Cheese Lasagna That Meat Lovers Will Love Recipes

"MEAT" LOVER'S LASAGNA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Cook and drain noodles as directed on package.
• Unwrap sausages; place on large microwavable plate. Microwave uncovered on High 1 to 2 minutes, turning sausages once, until slightly thawed. Cut sausages into 1/4-inch slices.
• In medium bowl, mix ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and the egg. In another medium bowl, mix pasta sauce, Italian seasoning and water.
• In ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish, spread about 1/2 cup pasta sauce mixture. Top with 3 noodles, half of the ricotta mixture and half of the sausage pieces. Top with about 1 1/4 cups remaining pasta sauce mixture and half of the soy cheese. Repeat with remaining noodles, ricotta mixture, sausage, pasta sauce mixture and soy cheese. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
• Bake uncovered 35 to 45 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Cover loosely with foil; let stand 10 minutes before serving.

CHEESE LOVERS' LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and rinse with cold water.
• Line the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish with noodles and spread on 1/4 cup of the spaghetti sauce. Add another layer of noodles and begin alternating layers of cheeses, noodles and sauce, beginning with the cottage cheese. Make sure you leave enough spaghetti sauce to cover the top to prevent hardening of the top layer of noodles. Finish with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
• Bake in a preheated oven until cheese is well melted and filling is heated through; about 20 or 25 minutes.

VEGETARIAN LASAGNA (THAT MEAT EATERS WILL LOVE!)

Steps:

• For this recipe, you are essentially just creating the different elements for the lasagna and then layering them. There is a tomato sauce layer, a pasta layer, a béchamel sauce layer, and a cheese layer.
• Saute the garlic and onion in a large, wide bottomed saucepan.
• Meanwhile chop up your zucchini, mushrooms, and tofu, if using. Size is what you prefer. You can put them through a food processor if you are running short on time or better yet, pass this job to your lowly sous-chef.
• When the onions are nearly softened, add the chopped veggies (and tofu) to the saucepan.
• Once the vegetables are somewhat softened, add the tomato puree, bay leaf, oregano, dried basil, chili powder, salt and pepper. Taste as you go for your preference in saltiness and spiciness. Remember, ambitious guests can always add more spice at the table.
• Bring the tomato sauce to a simmer and then keep it aside on a very low heat.
• Now create the béchamel sauce. Melt the butter into a saucepan and then slowly add the flour, stirring constantly as you go.
• Once the butter and flour are blended, slowly add the milk, again stirring as you do.
• Now add the softened goat cheese to the mixture and stir until blended. Spice the sauce with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Lastly, let simmer until thickened. Add milk if it thickens too quickly (you want a gravy consistency).
• Now you are ready for assembly. Pour a spoonful of sauce onto the bottom of a large (9x13 inch) baking dish (glass or aluminum) to just cover the surface. Then add a layer of lasagna noodles, a layer of sauce, a layer of mozzarella, and then another layer of lasagna. For the next layer, add a thick layer of the goat cheese bechemal sauce. Continue layering, adding in fresh basil leaves as you like in the middle layers. Finish off with a layer of lasagna topped with mozzarella.
• Bake about 25 minutes in ? degree oven and serve to great delight.
• NOTE: For a more robust tomato sauce, you can use Alan Leonetti's marinara sauce recipe (Recipe #84217), especially if you've made it in advance and frozen it.
• NOTE: Variation With Ground Beef: To make a more traditional meat lasagna I follow the same recipe as above but I omit the tofu (of course!) and the goat cheese. I still use the mushroom and courgette/zucchini but I cut back on the amount. I brown the beef in a separate pan and then combine it in the layer of tomato and vegetable sauce. The addition of the courgette/zucchini and mushroom in with the meat it usually a welcome twist!

MEAT LOVERS CHEATING LASAGNA

Steps:

• In a large frying pan, cook the sausage and ground beef together with the chopped onions until no longer pink and drain all grease.
• Cook ravioli according to package directions (only for about 3 minutes or so I think) Drain and rinse in cold water.
• In a 13x9 baking dish, spread a small amount of sauce (just enough to cover bottom) and layer enough ravioli to cover.
• Stack the slices of pepperoni and cut them into narrow strips and spread half of it over the ravioli.
• Now spread all the meat over that and pour the remaining sauce on top of it.
• Sprinkle with 1-1/2 cups mozzerella cheese, then layer the remaining ravioli and cheese and sprinkle all of the garlic powder on it.
• Spread the remaining half of pepperoni strips on top of cheese.
• Cover with foil and bake at 375* for about 20-25 minutes.
• Remove foil and bake uncovered another 10 minutes or until cheese and pepperoni are golden.
• Serve with no yeast Beer Bread (recipe# 73440).

CHEESE LASAGNA THAT MEAT-LOVERS WILL LOVE

Steps:

• Fill a large pot with water. Once the water is at a rolling boil, add 1 Tbsp. oil to prevent the lasagna noodles from sticking and salt. Add noodles to the water one at a time. Cook according to package directions. Do not overcook. The noodles are done when al dente. While the noodles are cooking, empty both containers of ricotta cheese into a large mixing bowl. Add 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and 1-1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning. Mix well to distribute seasonings evenly. Add 1 cup parmesan-romano blend cheese to the ricotta cheese. Mix well. Make sure there are no clumps of parmesan-romano in the mixture. Add 1-1/2 bags of the shredded cheese blend to the ricotta mixture. Stir until blended. This will be a very thick. You only need to stir until the shredded cheese is distributed throughout the mixture. Reserve the remaining 1/2 bag of shredded cheese for topping the lasagna. Drain noodles. Do NOT rinse! To keep the noodles from sticking together, shake the colander gently until steam no longer rises from the noodles. In the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch glass pan place 3-4 Tbsp. of spaghetti sauce. Spread this evenly across the bottom of the pan. Place 3 noodles on the bottom of the pan, side by side. Spoon 4-5 Tbsp. of sauce over the noodles. Spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture over the sauce. Repeat these steps two more times and finish by placing a fourth layer of noodles on the top. Spoon the remaining sauce on top of the final layer of noodles. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 bag of shredded cheese blend on top of the sauce. Finish by sprinkling the top with Italian seasoning. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling around the edges and cheese on top is just beginning to golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.