Click below to hear about this lasagna on Candidly Kendra Eats:
What’s your go-to meal to serve guests? My mom’s was pot roast and mashed potatoes. I never quite mastered her pot roast, so I had to come up with my own show-off meal.
My best meal for guests might be my lasagna.
I thought I had a great lasagna recipe. In fact, I had several. Then one day Steve came home from a lasagna dinner after NIte Life (the college ministry’s weekly meeting) and told me he my new favorite lasagna recipe. I was offended and slightly annoyed.
But only until I tasted it. Then I realized he was right.
I love that this lasagna is made from fresh tomatoes. The tomatoes simmer with ground beef and spices to create a rich, savory sauce, which is layered with oven-ready noodles, creamy cottage cheese and slices of mozzarella cheese. All the things that make this recipe unusual – real tomatoes, cottage cheese, sliced mozzarella – are what made it my new favorite lasagna. So I recommend you try it my way first, then make any adjustments that feel right to you.
Here’s how you do it!
Nite Life Lasagna
- In a saucepan, brown and crumble ground beef (I use 80% lean beef). Add 1 clove of garlic, minced, while cooking. Drain off the fat.
- Add 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 tablespoon dried basil, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1 lb. diced tomatoes. (I always use Roma tomatoes and usually chop them in my food processor.) Add 15 oz. tomato sauce. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine 24 oz. cottage cheese, 2 tbsp. dried parsley, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup parmesan.
- Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Layer as follows:
- a spoonful of sauce to barely coat the bottom of the pan
- one layer of oven-ready lasagna noodles (not cooked)
- half the cottage cheese mixture
- mozzarella slices to cover
- half the meat mixture
- Repeat the layers, ending with the meat mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Serve with salad and garlic bread and you’re good to go!
Here’s the recipe!
Nite Life Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp dried parsley, divided
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 lb Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1 can (12 oz.) tomato sauce
- 1 pkg oven ready lasagna noodles
- 24 oz cottage cheese
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- 1 lb sliced mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a saucepan, cook the ground beef and garlic until the beef is cooked through, stirring often. Drain off the fat.
- Add 1 tbsp. parsley, basil, salt, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Stir well. Bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine cottage cheese, eggs, 2 tbsp. parsley, and parmesan.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon a little bit of the meat sauce into the dish to coat the bottom.
- Layer noodles over the sauce. Then spread half the cottage cheese mixture. Next top with mozzarella slices. Finally, spoon half the meat sauce over it. Repeat with noodles, cottage cheese mixture, sliced cheese, and finally meat mixture.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
