Homemade Lasanga

Found this recipe on the Sister's Cafe blog. I have tried Ina Garten's lasagna and Paula Deens recipe for lasagna, but I really like this one the best.

What's great about this recipe is that it's doubled. The lady that submitted the recipe made a good point, if your going to all of the work of making a lasagna you would feel so much better having two lasagnas after all your work. You can either give one to a friend, or freeze the second lasagna and you have dinner already made for another night. So here is the meat sauce for two lasagnas. This sauce tasted so good just like this, it would also be good served over pasta.

I froze one of my lasagnas. When you want to bake it, let it defrost in the fridge overnight and cook it the next day. 

So this was our meal, so tasty. I'll have to post the recipe for the breadsticks.
We don't do lasagna very often. Rich can't eat cheese, and this is a high carbed meal for Brooklyn. (Or for anyone really)
But maybe that's why it taste so good because we don't make it very often.
Enjoy!

meat sauce:
2 lbs mild Italian sausage
1 lb ground turkey
2 large onions, diced
4 tsp garlic, crushed (6-8 cloves)
2 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste
3 (15oz.) cans tomato sauce
4 cups stewed tomatoes (mine are homegrown and frozen but you can substitute canned stewed tomatoes)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tb dried basil (or 1/4 cup chopped fresh)
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup water

cheese mixture:
32 oz. ricotta cheese (can substitute cottage cheese)
4 oz. cream cheese, optional
2 extra large eggs
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg

24 lasagna noodles, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
2 lbs mozzarella cheese, shredded (8 cups)
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese

In a stock pot, cook sausage (remove casings), ground turkey, onion, and garlic over medium heat.  Stir in remaining ingredients listed under meat sauce.  Simmer, covered for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Use the back of your stirring spoon to break up large chunks of stewed tomatoes.   **If you are making this the day before you plan on serving it, you can skip the long simmer time.  The flavors will meld together as it sits in the fridge, even if you have already assembled the lasagna.**

Soak lasagna noodles in hot water for 20 minutes.  (They will be partially cooked – soft but firm enough that they don’t get soggy while baking.  This helps the lasagna servings hold their nice square shape when you slice it up.)  While noodles soak, combine ingredients for the cheese mixture and set aside.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Set out two 9×13 inch pans.

To assemble, scoop 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of each 9×13 inch pan.  Lay down 6 noodles lengthwise over sauce and spread with 1/4 of cheese mixture in each pan.  (This will use up half of your cheese mixture.) Next sprinkle 1  1/2 cups mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan on top per pan. (Or desired amount of cheese) Repeat layers and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.  Cover with foil and bake for 1-1.5 hours (depending on if you bake both at once).  For last 15 minutes, remove foil and allow cheese to crisp up on top.  Let lasagna cool for 10 minutes before slicing. 

If you wish to freeze one, cover tightly with foil and pop into the freezer without baking.  Remove from freezer the night before you wish to serve it and let it thaw in fridge.  Bake covered in foil for approximately 1-1.5 hours.  If it’s slightly frozen it will take longer of course!