Lasagna

Lasagna, a classic italian staple. Growing up my grandmas lasagna was world famous, well ok not really world famous but she would always have people calling her, asking her to make lasagna for them and she would, she would also make a pan for her neighbor, a pan for me and my mom to take home and a pan for the homeless shelter.
Now, i dont think i got the lasagna gene but i find myself making it a lot like she did and as i make it i feel like she is standing right behind me telling me what to do.

With lasagna you have options! You can make it with ground beef, sausage or both. You can make a full pan, or a half pan. With a full pan you can have left overs for a few days if you are only feeding 2 people like i do, or with a half pan you can enough leftover for lunch the next day. If you want you can prepare it the day  before and refrigerate it, when you get home from work just throw it in the oven and you have dinner in 30-45 mins.

So on to the recipe. I made a full pan, with 50/50 ground beef and sausage. I recommend finding a grocery store or farmers market that sells local, grass fed beef. Let me just say, the difference in quality is amazing, and the price is about the same as if not a bit higher than big chain grocery stores. Well worth it especially with the pink slime going around.
I also recommend you shred your own cheese. Cost wise its about the same, you can get a brick of mozzarella prepackaged from the cheese section or cut from the deli. I use about 16oz of cheese. You can shred it by hand with a hand shredder, or what i do in a hurry, i throw it in my Ninja blender. Fresh shredded cheese will melt better and be gooey and stringy compared to bag cheese will be much more dense.

This recipe is for a full pan, if making a half pan just cut everything in half and tear the lasagna noodles to fit pan.

1 box lasagna (dont use oven ready)
1 lb ground beed, italian sausage or mixture of both
12 oz can diced stewed tomatoes
2 jars marinara sauce (i like Newmans own or my local grocery store brand that is made in house)
1 zucchini and yellow squash, sliced and halved
1 med onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 can sliced mushrooms
16 oz mozzarella cheese (16 oz brick or 2 bags)
1 of the small containers of ricotta cheese
1 egg
Garlic, minced, to taste (i used a whole garlic because i love garlic)


Preheat oven to 350
In a skillet lightly oiled with olive oil, brown meat with onions and pepper. 
Pour one jar marinara sauce in a med sauce pan with the canned tomatoes water drained, add garlic, zucchini, squash and mushrooms, simmer until squash is tender. Add to meat. 
Beat egg, add ricotta cheese to egg and mix with fork.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil, gently add box of lasagna noodles, cook to directions on box.
Drain the noodles and lay flat on an oiled cookie sheet, run under cool water if needed to handle. 
With the 2nd jar of sauce, spread a layer on bottom of pan. Lay 5 strips of lasagna on bottom of pan and layer with ricotta cheese mixture, meat mixture and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and repeat. Use half the cheese for the layers, half the cheese for the top. With the final layer or noodles, top with just marinara sauce and cheese.
Bake 30 mins.