Mom's Basic Lasagna
"This is a no-frills recipe that uses ingredients that mom commonly kept around the house."
- Ready In:
- 45mins
- Ingredients:
- 9
- Serves:
-
12
ingredients
- 1 (9 ounce) box lasagna noodles
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 3 cups water
- 1 (1 ounce) package american beauty spaghetti sauce mix
- 2 (12 ounce) cartons small curd cottage cheese
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
- 1 lb grated mozzarella cheese
- 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese
directions
- Rapidly boil 4 quarts water. Add 2 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp oil. Add lasagna a strip at a time and boil 10-12 minutes or until tender. As it cooks, separate strips occasionally with a fork. Drain and rinse with cold water. (If lasagna is not used immediately, let stand in cold water to keep strips separate.).
- In a large skillet brown 1 lb. ground beef in 1 tbsp oil. Season to taste with a salt and pepper. Stir in tomato paste, 3 cups water (4 6-oz. cans), 1 package (1 oz.) of American Beauty Spaghetti sauce mix. Cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Mix together with spoon: cottage cheese, parsley, mozzarella or cheddar cheese.
- Lightly grease a large baking dish and spoon enough meat sauce to cover the bottom. Top with strips of cooked lasagna. Spread with part of the cheese filling.
- Repeat layers, ending with meat sauce. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes to set layers. Cut into 3-inch squares.
- This can be prepared the day before and refrigerated. When ready to use let stand at room temperature about 1 hour, then bake 1 hour in 350 degree oven.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Thirty some years ago, mom published the first Hawman Family Cookbook to give each of her three daughters a way to carry our favorite recipes from childhood off into the next phase of our lives. I still have the original pages, straight from the typewriter, with traces of whited-out type showing through the corrected lines, and with drips and grease stains highlighting my favorite recipes.
With my own daughter now ready to head out on her own, it's time for an updated version complete with her favorites as well. I'm starting this project in January 2010, with a goal of completing the "new expanded edition" in time for Christmas presents in December. I'll be using Recipezaar to collect the recipes, but my hope is to publish my final book complete with the stories and pictures evoked by this memory book of family food. For that, I'm looking forward to countless conversations with my 81-year-old mother, sisters, and children as well as others in my extended family. Let the fun begin!
Noelle
