Lasagna!

Brent and I like to go to this restaurant in Moorhead called Speakeasy.  He usually gets the Chicken Parmigiano and I either go with the Chicken Cordon Bleu, Penne Sun Pasta, or the Tortellini Vegetelle.  Brent decided to go outside of his comfort zone and get the lasagna.  He really liked it.  I guess when they make their lasagna they don't layer the sauce in there.  They cut it and it comes out in a nice layered piece - not like my usual lasagna that basically falls apart once you scoop it out with the spatula.

I tried my lasagna like theirs this time around.


1 lb Italian Sausage
Lasagna Noodles, cooked, drained and rinsed in COLD water
1 small can of tomato paste
2 small cans of no salt added tomato sauce
1-1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 cup Ricotta cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Dried oregano
Dried basil
Garlic powder mix
crushed red pepper


Bring water to a boil and cook the noodles.  While they cook, brown the Italian sausage until completely cooked through - drain in colander.  I've said this before in another post, I ALWAYS rise the cooked meat under hot water - it gets a ton of the grease off.

Drain the noodles and rinse in COLD water.  If you don't they will get sticky and you won't be able to pull them apart.

Mix the meat with the small can of tomato paste and set aside.

 
Empty the cans of tomato sauce into a separate bowl - season your sauce as you see fit.  I usually shake quite a bit of oregano and basil in there, a little crushed red pepper and some of the garlic powder mix.  I mix it all up and if it doesn't really look or taste the way I like, then I add more.  Remember that the flavor of the herbs will get more noticeable when cooking.

Put the cottage cheese and ricotta (I used part skim ricotta and fat free cottage cheese) in another bowl and shake some oregano and basil into it and mix all together.

Now, put a bit of sauce on the bottom of the dish (I use a 9x9 pan because there's only two of us and we don't need lasagna for days - you can use a 9x13 though, just adjust the ingredients accordingly).  Layer three of the cooked noodles and then spread some of the meat mixture over them.

I put the cheese mixture in a ZipLock bag and cut a hole in the corner.  Layer cheese over the meat.

Use a spatula to spread the cheese out a little bit.  I just like to make things as easy as possible :)
Sprinkle a layer of mozzarella cheese over the soft cheeses.

Yeah, I like cheese.  What of it?

Layer down some more noodles, lay down the rest of the meat, then the soft cheeses and more mozzarella.

Lay one more layer of noodles down, pour your tomato sauce over the last layer of noodles.

Sprinkle some mozzarella on the top, of course.

Bake at 350˚F for 1 hour.  I'd probably put a pan under your baking dish so it doesn't make a mess out of your oven.

Let cool 15-20 minutes and serve.

Now, will someone hand me a Lactaid?