Lasagna Recipe

I don’t know what has gotten into me lately, but I feel like sharing my favorite recipes.  Boy, I wasn’t kidding when I described my blog as me “rambling my way through life…”  I really do ramble about random things.  But that keeps you coming back for more, right?  To see what amazing randomness I can come up with next.  Or maybe it’s just that my blog is like a train wreck, and you can’t look away.  I can live with that. Sometimes I feel the same way.

Anyway, this recipe is an old family favorite.  Oh, and if you’re Italian, or an Italian food  or Lasagna purist, you may want to skip this one.  If you’re an Italian food lover, and you love easy, yummy recipes, you may proceed.

I’m not sure where my mother got this recipe, but it’s the only lasagna I ever remember being served growing up.  It is called lasagna, but some of you purists may want to force me to call it noodle lasagna.  I can live with that.  As long as you let me call it YUMMY. 

I think so highly of this recipe that I even posted it on Ree Drummond’s (aka The Pioneer Woman) Tasty Kitchen site.  I’m pretty sure not one person has looked at it or saved it to their recipe box, but that doesn’t deter me from thinking it’s a great recipe.  If you’re a member of Tasty Kitchen, feel free to go save my recipe to your box, rate it as 5 oven mitts, and comment about how amazing this recipe is.  Or not.  Whatever.

Look past the jarred sauce, noodles, and cottage cheese, and enjoy this recipe!  Oh, and if you want to make it even easier than it already is, you can swap out all the seasonings with a good Italian Seasoning mix.  I use Pampered Chef’s because I fell in love with it a while back. 

Mama’s Lasagna

1 jar spaghetti sauce, at least 3 cups

1-2lbs ground beef

2 1/2 cups water

1 (12oz) box mafalda noodles (I use extra wide dumpling noodles)

1 (24oz) tub cottage cheese

1 tsp salt

dash pepper

1 Tbs parsley

1/2 tsp oregano

dash garlic powder

1 egg slightly beaten

1 large package shredded mozzarella cheese

grated parmesan cheese

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Brown ground beef.  Pour spaghetti sauce and water into a large pot.  Bring to a full boil, stir in noodles; cover and cook 7 minutes, stirring occasionally until noodles are barely tender.  Add beef.  In a separate bowl, combine cottage cheese with seasonings and egg.  In a greased high sided 9x13” pan, alternate layers of noodles/sauce with cheese mixture and mozzarella cheese, ending with noodles and sauce for top layer.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Let stand at least 5-10 minutes before serving.  (Great re-heated)