Saturday, March 14, 2009

Freezer Meals, Home Made Lasagna

This is from hillbilly housewife...remember to use whole milk mozzarella. I would also use 2 cans of chopped tomatoes rather than tomato sauce but you can choose. The suggestion was to make 4 of these at a time and freeze 3 of them. I found casserole sized stainless steel pans at the dollar store (Honks) and bought 20 of them for my freezer meals. The ones that went through the dishwasher rusted a little but the handwashed ones were fine.
Also, you can use this same recipe and cook it in your crockpot for 6 hours or as long as you want. If you want it GF either use GF lasagna noodles or cheat like I would and just use GF fettucini from Tinkyada. It's delicious.

Home Made Lasagna

* 10 uncooked lasagna noodles
* 1 lb. ground beef
* 1 C onions, chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 3 t parsley flakes
* 1 t salt
* 1 t dried basil
* 1 t dried oregano
* 3 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
* 1 C ricotta cheese
* 2 egg whites
* 1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
* 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

Cook the lasagna noodles as direction on the package.
Drain well then set aside and keep warm.
Heat the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
Place the beef, onions and garlic in a skillet placed over medium heat.
Cook 10 minutes or until the beef is no longer pink.
Drain and pat off excess grease with paper towel.
Return the meat mixture to the skillet and sprinkle in the parsley, salt, basil and oregano.
Pour the tomato sauce into the pan and stir to combine all the ingredients together well.
Reduce the heat to low and cook 10 minutes, stirring often.
In a small bowl mix together the ricotta cheese and egg whites until well combined.
Spread 1/4 C beef mixture into the bottom of a 9X13 ungreased baking dish.
Layer 1/2 the cooked noodles over the beef.
Layer more of the beef mixture over the noodles and top the beef mixture with part of the cheese mixture.
Continue with the layers until all the ingredients have been used.
Sprinkle the top with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
Bake 40 minutes or until bubbly and the cheese has completely melted.
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 8 servings

When freezing omit the two cheeses and do not bake. When ready to use do not thaw. Cover and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour 35 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with the cheeses and continue baking 30 minutes or until bubbly.

No comments: