Easy Lasagna Recipe

My favorite and very simple and easy one is:

A bag of frozen beef ravioli
Spagetti sauce
Mozerella cheese
(I know my spelling is horrible!)

Cook the ravioli as directed on the bag. Place a layer of cooked ravioli in a 9 x 13 pan cover with spagetti sauce and layer with cheese, repeat. Cook for 15 mins covered and 15 mins uncovered. Super simple and easy!!

You can use cottage cheese but it tastes gross. Then again I like the rocotta filling so maybe it will taste good to you.

Have you tried all types of ricotta? I only like the whole milk one.

I always use cottage cheese instead of ricotta.

use cottage cheese. or skip it. remember to use LOTS of sauce for lasagna.

The ricottas job is to stretch and cut the mozzarella so that it will keep the layers together, yet not glued together in a big ole cheese hunk. So,sure you can subsitute with some sort of white creamy substance to mix into the mozz and eggs such as cottage cheese, cream cheese, even sour cream. Not authentic though. It's a Texas thing to use cottage cheese and man, my Italian relatives back East just cringe at the mention of it.
If it were me, I'd just use a little ricotta and more FRESH mozz. It has a creamier, wetter, consistancy than what you buy in a brick or shredded. Then you dont need as much Ricotta. If you add salt, pepper, garlic, eggs, and parmesano reggiano cheeses, plus fresh oregano, trust me, you wont be concerned with the ricotta cheese. It's using it as the main flavor that's the problem. It's just meant for the texture, not necessarily the key flavor. The fresh oregano changes the whole tone of the cheese mixture. It's amazing.

Add Italian sausage to your sauce, forgo the hamburger meat. Again - it's a real flavor booster. Layer noodles - dont overcook! meaty sauce, and cheese mixture. Top with sauce and cheese and foil. Bake 45 minutes, take foil off and cook until brown and bubbly. That will win you an authentico Lasagna award any day of the week. People take a bite and look at you like - wow - you did this!
Once you feel comfortable with that, you can layer in mushrooms, and zuchini - be sure to cook them 1st as they release a lot of water when cooking and you dont want a watery, soggy mess.

my ex's parents did it this way and everyone raves about it

ricotta cheese- 1 container
cream cheese---yup somehow it makes it awesome-1 -2 bars depending how big
mozerella- a few bags
provolone and parmesean mixed shredded bag
meat
sauce
=perfection

I never use ricotta in my recipe since I don't like ricotta. Here's my recipe:

Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients:

Lasagna noodles
1 lb. of ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup green peppers (optional)
1 Jar of Ragu or good quality spaghetti sauce

1 or 2 8oz. blocks of REAL mozzarella cheese--You need about 2 cups shredded

Sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, Italian Seasoning or oregano

Boil the lasagna noodles according to package directions. Sometimes I use the Barilla no-bake noodles using my 8X8 square glass pyrex dish.

Shred a block of REAL Mozzarella cheese. The cheese you buy in the bag has a wax coating that doesn't always melt. I've had better results with the real cheese.

Brown one pound of ground beef, drain. Stir in 1/2 cup of chopped onions and 1/2 cup chopped green peppers (if you like peppers). Cook with onions for about 3 minutes until soft. Add one jar of good quality spaghetti sauce (I use Ragu Traditional or Meat Flavored). Simmer for about 15 minutes until it boils.

Now, do the layering with about 1/4 cup of sauce spread on the pan, then start putting the noodles, meat mixture, cheese, etc. until you are done. Finish off with the mozzarella cheese on the very top. At this point, I like to add some parmesan and sprinkle with Italian seasoning or oregano.

Very important: Before you place your lasagna in the oven, cover it will aluminum foil. Bake it at 350 for 45 minutes with the foil on--the LAST 10 minutes, remove the foil so that the cheese can melt. If you don't use foil, the lasagna will be too dry and/or burn. Remove it from the oven and let it stand for about 15 minutes before cutting.

Enjoy!

I haven't read all of your responses so this may be a duplicate. Instead of ricotta or cottage cheese, I use a mixture of half cream cheese and half sour cream. Our family likes it, hope yours does too!

this is super easy and very very good.....no ricotta or cottage cheese ... absolutely delicious!!!!

