Does Anyone Have an Awesome Recipe For ...........

Updated on April 12, 2012
L.L. asks from Altamonte Springs, FL
21 answers

Lasagna? :) I mentioned to my boyfriend I was going to make homemade lasagna this Sunday... and he was like "that's a tall order to fill!" ........ lol, apparently he thinks it's hard? I thought it was pretty easy.......but of course now I have to knock it out of the park! Please give me your BEST lasagna recipes......

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Thank you everyone!!! Now............ to decide which one I will make this Sunday ............ :)

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J.L.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I know you got a lot of responses already, but the best lasagna that I've ever had/made is from allrecipes.com. The recipe is titled World's Best Lasagna. It is sooooo delicious! It has 5 out of 5 stars from over 6,000 reviews. I just made it for Easter and left it sitting out all night and had to throw it out. I was so upset! Worth a try!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/worlds-best-lasagna/detail.aspx

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C.B.

answers from Washington DC on

I use my favorite pasta sauce, ground beef, italian blended cheese green peppers and onions, salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.

Cook the noodles while cooking the ground beef.

I cook the ground beef with the chopped up peppers and onions until it is browned

Add the sauce to the ground beef.

Then layer noodles ground beef and cheese, noodles ground beef and cheese.

And if my sister isnt coming over because she is,allergic to shell fish I add shrimp to the ground beef.

2 moms found this helpful

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

On the box of the Barilla lasagna noodles, there is a recipe.
It is good.
My family likes it.
Even my picky eating son.
He eats it.

And it is easy to make.

You can also probably find the recipe online on the Barilla website.
For mine, I use ground beef and also Italian Sausage.

If your Boyfriend likes things spicy... add some chili pepper flakes (the kind you would sprinkle onto a pizza) to it, to the sauce mixture.
My Husband likes that.

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M.R.

answers from Seattle on

Lasagna is soooo easy to make, especially if you do not boil the noodles. I have not boiled lasagna noodles in about 25 years. And I use regular noodles, even WW ones and spinach ones. You do not need special no-boil noodles.

First, brown your meat of choice and then saute with your chopped up veggies of choice (beef, turkey, pork, with onion, garlic, mushroom, peppers, grated carrot, etc)

Add in 1 large can of pre-seasoned Spaghetti sauce with whatever flavors you like. If you want lots of flavor add more Italian seasonings. If you want spicy, add some red pepper or black pepper.

IMPORTANT: rinse the jar out with 1/2 a cup of water or wine and add to the sauce. This liquid is what helps cook the lasagna noodles in the oven.

Layer according to the box with sauce, noodles, cheeses, etc. Add an extra 1/2 cup of sauce to the bottom of the pan before layering. you can purchase Italian style pre-shredded cheeses or shred your own. I always use extra Paremesan, as it adds a ton of flavor.

Drizzle another 1/4 cup of water around the edges. Cover all with foil and back for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Add mozzarella to top and return to oven for 10 minutes until melted. Remove and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

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D.K.

answers from Cincinnati on

The secret to a great lasagna is starting with a great sauce. I love lasagna, but it is very easy to turn into a very unhealthy meal if you try to rush it. Loads of sodium. If you want to keep it healthy, you must make your own sauces. It is also a great way to get a lot of vegetables into a meal.

2 pounds plum tomatoes (peeled,seeded, and chopped) or you can use jarred tomatoes (28 ounces)
1 medium size carrot (about 1 cup)
1 small eggplant (about 2 cups)
1 cup zuchini
1 green pepper
1 cup your favorite mushroom
1 large onion (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic crushed (plus I sometimes add an extra Tbsp garlic powder if I want a thicker sauce)
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp oregano (dried is ok, just grind it with your fingers before adding)
8 basil leaves roughly torn or 1 Tbsp dried (fresh tastes so much better than dried basil)
parsely to taste
pepper to taste
a dash of cinnamon (does the same thing as sugar for combatting the tanginess of the tomatoes, plus it is much healthier)
1/8- 1/4 tsp salt (go lower if you plan to add more cheese.)
olive oil
1/4 -1/2 cup vegetable stock (I use one from Annabel Karmel's 100 Baby Purees cookbook.)

Heat a little oil in a large sauce pan. Saute the onion and mushroom for 2-3 minutes, stir in the tomatoes, vegetable stock, garlic, bay leaf, oregano, basil, parsley, pepper and salt. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer on low heat for 1 hour.

While the tomato sauce is simmering, you can chop up the other vegetables. Wait until those tomatoes have cooked for 1 hour, then in a separate pan, saute the other veggies for about 2-3minutes. Add them to the tomatoes, bring to a boil and simmer until a good thickness. Takes about 15 - 20 minutes. Taste it to see if the tanginess of the tomatoes has disappeared. If not, add a little more stock or a water and continue simmering. A good sauce is worth the wait. Plus I can get two complete dishes out of one sauce making. I usually pair making lasagna with another easy recipe for chicken rice.

