9/06/2011

4 Cheese Lasagna

I have never tried to make lasagna before even though it is one of my all time favorite things to eat. When I was a kid my mom would by the Stouffer's frozen lasagna and it was like heaven for me. On nights when the rest of the family was having pot pies, I would get the single serve size just for me. Heaven.
I have tried a few that were named "easy" or "quick" or "skillet" but there wasn't enough cheese or the noodles were dry and hard or some other problem. When I got my issue of "Kraft Food & Family" this month and saw the lasagna recipe I thought I would give it a whirl. I am very happy I did!
The Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 (8 oz) pkg Neufchatel cheese, softened
1 cup cottage cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 egg, beaten
1 (24 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
12 lasagna noodles, cooked

Perhaps the most important ingredient for almost any meal though is:

Moving on! Brown the meat and onion in a large skillet.

While that cooks, mix together the Neufchatel, cottage cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan and the egg until well blended.

When the meat is browned, drain any fat and stir in the sauce, tomatoes and oregano. Confession time: I was out of oregano so I used basil. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Spoon 1 cup of the meat sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

Lay 3 noodles on top of sauce.

Spread 1 cup of the cheese mixture on top of the noodles.

Spread 1 cup of the meat sauce on top of the cheese layer.

Repeat layers twice more and end with a layer of noodles topped with the last of the sauce, remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Spray the underside of a large piece of foil with cooking spray and place it on top of the lasagna.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, then remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes. I used my counter-top oven which I had set up on my washing machine in the laundry room. It was a very hot day and the thought of my oven on for over an hour was not a happy one. This way, my house stayed as cool as possible.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving. We dug in before I snapped a picture but you can get the idea here.

It was cheesy and delicious!

More wine?