I've been bored with my normal recipes, much to the dismay of my quite unadventurous family, so I've been playing around with some new recipes.

Last night, I tried a new lasagna recipe, modified a bit, and the result was yum! Seconds for everyone in the house means I'll be adding this to the monthly rotation. It makes quite a lot of meat sauce, which is nice because I can use that later for another dish. I'm still considering doubling it and freezing half next time, just because it is so time-consuming.

Quiet Table Lasagna















Ingredients:
3/4 lb hot Italian sausage
1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, minced
minced garlic, to taste (I probably used 3 or 4 cloves worth)
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (12 oz) can tomato paste
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 Tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 (6 oz) packages sliced mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Brown sausage, ground beef, onion and garlic in Dutch oven. Add next 10 ingredients, and simmer over low heat (covered) for two hours.

When meat sauce is ready, combine ricotta cheese, egg, parsley, and 1/2 tsp salt in a small bowl.

To assemble, spread 2 cups of meat sauce in bottom of 9x13 pan. Arrange noodles, slightly overlapping, to cover the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/2 of the ricotta cheese mixture over noodles, then top with 1 package of mozzarella slices. Spoon another 2 cups of meat sauce over the cheese, and repeat layers, ending with an additional 2 cups of meat sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over final layer of meat sauce, then top with the last package of sliced mozzarella.

Cover with sprayed foil and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Allow to cool 10-15 minutes before serving.