It was two weeks ago when Chris and I were desperately trying to figure out what to make for dinner that we either hadn’t made in a very long time, or have never made at all. He suggested lasagna and we agreed that sounded delicious. But, since neither of us had ever made it before and we didn’t quite know where to start we (of course) began looking for recipes and quickly found out that if we were going to do this and do it right, well, we didn’t have enough time…given that it was already late in the afternoon and we didn’t even have appropriate ingredients! We put the idea on the back burner and ordered Chinese.

Well, last night we finally gave it a try and to our delight  it was most delicious and easy to make! We discovered a recipe called Mama’s Lasagna designed by The Neelys.

I can’t wait to share it with you, so read on! This was an exciting find!

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom of a 13-by-9-by-2- inch baking dish with olive oil.

You’ll need: One 8 ounce can of tomato sauce;

One 6 ounce can of tomato paste;

One 14.5 ounce can of stewed tomatoes, chopped;

2 cups of cottage cheese;

Brown one pound ground beef (or turkey) with a chopped medium size onion and two minced cloves of garlic.

Until it looks like this!

Then start making it into the meat sauce that it was intended to be by adding all of the tomato ingredients! Yummy!

While the meat sauce is cooking, covered, for about 15 minutes, begin preparing the cottage cheese mixture.

You’ll need 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley;

2 eggs;

1/2 cup grated parmesan;

1 teaspoon seasoning salt;

Salt and pepper;

Then combine it all with the cottage cheese and set aside.

The recipe calls for no-boil lasagna noodles. I don’t understand how this “no-boil” works, but it’s brilliant!

Doesn’t this look yummy! Resist the urge to just grab a spoon and start eating it right now! You’ll need it for the layering in just a minute!

Get your 8 ounce bags of cheddar and mozzarella cheeses ready.

And, if you ask me, I think the cheddar is the secret weapon ingredient!

Begin layering with a light amount of the meat sauce;

then a layer of the no-boil lasagna noodles;

then a layer of the cottage cheese mixture;

and on top of that, a layer of mozzarella and cheddar.

Do that pattern of layers one more time, then top with more grated parmesan.

Mmmmm, it comes out looking like this after 35 minutes.

Let it sit for 10 minutes before cutting your first piece. It’s hard to wait. I won’t pretend it’s not…so find something  to distract you during this time…like wait to set the table or prepare the side salad!

We were amazed by this dish! So simple,unintimidating and it makes a lot! We had Chris’s mom with us for dinner last night and little did we know it was her favorite thing to eat! Wow! Here’s what she had to say about it:

“You do not have to go to an Italian restaurant for tasty lasagna like this!”

Please enjoy!