Welcome to our Sunday dinner!

While today is typically soul food day, I was just feeling like Italian. And I feel like it’s been a while since I shared a traditional dinner recipe with you all! I cooked up a nice meat and veggie lasagna.

With fresh bread sticks on the side!

This meal kept me in the kitchen for a few hours, but it was completely worth it. In fact, aside from sleeping in bed or lying on the sofa (wow, I’m sounding pretty lazy), my kitchen is my favorite place to be. I also love this lasagna because it’s a whole meal in one dish. The bread sticks were completely gratuitous, we just wanted some bread. Now be warned, this is full of white carbs, meat, and cheese. In other words, it’s delicious.

Classic Meat and Veggie Lasagna

For the bolognese:

• 1 jar prepared marinara sauce (*gasp* sorry, it just works. TJ’s makes an awesome one and so does Bertoli), with 1/2 c. reserved for the veggies later
• 3 sweet Italian sausages

– Remove the sausages from their casing. I do this by running along each sausage with a paring knife, and then the casing pulls away easily.

-Brown the sausage in a wide pan, and once its brown pour in the marinara. Cover aand let simmer over low heat until you are ready to assemble the lasagna.

For the cheeses:

• 1 1/2 c. ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 T. milk
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. Italian seasoning
• 2 c. mozzarella cheese
• 3 T. parmesan cheese

-Whisk together the ricotta, egg, milk, salt, and seasoning in a small container.

-Shred the mozzarella and set aside. Set aside the parmesan, too.

For the veggies:

• 8 oz. sliced white mushrooms
• 4 c. raw baby spinach
• 1/2 c. marinara

-Sautee the mushrooms in a little olive oil. When the mushrooms are dark and tender, add in the spinach and cook just until it’s tender. Toss in the marinara. Remove from heat and set aside.

For the noodles:

-Boil 8 lasagna noodles according to package directions. I like the noodles with ridges in them because I feel like they hold together the filling better.

To assemble:

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees

-Spray an 8×8 square baking pan (or similar) with oil and then put about 1/2 c. of the bolognese sauce into the bottom of the pan.

-Then put a layer of noodles on top. Keep a pair of kitchen shears or a knife nearby to help tailor the noodles to the size of your pan. Big gaps are not your friend here.

-Next spread a third of the ricotta mixture over the noodles.

-Sprinkle 1/2 c. of the mozzarella over the ricotta, then sprinkle 1 T. of parmesan over the mozzarella.

-Then place half the veggies over the cheeses (try not to get any liquid).

-Repeat the layering process: bolognese (1/2 of the remaining)- noodles – ricotta (1/2 of the remaining) – mozzarella and parm – veggies, then for the final layers do bolognese (the last of it), noodles, ricotta (the last of it), parm, and 1 c. of mozzarella.

-Spray a piece of aluminum foil with oil and cover the pan with the foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes to let the cheese brown.

-Let the lasagna rest for 30 minutes to cool.

-Slice and enjoy! Makes 6 dinner servings.

This dinner was carbilicious and very satisfying. I made the bread sticks from a King Arthur recipe. They were soft and yummy, but I’m still on the hunt for a perfect bread stick recipe.

We haven’t been accomplishing much of anything. Just enjoying the peace and quiet of not having anything to do. I best get back to that.

Thanks for joining us for dinner!