Easy Homemade Lasagna Recipe with a Healthier Twist to this comfort food classic

Lasagna is one of our favorite meals, and Amy always requests it for her birthday dinner. For the first time, I am writing down our full recipe. We modified our easy homemade lasagna recipe to reduce some calories while keeping the delicious flavor intact, and it turned out to be amazing.  

"Easy Homemade Lasagna"

Growing up, my family was all about meat and potatoes. Lasagna was never on the menu. The only Italian food we had was Chef Boyardee boxed pizza, which was a fun treat for me as a kid. I bought it for Amy and Josh, but they were less than impressed. I opened a box of mix, added some water in the flour, and then spread a can of meat sauce on top. I'm not sure why they didn't enjoy it, but I told them I thought it tasted better when I was a kid, and maybe the recipe was changed or did I???. Please don't tell them, but I lied - it tasted the same!

First Time I ever made Lasagna

The first time I made lasagna was when Amy was three years old. She had tried it at my friend's house and asked me to make it for her. I knew the ingredients were tomato sauce, cheese, hamburger, and lasagna noodles, so we went to the store and bought everything listed on the back of the lasagna box. However, we couldn't find Ricotta cheese, so we bought Cottage Cheese instead. To our surprise, it turned out to be a "happy mistake" since the addition of cottage cheese enhanced the flavors of the lasagna and made it creamy and delicious.

 Since then, Amy loved the lasagna, and we have always made it with cottage cheese. I know using Cottage Cheese is not considered "real Italian," but since I grew up on a dairy farm and usually had meat and potatoes for dinner, I'm proud of myself for coming up with such a tasty substitute.

I know using Cottage Cheese is not "real Italian" but, as I mentioned, I'm a girl that grew up on a dairy farm, and usually had meat and potatoes for dinner.  So, I'm just proud of myself for coming up with such a tasty substitute.

What did we change in this lasagna recipe???

We've made some tweaks to our recipes to cut some calories without sacrificing the delicious flavors we love. We believe that if we can't make a recipe taste great, there's no point in bothering with it. Our weight loss journey has been successful because we've been able to enjoy the same foods we ate before but with healthier ingredients. And most importantly, the food must taste amazing!

1.  We made some changes to our recipe to make it healthier. We replaced hamburger with 99% fat-free turkey, which we often use because it's hard to tell the difference once you've added the spices. The flavor is even better than hamburger, with a lot less fat! 
2. We also substituted the spicy Italian sausage with spicy turkey sausage. This was a tough choice because I love the flavor of Italian sausage, but I think the lasagna still tastes great with the turkey sausage. 
3. We kept the cottage cheese, but we used non-fat cottage cheese instead of full-fat.
4. For the mozzarella, we used 2% fat, which still melted nicely but cut some of the fat.

The Trick to Making Lasagna Easy

I really dislike cooking lasagna noodles. I somehow always manage to burn my fingers or overcook them. So, here's what I do - I buy regular lasagna noodles NOT the oven-ready ones. After assembling the lasagna, it needs to sit overnight in the refrigerator so that the noodles can soak up the sauce. This way, they don't need to be cooked beforehand. I have tried this trick using oven-ready noodles, but they tend to get soggy and don't have the same texture as the regular ones. Yes I'm picky about my lasagna!

Make the lasagna on the weekend.

By making the lasagna on Sunday after on Monday when you get home from work, you can pull it out of the refrigerator and bake it.  You will impress your family and have a really good dinner.  And if you have a 3-year-old (or older kid) in the house, get them to help you build the lasagna.  They can place the noodles on each layer.   It's fun, and it will make them want to eat the lasagna!!!  Plus, it's a great memory for you and them.

If you want, you can make the lasagna in small individual aluminum pans and freeze them, then you can pull out a small individual serving and have it for a lunch or a really easy dinner, anytime!!!

