Basic Lasagna

I love lasagna. And I think I make a pretty good lasagna. It's cheesy and melty and full of carbs (I love me some pasta). But the other day I made a very delicious lasagna. It was so good. The sauce was home made, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back to the canned stuff. And it had a creamy white sauce. It was so very delicious that I had it for breakfast the next morning (and I think it was even better the next morning!) I'll post that recipe tomorrow, but for today, here's a basic lasagna recipe that's very similar to mine (except I don't usually put meat in it, and when I do, I use sausage, because I just really don't like hamburger at all. And mine is all out of my head, so there's no measurements, so you can thank me later for giving you a user friendly recipe!)

Once again, this recipe comes from here, my favorite cooking site.

Basic Lasagna

1 package oven ready lasagna noodles (or the traditional ones that need to be boiled)

1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (or sausage)

1 cup chopped onion

1 28-ounce can tomatoes, undrained

2 6-ounce cans tomato paste

2 tsp sugar

2 1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp pepper

1 container (15 ounce) ricotta cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 TBSP parsley flakes

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup grated Parmesan (fresh, NOT the nasty stuff from the green bottle!)

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I use half mozzarella, half sharp cheddar)

Boil noodles if you went with the traditional ones. Cook ground beef and onion, drain. Stir in tomatoes (undrained), tomato paste, sugar, 2 tsp of the basil and the pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes. In a small bowl blend ricotta, egg, parsley, Parmesan cheese and 1/2 tsp salt. Put a layer of noodle in a 9x13 pan, a layer of meat sauce, layer of ricotta mixture, and a layer of the cheese, then repeat all the layers twice more. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Uncover, bake 20 minutes more. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting (this will help it set up and it won't be so soupy).