Making Lasagna

Hey there
I have noticed that people are extremely surprised when I tell them I can make lasagna. It is probably one of the easiest things I make on a regular basis and almost everyone likes it... go figure. So I decided that one of my first segments should be a how to for lasagna. I am making the instructions very simple for those of us who are not as cooking inclined as others. 

Ingredients

• 1lbs (pound) ground beef
• 1-2 cans/jar/bottle of spaghetti sauce (depending on size and preference)
• cheese (grated preferably)
• OVEN READY lasagna noodles 1 box
• (optional) summer sausage, spinach, onion, celery, garlic, etc.

You will also need a large frying pan, a flipper or spoon, a casserole dish, a cheese grater and possibly a knife depending on the optional ingredients you like.

So to start you should defrost your ground beef. When it is defrosted you should than put it in your frying pan on medium heat and cook it thoroughly. For those of you who don't know what fully cooked ground beef looks like see the picture below.



 You than should drain the excess grease from your ground beef (the leaner the ground beef the less grease there is). Add your sauce and heat it up until it bubbles. You may notice that your sauce does look different than mine and that's because I do make my own sauce, you do not have to any sauce that you like will work. Also as for how much sauce you add is up to your preference just remember that the sauce does need to cover your entire pan multiple times. Also at this time you can add optional seasonings like celery or onions but not the larger items like summer sausage or spinach.

 

Once your sauce mixture is hot spread a very thin layer over the bottom of your dish like below. This layer is just to protect your bottom noodles from burning.

 Than make a 1 noodle high layer over the sauce.

 The next layer is a thicker layer of the sauce mixture this layer will make the noodles soften so it is thicker than the previous covering.

After this layer you can add your optional toppings. Below you will see that this time I did spinach but I have also done many other combinations that have turned out well.

 You than add your cheese. They type and amount is completely up to you though this time I only used a small amount and it turned out well but I have also used much larger amounts that were good too. In the picture below I used marble brick cheese and some parmesan cheese but I have also used cottage cheese or mozzarella or cheddar cheese and they have all worked out well for me.

 After this step you repeat the layering until you reach the top of your dish or run out of ingredients. As long as you end with a cheese layer your noodles should be fine although if there isn't enough sauce on the top layer the outside may be a little crunchy still.

 You than bake it at 375 degrees F (Fahrenheit) for 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven.



As A disclaimer I am not responsible for anyone injured or any meals burned based on my instructions. You are required to use your own caution and discretion while cooking anything and every person and every oven is different therefore settings, recipes and cook times may be different.