It Looks Like Lasagna, Smells Like Lasagna

 

dinner tonight

The salad dressing was added after the picture.

 

ready to eat

                                                       And, it tastes like lasagna

in a pie pan

My 9x13 inch pan is still nowhere to be found. Then, the 8x8 inch "brownie pan" that was on the counter disappeared, too.

Not only do I have ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan,  but I had to choose the "Three Cheese" Prego from the shelf. The "use by" date was June 22. I know it is okay and will be okay for awhile, but I had it in my hand, chosen for the date, so what's a little more cheese for a cheese lover. I used almost the whole jar.

lots of ricotta and two eggs in about 12 ounces of the ricotta

 

When the ricotta/egg mixture showed up 1/4 inch thick in the lasagna, I determined a thinner layer was called for. 

meat all in one layer

I was cooking the meat as I was layering. Since I was not sure how much spaghetti sauce I was going to use, all the meat just went into one layer.

This was on sale for $2, eight ounces of Mozarella. I used the whole thing! Maybe too much since I don't have leftover to make the rest of the lasagna fixings into another lasagna. Oh, well, maybe I can just leave it off the next one.

ready to bake

grated Parmesan sprinkled on top of mozarella

 

I sprayed Pam on foil, covered the whole thing with the foil, baked for 19 minutes because I forgot the time. At that time, I removed the foil and baked 20 more minutes. The plan was to bake for 30 minutes, covered for the first 15 minutes and uncovered for the last 15 minutes. 

 

 

One more look

 

I learned a few things:

 

 I need more herbs. I used some very old Italian herbs, crushed and out of date. I should have used more.

 

A different flavor spaghetti sauce would be better. There is enough cheese added by me.

 

Less mozzarella would be okay.

 

Less ricotta/egg mixture would make the tomato taste stronger.

 

Something went wrong with the pasta. The pasta was like shoe leather when I tasted it right out of the oven. After thirty minutes, the pasta was just rubbery. After being refrigerated for four hours, the pasta was just right.

 

It would be cheaper to go buy lasagna, but I won't. I will just make this more economical. Cottage cheese will replace the ricotta.

 

I can make this more healthy by using zucchini instead of lasagna.

 

One question:

Chickenmom, did you mean to use the pasta that you boil, but not boil it, just make it the night before? That was not clear.

 

This was delicious. Thanks for the hints and encouragement. Kymber, here are the pictures.

 

Your turn:

Does anyone have any suggestions?