My Grandma's Meat Lasagna

My Grandma makes a very basic meat lasagna that can be easily adapted to suit your tastes. Add or omit whatever you'd like. The basic recipe is eight ingredients but my Grandma usually kicks it up a notch by adding some minced veggies to her sauce. The layers are simply noodle, meat sauce and cheese. If you want to fancy it up you could add spinach, ricotta or cottage cheese layers. Prep is fairly quick (it can be made and assembled up to a day in advance) and the lasagna cooks in under an hour.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, minced
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1 stalk celery, minced (optional)
1 large carrot, peeled & minced (optional)
3-4 large mushrooms, diced fine (optional)
2 14-ounce cans tomato sauce (I use 1 can sauce, 1 can diced)
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (optional)
1 pound of cheese (mozza, cheddar or whatever you want)
9 lasagna noodles

Directions:

1. Brown onions in oil. Add beef. Season with garlic power and Seasoning Salt. Cook until meat is browned. Drain excess fat. (My Grandma doesn't do this but I can't help myself!) Add carrot, celery and mushrooms and cook a few minutes until fragrant.

2. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and Italian Seasoning. Season with salt & pepper. Simmer slowly for 20-30 minutes.

3. While sauce is simmering, cook lasagna noodles in salted water, as directed by package instructions. Drain and set aside.

4. Prepare cheese by shredding or thinly slicing - your preference. I prefer to have shredded cheese for my layers and thin sliced cheese for the top.

5. When sauce has reduced slightly (if it's runny, simmer longer), arrange 3 noodles lengthwise across a baking dish. Cover with an even layer of meat sauce, followed by an even layer of shredded cheese. Top cheese with 3 more noodles, another layer of meat sauce and another layer of shredded cheese. Finish with the last 3 noodles and a layer of cheese slices.

6. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees (F) for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes.


Tastes better than it photographs!