Day 9, Lasagna

Now that many of us a snowed in, it's a good day to have the oven heating for an hour. Lasagna may take a while to cook, but it's well worth it.

No Boil Lasagna

1 box of no boil lasagna noodles, 16 sheets

1 pound hamburger

1 jar of spaghetti sauce, divided

Cottage Cheese, 24 oz package

16 oz finely shredded mozzarella

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Brown hamburger in a large pan. Drain and rinse browned hamburger. Return hamburger to pan. Add jar of spaghetti sauce, reserving 1/4 cup. Heat meat and sauce mixture. Add cottage cheese and fold in until mixture is consistent color.

In a 13x9x3 inch pan spread reserved sauce on bottom of pan. Layer 4 noodles on sauce, layer 1/3 meat mixture on noodles, add 1/3 mozzarella cheese on meat mixture. Add second layer the same, third layer will be noodles, meat mixture, noodles then remaining mozzarella.

Cover in foil and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Serves 12

I like a crispy layer of noodles on the top, you can take the foil off and bake for an additional 5 minutes to make the top layer crispy. Many recipes call for Ricotta cheese, and I have tried it that way, but I prefer cottage cheese instead. This can be saved and frozen to be reheated later if you find it to be too big of a recipe. We tend to eat it for lunches the rest of the week. It's a favorite at our house. My mom used to make it with the noodles you need to boil, but I find the no-boil noodles easier to make, it saves a step.

Flavor rating: Great, I'll eat it all week.

Ease of preparation: Moderate, it takes a couple of steps, but I think it's easier than having to boil the noodles.