Ultimate Lasagne

Tonight I work again, and had to pre-make dinner early, since we have a birthday party to go to at noon. I decided to make lasagne from a recipe I watched on Tyler's Ultimate on FoodNetwork. I loved that he snuck in SO MANY veggies. My kids will eat any veggie, but I usually have to sneak them past my husband, so I thought this would be a good recipe to try. I know many of my mom friends that are big fans of the Deceptively Delicious Cookbook, that hides veggies in everything from dinner to dessert. I think I may need to invest in that cookbook, though if I come home with another cookbook I may be enjoying them while I live in my car after my husband kicks me out of the house!

As you will see by the ingredients picture...there are ALOT. Once I started pulling everything out, I came to the conculsion that unless I hear "This was the best lasagne I've ever had!" tonight when I get home, I'll probably never make it this way again. It's alot of work!


Ingredients:

Ultimate Lasagne

1 lb lasagne noodles

Extra virgin olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground italian sausage

1/2 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 carrots
1 celery stalk
1 tbs basil
1 handful Italian parsley
1 tbs oregano
1 tbs flour
1 cup red wine
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tbs heavy cream
1 cup frozen spinach thawed
1 quart ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
1/2 lb grated mozzerella


Preheat oven to 350

Cook lagane noodles untile pliable but still firm.

Coat large skillet with olive oil, brown meats together, seasoned with salt and pepper. Blend onion, carrots, celery, garlic, basil, parsley and oregano in food processor until pureed. Pour into sauce pan with cooked meat and combine. Stir in flour. Add the wine and cook 5 minutes. Then add tomatoes and cream. Cook on low.

In a mixing bowl combine ricotta, mozzerella, egg, salt and pepper.

Coat 9x13 pan with olive oil. Line bottom of pan with noodles. Top with cheese mix, then spinach, then meat mix. Top with noodles and repeat layers. Top with noodles. Shred more mozzerella and parmesan on top of completed lasagne. Cook for 45 min to 1 hr until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.


**I just had to take this picture, and this doesn't include the noodle pot and sauce pan that were still on the stove. YIKES!

And the zoo says:

Hubby said "the lasagne was really good, but it tasted like alot of vegetables." He caught that! He has a better palate that I thought...time to restrategize! The kids ate it up, of course.