After my husband’s car accident, we were blessed by many wonderful meals delivered by friends.
As I spent hours, days, and even weeks at the hospital, nursing home and rehab facility, these precious people took care of our kids, cleaned our house, mowed the lawn, and brought fantastic food.
One dish that we received in large quantities was LASAGNA. Not only is it easy to make ahead and freeze, it was the meal of choice for our 2 young children. They quickly became connoisseurs of all things lasagna.
This makes two pans – one to serve and one to freeze. (Work once, eat twice!) Or better yet, one to deliver to a family in need and one to share with friends. Each pan serves 8 hungry people.
Use pasta sauce with meat to simplify the entire process (two large pans will need most of the pasta sauce recipe, with some left over for spaghetti). Homemade is best, but storebought will work in a pinch.
Whir some flax seeds and/or chia seeds in a spice mill or coffee mill. This adds nutrition, and provides stability to the cheesiness. (I use both types of seed, and always have it on hand to stir into smoothies.)
Take a few moments to shred parmesan cheese.
In the bowl of a food processor or blender, blend the ricotta and cottage cheese together. For those of us who are texture freaks, blending both eliminates the gritty taste of ricotta AND the chunks in cottage cheese. Add in the flax/chia meal, eggs, and parmesan.
Stir in spinach that has been roughly chopped. (I love this blend of red and green spinach!)
Grease 2 lasagna pans, or 9×13″ pans, and smear a little of the pasta sauce in the bottom.
DeBoles makes fantastic rice lasagna that doesn’t need to be boiled in advance. Talk about saving time, frustration, and gluten. 🙂
Using an offset spatula, “butter” the uncooked lasagna noodles with a generous amount of the cheese mixture. Lay them on the sauce – 3 or 4 wide.
Spread a good cup of pasta sauce over those noodles, then top with peperoni and a big handful of mozzarella cheese.
You should be able to make 3 layers, topped with a final bunch of mozzarella.
Cover each pan with greased aluminium foil. The pans can then be refrigerated for a couple hours, or even overnight.
Bake in a 350 degree oven, covered, for about 45 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned.
Allow the lasagna to stand at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
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Loaded Lasagna
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
- Yield: 16 1x
Description
Two pans of lasagna to serve and share!
Ingredients
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup flax and/or chia seed meal (ground in a spice or coffe mill)
- 3 eggs
- 4 cups spinach, roughly chopped
- 2 boxes lasagna noodles (use DeBoles rice lasagna for gluten free)
- Pasta sauce (homemade, or 3 jars store-bought)
- 2 pounds mozzarella cheese, grated
- 1/3 pound peperoni slices
Instructions
- Grind flax and/or chia seeds in a spice mill, or coffee mill
- Blend (or process) cottage cheese and ricotta cheese until smooth
- Whir in eggs, flax meal, and parmesan cheese
- Stir into this mixture the chopped spinach
- Grease two lasagna pans, and spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pans
- Spread cheese mixture on dry lasagna noodles, and place on the sauce
- Layer with sauce, peperoni, and mozzarella cheese
- Repeat the layering, finishing with sauce and topped with mozzarella
- Cover pans with greased foil, refrigerated for a few hours
- Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes
- Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and lightly browned
- Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing and serving
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
If you freeze this before baking, remember to extend the oven time by about 15 minutes.
