This week I was really stumped when it came to a menu plan. I had no clue what I was in the mood for or felt like making. Fortunately for me, Andy is around this week, so I handed him some paper and told him to write some things down that he felt like eating. He wrote down a number of things that we haven’t had in a while, and totally saved me when it came to planning this week.
Unintentionally, I have to say that three nights in a row, our meals are using ground beef. We’re okay with that since they are so completely different. And since they are all delicious, that’s even better.
We kicked off Monday with a soup I have not made yet this year. Cheeseburger Soup never disappoints. It’s one of Abigail’s favorites, and one of the few reasons I buy blocks of Velveeta. You just can’t duplicate the creamy texture found in Velveeta- and it totally makes this soup stellar. We had some simple bread and peanut butter to go with it, and were in cheeseburger heaven.
But it was last night’s dinner that I really hopped on here to talk about. For a while there, last night’s dinner made regular appearances – partly due to our Sunday Company Dinners that we hosted for years. Since our group stopped gathering, I stopped cooking for a crowd so often- and many of those crowd pleaser recipes have sat on the shelf collecting dust.
But last night, as that simple, basic Lazy Lasagna bubbled away in the stove, the whole family was tantalized by the aromas wafting out of the oven. Oh my, it smelled divine- a sure sign that it had been far too long since a lasagna had graced our dinner table. One of the reasons I hadn’t made it very much is because the kids just don’t seem to crazy for it. Well, lately they’ve been getting into the return of Garfield in cartoon form- and we all know what Garfield’s favorite food is. Thanks to that lazy cat, my Lazy Lasagna was a hit- both kids ate quite a bit of it.
This recipe does seem a little different, but yesterday as I mixed the cheese and sour cream together, it occurred to me that the sour cream mixture was simply replacing a bechamel- used in a truly traditional lasagna. I’ve never made a lasagna with bechamel, since that seems like such a lot of extra work for this layered casserole. But this version is really my favorite because it’s easy. I’ve made many lasagnas, and this one never disappoints. Last night I added a small twist though too- I swapped out half of the cottage cheese for ricotta. I am so glad I did, because the ricotta added something.
At first glance, it may seem strange to pour water in the lasagna pan- but this way, you can use good lasagna noodles- only you don’t have to boil them up ahead of time. Don’t use the no-boil noodles for this- definitely use the regular old noodles that you would boil up. It works fantastically and saves a step that is particularly tedious.
Lazy Lasagna
1 pound ground beef 1 (32 oz) jar spaghetti sauce 1 (16 oz) carton cottage cheese (Or half cottage cheese, half ricotta)1 (8 oz) carton sour cream 12 uncooked lasagna noodles (not no-boil noodles) 18 ozs. shredded mozzarella cheese 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 cup water
Brown the beef in a skillet, drain the grease. Add the spaghetti sauce to the beef, and then set aside.
Combine cottage cheese and sour cream in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.
Spoon 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Place half of the uncooked noodles over the sauce, and then spread half of the cottage cheese mixture on the noodles. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese on next, followed by half of the remaining meat mixture. Finally, sprinkle with 1/2 of the Parmesan cheese.
Repeat the layers starting with the noodles, and top with the last 1/3 of the Mozzarella cheese.
Very carefully then, pour the water into the pan around the edges of the lasagna. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for 1 hour. Uncover; bake an additional 20 minutes, or until nice and bubbly. Let stand for 15-20 minutes before serving.