Lasagna. Such a simple word. It evokes images of layers of carb, cheese, and sauce heaven. I love lasagna. I have been eating lasagna my whole adult life. But then, someone said "homemade lasagna". My heart stopped. I was frozen with fear. NO! Not possible. It's too difficult. It must be. I mean, LOOK at it!
Many years ago, we enjoyed lasagna probably as often as every two weeks or so. How did we do this if I was too scared to
make lasagna? Don't judge.........sigh........gulp.......we ate some pre-made, frozen, full of chemicals lasagna out of a box. Whew! That wasn't as hard to say as I thought it would be. I worked full time back then. Easy was the name of the game most every night.
Somewhere along the way, I had the pleasure of eating some homemade lasagna that my sister-in-law made. It was soooo good! So much better than the out of the box stuff. I'm not sure if I asked her about it the first time. I probably didn't. I was probably too in awe of her culinary skills. I mean, she made
homemade lasagna for her family on a repeated basis for Pete's sake! But, sometime between my first bite of her lasagna and maybe as much as the umpteenth time I had eaten it, I asked her about how she made it, fully prepared to have to write a small book of recipe and instruction. Don't ask me why I was eating her lasagna so often. I truly don't recall. Maybe we were enjoying their company a lot, maybe specifically on the nights she made lasagna. LOL. No, I doubt that was it. She probably felt sorry for us and our routine of feeding our family quick style meals that often came out of the freezer section of the grocery store.
So she shared her recipe with me and the instructions on how she assembled hers. And, I was truly shocked at how easy it sounded. Lots of steps, but not rocket science. So I decided to try it, convinced I would not be able to pull it off and she would laugh at me when I wasn't looking. To my surprise, I
did pull it off and it has been a staple in our menu planning for years now.
Thanks, Debbie, for showing a silly girl how to make a delicious lasagna. You are a saint. And a great cook.
Gee, I talk a lot. Sorry. But, if you want to know how to make this lasagna, you're going to have to bear with me AND all of my words. Ha.
I saw a pin on Pinterest a good while back titled "Lasagna Roll Ups". I don't think I pinned it. But, the idea was
genius! I had been making lasagna for years using the traditional layering method. But, this "roll up" idea was to take each lasagna noodle and layer the ingredients on, then roll it all up and place in the pan. So, I tried it. It was great. It still makes the same amount of lasagna, but in convenient little lasagna packages. No slicing and having the lasagna slide apart before you get it to the plate. We still make lasagna the traditional layered way, but sometimes I like to do it this way.
I made the teenager very happy last night. He's been asking for lasagna for a while.
So here's where you will start. This recipe will make a large casserole dish FULL of lasagna. Enough to feed a small army - or a family of 5 or 6 for two nights.
Here is your ingredient line up:
Two pounds of ground beef
One 16oz container of ricotta cheese, one pound of mozzarella cheese, and one pound of monterey jack (this is our preference. You could just go with mozzarella only, or use cheddar. Whatever sounds good to you.).
Black pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic. I normally use cloves of garlic, but went the easy route this time. I do not use any salt. You don't need it and will not miss it.
Tomato sauce - I used three larger cans, Crushed or diced tomatoes - I asked for a large can of crushed tomatoes, but since I didn't have to go to the store, I used what the teenager brought me. And a package of regular lasagna (or lasagne-if you are Italian) noodles.
Brown your ground beef in a large pot or very large skillet and drain off any fat. This is going to make a lot of sauce.
Add tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Time for the seasoning. I don't measure. Sorry. A little black pepper then I gave a light covering to the whole pot of garlic powder. We LOVE garlic. If you are using garlic cloves, use at least three large cloves.
Now, the Italian seasoning. Again no measurement. Sorry. I'll try to do better with that next time. I just (again) gave a light covering of the Italian seasoning to the whole pot.
Give it a stir and turn the burner down to low and let it simmer.
Get out a large pot and fill 3/4 full with water for the noodles. And then, wait patiently for the water to boil.
Add noodles to boiling water. It really is boiling even though you can't see it here. Follow the directions on the pasta box about the length of time to cook your lasagna noodles.
Now, sauce is simmering and noodles are cooking. Time to grate the cheese. I use a large bowl and grate both solid cheeses into one bowl and then mix it up to make sure you get some of each cheese in every handful.
Now, get your prep area ready. I like to use some parchment paper, aluminum foil, or wax paper to line my counter for ease of clean up. A large cookie sheet would always work as well.
I've got my large casserole dish ready and all my cheeses.
Take several noodles and lay them flat on your prep area.
Spoon some ricotta on to those noodles and spread it over the length of the noodle.
Time for the sauce. A large spoon or ladle makes this a little easier. But this will be messy!
Now, for the shredded cheeses.
Starting on the end closest to you, roll those noodles up and place into your casserole dish. Remember, you're going to get messy. Be ready to have saucy, cheesy hands.
I packed my casserole dish with as many rolls as I could get in there. I was able to fit 12.
Scoop up all the sauce/cheese mixture from your work space and toss it on top of the rolls - you don't want to lose any of that deliciousness.
Add the remainder of your sauce and then cheese to the top of your rolls.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees (or until it's hot and bubbly). You can turn the broiler on for a minute to add some beautiful color to the top.
Yum!
This is very easy to serve. Just scoop out a roll and plate it up!
If you've never made lasagna, I hope this post will encourage you to try it. It takes a while to make, but is so worth it!
Thanks again, Debbie, for teaching a silly girl not to be scared of making difficult looking dishes.
