Lasagna

Hey, it's Tammy! I made this lasagna a few days ago with Lionel and my sisters. It's a lasagna with meat sauce and spinach-ricotta layers. This lasagna takes a while, but you have a lot helpers, the prep work takes about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:
9 - 12 lasagna noodles (depending on how many layers you want)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella

Spinach-ricotta mixture:
2 eggs
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces of frozen, chopped spinach that has been thawed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Meat sauce:
3/4 - 1 pound ground beef or turkey
32 ounces canned tomato sauce (or puree)
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili flake (optional)
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

To make the meat sauce:

1. Chop the onion. Here are some step by step photos on one way to chop an onion:






2. Heat a pot on high or medium heat. Add olive oil. When you can feel the heat with the back of your hand, add in the onions. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to spread the onions evenly. Stir the onions around every minute or so, until it browns.
3. Add your meat. In this case, turkey. Once the meat is in, break it up into smaller pieces. Every minute or so, stir the meat around until browned.


4. Add your tomato sauce or puree. Stir to combine everything, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to incorporate any yummy browned stuff into the sauce.

5. Season the sauce. If you don't have all of those spices on hand, it would probably still taste good with just salt, pepper, and sugar.

6. Let the sauce simmer for 15 minutes to let all of the flavors mix. Keep a lid on the pot, but tilt it slightly so that steam can escape. There's your meat sauce! You could also use this to have plain spaghetti, or dip with bread.

7. At this time, you can shred the mozzarella if you bought block cheese.


8. Start a pot of water for the lasagna noodles. I grab a large pot, fill it 2/3 of the way, and add salt. The pasta will absorb the salt while it is cooking, which enhances the flavor. I keep the lid on until the water is rapidly boiling, then I add in the lasagna noodles. Since these are long noodles, you have to stir it for a while until all of the noodles are submerged. Then, leave the lid off and cook for about 10 minutes. Test the noodle too see if it is nearly cooked. It will cook the rest of the way in the oven. (Sorry to hear you don't have an oven Lien!)
Preheat to 350 sometime around here.

To make the spinach-ricotta mixture:

1. Squeeze excess water from the thawed spinach.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the two eggs.

3. Add the remaining ingredients.


Assembly:

1. Place a small amount of sauce at the bottom of your baking dish to keep the noodles from sticking.
2. Add your first layer of lasagna noodles.
3. My next layer was the spinach cheese. I added all of the spinach in this layer, but it's probably better if you split it in half. Add some mozzarella cheese.



4. Add more lasagna noodles, then half of your sauce, then some mozzarella cheese. Continue to layer your lasagna, alternating between meat sauce and spinach-ricotta.


5. Top the lasagna with the rest of the mozzarella cheese. Lionel seasoned the top with black pepper and salt.

6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until it bubbles. Then, change your oven to broil and brown the top for 5-8 minutes.


All done! This makes for a great meal by itself. All that you're missing is a piece of fruit to balance the meal (that's the nurse in me, haha).