MOM HACK LASAGNA

This recipe was developed over time based on my love for pasta and also for cooking once and feeding my family multiple times. It’s a family favorite! The key is to make it as easy as possible. I don’t always use reduced fat dairy products but the meat has enough fat that the lasagna is still moist and creamy. You can also save time using pre grated cheese but we like shredding it ourselves. The good quality sauce and tomatoes allow you to skip most additional herbs or spices. 

Ingredients 

600g extra lean ground beef

12 mushrooms

3 cloves of garlic

1 small onion, peeled

1 box prewashed baby spinach

Italian Passata Sauce with basil 1 jar

Fire roasted tomatoes 1 can

Ricotta cheese (reduced fat)

Mozzarella cheese (reduced fat) - shredded

Parmesan cheese - shredded 

1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

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Instructions 

1. Start running the tap and fill up a large pot with HOT salted water, this speeds up the time it will take to get your noodles ready. Heat the pot over high heat with a lid. When a rolling boil cook noodles per package instructions, I like to undercook by 1-2 minutes to ensure the pasta is al dente in the end. My Italian husband hates soggy noodles!

2. Preheat the over to 375F. Heat another large pan over the stove at medium heat and add a tbsp of olive oil. 

3. Use a food processor or bullet to quickly chopped your onion into fine pieces. Add this to the fry pan and cook until golden

4. Meanwhile use your bullet to chop your garlic and add it to your onions. Pan fry together 2-3 minutes until fragrant and not burnt.

5. Add ground beef to the pan and cook until meat is no longer pink. Then add box of spinach, bottle of sauce, can of tomatoes and simmer until spinach is wilted down. It will seem like too much spinach but it shrinks a lot! 

6. Get a glass 8 x 12” Pyrex glass pan and layer the bottom with noodles evenly, we use 4 noodles/row. 

7. Then layer meat sauce, a dust of mozzarella cheese, noodles, ricotta cheese, noodles and final layer of meat sauce. Top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese