Family Dinner Guests and Lasagna Recipe!

Tuesday night, we had Matt's grandparents (who are better known as Muggy and Papa), his mom, and his sister, Karen, over for dinner. Muggy and Papa hadn't seen the house since the middle of the renovation process, so we were excited to show them the finished product! We were bummed that Matt's dad and Karen's husband, Jay, couldn't make it, but the six of us still had a great time hanging out for the evening!

Lasagna Recipe

 (This recipe serves 14 easily, so you may want to 1/2 it!)

1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage (remove casings)

1.5 Boxes pre-cooked Barilla Lasagna noodles

30oz Ricotta Cheese

4 Cups Shredded Mozzerella Cheese

1 egg

1T Fresh Parsley

1tsp. Salt

4oz Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, sliced thin (or 1cup of  shredded)

2/3 Cup Fresh Parmesan (Locatelli is the BEST!)

Sauce

Fancy up a couple jars or make this recipe from scratch.

2- 24oz Jars of your favorite sauce

2 cans of petitie diced tomatoes

2 sweet onions

 4 garlic cloves

3T minced fresh basil

3T minced fresh oregano

Baking soda

Salt

To make the sauce:

Sauté onions and garlic in EVOO.

Add undrained diced tomatoes.

Simmer until liquid reduces.

Add 2 jars of favorite sauce (I like Bertolli's Portobello Mushroom with Merlot, and Ragu's Sauteed Onions and Garlic).

Add a dash of salt and baking soda (baking soda neutralizes the acidity from the tomatoes), fresh basil and oregano.

To make the lasagna:

Brown the sausage and drain- once cooled, crumble into small pieces.

Combine ricotta, shredded mozzarella, 1/3 cup of parmesan, egg, parsley, and salt in a mixing bowl.

Mix until well blended.

Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.

Layer Order:

Lasagna sheets (slightly overlapping each other)

Cheese mixture

Sausage

Sauce 

(only scoop small "splotches" of sauce, do not cover the whole thing... it will make the lasagna soupy and noodles mush-ad :) )

Repeat two more times. 

(I usually skip the sausage in the middle layer- so half of the sausage on the first layer, and the other half on the third layer)

Cover the top with one more layer of lasagna sheets.

Now cover with remaining sauce. **

Lay fresh mozzarella (or regular shredded) on top of the sauce.

Sprinkle with remaining parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Uncover, and bake for another 15 minutes, allowing cheese to lightly brown.

**I actually make a separate serving of sauce (same recipe as above) to serve over top. I like a little extra for dipping!

ENJOY!!