10 pound pasta

No, it did not make me gain 10 pounds is weighs 10 pounds. Take your best guess at what this Italian pasta dish is ..... .... ... .. . I am sure you guessed correctly, Lasagna! I made the dish in my 9x13 stone baker which is why the dish is so darn heavy.

This reminds me of a story, I will try to keep it short. The very first time I ever made lasagna I was living at my parents house. The prep took an hour, the glass dish was filled to the rim so I put it on a metal cookie sheet in case there were any spill overs. I throw it in the oven and set the timer for an hour. After that house the house smelled amazing!! I was ready to take a big bite of my first ever pan of lasagna. The timer dings, I run into the kitchen and grab the oven mits. Open the oven door, grab the lasagna, turn to the right to place it on the counter. Crash, bang, shatter, the glass pan had shifted on the metal tray and down the entire pan of lasagna went onto the brick kitchen floor. I was so unbelievably upset. And cleaning up the mess was the worst part. Glass and hot lasagna goop was everywhere. To this day everyone reminds me of this every time I make lasagna. Needless to say, I did learn my lesson. Do NOT put a glass pan on top of a metal cookie sheet.

I prepped this dish last night and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Since this was my first time making lasagna without precooking the noodles I took extra steps to make sure the noodles had enough liquid to cook. That is why I added the can of tomato sauce. Perhaps it could be omitted, but I would rather be safe then sorry. Without further ado, my lasagna recipe.



Amber's Lasagna
(Source: Me)

Ingredients:
Lasagna noodles (uncooked)
1 can tomato sauce
1.5 tsp Italian seasoning
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Meat filling:
1.5 pounds ground beef
5 cloves garlic (minced or pressed)
2 tsp onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Cheese filling:
1 (24 oz) container cottage cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
3 cloves garlic
3 tsp Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle (or Italian Seasoning)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1) Add ground beef, garlic, S&P, onion powder, and red pepper flakes to skillet. Cook over medium heat until the ground beef is cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in spaghetti sauce.
2) While the ground beef is cooking add all the cheese filling ingredients to a medium bowl and mix to combine.
3) Add the Italian seasoning into the 1 can of tomato sauce.
4) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5) Lightly spray bottom of 9 x 13 casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
6) Layer the ingredients:

- 1/2 can seasoned tomato sauce
- Layer of noodles
- 1/2 cheese mixture
- 1/2 meat sauce
- Layer of noodles
- 1 tbls seasoned tomato sauce over each noodle
- Remaining cheese mixture
- Meat sauce
- Noodles
- Remaining meat sauce and remaining seasoned tomato sauce

7) Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. Discard foil, add 1 cup mozzarella cheese to top and bake for 5 additional minutes (or until cheese is hot and bubbly). Let stand 10-15 minutes. Serve.