Mom's Lasagna

Okay, consider yourself forewarned ... tonight's meal is not quick and easy, nor is it cheap and economical. Now that that's out of the way, here goes. I am making my mom's lasagna recipe tonight. This is my favorite meal in the entire world. I could live off of this lasagna for MONTHS without needing any variety. This recipe is why I refuse to eat restaurant lasagna or store-bought frozen lasagna. They just can't ever measure up. It is the one recipe that my mom made that I am able to truly duplicate and that people actually request when they are coming over for dinner. So, consider yourself honored ... I'm about to share the recipe. :-)


1 1/2-2 lbs hamburger (although, I am using ground turkey tonight)
1 can (28 oz) tomatoes (whole)
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
2 envelopes dry spaghetti sauce mix
2 cans (12 oz each) cocktail vegetable juice (or roughly 1/2 of one of the big V8 bottles)
1 pkg (16 oz) lasagna noodles
16 oz cottage cheese
8 oz grated mozzarella cheese
1 1/4 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese


Cook meat. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, dry mix, V-8 juice and mushrooms. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.


Cover bottom of greased big baking dish (I use a 9x13 pyrex) with meat sauce, then uncooked noodles, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese. Repeat until all ingredients are used up (3 layers).

Cover tightly with heavy foil and place dish on a baking sheet (catches anything that bubbles over & helps distribute heat evenly to entire dish). Bake for 1 hour at 350. Remove and let stand 15 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese & serve!


** Note: With this recipe, it is not necessary to cook your lasagna noodles ahead of time. I never even knew people pre-cooked their noodles when they made lasagna until I was well into adulthood. It's less messy, you don't have to dig the noodles out of the bottom of a pot of boiling water & hope they don't break, and it really doesn't take any longer. If you feel you must pre-cook your lasagna noodles, just cut the baking time roughly in half.


There you have it - my world famous lasagna recipe. I would imagine, if I went out and bought all these ingredients fresh, in one shopping trip, it would cost around $15-18. Which comes out to about $1.50 a serving. Still cheaper than eating out. Since I had all of the non-perishable items already on hand, I only had to pick up the meat, mushrooms and cottage cheese today, which took about $7 out of my food budget. Still more than last night's dinner, but it's all worth it for Mom's Lasagna!

Heaven on a plate!