Homemade Lasagna to freeze and eat forever

I sometimes get these cravings for these big homestyle meals, and instead of making a reasonable amount for 2, I'll make enough to feed an army. This is one of those recipes for when I had a hankering for lasagna, ended up freezing most of it and gratefully turning to it on those weeknights I didn't want to cook and delivery would take too long.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp of olive oil 
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic chopped
• 1 lb of ground beef or turkey 
• 14.5 oz can of chopped tomatoes
• 6 oz can of tomato paste
• 8 oz of tomato sauce 
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups of fat free cottage cheese or ricotta cheese 
• 1/2 cup of grated parmesan 
• 2 tsp of chopped parsley 
• 8 oz of mozzarella, shredded
• 8 oz of sharp cheddar, shredded 
• 8 oz no boil lasagna noodles (these make a big difference - if you can't find them, boil regular noodles until al dente)

Steps:

Let's start with the meat sauce.

1. Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil on medium-high heat. Sautee the chopped onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. 
2. Remove the cooked onions and garlic from the skillet and set aside in a bowl. 
3. Add the ground beef or turkey into the skillet on medium-high heat and brown. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper! 
4. Once the meat is browned, add back to the skillet the onions and garlic and let the flavors mix for a few minutes. 
5. Lower the skillet to low-medium heat and add the chopped tomatoes, the tomato paste and tomato sauce and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. 

Let's start the cheese layer.

1. In a large mixing bowl, crack the two eggs and lightly beat as if to make a scramble. 
2. Add in the cottage cheese or ricotta cheese, the shredded mozzarella and the shredded sharp cheddar. 
3. Season with salt and pepper and add in the grated fresh parmesan. 
4. Mix everything together to create a chunky cheese mixture. 

Let's start layering it all up in a 13" x 9" baking dish.  

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. The first layer is the meat sauce. 
3. Then layer with no boil lasagna sheets - I like to shingle them. 
4. Then layer with the cheese mixture. 
5. Then add another layer of meat sauce. 
6. Keep layering until you run out, but make sure you have enough space with the depth of the dish! (meat sauce, pasta, cheese mixture, meat sauce, pasta, etc.) 
7. The top layer should be meat sauce with some more grated parmesan or more shredded mozzarella if you prefer that. 
8. I prefer the low and slow, longer cook, so I lower the temperature to 200 degrees Fahrenheit before popping in the lasagna and let it bake for about an hour and 20 minutes. Then I crank up the heat to 350 degrees for a final 15 minutes to let the top really crisp up. You can also keep the oven at 350 degrees the whole time and bake for 45 minutes. 
9. Allow the lasagna to rest for about 10 minutes before cutting into it, so the layers don't sway all over the place. 

 

The delicious cheese mixture. 

Shingling the first layer of pasta.

The lasagna pre-bake. Still needs that last grating of parmesan. 

Out of the oven. We didn't let it wait because we're animals.