Sunday Pasta!

As I have said here before, it is kind of a tradition in our family to eat pasta on Sundays. Now, let me tell you, I am not a big fan of pasta (Sunday is basically the only day of the week I eat it), but lately I have been inspired and trying to make pasta dishes other than the usual penne or spaghetti.
Today it was Lasagna! Very yummy!!
There is a recipe that I like which is very easy to make and yet very flavorful. I used whole-wheat lasagna noodles today and everybody agreed that they were delicious (including the Husband, which could not tell they were actually whole-wheat). I boiled the noodles first (for 8 minutes), and for the meat sauce I sautéed some onions and garlic before adding the ground beef and proceeding with the recipe.
The original recipe asks for 1/3 cup of cheese to top the lasagna, but I think that is way too little cheese, and in my world there is never enough cheese! So I don’t measure my cheese and just add enough to make it all cheesy and delicious! You can vary the recipe to your tastes, using ricotta instead of the cottage cheese, adding veggies to the red sauce, or even replacing the beef with ground turkey (which I have done before and actually prefer).
I like this recipe because although it is lasagna it is not too heavy. Plus, it is versatile, easy to make, and always pleases everybody!!
Enjoy!

Ana

Lazy Lasagna (Adapted from Cooking Light - Sepetember 1997)
1 pound ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 (16-ounce) carton cottage cheese
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Cooking spray
1 (8-ounce) package precooked lasagna noodles
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350°.
Cook meat in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Combine cottage and Parmesan cheeses in a bowl; set aside.
Spread 1/2 cup meat mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 noodles over meat mixture; top with half of cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup meat mixture, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining meat mixture over noodles. Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.