Cooking From Scratch - Homemade Lasagna
By Jennifer
Lasagna is one of those meals that I only make once or twice a year. Honestly, it is a bit of a pain to make homemade lasagna from scratch, but I find it worth it in the taste. So when I make lasagna, I automatically make two. This type of cooking saves time and money in the long run.
I was able to buy bigger sizes of the products which were cheaper per ounce. It only took me an extra 5-10 minutes to put together the second lasagna. But if I started from scratch the next time I wanted lasagna it would take a minimum of 30 minutes to get it in the oven. Plus, I now have a meal in the freezer for a crazy night somewhere down the road. To me this is a win-win situation all the way around. Here is how I make our lasagna.
Ingredients
6 lb 9 oz can of tomato sauce - the industrial size can you get at a warehouse store
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground sausage
2 teaspoons dried basil
3-5 cloves of garlic
3 carrots or large handful of baby carrots
1/2 medium onion
30 oz tub of ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 lb of mozzarella cheese, grated
1.5 lbs of lasagna noodles, I use the no boil kind
Directions
Brown the ground beef and sausage together in a large pan. While that is browning, steam the carrots and onions. Once these are soft put them in the blender with a ladle full of tomato sauce and puree. You are adding flavor to the sauce as well as vitamins and nutrients and your kids or picky eaters will never know. In a large pot mix the tomato sauce with the basil, chopped or minced garlic, browned meat and vegetable puree. Heat the sauce on medium while you grate the mozzarella cheese. In a large bowl mix the ricotta cheese with the eggs.
When you have everything ready to layer get out your two 9x13 pans. Add enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom of each pan. At this point I add 1/4 cup of water to the sauce to help the noodles cook. I will do this with each layer. After the sauce put down enough noodles to cover the bottom. For me that was 3.5 in my larger pan and 3 in my smaller pan. Put a spoonful of the ricotta cheese mixture on top of each noodle and spread around. Sprinkle with a handful of grated cheese. Then start your layers over - sauce, water, pasta, ricotta, mozzarella, repeat. I repeat this until I am almost out of ingredients. I top everything with another layer of sauce and grated cheese.
Bake for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes at 375. Check half way through to make sure the cheese isn't getting too brown. If it is cover the lasagna in tinfoil and keep cooking. Once the lasagnas are done take them out of the oven, cover and let them rest for 10-15 minutes. This is the hard part! But if you cut into them too soon you will have a runny mess. If you let them rest you will get nice pieces of layered lasagna.
You can make some alterations to this recipe to fit your tastes and ingredients. You can easily leave out the carrots and onion, or add the onion chopped to the sauce. You can use zucchini or eggplant instead of the noodles. You can also easily make this lasagna vegetarian by leaving out the meat. If you don't have enough mozzarella cheese you can add grated cheddar instead. But now at least you have the basics to create your own delicious lasagna.
Comments
Sounds so good.I will give it a try.
We love lasagne at our house .There´s none so good as your own made from scratch. Nice hub. Take care
I am planning on making a vegetable lasagna with a white sauce by scratch this next week! This makes me want to do this one too. LOL Thanks for sharing!
I'm hungry and I love lasagna!
Nice recipe and especially I like the way you explain this, and made it so easy to prepare this. Thanks again and if possible please write how to bake potatoes with Tuna.
I have never heard of carrots in lasagna. I will have to try. Thanks for the recipe
I have used regular noodles as well...they cook up the same in the lasagna as the no-boil kind. It sure is easier than trying to layer floppy boiled noodles. Great Hub!
I have only made lasagna once in my life. I love it but it is lots of work. I may try it again with your recipe.
When I was growing up, our neighbor's mother was Italian. She was an incredible cook. Her lasagna was to die for! I've not found any to compare after all these years!
Thank you for a great recipe.
Nice sounding recipe, I would substitute quorn for the meat and make it veggie friendly.
Ooooooh this lasagna looks super delish! Put this recipe in my cook book! Thank you Jennifer for sharing!
How clever of you to show it step by step and with great pics, well done Jennifer.
Mmm, we all agree, you've made us hungry for your lasagna!
NONE of my lasagna recipes call for carrots. I just bookmarked this. I'll bet it's delicious!
I'm going to have to try your lasagna recipe. Not only does it sound delicious, and look delicious but it also sounds healthy. Great instructions.
I have always been a big fan of Lasagna but have never actually made some myself. I really doesn't look that difficult to make.
Im goona try tonight!
Thanks.
Andy
It looks to be tastiest food. I must try cooking it myself once.
I love your frugal approach to all things, and your exhortation to live simply. This lasagna looks fantastic, I'm going to try it. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks for the Hub.
I'll be trying out your recipe for a get together I'm having in a couple of days. It looks so good, Thanks!
Jennifer
Thank you for your wonderful food dishes. I too love cooking from scratch. I enjoy goin to the local markets here in SC, St. Helena and choosing fresh organic vegetables, bringing them home, cleaning, cutting them up and creating sumptous meals.
I am a new vegan, so eating plenty of good healthy foods is key to my diet.
I am also a writer/author of five books...... Divine Healing + Divine Health = A Divine Life www.authorhouse.com is one of my first masterpieces. This book tells of the only diet we will ever need for life.
I love homemade lasagna.
Mmmhmmm! I could almost smell it from here. A convenient home based dish, and a delicious one at that too! Thanks for sharing :)
Hi Jennifer,
Homemade Lasagna recipe. 'oh boy' is that good tasting stuff... Thank you much! Enjoy the cooking nice hub post.
Sounds Delicious. I will give it a try.
Great lasagna recipe, thank you for sharing. Are these lasagna photos yours ? Can I use them on my http://lasagnarecipes.org.uk/ site ?
Voted everything except funny.
Regards, RASO
Putz Ballard 19 months ago
Thanks for sharing this recipe. Even I made some lasagna one time when our boys were quite small. It turned out so good and I just followed the directions on the box.