Lasagna is one of my favorite comfort foods. I started making this lasagna for two recipe when I was single. Now, I make it for my husband and I, because the kids haven’t acquired a taste for lasagna yet. This recipe will make two loaf pans – one which you can eat for dinner and one to freeze.

Ingredients:

• 1 box oven ready lasagna noodles
• 1 3/4 lb ground beef – I prefer 85% lean / 15% fat
• PAM cooking spray
• 2 cubes of sofrito
• 2 tablespoons Goya adobo
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 24 oz Barilla tomato & basil sauce
• 4 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
• 8 oz bag of shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese

Prepare the Ground Beef Filling:

• In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, combine the ground beef, sofrito, adobo and parsley.
• Crumble the meat into small pieces using a fork or meat chopper. The meat chopper looks like a potato masher. It gives a uniform texture to the ground beef by eliminating any large pieces.
• Continue stirring the ground beef until it is cooked.
• Once the meat is cooked, add approximately 6 oz of sauce. I prefer my meat filling to be less saucy. You can add more tomato sauce to taste.

Assemble the Lasagna:

Since we’re using oven ready noodles for this recipe, we don’t have to pre-cook them. This is a major time saver. The trick to making sure the oven ready lasagna is soft and cooked is in the layering.

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1. Start by spraying the loaf pan with PAM cooking spray. It’ll make clean up easier.
2. Coat the bottom of the pan with 3-4 tablespoons of sauce. The sauce will prevent the lasagna from sticking to the bottom of the pan and cook the first layer of pasta.
3. Use a spatula to spread a thin layer of ricotta cheese on 1 + 1/4 lasagna noodles. Place the noodles on the sauce; centered in the pan.
4. Spread an even layer (3-4 tablespoons) of meat filling over the noodles.
5. Top the meat filling with 2 handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 two more times. You’ll have a three layer lasagna when you’re done.

To prepare the second lasagna, repeat steps 1-6. Wrap the second loaf pan in foil and place in the freezer. Do not bake before freezing.

To make a larger lasagna for 4-5 people, prepare this recipe in a 9″ square pan. Serve the lasagna with a Caesar salad. Your family and friends will be impressed.

Cook the Lasagna:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook lasagna for 30 minutes uncovered.

You can prepare the lasagna up to 24 hours in advance without baking it.  Store the lasagna in the refrigerator.  Since the lasagna will be cold, it will require a longer baking time, approximately 60 minutes at 375 degrees F.  

When you are ready to bake the frozen lasagna, defrost in the refrigerator. Bake at 375 degrees F for approximately 1 hour 10 minutes.

They say comfort food reminds you of your childhood. I’ve been able to recreate the flavors in my mother’s lasagna which I always looked forward to when I was little. Now, I get to share it with my growing family and you – my fellow Latina Moms.

Buen provecho,

Jackie

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