Lasagna

This has been in my draft folder patiently awaiting completion since June. Today is the day.

Idk where I got this recipe. It probably evolved because my family does not like ricotta cheese or cottage cheese or spinach or anything else in their lasagna. Just four plain ingredients: meat, sauce, noodles, and cheese; and they're happy. So this recipe is really just for my kids reading this; bc usually people prefer lasagna with a few more bells and whistles. Nope. Not us!

I've adapted and adjusted this recipe over the years but find that I still prefer to make two pans and freeze one. Even with only five of us eating, leftovers don't last long. I always make this early in the day (or the night before) so the noodles can absorb liquid and soften before they're baked. If you overbake or put too many noodles in and it's dry, serve with spaghetti sauce. It's a great disguise😏

Ingredients for two 9x13 pans:

3 jars Aldi spaghetti sauce

2 quarts tomato juice

5# cooked, drained ground beef

1.5# mozzarella cheese

~16 lasagna noodles

Instructions: 

Mix spaghetti sauce and tomato juice with ground beef. It will be sloppy.  Layer in greased 9x13:

1 cup meat mixture

lasagna noodles (uncooked)

2 cups meat mixture

2 cups cheese

Repeat layers, ending with cheese on top.

Repeat with second pan. If you have extra meat mixture, freeze it for chili or tacos or haystacks or spaghetti or just stick it in the fridge and someone sometime will joyfully discover it and cook up some noodles and eat it right up😋

Anyway.

Refrigerate until ready to bake. Bake 350d for an hour or so. 

And I forgot to get a picture of it after it was baked, so here's pre-baked. Owell. 

Enjoy!