Homemade, Meaty, Cheesy, Melty Lasagna

I used my left over True Italian Spaghetti and Meatballs sauce, mushrooms and burger to produce a second delicious Italian dish.  Homemade Meaty Lasagna, was actually solving the leftovers problem. I was on my way out to go hunting with my daughter(See Hunting Women), and last years bounty was using up valuable space in my freezer so I browned up the rest of the Elk, Venison and Moose burger that I had left and added it to the amazing sauce. I knew when I got back from 4 days in the cold and elements this would be a welcome premade, yet homemade, meal the whole family would love! Below is a the basic recipe I use not only if you do not have the premade sauce,  but also using ground beef. 

Meaty, Cheesy, Melty Lasagna

Sauce:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (or Venison or another game ground)
1 pound ground Italian sausage
1 onion

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (14.5-ounce) can whole tomatoes (hand crush as pour in)
2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

Cheese Layer:

1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese or ricotta 

1 (5-ounce) package grated Parmesan

2 tbsp freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley or 1 tbsp dried

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

9 uncooked lasagna noodles if cooking immediately, or boiled for half package directions if freezing

2 (8-ounce) packages shredded mozzarella.

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
In a large saucepan, combine ground hamburger, sausage, onion, and garlic. Cook over medium heat until meat is browned and crumbled; drain.

Return meat to pan and add oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, parsley, and eggs.
Spoon 1/4 of sauce into bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan. Place 3 uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Do not overlap noodles. Spread 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture over noodles, top with 1/4 of sauce and 1/3 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, ending with sauce, reserving 1/3 of mozzarella cheese.
Bake 45 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Freeze- seal tightly with Tin Foil.  I use the disposable Tin Pans over and over.  If frozen bake at 375 for  2 hours. 1 if thawed.

Ready for the Freezer in a Flash! 

Italian Grandmother's Amazing Meatballs and Spaghetti Sauce

To be honest you will rarely find a recipe so long from me. So time consuming... but when you do as the Italian's do... you do as the Italian grandmother does.  Purrrrrfection, simmering sauces. Dishes that take hours, but are worth every bite.












True Spaghetti with Amazing Meatballs
3 Hours

The Workings
Mild Italian Sausages (optional)
Brown in Pan, set aside.

Meatballs
These meatballs are extremely UNIQUE to what we usually expect, with the golden raisins, but they are so good! So prep your palette to try something new! And the milk bread is a must to those is the "meatball know".

1 1/2 lbs of ground meat ( I used 3 lbs. and doubled the other ingredients. 1 lb. veal, 1 lb. hamburger, 1 lb. pork)
2 pieces white Bread ( I used sprouted wheat bread because it is all I eat) torn, soaked in milk, and gently squeezed
1 Tbs. Soy sauce
1 cup golden raisins
1 Egg
salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients well and roll in bread crumbs. Brown in pan that sausage was browned in, or olive oil.

Sauce
3-28 oz cans Whole Stewed Tomatoes, hand crush as you pour in.
2-16 oz. cans Tomato Sauce
1-6 oz can tomato paste
Seasonally- As all of your tomatoes ripen August, September, October use them instead! 
1 whole clove garlic, crushed
1 WHOLE onion, peel removed (The Italian way is to cook it whole, and remove upon completion, Grandma says an onion becomes bitter if left in a sauce.)
1 1/2 cup Parmesan (put right into sauce)
1/4 bottle Italian seasoning

Cook sauce-2-3 hours.  Add meatballs and sausage back into sauce an hour before done.

True Italian meatballs are actually very small.  American meatballs are the giant ones I created.