Lasagna

Lasagna night! Yum! My whole family can agree on one thing... lasagna. I think I am living with four Garfields.

But I cannot do just plain lasagna with meat and noodles and cheese. Nope, my lasagna is filled with vegetable goodness that my children do not even know is in there. I hide the veggies.

Ingredients:
1 (26.5 oz) can spaghetti sauce
1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, finely chopped
1 cup zucchini, finely chopped
1/2 cup peppers (bell, banana, your choice), finely chopped
1 package no-boil lasagna noodles (I prefer the Barilla lasagna noodles)
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
1 egg, beaten

(I have found that the best way to chop up the carrots, zucchini and peppers is in the food processor, it chops the veggies so fine that they are much easier to hide in the sauce)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9 inch baking dish with non stick cooking spray.

In a medium sauce pot pour the spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce. Heat over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the onion, carrots, zucchini and pepper. Cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl combine 2 and 1/2 cups of mozzarella (hold the remaining mozzarella aside), 3/4 of a cup of parmesan (hold aside the remaining parmesan), the ricotta cheese and egg. Mix together well. Set aside.

Pour enough of your prepared sauce into the prepared baking dish to cover the bottom. Place a layer of the lasagna noodles in the bottom of the baking dish. Drop the cheese by the tablespoonful onto the noodles, using 1/3 of the cheese mixture. Pour 1/4 of the remaining sauce on top of the cheese.

Repeat the noodle, cheese and sauce layers until all that is left is 1/4 of the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the top layer of noodles. Cover the noodles completely.

Combine the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses in a small bowl. Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the lasagna.

Cover the dish, loosely, with tin foil. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. After 55 minutes, carefully remove the tin foil and bake the lasagna an additional 5 minutes.

Remove the lasagna from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
Makes 18 servings.

VARIATION: You can also add 1 lb of cooked ground beef or cooked and chopped Italian sausage to the sauce before adding the sauce to the lasagna. You may also use a combination of the meats above. I was out of ground beef, so we ended up with a vegetarian lasagna tonight.

I also prepared some garlic bread to go with the lasagna. And it was so good and super simple.

Ingredients:
1 loaf of french or Italian bread
1/4 cup tub margarine
1 Tbsp garlic powder
chopped parsley
paprika

Cut the loaf of bread into slices. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the margarine and garlic powder.

Spread the margarine mixture over each slice of bread. Sprinkle with parsley and paprika.

Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.

Enjoy!