Tricia's Lasagna

Tricia’s Lasagna

This is a slightly modified version of a recipe my mother had in an ancient Betty Crocker cookbook. It freezes well and can be easily modified for vegetarians by substituting sautéed yellow squash, zucchini, onion and carrots for the meat in the sauce. The ingredient amounts are flexible. I tend to use a little more pork and a lot more mozzarella than it calls for (in my opinion, you can never have too much cheese).

SAUCE
1lb ground chuck6 oz. ground pork
¾ cup chopped onion
1-2 minced garlic cloves
28 oz. can petite cut tomatoes
15 oz. tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. parsley flakes
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. Basil leaves

RICOTTA MIXTURE
24 oz. cottage cheese
½ cup grated parmesan (from a bag or hand-grated--- not the canned version)
1 Tbsp. Parsley flakes
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano

8 oz. lasagna (cooked)
¾ lb. shredded mozzarella
½ cup grated parmesan

1. Cook beef & pork, onion, and garlic.
2. Drain.
3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, 2 Tbsp. parsley flakes, sugar, and basil.
4. Heat to boiling.
5. Simmer uncovered until desired consistency (The recipe says to simmer for 1 hour--- I don’t think I’ve ever done that. I usually just heat it and move on.)
6. Reserve ½ cup sauce for top of lasagna.
7. Preheat oven to 350.
8. Combine ingredients for ricotta mixture.
9. In an ungreased 9x13 pan, layer the following:

• noodles
• sauce
• mozzarella
• ricotta mixture

10. Repeat this 2 more times.

11. Spread the reserve sauce over the top.

12. Sprinkle parmesan.

13. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. (Add 10-15 minutes if refrigerated. )

*Sent in by Tricia Burris