Kerri's Homemade Lasagna

When I think of comfort food I think of Lasagna. Not just anyone's will do. I refuse to order it out in a restaurant and I don't particularly like anyone else's home-made but my own. I have tweaked it to what I call, "perfection." I use REAL ingredients straight from the garden.

I need to put a disclaimer here because I don't use any exact measurements. I will tell you close and you can adjust accordingly.

My mother and grandmother's all cooked using approximates and I picked up that habit. For at home it's just great, but for a blog I am finding that it is not so great.

First let me tell you that I bag my unseasoned tomato sauce during harvest time into quart sized freezer bags. Having cooked it down to a consistency that is great for whatever I need in terms of cooking. (That is another blog, not yet created.) Secondly, from my garden I also have bagged and frozen all sorts of vegetables. I am able to pull out of the freezer: Red, Green, or Yellow peppers, onions and various other veggies as needed. Additionally, I make up my noodles, days or weeks in advance. All this said, my mise en place consisted only of making my filling and pre-cooking my meats.

Kerri's Homemade Lasagna

• preheat oven to 375
• 1 lb each lean hamburger and Italian sausage, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and two or three shakes of the hot pepper flakes, set aside in a small bowl
• 2 cups onion, set aside in a small bowl
• 2 cups green bell pepper, set aside in a small bowl
• 1 cup each yellow and red bell pepper, set aside in a small bowl
• 2.5 liters or approximately 85 ounces spaghetti sauce 
• 12 - 15 lasagna noodles, not boiled
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 2-12 ounce bags of mozzarella cheese
• 2 TBS Parsley
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1  medium - large sized tomato

Cheese filler - In a large mixing bowl add the following ingredients and mix well: eggs. ricotta cheese, one bag of mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt.

In a 9 X 13 glass baking dish layer: one ladle sauce, half your noodles, (Overlapping is fine.) cheese filler, (Spread it out as you go. I like mine thicker than most.) about 1/2 of your hamburger and 1/2 of your sausage, 1/2 of your green, red and yellow peppers, 1/2 of your onion and 1/2 of your sauce. Repeat. On your last layer, top your lasagna with a sliced tomato and 1/2 to 3/4 of the second bag of mozzarella cheese. Cover your lasagna with a tinfoil tent and bake for 45 min. Uncover and continue to bake approximately 15 min. or until your cheese topping is nice and golden brown.

You may have about a cup of cheese mixture left and or some meat left. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. If you do, both can be bagged into freezer baggies, labeled and plopped into the freezer. They will not go to waste. You can use it when you make lasagna again or when you make those ravioli you have been thinking about making. (hint-hint)

I had to add this picture. We had left overs the following day and
boy-buddy it doesn't get any better. Just looking at the pretty layers made me happy. I know, I know... I'm silly. :-)

Enjoy!
Kerri Downey