Ree Drummond's Lasagna

I've always loved lasagna, but until now I had never really found a recipe that I loved making. You see, some lasagna recipes are very high maintenance. They require a lot of work and a lot if time and that is just not my thing.

This recipes takes a little bit of time (mostly just waiting time), but not a lot of work. It's also very tasty. Probably my favorite part about this recipe is that it calls for Kraft parmesan cheese--- you know, the powdery white stuff that comes in a green plastic container. Normally I don't really like that stuff, I usually use fresh parm, but the powdery kraft cheese just really works for me in this instance. YUMMO.

Thanks to Ree Drummond {The Pioneer Woman} I've found my go-to lasagna recipe. Oh yeaaaaaah, and we even made some with horizontally sliced zucchini instead of noodles. It was also oober delish.

The Best Lasagna. Ever.

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 pound hot breakfast sausage *the ground kind, not in casing

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained

2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste

4 tablespoons dried parsley, divided

2 tablespoons dried basil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

fresh ground pepper to taste

1 (24 ounce) container small curd cottage cheese- about 3 cups

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup Kraft grated parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling on top

18 slices mozzarella cheese *found in any grocery store by the pre-packaged sliced sandwich cheeses

12 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

Brown ground beef, sausage, and garlic together in a large pan. Once the meat is cooked drain off half of the fat. Then add in the whole tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, and the salt. Stir in the fresh ground black pepper to taste. Simmer mixture on medium low heat for 45 minutes (it does make a difference). Stir occasionally.

While you are waitin' for the sauce to finish simmering, cook and drain your noodles if you haven't already. This is also a good time to grab a small bowl and mix the cottage cheese, eggs, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley together. Set aside.

Once the sauce is ready, it's time to assemble the lasagna. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Lay four lasagna noodles in the bottom of the pan. I do three lengthwise right next to each other and one horizontally at the top. Spread 1/3 of the cottage cheese mixture over these noodles. Lay 6 slices of the mozzarella cheese over the cottage cheese. Top this layer with 1/3 of the meaty sauce. Repeat two more times ending with the last third of meat sauce.

Sprinkle a generous amount of Kraft parmesan cheese over the top of the lasagna. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the edges are bubbly.

According to Ree you can make this up to two days ahead of time and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake it. It also freezes well. I recommend visiting her post on this lasagna because she has step by step photos on how to make it!

Recipe Yield: 12 servings
Recipe Source: The Pioneer Woman; Ree Drummond