Lasagna - Mmmm

We had planned on going as a family to the restaurant where Brian and I had our first Valentine's dinner last night, but Madeline was running a little bit of a fever. So I decided to make lasagna at home instead. And after Brian said "we don't need to go out for Italian if you always make lasagna like this," any disappointment I had in not going went away.

I usually just use the no-bake noodles because I always thought it was too big a pain in the butt to cook them and they always stuck together. But I now know the secret - after you drain them, lay them out on wax paper spread across cookie sheets. It worked like a dream! Thanks to Annies Eats for the recipe and the photo. I did leave the spinach out of mine because Brian's not a huge fan of spinach, and I definitely don't think it suffered at all. I'm thinking of making at least one more of these and freezing it to save for when baby Leymon makes its arrival. 

Classic Lasagna

12 lasagna noodles
1 lb. Italian sausage
2/3 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup minced flat-leaf parsley, divided
3 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste
15 oz. tomato sauce
2 cups water
1½ tsp. Italian seasoning
1½ tsp. basil
1½ tsp. oregano
15 oz. part-skim ricotta cheese
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (I skipped this)
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 large eggs
2 tsp. garlic salt
¼ tsp. pepper
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions, until al dente.  Drain and set aside.  (see my note above about how to keep them from sticking when they're done cooking.)

In the meantime, in a very large skillet or saucepan (12-14 inches), crumble the Italian sausage and cook over medium-high heat until it just begins to brown.  

Add the onion, garlic and 1/3 cup of the parsley to the pan and continue cooking until the sausage is completely browned and cooked through.  

 Mix in the tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, Italian seasoning, basil and oregano.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining parsley, ricotta, spinach, Parmesan, eggs, garlic salt, and pepper.  Mix well until blended.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  

Spread 2 cups of sauce in a thin layer on the bottom of a 9 x 13″ baking dish.  

Layer with 4 lasagna noodles.  

Top the noodles with half of the cheese-spinach mixture and spread evenly to a thin layer. 

 Top with about a third of the remaining sauce mixture, and sprinkle with 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella.  

Layer again with 4 more noodles and the remaining cheese-spinach mixture.  

Spread half of the remaining sauce mixture over the top, and sprinkle with 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella. 

 The final layer will be 4 noodles, the remaining sauce, and a layer of shredded mozzarella.  

Cover tightly with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and return to the oven for 10 minutes more.  Allow to cool 10 minutes before slicing and serving.