This lasagna is a classic lasagna recipe with a wonderful blend of meat and cheeses.
Lasagna is by far one of my favorite recipes. Up until just a few years ago, if it was on the menu, it’s what I wanted to order. Then I started making lasagna at home by making it a simple lasagna recipe but still full of flavor and I’ve never looked back. I rarely order lasagna from a restaurant now because homemade lasagna is just too good.
The best story of me making lasagna happened a few years ago. A little background on my family first though: my husband is amazing and even if he does not like my food, he will still eat some and just be grateful. My kids will tell me they don’t like it and sometimes they will continue to eat it and sometimes they will not. I never know with them. I, on the other hand, will just not eat it at all. I will feel bad for wasting so many ingredients but it’s not ever worth it to me to eat something that doesn’t taste good.
I was making lasagna one day and I remember I was pretty flustered that day. I had a baby at the time, it was freezing outside, and it was day 503 (or somewhere close to that) of my husband not earning a steady paycheck. (That year we made a grand total of about $14,000. Yeah, it was a bad year.) I had cooked the beef and not having enough money that week to buy an Italian sausage, we went without and I wanted to add in enough seasoning to cover up the fact that we were missing a key ingredient so I grabbed the Italian seasoning. As I went to shake some onto the meat, the lid that makes it sprinkle seasoning instead of pour fell off into the meat and so did about 1/2 cup of seasoning.
In tears, I scooped out as much of the seasoning as I could, along with some of the meat, and threw it into our sink. I ended up cooking the lasagna anyway and it was the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. It tasted like I was eating weeds and grass (or what I imagine eating those would taste like because of how they smell) with a little bit of cheese.
Just writing about it brings back that awful taste.
But I haven’t made that mistake since. Even for these photos, as I was about to sprinkle on the Italian seasoning, I held the lid to make sure it didn’t fall off again.
Luckily 1/2 cup of Italian seasoning is not in my original recipe and this is by far my favorite lasagna recipe. Give it a try for dinner next time you’re craving Italian food. It’s simple and easy to put together.
- 1 pound beef
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 can tomato paste 6 oz.
- 1 can diced tomatoes drained
- 1 can tomato sauce 8 oz.
- 9 lasagna noodles cooked according to package
- 1 container ricotta cheese 16 oz.
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- Cook beef and Italian sausage together on a skillet. Once browned and cooked, drain oil and place meat into skillet. Season with Italian seasoning and salt and pepper.
- Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce into meat mixture. Cook on medium for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until meat mixture is thick.
- Combine ricotta cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and dried parsley in a separate bowl.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Spray a 9x13 casserole dish (or similar) with cooking spray.
- Add enough meat mixture to lightly cover the bottom of the pan.
- Use 3 lasagna noodles to add one layer of noodles on top of meat.
- Add half of cheese mixture on top of noodles and spread evenly.
- Add half of the rest of the meat mixture over cheese mixture and spread evenly.
- Use 3 lasagna noodles to add one layer of noodles on top of meat.
- Add the rest of the cheese mixture on top of noodles and spread evenly.
- Use 3 lasagna noodles to add one layer of noodles on top of cheese.
- Add the rest of the meat mixture on top of noodles and spread evenly.
- Top with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.
- Spray one side of aluminum foil and place on top of lasagna dish.
- Cook lasagna for 30 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Then remove foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
- Allow to sit for 5 minutes before dishing.
