This is a very good lasagna.  What we found interesting was the day we made it, it was just in the “okay/good” pile.  The next day, after a night in the fridge, it morphed into something you would taste at a fancy, exotic Italian restaurant.  It got 100x better!  It had more depth of flavor and didn’t taste bland at all.  **We used 85% ground beef, ricotta, and shredded Italian cheese.  For the ricotta, don’t use fat free ricotta, at least use the medium fat one like we did – I think the ricotta was 6g fat a serving.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes with Italian herbs
• 1 lb. ground beef or Italian sausage (casings removed)
• 6 uncooked dried lasagna noodles
• 2 cups (8 oz) shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
• 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
• 2 T. grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Set oven at 350 degrees and preheat.
2. Spray 2 qt. rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Spoon 1 cup crushed tomatoes into baking dish.
4. Cook meat in large skillet, drain.
5. Stir in remaining undrained tomatoes, bring to boil.
6. Place 2 uncooked noodles in dish, top with 1/3 of the meat/sauce mixture and 1/3 of the Italian cheese.
7. Repeat layers.
8. Top with cottage cheese (preferably ricotta!),  then remaining noodles, meat mixture, and Italian cheese.
9. When in doubt, if that’s confusing, JUST KEEP LAYERING! LOL
10. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 350 for 1 hour.  Put a jelly roll pan under the baking dish to collect any spillage.
11. Let stand 15 minutes to cool (or you’ll burn your mouth!)
12. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.