Sausage Lasagna!

What, two posts in a week?!  Unheard of.  Anyway I just had to tell you about the fatty goodness of Sausage Lasagna. Now normally when you make lasagna at home, people follow the recipe on the back of the box and use ground beef or if they want to be healthier, they use ground turkey.  Both choices are great, but that deep extra fat of sausage adds so much more flavor to the meal.  My husband and I once ate an entire 9x13 pan in one night.  Remind me to check my cholesterol at some point soon.  I think that sometimes homemade lasagna can be intimidating because of all the steps involved, but really if you just follow the recipe on the back of most noodle boxes and you will be fine.  And a bonus, unless you have no self-control like me and my husband, you should have days of leftovers!  So you have been warned, this is in no way a healthy meal, but hey, treat yourself once in a while! 

 

Sausage Lasagna 

1 lb ground sausage (I love Jimmy Dean's Sage or Maple)

1  8oz package no boil lasagna noodles

1 26 oz jar of spaghetti sauce (I love Newman's One or Classico brands)

1 15oz can of tomato sauce

 1/4 onion

4-6 Brussels sprouts

15oz ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon dried parsley leaves

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper

1/2 chili powder

3 cups mozzarella cheese

 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook the sausage until brown.  Chopped onion and Brussels sprouts into small pieces.  Now at this point I would normally drain the pan of any excess fat, but not this time.  

Yummy fatty sausage

In the same seasoned pan (I used my dutch oven) add the jar of spaghetti sauce, the can of tomato sauce, chopped onion and chopped Brussels sprouts.  I like the have a lot of sauce in my lasagna so occasionally I will add a second can of tomato sauce or even just a little bit of water to ensure there is plenty of sauce to go around.  there really is nothing worse  I just add those few veggies to make myself feel better about using a pound of sausage in this recipe!  

Spaghetti, Veggie, and Sausage sauce

In a medium bowl stir together ricotta cheese, sour cream, egg and all the spices.  I like to add the sour cream because I think it makes the ricotta cheese a little bit smoother and its high fat content adds a little extra richness to the dish.  I add a few extra spices because I think that ricotta cheese can be slightly bland, and those spices really pump up the flavors in the cheese layer.  

Finally grate the mozzarella and the Parmesan cheese.  Set aside.  Most recipes call for 4 cups of mozzarella, but that is a lot of cheese!  I find that 3 cups is plenty for this lasagna!

Now is the fun part, layering the lasagna!  Using a 9x13 inch pan (I prefer to use glass pans) line the bottom with a small amount the spaghetti/sausage mixture.  Place 3 pieces of the no-boil noodles in  the pan.  Thoroughly cover each piece of lasagna with the ricotta/sour cream mixture.  Then cover with more of spaghetti sauce and finally top with a handful of mozzarella cheese.  Add another layer of noodles and repeat the whole process two more times.  At this point you should be out of ricotta mixture and only have three noodles left.  Put those noodles onto and add the remaining spaghetti sauce followed by the rest of the mozzarella and top with the Parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Take the foil off and then bake for an additional 15 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and gooey.  Remove from the oven and let stand for at least 5 minutes.  This is often the longest 5 minutes of the process for me, but if the lasagna does not stand it will slide all over the place.

Enjoy the Lasagna

Keep Tasting,