Then I mix 3 ounces low fat/low sodium ricotta cheese with one egg and 1/4 cup grated cheese (usually cheddar, goda or parmesan)

You can either use the no-boil noodles or prepare the noodles according to the package. A tip if you decide to use the no-boil ones. Completely wet the noodles. I usually dip them in water before layering them when using the no-boil kind.

Preheat oven according to noodle package. Mine is 350F. Layer in an 8x8 inch square pan tomato sauce, noodles, tomato sauce , noodles, ricotta mixture, noodles, tomato sauce, noodles, tomato sauce, and top with grated cheese. Cover the pan with foil. Follow the box for cooking time. It usually takes about 60-70 minutes covered and an additional 10-15 minutes uncovered for me when I use no-boil noodles. Test the noodles are cooked by poking with a toothpick before uncovering and browning the cheese topping. It makes 6 servings. You can make the sauce the day before assembling the lasagna if you want to break up the cooking time.
ETA: It seems like an insane amount of time to make it the first few times you make it completely by scratch, but the health benifits and I think the taste are so worth that extra effort. You will get quicker at assembly the more often you make it. Sorry, there is just no rushing a great sauce. Besides your kitchen will smell devine, and you can do something you enjoy while you wait. That waiting time is my time for reading, checking email, playing with my son... Plus I know we are eating a healthier choice of a wonderful comfort food. One batch of sauce usually yields 2 meals of lasagna and 3 meals of chicken rice for 3 people. I don't need to think about lunches, and I am free on other nights to do other fun activities. My son loves this recipe.

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S.B.

answers from Kansas City on

I asked my grandma for her recipe, because we always love her lasagna. It turns out she uses the recipe on the back of the Oven Ready Noodles, which always turns out well, and since they are oven ready noodles, it takes a lot less time.

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S.H.

answers from St. Louis on

we use sugar in the sauce....yummm.

no green peppers, no red pepper, no mushrooms....for us.

we use lean ground beef, slices of mozzarella (not shredded), & grated Parmesan throughout the layers. Oh, & cottage cheese....not ricotta.

Assembling is time-consuming, but well worth the effort!

No actual recipe for our family.....sorry!

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B.

answers from Augusta on

I make a big pot of spaghetti the day before and use that as the sauce in it.
Then layer in the crock pot
sauce
uncooked noodles
ricotta /egg mixture
pepperoni
shredded cheese ( I use itallian 6 cheese)
and repeat
until you get to the top end with noodles then shredded cheese.
cook for 4 to 6 hrs
that is the easiest one I've got ,
the difficult part of regular lasagna is assembly and getting the noodles cooked and into the dish without tearing them.

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E.S.

answers from Chicago on

First of all, don't be overwhelmed by lasagna. Yes, it takes a while to put together & bake (not to mention the huge mess!) but it's so worth it once in a while! Anyway, after trying several lasagna recipes, this is now the only one I make:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/worlds-best-lasagna/

P.S. There's a great tip from the first review that shows up for this recipe about soaking lasagna noodles in hot water for 20-30 minutes prior to cooking. They'll soften up, then you assemble your lasagna and they'll finish cooking in the oven. One less pot to wash. :)

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J.D.

answers from Albany on

Take a look at this one.
Quick Sausage and Mushroom ____@____.com. Looks great. Easy and lots of positive reviews.

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M.2.

answers from Chicago on

I also use the recipe on the back of the Barilla lasagna noodles - it's simply and very yummy! My whole family loves it - and that's saying alot about a recipe since I'm not a very good cook =)

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L.F.

answers from Chicago on

I use the Betty Crocker Italian sausage lasagne recipe, and my husband LOVES it. I never imagined how long it would take to make this. It usually takes me three hours from beginning to end. There is so much prep work and assembly involved. I double the recipe and freeze one, so that it is worth my while. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/italian-sausage-lasag...

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L.S.

answers from Spokane on

This is my recipe and everyone I've fed it to loves it :o)

2 pounds ground beef (or italien sausage or combo)
1 750g container of cottage cheese
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 medium carrot, finely grated
1 cup chopped mushrooms (more or less, depending on taste)
1/2 cup parm
1 or 2 jars of your fav spaghetti sauce
lots of grated mozza

I fry up the meat, onion, garlic and mushrooms until the meat is done. Then I add the carrot, cottage cheese, parm and spaghetti sauce (I usually have to do this in a huge bowl). This is my filling. Then I layer lasagna noodles that are about 80% cooked with the filling and grated mozza. In my pans I get two layers of each, and top with LOTS of mozza. Then I bake it at about 300, covered, for about 40 mins or so. Just before it's done, I uncover it and broil the cheese for about 5 mins, until the cheese is slightly brown and bubbly. Let it stand a little while before you cut into it. YUM!

