MY lasagna recipe

I actually made a recipe.  (It's not my style, so drop your jaw.). I'm a rule follower.  Sometimes I'll add a pinch of something or veggies, for your health sake, but I don't throw things together!  And technically, I didn't do that this time either...  But I'm still calling the recipe mine because I combined 2 recipes and then added things.   (Just go along with me...  Don't burst my bubble!)

MY Lasagna

A box of lasagna noodles 

2+ lb of ground beef. (I suggest using half beef, half pork)

1 chopped onion

3 T fresh minced garlic (or 3 cloves minced)

2 T fresh basil torn all up little

2 tsp oregano + 1 drop essential oil (divided)

2 T brown sugar

1 T salt

1 big (29 oz?) can & 1 normal (14 oz?) can of petite diced tomatoes

1 T anchovy paste

6 oz tomato paste

A bag of frozen spinach

Some fresh or canned mushrooms, diced finely so the kids don't notice

24 oz cottage cheese

2 beaten eggs

1 T pepper

2 T dried parsley

1 tsp salt

1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 lb shredded cheddar

A small bag (8 oz?) of finely shredded Italian 5 cheese blend

1.) in a large frying pan, sauté the onion, then throw in the ground beef and brown.  Drain.  Add in the garlic, and spices (minus the essential oil) and mix together.

2.)  clear an area of the pan and squeeze out the anchovy paste.  Let it melt while you open the tomato paste.  Mix the tomato paste with the anchovy paste and mix it with the beef mixture.  Stir in the diced tomatoes with juice (of course), and add the drop of oregano at this point and the spinach and mushrooms (no juices).  You could chop up a variety of other veggies including, but not limited to: broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, and squash!  Let this simmer for as long as you want.

2-1/2.) prepare the pasta

3.) Open the cottage cheese and stir in the beaten eggs, parsley, salt and pepper.  

4.) Combine the 2 lb of cheeses, but not the small bag of Italian cheeses.  

5.) Get out that pan that's bigger than 9x13 that your mom gave you since your family is so big.  Start layering:

-Noodles (in that big pan the noodles fit width-wise).

-cottage cheese mix

-shredded cheese mix (generously since this is your husband'so fav part)

-meat sauce

This is supposed to layer 3 times, but I only got 2.  The top layer gets the extra bag of Italian 5 cheese blend on top and some sprinklings of grated Parmesan cheese too if you want.

I threw mine in the convection preheated oven at 375 degrees and it was hot and ready in an hour.

I thought it'd take more like an hour and a half though.  

No pic this time.  It was too tasty to stop and take a picture.  I served mine along side cooked veggies (broccoli), because my children love their veggies on the side and hate it when I sneak them in (except the spinach and mushrooms).