Building the lasagna

To prepare this easy lasagna recipe, start by cooking the meat, onions, and garlic in a large frying pan with the required spices. Once the meat is cooked, add the tomatoes and tomato paste. We recommend using Italian-style peeled Tomatoes and a can of diced tomatoes with basil and garlic. Finally, add one cup of water to the mixture.

Bring the sauce to a boil and simmer for about 60 minutes.  Until the sauce thickens

Grate the cheese while the meat is cooking, or buy already grated cheese. I prefer to buy cheese in chunks and not grated. It costs less, and I'm not sure what is put in grated cheese to make it last so long in the fridge.

If using a large Casserole Dish, layer the lasagna by adding a layer of sauce, about 1 cup, and then a layer of Lasagna noodles.  Add another layer of sauce.

Next, add a layer of cheese (mozzarella, cottage cheese, and parmesan cheese)

Then a layer of noodles.  Again, you can get your kids to layer the noodles especially if you use the trick of not cooking the noodles.

To finish the lasagna, continue layering and top it off with some cheese. Now, here's a trick to make sure that the noodles are cooked properly: Add a cup of water to the large casserole dish. Pour the water into each corner of the dish so that the sauce can seep into the noodles, making them soft and delicious. This technique will make your lasagna amazing!

Cover with saran or foil and put in fridge over night.

Bake at 375 for 60 minutes until it starts to bubble.  Take the foil off the last five minutes or until the cheese is melted and the top is golden.

The water will cook out, and this is one of the best (and really easy) homemade lasagnas ever!!!

TIPS:

• When making this easy lasagna recipe, it's best to use regular noodles instead of oven-ready ones. The regular noodles have a superior texture and don't require cooking. All you need to do is add a cup of water and let the lasagna sit overnight. This allows the noodles to absorb the sauce's flavor and enhances the dish's taste.
• Always place the lasagna casserole dish on a cookie sheet to prevent it from overflowing in the oven. This simple step can save you a lot of cleanup time.

Garlic Bread

For easy garlic bread Roast some garlic.  Take the roasted Garlic and rub it onto the bread.   Now, if you want to make high-calorie garlic bread, that is amazing.....  (Side Note: You could gain "10 pounds" eating this!) check out the recipe below:

• Cut a loaf of Italian bread in half (long ways)
• Mix together 1 stick of softened butter, ½ cup mayonnaise, ¼ cup parsley (optional), 3 cloves of chopped garlic, and ½ cup parmesan cheese
• Spread onto the bread and put the top back on
• Wrap the bread in foil and bake for 15 minutes.
• Then open the foil and place the bread under the broiler.  Open the bread up and have both sides facing up.  Broiling will ensure the butter melts all the way and the cheese bubbles up on the bread.  This takes about 2 to 5 minutes.  Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn
• This is the best garlic bread ever, but beware- it's high in calories.

Please let us know if you try this easy homemade lasagna recipe.  We usually sprinkle red pepper flakes on top of each serving.

Check out how we made the lasagna

Looking for something else similar to this easy lasagna recipe? You might also enjoy these recipes:

• Baked Zucchini Pesto Pasta - A cheesy casserole that combines garlic, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes with pasta coated in a tangy pesto ricotta sauce. Perfect for summer dinners!
• Stir-fried garlic noodles with shrimp and scallops - Stir-Fried Garlic Noodles with Shrimp and Scallops is a simple and delicious dish that brings together the flavors of garlic, ginger, succulent shrimp and scallops, crunchy noodles, and fresh snow peas.
• Spinach Artichoke Dip Pizza - This pizza is the perfect combination of all the goodness of spinach artichoke dip on top of a delicious cheese pizza. And the best part? You can make it healthier and creamier with cottage cheese.
• Hot Italian sausage sandwich with peppers and onions - A delicious classic hot Italian sausage sandwich with peppers and onions for a flavorful and satisfying meal. Best served on a bun.
• Summer Squash Casserole with Pattypan and Globe Squash - Brighten up your mealtime with a colorful Summer Squash Casserole made with Patty Pan and Globe Zucchini squash