Mom Hack Lasagna

This recipe was developed based on my love for pasta and cooking. 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 to keep the lasagna moist and creamy. You can also save time using pre-grated cheese but we like shredding it ourselves. 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 pre-washed baby spinach

• 1 jar Italian Passata Sauce with basil

• 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes

• Ricotta cheese (reduced fat)

• Mozzarella cheese (reduced fat), shredded

• Parmesan cheese, shredded

• 1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles

• Olive oil

• Salt and pepper

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 oven to 375 °F. 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 frypan and cook until golden

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

5. Add ground beef to the pan and cook until the meat is no longer pink. Slice and add mushrooms to meat after brown. Then add a box of spinach, a bottle of sauce, can of tomatoes and simmer until the 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. Use 4 noodles/row.

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

8. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown

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