Lasagna Recipe

lasagna

I’ve had requests for more recipes so today’s post is just that! This lasagna gets compliments every single time I make it, and it’s a cinch to throw together! To be honest with you, I’ve never written this recipe down, and to be even more honest with you I doubt it turns out the exact same every single time (because I never measure anything I throw into it, not ever). So, I’m pulling it out of the ol’ memory bank and giving you my best guess estimates on how much of everything I put in. πŸ™‚

Laura’s Famous Lasagna Recipe

If these amounts seem too large for your family, just cut it in half. πŸ™‚

  • 2.5 lbs. extra lean ground turkey
  • 2 medium onions, minced
  • 2 T. fennel seeds (if you like the flavor of sausage in your Italian food, if not then omit the fennel seeds)
  • 2 T. Italian seasoning
  • 2 tsp. basil
  • 2.5 tsp. garlic powder (or less if your family isn’t big on garlic. My kids happens to love it, so I use a little more than most folks)
  • 2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
  • 2 c. 1% cottage cheese, rinsed and drained in a strainer
  • 1 c. part skim ricotta
  • 1 c. 1% cottage cheese
  • 2 boxes frozen spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed
  • 1/4 c. dried, grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 1/2 c. part skim mozzarella
  • Oven ready lasagna noodles
  • Baking spray

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove frozen spinach from freezer, place in a strainer in the sink; rinse with hot water until there aren’t any big chunks left and then let it sit and drain. In a skillet over medium heat, combine meat, minced onion, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, basil and the garlic powder. Cook until the meat is browned and the onion is soft. Add one jar of sauce, mix well; turn the heat to low/simmer. Meanwhile, rinse and drain two cups of cottage cheese, followed by squeezing the excess moisture out of the spinach. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, one cup of cottage cheese (direct from container), parmesan cheese, 1/2 c. mozzarella and the cottage cheese and spinach that you rinsed and drained, mix well. Now you’re ready to assemble it!

Spray your baking dish (mine is a 11 x 17) with nonstick cooking spray. Spread 1/3 of the second jar of sauce in the bottom of the pan evenly. Place one layer of oven ready lasagna noodles on top of the sauce, making sure to leave about 1/4 inch between the edges of the noddles. Next, spread 1/2 of the meat/sauce mixture over the layer of noodles, followed by spreading 1/2 of the cottage cheese mixture evenly over the meat layer. Next, spread 1/3 of the jar of sauce, another layer of noodles, the other half of the meat mixture followed again by the remaining half of the cottage cheese mixture. Top with one last layer of noodles and remaining sauce. Sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella evenly over the top. Cover with aluminum foil, bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting. YUM, YUM, YUM!! I serve it with at least two veggies on the side, usually broccoli and zuchinni. It’s also good with a salad in addition. I usually make garlic bread to go with it, but I don’t usually have any…every now and then if I’m low on carbs I will, but not very often.

*Side note* The amount of cheese in this recipe seems to be a lot, I know, but keep serving sizes in mind. Β One serving of cottage cheese is a half cup, there’s only three cups in this whole recipe. In addition, 1/4 of grated cheese is a serving and there’s only 1 1/2 cups. In each instance, there’s only 6 servings of “cheese” (whether it be cottage or shredded) and there’s even less servings of the grated parmesan and the ricotta (only 4 servings of each) in the whole recipe. When you add it all up , that’s 20 individual servings of various kinds of cheese involved but this lasagna recipe serves 16-20 depending on how big you cut the pieces. So see, it’s all good! πŸ™‚

Because it feeds so many, it’s perfect for smaller families that are having friends over for dinner, for leftovers the next night or (as in my case) feeding a small army! Lol. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as my family does!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *