Easy Cheesy Lasagna
Very easy and fast recipe. I like to prepare it in the morning and then just pop it in the oven for dinner.
Very easy and fast recipe. I like to prepare it in the morning and then just pop it in the oven for dinner.
- 1 egg
- 1/2 pound extra-lean ground beef
- 26 oz spaghetti sauce
- 1/2 pound italian sausage
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
- 1 (16 oz) container 2% cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup kraft grated parmesan cheese
- 9 lasagna noodles get the no-boil type
- 8 oz kraft mozzarella shredded
- 1/2 cup black olives
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- Carbohydrate 21.749107743575 g
- Cholesterol 71.8901736461667 mg
- Fat 17.19976866934 g
- Fiber 1.85597307657939 g
- Protein 15.7158908493133 g
- Saturated Fat 7.030735022242 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (152g)
- Sodium 593.958797875333 mg
- Sugar 19.8931346669956 g
- Trans Fat 1.506798819475 g
- Calories 307 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat oven to 375(F) degrees
- Brown meat with garlic and oregano in large saucepan. Stir in spaghetti sauce; simmer 5 min., stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat; stir in tomatoes.
- Mix egg, cottage cheese and Parmesan.
- Spread 1/2 cup meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish
- top with layers of 3 noodles, half the cottage cheese mixture,
- 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1 cup sauce.
- Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles and sauce; cover.
- Bake 30 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining mozzarella. Bake, uncovered, 5 min. or until melted. Let stand 5 min. before serving.
Balancing assembly speed with structural integrity requires careful management of moisture and starch hydration when building layered pasta dishes. Because the preparation utilizes no-boil noodles, the dry pasta sheets absorb liquid directly from the surrounding sauce during the initial thirty minutes of baking at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning the sauce must maintain sufficient water content to prevent the pasta from hardening at the edges.
- Drain any excess fat completely after browning the beef and Italian sausage to prevent greasy separation during the long bake.
- Mix the egg thoroughly into the cottage cheese and parmesan; the egg proteins coagulate under heat, binding the loose dairy curd into a cohesive layer that prevents the slices from sliding apart upon serving.
- Allow the assembled dish to rest uncovered for five minutes after the final five-minute melt phase so the internal starches can set and yield clean, distinct squares.
- Cover the baking dish tightly with foil for the first thirty minutes of baking to trap steam, which actively drives the softening of the raw pasta sheets before removing the cover for the final cheese-melting stage.
As the meats simmer with garlic and oregano, Maillard reactions develop deep savory compounds that balance the acidity of the tomato sauce. Properly timing the resting period ensures that the residual heat redistributes evenly through the denser internal layers without overcooking the outer mozzarella crust.