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K.B.

answers from Detroit on

My husband's secret is NOT cooking the noodles first. He layers them uncooked in the pan with the ground beef, sauce and cheese, then bakes in the oven. It always comes out great!

1 mom found this helpful
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L.T.

answers from Houston on

If you're not afraid of some extra veggies, I made this one recently and we all loved it! It has arugula and spinach in it. I'm not usually a big fan of arugula but it totally worked in this recipe...some extra vitamins too! We had leftovers and they froze really well too (I already had the leftovers reheated).

http://www.mealplanningmagic.com/2012/03/beef-arugula-and...

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J.S.

answers from Jacksonville on

I use ground Italian sausage and when I brown it I add a little minced garlic.

I also use Spaghetti Sauce that has green pepper in it, and add a few fresh mushrooms.

Cottage cheese

I mix all those together.

Then I layer it, meat mix, then a good layer of mozzarella, then noodles (I do boil mine), then repeat till you run out of mix. Finish off with a layer of noodles. Instead of putting Mozzarella on top though I put down a think layer of parmesan cheese.

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B.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I think it was Jennifer L. that made one and then her husband left it out on the counter overnight. Despite that it sounded AWESOME! It made me hungry for lasagna so, Jennifer L., if you're out there, please share!

1 mom found this helpful
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M.P.

answers from Portland on

What makes lasagna difficult is the prep work and the time to assemble it. I've made lasagna a couple of times but doubt I'll do it again. Stouffer's frozen lasagna is the best.

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

I am going to go back through my answers and find where I put my spinach lasagna on for someone so it will be just copied and pasted...hope you try it.

*****************************************************************
My favorite meal is Spinach Lasagna. It is so good.

Ingredients and how to prepare them before building the lasagna

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
frozen chopped spinach, I use 2 boxes

Cook the spinach according to the directions on the package. Then let it cool. Drain it, smoosh it, twist it in a towel, smoosh it again, spin the strainer around, smoosh it again, get all the water out...it takes some doing...lol.
***********************************************
I cook the noodles after the spinach mixture is done since it may need to cool a bit before you can wring out all the excess water....

**************************************************
Lasagna noodles

You cook the noodles according to the package and take them out of the boiling water when done and put them laid out on greased foil paper so they can be handled when putting the lasagna together.

Keep the foil.......use it to cover the top of the lasagna when it bakes, oily side down. The cheese can stick to the foil and make the lasagna top cheese-less...lol.
***********************************************

ricotta cheese, depends on how much cheese you like in it. I like the big one. My vegetarian friend likes the small one.

Your favorite spaghetti sauce. I like the one that is chunky and is Garlic and Herbs. I use 2 cans/jars of it and use a slotted spoon to put it on top of the spinach mix.

1 egg, stir it up a bit to break the yolk and mix it up.

Some dried parsley if you like the flavor, about 1 teaspoon if you like a little, up to a Tablespoon if you like it very well. I don't really like it so I leave it out.

Sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese. a couple of cups or a bunch of slices. They tend to be more uniform and melt nicely.

Various items like olive oil, foil greased with olive oil, a lasagna pan or 13"X9" pan greased inside with olive oil on the bottom and sides.

******************************************************************
The spinach mix.

Cooked completely drained spinach, dump in the egg in, dump in the ricotta, add the parsley if you want it. Mix it up well. I use my hands and mush it like meat loaf. Set it aside.
****************************

I usually have 2 layers in my 13"X9" pan. I do not put noodles on the bottom but do top it off with them then put cheese on the top of the noodles.

Now you have the spinach mix, the lasagna noodles, the sauce, the cheese, etc..all ready to build a lasagna.

If you like lasagna noodles on the bottom then put 3 on the bottom of the greased pan. If that fills the bottom of the pan then add some of the spinach mix.

So, it goes like this.....read it from bottom to top...

top of lasagna
Cheese
noodles
spaghetti sauce
spinach mix
cheese
noodles
spaghetti sauce
spinach mix
bottom of pan, oiled with olive oil

Cover with the oiled foil and bake about 20-30 minutes until it is heated all the way through and the egg has had time to cook.

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T.O.

answers from Jacksonville on

1. Use prego spaghetti sauce
2. Mix the ricotta cheese with sweet potatoes puree (baby food the easiest)
3. Finally use Mexican 4 cheese instead of plain mozz3al.

This will make the lasanga sweeter and more irresistible.
Ps lasangas r easy

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