What else is for dinner?: Lasagna

Believe it or not, I have never made lasagna on my own before! I liked this adventure a lot. I prefer regular lasagna without meat, but David loves the meat, so I added it in. You can make it either way with no problems.

Ingredients:

- 1 (12oz) pkg oven ready lasagna noodles
- 30oz (large tub) ricotta cheese
- 3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese, divided
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp italian seasoning
- 1/4-1/2 tsp ground red pepper
- 1 tsp minced or chopped garlic
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 jar or can (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
- 1 c. water
- 1 lb lean ground beef, cooked and drained (I like to rinse mine too in order to decrease some of the extra fat content)

First preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Then in a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 c. mozzarella, 1/4 c. parmesan, eggs, basil, italian seasoning, and pepper. Mix well. Then, in another medium bowl, combine the spaghetti sauce, water, garlic, red pepper, and ground beef. Mix well.

Now, in a 9"x13" pan, spread approx 1 1/2 c. of meat sauce. Place 1/3 of the noodles over the sauce in a layer (break the noodle length if you need to). Next, spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the noodles, top with 1/3 (notice the fraction is different) of the meat sauce over the cheese. Once that is done, do another layer of noodles, the remaining cheese, then 1/2 of the remaining sauce.

Mmmm, yummy cheese!

One more noodle and sauce layer and we are getting close!

Check out the layers! So cool.

Once you've run out of cheese mix and sauce, top with the remaining 1 1/2 c. mozzarella and 1/4 c. parmesan. Cover tightly with a double layer of foil and bake for 60 min.