Homemade Family Lasagna

Do you ever just want to eat a bowl of pure comfort while watching horrible “reality” tv and not have a care in the world… Well tonight was one of those days for me. Honestly, the only thing missing was a glass of wine but who knows, the night is still early 😉

This recipe is perfect for a Sunday Night Family Dinner. It is just my husband and I in our household but I always make the full recipe… because leftovers are the best! Made with yummy Italian sausage, carrots to add that extra sweetness, and spinach ricotta, it is honestly perfection.

Full recipe makes about 8-10 servings. Sauce takes about 2-2.5 hours to perfect.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 lb Ground Italian Sausage
• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 1 C chopped Onion
• 1/2 C chopped Carrots
• 1/2 Tbsp minced Garlic
• 1 – 26.5 oz box, POMI strained tomatoes (or your choice of tomato sauce)
• 1- 26.5 oz box, POMI chopped tomatoes (or your choice of crushed tomatoes)
• 2 – 6 oz cans organic tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 4 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped, divided
• 1 lb De Cecco lasagna, cooked (or your choice of lasagna)
• 16 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 C, Spinach, blanched
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 lb Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 3/4 C Parmesan cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat your olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add your onions and garlic. Sauté for about 2 minutes.
2. Add in your carrots and sauté for an additional 2 minutes.
3. Now add in your sausage and beef and cook through until browned.
4. Add your strained tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, and mix well.
5. Add your dried basil, fennel, Italian seasoning, 2 Tbsp parsley, 2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Mix all well.
6. Simmer, covered, for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. The longer it simmers, the better! I let mine simmer for 3 hours.
7. Closer to the end, cook your noodles according to package instructions and drain.
8. In a separate pot, blanch your spinach by boiling in salted water for 1 minute, then transferring to a colander and running cold water to stop cooking process. Gently squeeze out any excess liquid. **remove the stems from the spinach or leave on if using baby spinach**
9. In a bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, egg, 2 Tbsp parsley , 1/2 tsp salt, and cooked spinach.
10. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Assemble

1. Spread 1 1/2-2 Cups of your cooked sauce in the bottom of a deep 9×13 inch baking dish. arrange a layer of noodles over meat sauce. Spread with one half of your ricotta cheese mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with 1/4 c Parmesan cheese.
2. Add another 1 1/2 C meat sauce over the cheese.
3. Add another layer of noodles, the remainder of your ricotta cheese mixture, more mozzarella, and another 1/4 c Parmesan cheese.
4. Add another 1 1/2 C of sauce and a final layer of noodles.
5. Top with another 1 1/2 C sauce, more mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
6. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.
7. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes.
8. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Recommendation, warm some garlic bread in the oven while you allow your lasagna to cool! Enjoy!

Notes

To avoid your foil from sticking to your cheese, I recommend spraying your aluminum sheet with some olive oil spray before covering.

Also, if you think you have room for an extra layer, GO FOR IT!!! I can’t lie, I definitely did.