Slow Cooked Lasagna

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1 jar (26 to 28 oz) tomato pasta sauce (I use 1 jar of RAGU sweet tomatoe basil)

1 can (8 oz) no salt added tomato sauce

8 no boil lasagna noodles (from 9 oz package) (I use the blue box – think it is Barillo)

1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo pasta sauce (I use Bertolli)

3 cups mozzarella cheese (12 oz) (I use kraft with the Philadelphia cream cheese in it & I get 2 bags)

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

in 10 inch skillet cook beef over medium high heat 5-7 minutes stirring frequently until thoroughly cooked: drain.
spray 4-5 quart slow cooker with cooking spray or use slow cooker baggies… spread ¾ of the tomato pasta sauce in bottom of slow cooker. Stir remaining tomato pasta sauce and the tomato sauce in cooked beef.
layer 3 noodles over sauce in slow cooker, breaking noodles as necessary. Spread evenly with 1/3 of the Alfredo sauce. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Spread evely with 1/3 beef mixture. Repeat layers twice using 2 noodles in last layer. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top.
cover; cook on low heat for 3 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours 30 minutes.

I always use cottage cheese too and I think it's delicious! Although I suppose you'd have to like cottage cheese to begin with...it is actually very similar to ricotta, just processed differently. You could also just use slices of mozzarella or provolone cheese from the deli instead of the ricotta, I've done that before. Then I also sprinkle some parmesean on the top of each layer too. I'm a cheese freak, though.

I hate ricotta too! So I use cheddar and mozzarella to replace it.

This is a recipe that my mom started making when I was younger and it is so easy. It is called "lazy lasagna".

1lb ground beef
1pkg frozen cheese ravioli
Spagetti sauce
shredded mozzerella cheese
Brown meat and drain. Layer meat, ravioli, sauce, and cheese. (Usually this makes 2 layers). Bake in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.

I guess it is technically not lasagna, but my family loves it and it is way easier than any other recipe I have ever seen.

Buy the Barilla box of lasagna noodles. Get all the ingredients on the back of the box for making lasagna. Leave out the eggs and don't use the barilla sauce. Instead, buy the prego sauce. I don't know why, but the barilla sauce makes it taste nasty. This is the best lasagna ever and it's very easy.

Use cottage cheese in place of the ricotta. It gives the same texture without the ricotta flavor.

I usually just skip the ricotta. I find it makes the lasagna too heavy anyway.

I'm not a big fan of ricotta either. My Mom's recipe, that I still use today...
Brown Hamburger and season to taste, add 1-15oz can of tomato sauce. In a large bowl combine 1 container of cottage cheese, 1 egg (to help hold it all together) and cheese of your choice. (I typically use Mozzarella, but have even used cheddar in a pinch) Layer uncooked noodles, hamburger mixture and cheese. (I typically use a 9x13 pan and layer twice) Then bake @ 350 for an hour.
Couldn't be easier and is the only lasagna my 6 year old will eat! The noodles cook while in the oven and it turns out perfect every time.
Good luck! J.

I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta and I sorta just wing it with my "recipe" - I simmer a big pot of pasta sauce in the crockpot (brown some italian sausage, onions, and ground turkey, put it in the crockpot with your choice of prepared sauces and/or canned tomatoes, let it simmer for the afternoon).
- I mix one 16 oz. container of cottage cheese with one egg and maybe some chopped spinach and enough of the pasta sauce to make it easy to spread on the noodles.
Then I put a thin layer of sauce at the bottom of a 9x13" baking pan, put 3 *uncooked* lasagna noodles on the bottom of the pan, a layer of the cottage cheese mixture, some sauce, some shredded mozzarella, then another layer of uncooked lasagna noodle, layer of cottage cheese mixture, sauce, mozzarella, etc.... until I have about 3 or 4 layers of lasagna noodle with the cheese/sauce mixture sandwiched between. Cover the pan with foil and bake at around 350 degrees for about an hour - the lasagna noodles absorb the sauce. If you like, after about 45-50 minutes, remove foil and sprinkle some parmesan and more shredded mozzarella on top.
IMO using the uncooked noodles makes it WAY easier to prep the lasagna - the dry noodles are much easier to handle than the cooked ones :-)

Ditto all the recipes below....BUT I never boil lasagna noodles before hand.

And I also do not buy no boil lasagna noodles.

I use regular lasagna noodles. Just ad 1/2 c of water/wine to rinse out the sauce jar and add to the corners of the lasagna pan. Cover with tin foil and bake 1 hr at 350. The noddles will be perfecto.

You can substitute cottage cheese for ricotta in any lasagna recipe. I am both Italian and a former prof cook, so I know! Just promise me you'll buy some good pasta, not American Beauty....R&F pasta is the best (recipe on the box) or Barilla products (what my cousins in Italy use).