LASAGNA

This recipe was soooo easy and delicious! You don't need the no bake lasagna noodles and you don't need to cook your noodles!

1 lb. ground beef (or half beef, half italian sausage)
2-1/2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1 container (15 oz.) Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (I used dried)
1 egg, beaten
1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Brown meat in large skillet on medium-high heat. Meanwhile, mix 1-1/4 cups mozzarella, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan, parsley and egg until well blended; set aside.

Drain meat; return to skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Add 1 cup water to empty sauce jar; cover with lid and shake well. Add to meat mixture; stir until well blended. Spread 1 cup meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; top with layers of 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup meat sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining noodles, meat sauce and mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350* coved with foil for 45 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Let stand 15 minutes before cutting to serve.

Substitute 1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach for the browned ground beef. Thaw spinach; squeeze out excess liquid. Prepare as directed, covering each ricotta layer with 1/3 of the spinach.

Adding water to the sauce helps cook traditional noodles during baking, so you don't have to cook them beforehand. This saves you 15 to 20 min. of prep time.