My Favorite (and ridiculously easy) Lasagna

First, I did not grow up eating lasagna. My mother does not like cheese, any cheese. So I cannot recall ever having lasagna as a child. As an adult I tried it and liked it and so started asking around for recipes and trying them. Some were easy, some were complicated, some were so-so, some were awful and then my friend, DeAnn gave me her recipe. I loved it and have been making it often ever since.

Here is how I make it. Assembly takes about 10 minutes. When you are done, pop one in the oven for tonight and one in the freezer for another night!

1. Get 2 9 X 13 pans out.
2. 2 boxes of lasagna noodles (I buy the walmart brand -- I use 1 whole box and 3 noodles from the second box)
3. One large Prego Traditional spaghetti sauce -- It is the large plastic container and is 4 lbs 3 oz. (You can obviously use any kind of spaghetti sauce, I am just telling you how I do it)
4. 1 16 oz fat free cottage cheese (Often I use the 24 oz tub -- and I always made it with the regular cottage cheese and then one day tried the fat free kind and never noticed a difference, so now I always use the fat free -- but the regular stuff works great too!)
5. 1 16 oz fat free sour cream (same as above, I did not notice a difference between the regular or fat free -- so I use the fat free)
6. Mozzarella cheese -- preferably sliced (it helps your layers stay layered) but I have used shredded often -- I usually plan on about 2 pounds (but for healthy sake you can skimp if you need to)
7. 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
8. 2 cups of water

My children prefer this without meat -- but if you want to include it, brown 1-2 pounds of ground beef and add it to the red sauce.

Step 1 : In a bowl mix together the cottage cheese and sour cream.
Step 2 : Place about 1 cup of the red sauce in the bottom of each pan
Step 3 : Place 1 layer of noodles on next. (These are not pre-cooked or oven
ready-- just the plain jane ones) In my pans it is 4 noodles per pan
Step 4 : Spread 1/4 of the cottage cheese/sour cream mixture on top of the
noodles per pan.
Step 5 : Place the sliced mozzarella on next.
Step 6 : Then place the red sauce on next (about 1/4 of what is left per pan)
Step 7 : Repeat steps 3, 4, 5, and 6
Step 8 : If you have been using meat, your pans are pretty well full, so sprinkle
the parmesan on top -- If you are not using meat, add 1 more layer of
noodles and top with a small amount of red sauce and the parmesan cheese.
Step 9 : Add 1 cup of water to each pan. I usually pour it around the edges and
use a fork to help it get all the way down.

Now, cover one pan with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour, then uncover and bake for 20-30 more minutes. If you don't want it kind of soupy, then let it stand for 20 minutes before serving. (my family is never patient enough, so our first round is kind of soupy, perfect for dipping garlic bread, but the second round is firm and nicely holds its layers)

Take the other pan and cover it and put it in the freezer. When you want another lasagna dinner, you are already -- bake at 350 for 1 hour covered in foil and 30 minutes uncovered.

2 meals in 10 minutes. And it is outstanding!