Meat Lasagna

Ingredients - for two hefty 9x11 lasagna trays

• Two boxes of lasagna pasta to boil
• 2 lbs of lean ground beef
• 1 lb of chopped portabella mushrooms
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• Garlic powder
• Salt and Pepper
• Crushed red pepper
• 1 Tbsp of Italian Seasoning blend
• About 10 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 cups of ricotta cheese
• 1 cup of parmesan cheese
• 3 eggs (beaten)
• 2 Tbsps fresh chopped basil

Preparation

1. Boil a large pot of water and cook one box of lasagna pasta at a time.  Re-use boiling water to save time and saving cooked pasta in a drainer for assembly
2. Place the ground beef in a deep frying pan and season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning blend, and garlic powder.  Cook on high heat for about 7 minutes or until meat is almost fully cooked
3. Add the chopped mushrooms to the pan along with the tomato paste and cook on medium heat for another 5 minutes or until mushrooms have released their juice and are cooked.  Set the meat aside for assembly
4. In a large bowl combine the ricotta, 5 cups of mozzarella (save the rest for the top), parmesan, basil, and eggs with your hands
5. Spray some cooking spray on two lasagna trays 
6. Mix the cooked meat with the cheese mix inside the bowl
7. Preheat the oven to 375
8. Pour a thin layer of your favorite tomato sauce or my Marinara Sauce on the bottom of the tray
9. Lay down the lasagna pieces over layering a bit
10. Gently even out the meat and cheese sauce over the pasta.  You will form two of these meat cheese layers so divide your meat into 4 by making an x in the bowl since you this is a recipe for 2 lasagna trays
11. Using a ladle pour your sauce over the meat and cheese
12. Cover with a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese (it acts like glue)
13. Lay down the lasagna pieces again
14. Place the meat and cheese mix
15. Pour the sauce
16. Cover with shredded mozzarella
17. Lay down the lasagna pieces one last time
18. Pour a generous amount of sauce and cover with a generous amount of mozzarella
19. Make both trays and insert them in the oven to bake for 30 minutes
20. Let the lasagna rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting square servings with a spatula.  It needs to settle

Experience

I had never made lasagna before so I was really excited to try it for the first time.  I wanted to make it as Italian as possible with a sweet marinara sauce.  I definitely recommend you make it with your own fresh sauce I linked right above.  The house smelled great and the taste was AWESOME!  It took about 1 1/2 hours to make the lasagna but it took me longer because I started with cooking the sauce and prepping my tomatoes.  The only way to cook a dish like this is while drinking some good red wine and eating a good appetizer.  Try cutting up some good warm Italian bread (baguettes) and dipping it in an extra virgin olive oil with an Italian seasoning blend and a few drops of red wine vinegar!  You can't stop eating it it's so good!  All in all, this was a lot of fun to prepare.  I will definitely make it more often now.