Lasagna! Honestly - who doesn't love it? Want to know why I love it? Because you feel like you're eating something bad but with my recipe - its not! I promise!
I've made about a ZILLION lasagna's and this is the BEST ONE I'VE EVER MADE! Seriously! I feel bad for you that you aren't here to eat it with me! Ha ha!
The secret to the best lasagna? The coolest can opener ever! lol. Yes, it's avacado green and awesome! (and yes, my nails are neon pink - you know you love it!)
Want to know the second secret? The BIGGEST YELLOW OLD-SCHOOL STRAINER EVER! Check this sucker out - HUGE! This is a normal size sink and this strainer fills the whole thing! I wasn't lying last post when I said my lovely Uncle has about 10000 strainers - i choose this one because I like the color.
Want to know the third secret? I FOUND THE POT HOLDERS! YES! My mittens can rest easy tonight! They won't be needed.
Here's a quick rundown of the ingredients and amounts I've used. This should make one large lasagna or two smaller ones.
- 1 box of lasagna noodles - I'm using whole wheat ones because I feel they are less bad for me, I could be totally wrong but who cares!
- 1 Large red pepper
- 1 medium size zucchini
- 1 medium size head of broccoli
- 1 can of Italian flavored sauce - I've used Contadina
- 1 jar of tomato sauce - I've used
- 2 bags of mozzeralla cheese - I've used part-skim (a little bit of fat is ok)
- 1 package of ground turkey
- Salt/Pepper to taste
- Fresh Basil
- 1 small onion
- Fresh garlic
- Bit of olive oil
You'll also need a lot of pots - sorry, this isn't a clean recipe - you'll use lots and lots of pots.
First off - boil in a BIG pot some water, add about 3 pinches of salt to the pot. This helps the noodles from sticking together. Add the noodles and let them cook according to the package.
Then its time to chopppppppp! Garlic - I LOVE garlic so I always use a lot - I've got about 6 cloves and I chopped the crap out of them. Small bits but not too small. Then the onion is up next - chop the crap outta that guy - smaller is better in this case. Once you finish chopping - heat up your sauce pan with a little bit of olive oil. Save a little bit of onion for the sauce. Then you want to heat up the garlic and onions to get the juices flowing. From there - add the meat and cook till its not pink anymore.
While the meat is cooking - add the jar and can of sauce together. Just heat these guys up together and add a sprinkle or two of the Parmesan cheese. Then add the onions you set aside earlier as well. Just let this sit and mix together on a low heat for about 10 minutes.
The noodles should be about done now (they take about 15-10 minutes). You want to drain the pot and take the noodles out. The tricky thing about lasagna noodles is getting them to not stick together. I've used some tin foil spread over the counter to let them rest a bit.
So far so good eh? There is where it gets interesting. Now you want to chop up all your veggies into very small pieces - the zucchini, broccoli and peppers. I wanted to use the same sauce pan as I had used for the turkey but as you can see - the veggies don't all fit. Now it's time to get creative - there is a BIG pot that i had the noodles in - maybe that will work - YES! Rockin'.
You want to heat up your veggies so they get to be brightly colored - not too much. You want them still to have some sort of texture to them. Then add the sauce - mix that together for a minute, then add the meat, mix that together for a minute, then you're ready to build!
First start off with a layer of sauce, then a layer of noodles, then a layer of cheese (I also sprinkle a little bit of the parm here as well), then I start over again and keep layering until I end with a layer of cheese on top and it's just about the top of the pan. Sometimes this is three sets of layers, sometimes two.
You'll probably have bits and pieces of noodles leftover - you know what i do? I make a mini version and eat it while the larger one is baking! HA!
Cover your lasagna with tin foil and pop it into the over for 30-40 minutes. You'll know it's done when the cheese on top is melted and the entire thing is bubbling like crazy! Now - one thing to remember, this is HOT! I know this because I didn't heed my own warning and burned the crap outta my mouth. sucks.
Oh well. I hope you enjoy my recipe. Not too many troubles this time except for the pots. I warned you - lots and lots of pots.
