Lasagna

Most Lasagna recipes call for a combination of different types of meat, usually including beef, pork, and sausage. I use an all-beef or turkey recipe and I skip the sausage because it's hard to find sausage with my food allergies. Because this recipe doesn't call for sausage, I tend to be heavy-handed with the spices. Taste your meat sauce and your ricotta mixture as you go to ensure that the recipe isn't over-seasoned. If you do want to use sausage, use half plain ground meat and half sausage and taste carefully as you go. This recipe will accommodate an extra half-pound of meat if you want to use 3/4c ground meat and 3/4c sausage.

Tools

Oven
Stove
Cheese Grater
Large Saucepan
One Large and One Medium bowl
Cutting Board
Chef's Knife
9x13x3" inch baking pan
Foil or a cover for the pan

Ingredients

Core Ingredients

1lb Ground Beef or Turkey (if using Turkey or lean beef add 2tbsp butter or olive oil to sauce)
1 large onion, diced
2 14.5oz cans of Diced Tomatoes, undrained (for an optional smokey flavor you can use flame-roasted diced tomatoes)
1 4oz can of Tomato Paste
6oz Parmesan Cheese, grated
Olive Oil
12 Cloves of Garlic, minced (or 2 tsp garlic powder rehydrated before use)
32oz Ricotta Cheese (I use half whole and half skim)
6oz fresh mozzarella, sliced into rounds
3/4 c milk
2 eggs, beaten
2tbsp butter (for use with lean meats)
No-boil Lasagna Noodles

Spices

Your spices can be adjusted for taste. At a minimum you will need sugar, salt, black pepper, basil, oregano, parsley and bay leaves. Tamari, mushroom powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper are optional additions you can mix in to find what tastes good to you. As you cook, taste periodically to see if you like where the flavor is going. Keep in mind that you will be adding unseasoned pasta noodles and some unseasoned cheese so if your sauce or cheese mix are slightly over-seasoned it will balance out, but adjust flavors incrementally to avoid a salty lasagna.

1tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp White Pepper (optional, you can use black pepper in both the sauce and the cheese mixture if you want)
1tsp dried ground basil
1tsp dried ground oregano
1tbsp dried parsley, or half bunch of fresh parsley chopped finely
1/2 tbsp Tamari Sauce
1 tsp mushroom powder (this may be sold as mushroom seasoning, or umami seasoning mix; if you can't find it but you want more umami flavor, add more tamari)
1 tsp smoked paprika (really good if you're using the flame-roasted diced tomatoes)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (chili pepper can be used if you want something less spicy)
1 tbsp sugar

Cooking Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit