When people think Lasagna, two things come up. One, it takes too long and it’s difficult to make. I am here to say, yes it may take patience and skill to make a perfect lasagna, but if you follow my instructions you will be proud of the results!
1 Lb Ground Beef
12 Lasagna Noodles
1 28oz Can of Crushed Tomatoes
1/2 Onion
1 1/2 TBSP of Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp. of Dried Oregano
1 tsp. of Garlic Powder
1/2 Cup Water
1 16oz tub of Low-fat Cottage Cheese
4 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
4 Cups Cheddar Cheese
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil
Take a large pan and bring to medium heat.
Add ground beef and onions to the pan. Cook until beef is no longer pink and onions are translucent. Drain meat mixture to get rid of the excess fat and return to the pan.
Now add can of crushed tomatoes, water, italian seasoning, oregano, garlic powder, salt & pepper.
Mix everything together and cook on low for 45-60min.
Take a bowl and line it with paper towels. Now add the whole tub of cottage cheese. Let the extra milk fat drain. Set aside until ready to assemble.
Bring a large pot of water with 1 TBSP salt and 1 TBSP of Olive Oil to a boil.
Once the pot is at a boil add 3 noodles at a time to the pot. Once the noodles are completely submerged into the water set a timer for 4 min. After 4 minutes take the noodles out and set aside on a cutting board. Keep doing this to the rest of the noodles until all are cooked.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Go ahead and shred your mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.
Take out a 9X13 pan and lightly grease the pan.
Add about 2 TBSP of meat mixture and spread on the bottom of the pan and take 3 lasagna noodles and lay them down to start the first layer. Now add about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture and spread out to cover the noodles. Next add about 1/8 cup of cottage cheese and again spread it out. Lastly, add about 1 cup of mozzarella and 1 cup of cheddar cheese. Now repeat by adding another 3 lasagna noodles on top and repeat until you get to the last layer.
For the last layer only add the final amount of meat mixture, mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Then add a drizzle of olive oil on top.
Cover with foil and bake for 35-40min. Then remove the foil and bake again for an additional 15-20min.
Enjoy!
TIPS:
You don’t have to make this all in one day. What I did was make the meat mixture the day before and place it into the fridge until you are ready to assemble.
The reason why I drain the cottage cheese is because it prevents the lasagna from becoming “soupy.” Now you can make this more authentic by using ricotta cheese and you don’t have to drain ricotta since it doesn’t have excess milk. It is up to you!
You may be asking, “Why cook the noddles for 4 min and only 3 at a time?” Here is my answer. When you cook the noodles all the way done and then assemble the lasagna it causes the noddles to over cook in the oven. This causes the noodles to not absorb the liquid from the filling and will make the lasagna fall apart. Using this new method it prevents over cooking the noodles and helps the noodles not stick together while assembling the lasagna.
Notice that I approximate how much meat & cheese I put in-between the layers. I don’t have exact amounts, so when doing this process just know that you need enough meat mixture, Mozzarella & Cheddar Cheese to last all 4 layers and enough cottage cheese to last 3 layers.
To prevent the cheese from sticking onto the foil when baking, take oilve oil and spread it all over the foil and then place it over the lasagna.
The reason why you bake twice is because the first time you are combining all the flavors and the second time is for the cheese on top to melt and become “bubbly” and slightly brown to create a nice crust.
Out of The Box Cooking 