot of stuff. I used pre-minced garlic so a teaspoon equals about one clove. I had to pick up the turkey, tomato sauce, cottage cheese + mozzarella while stocking up on regular items at the grocery store in order to make this. 

First, cook onion + garlic in the oil until tender. 

Then add ground beef/turkey and cook until brown. Combine tomato sauce, oregano, salt + pepper. 

Simmer 30 minutes or until sauce is thick. 

I let mine simmer while I worked on boiling the noodles, grating the mozzarella + making the cottage cheese mix....

I don't buy pre-grated cheese. So to prepare the 8 oz. I needed I just cut a 1lb (16 oz.) block in half and grated it with a box grater. I've tried the mandolin slicer in the past...not great with cheese. 

Next, try not to trip over your child, if you have a toddler who is awake, I'm sure they are still underfoot.

For the cottage cheese mix, add 8-12 oz. cottage cheese and 1 egg into small bowl and mix well. Cook the lasagna noodles according to the directions on box or 12-15 minutes. Drain water + rinse in cool water. I set my noodles on tin foil while I was working on other things so they wouldn't stick to each other since they were done before I was ready to layer everything. 

Arrange 3 noodles in greased 9x13 pan. Cover with 1/3 of meat sauce, 1/3 of cottage cheese mix, parmesan cheese + sprinkle a little mozzarella. Do this twice more for 3 layers. The rest of the mozzarella goes on top. 

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Can also be prepared ahead of baking + refrigerated. 

I also baked some pre-made biscuits and steamed some green beans for this meal. Malakai loves lasagna. It's one of few meals that works for all 3 of us so far. 

{enjoy!}

As always, if you try any of the recipes I post, let me know! I'd love to hear how it turned out for you and any changes you may have made.