Shortcut Sausage Lasagna Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. In a large skillet, cook and crumble sausage with onion over medium heat until no longer pink, 5-7 minutes; drain. Add garlic and tomato paste; cook and stir 1 minute. , Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, 10-15 minutes., In a bowl, mix egg, ricotta cheese, 1-1/4 cups Parmesan cheese and the remaining pepper. Spread 1-1/2 cups meat sauce into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Layer with 4 noodles, 1-1/2 cups ricotta cheese mixture, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1-1/2 cups sauce. Repeat layers. Top with the remaining noodles, sauce and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses., Cover with greased foil; bake 30 minutes. Uncover; bake until lightly browned and heated through, 5-10 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• Crumble the sausage into a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover; microwave on high for 3-5 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, stirring once; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, onion, green pepper, water, olives and salt. , In a greased 11x7-in. microwave-safe dish, layer 1-1/3 cups meat sauce, three noodles, 1/2 cup ricotta cheese and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. , Cover and microwave at 70% power for 21-24 minutes or until noodles are tender. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 45-60 seconds or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

Steps:

• In a skillet, crumble and cook sausage over medium heat until brown. Remove from heat and stir in pasta sauce and tomato sauce. In small bowl, combine ricotta cheese and Italian seasoning. Preheat oven to 375F. Spread 1 cup sauce into bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Top with 3 noodles. Cover noodles with 1/3 of ricotta cheese mixture, 1 cup of mozzarella and 1 cup sauce. Repeat layers two more times. Add last 3 noodles. Top lasagna with remaining sauce and with remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan over mozzarella. Cover and bake 45 to 50 minutes or until noodles are tender. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes to melt cheese.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, cook and stir meat, onion, salt and garlic powder until meat is brown and onion is tender. If meat created a lot of grease, you can drain. But it will be hard keeping all the onions, they get stuck in strainer.
• Stir in Spaghetti sauce and simmer for 15mins, stirring occasionally.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix cottage cheese, parmesan cheese and parsley flakes together.
• In an 11 x 7 ungreased baking dish (like a pyrex glass dish) cover the bottom with the 8 oz can of tomato sauce. This is to prevent the lasagna noodle from sticking and will also cook them.
• Start placing the lasagna noodle on top for the sauce. You may need to "cut" the corners of the pasta to fit it in the pan. they should overlay a bit.
• After your first layer of noodles add sauce, mozzarella cheese and cottage cheese mixture.
• Repeat with the noodles now going in the opposite direction. (so horizontal first then the next layer Parallel).
• Now you have 2 layers, add on more layer of noodle and top off with sauce and shredded cheese. you should have used most of the cottage cheese mixture on the first two layers.
• Cover with tin-foil and bake 40 to 45 minutes
• Let stand at room temperature for 10mins uncovered.
• Cut into squares and enjoy!

Steps:

• If Adding Meat Layer:.
• Combine ground beef, egg, finely minced garlic and garlic powder, breadcrumbs, grated parmesan and chopped Italian parsley in a large mixing bowl. Run water over the bread slices to soak them and squeeze the water out. Add a splash of wine if desired.
• Mix meat for several minutes by hand, and roll out into fairly compact and tight meatballs. I make mine about 1 inch to 1.5 inch in size.
• Brown / sear the meatballs while continually rolling them with the utensils of your choice. I use two wooden spoons, but I've also used tongs to do this. The key is to get them browned enough to be "medium rare", not raw, as the cooking time is not long in the lasagna. However, they need to be done well enough to stick mostly together for slicing. I think next time I may chill them in the refrigerator. I put layers of paper towels down on a platter to hold the meatballs while they are cooling off.
• If Adding Spinach Layer:.
• Steam the spinach until it softens somewhat. It will continue to soften further in the lasagna while it's cooking.
• Making the Lasagna:.
• Open the jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce, and heat to a low simmer. If using meatballs, put them in the sauce to soak up some additional flavor.
• Note about the sauce: I am Italian American, and make my own marinara sauce from scratch several times a year. It takes all day, so I freeze it in storage containers for later use. However, when I use store bought sauce, I prefer the sauce made by Del Grosso, a small company in Tipton, Pennsylvania. Their products include both inexpensive sauces, and a line of specialty ones called "La Famiglia Del Grosso that are roughly twice the price of Ragu or Prego ($6-$7 a for a 26 ounce jar). This recipe is about shortcuts, not making things from scratch. The company's "Aunt Mary Ann's Sunday Marinara" tastes very, very much like the sauce I make from scratch, so that is what I used for this recipe.
• Here is the product link:.
• http://www.delgrossosauce.com/content/aunt-mary-anns-sunday-marinara-1.
• Boil the lasagna noodles to just below al dente. What worked for me as a guess was one minute shorter than the lowest recommended time - this was 9 minutes for the Mueller brand noodles that were on sale for 2:1 the day I was shopping for supplies for this project. The noodle layers will also soften while the lasagna is cooking, so do not worry if they are a little stiff.
• If using meat, remove the meatballs from the sauce and slice into roughly ¼ inch slices. Don't worry if the crumble (as some will). These will form the meat layer of the lasagna.
• Wash and chop the Italian parsley and sweet basil into fairly small pieces. In a big mixing bowl, combine evenly the ricotta cheese with the chopped parsley and basil, the ground pepper and the pinch or two of granulated garlic.
• Put a thin layer of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 11, 10 x 13, or 12 x 11 pan (your sizes may vary somewhat). I used a Pyrex type glassware for mine.
• Layer the lasagna noodles with slight overlapping in the pan. If you need to, don't be afraid to use small "band aid" sections or cross sections to make the layer. You should have plenty of noodles.
• Using a spatula, or spoon of your choice, make a layer of sauce covering the noodles. Add a layer of the ricotta mixture covering the sauce. If adding meat, arrange slices or crumbles of the meatballs next. If not, use the steamed spinach to create a veggie layer. Now sprinkle a later of mozzarella cheese, and top with a light to moderate dusting of parmesan cheese.
• You will now repeat the process at least one more time. Depending on the depth of your pan, and the thickness of the optional meats, it could be twice more:.
• 1) Noodles.
• 2) Sauce.
• 3) Ricotta mixture.
• 4) Meat or spinach.
• 5) Mozzarella cheese.
• 6) Parmesan cheese.
• The last layer does not contain meat or spinach, and will be roughly at the top of the pan itself. That's fine. The top layer should be with noodles, a some sauce and a mix of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
• Cover with aluminum foil.
• Bake at 350 F for a total of 45-50 minutes. Remove the foil after the first 30 minutes so that the top can brown lightly into a crust. Let it stand for 15 or 20 minutes before serving to firm up the layers, and avoid burning your tongue.
• Hope this works out for you, but it has become a family favorite in our house, and only takes a short while to prepare when compared to the time investment in a day-long "from scratch" lasagna recipe.