Easy Cheesy Lasagna

Alright, full disclosure I don’t like lasagna (or meatloaf) but my family does. So usually for a birthday I make lasagna (or meatloaf). Lasagna takes the simplest weeknight meal, spaghetti, and makes it complicated. Ain’t nobody got time for that. But. Like I said, my family loves it. So I try.

Here’s how I make it. I usually put it all together in advance and put it in the refrigerator until dinner time. This is the perfect meal for hiding in chopped spinach and cauliflower rice! I buy both frozen from Trader Joe’s and add in about half the bag. Also, I discovered Target makes an oven-ready lasagna noodle that doesn’t have to be boiled before you bake! One less pot, one less step! This recipe could easily feed 8-10 people. We only eat half of it, but everyone wants it for lunch the next so it never stays around for too long! I’ve seen a few recipes that cook it in the crockpot. I might try that this summer when it’s too hot to have the oven on for an hour.

Easy, Cheesy Lasagna

• Market Pantry oven-ready lasagna noodles
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• Small curd cottage cheese (16 oz)
• Shredded mozzarella cheese (16oz)
• 2 eggs
• 1 lb ground turkey
• optional- half a bag of frozen chopped spinach and frozen cauliflower rice
• 1/2 chopped onion
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. In a large skillet, pour olive oil and cook the ground turkey and onions. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, and oregano. Once the meat is cooked, add about a cup of frozen chopped spinach, and spaghetti sauce. Save about 3/4 a cup of spaghetti sauce in the jar. This recipe really could use a jar and a half of spaghetti sauce. I’m always a little short to cover the whole lasagna at the end. I don’t want open another jar to only use half so I just add a little water.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, about half a bag of frozen cauliflower rice, and 2 eggs lightly beaten. Save about a cup of the mozzarella cheese to cover the top of the lasagna at the end (many time I’ve forgotten this step and used chopped up cheese sticks, sliced cheese, or Mexican blend shredded cheese….whatever works!) Season with salt and garlic powder. Seriously, no one will ever know there’s cauliflower in this recipe!
4. Time to layer! In a greased 9×13 pan, pour a small amount of spaghetti sauce, then place a layer of noodles. Next, spoon about half the cheese mixture on the noodles. After that, add half the meat and sauce mixture. Layer noodles, cheese and meat again. To top, place one more layer of noodles. Cover the noodles in the sauce from the jar that was set aside.
5. Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 375 for about 50 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when the kids come in the kitchen 10 million times because the whole house smells like lasagna! Remove the aluminum foil and cover with the saved cheese (I’ve put it on while it bakes but then the cheese sticks to the aluminum  foil and you’re left trying to scrape it off. Learn from my mistake!). Bake or broil until the cheese is beautifully brown!
6. Let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting and enjoy!