KRISTAL’S CHEESY LASAGNA

Cheesy Lasagna

2.25 pounds ground chuck
1 pound ground chicken
1 large onion-chopped
1 green pepper-chopped
3 garlic cloves minced (I buy the jar of already minced & use ½-1 teaspoon depending on preference)
Pinch perfect Italian seasoning (By taste. Ground Chicken is being used so in order to flavor it properly, a little more is necessary)
3 ½ cans of 15oz tomato sauce (again according to preference of soupiness)
48 oz low fat skim mozzarella cheese
1 package of provolone sliced cheese
1 package of Muenster cheese
Salt and pepper to flavor meat and vegetables
15 lasagna noodles (I do not use the no boil kind)

1. In 5qt jumbo cooker or large electric skillet, cook meat with the chopped green pepper, onion, and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper. After browning meat, drain off fat and put back into skillet. (Veggies do not need to be cooked thoroughly as they will be simmering for a while).
2. Add the tomato sauce (amount depends on your liking) and the Italian seasoning (your choice on amount). Mix all together and turn stove or skillet to either low or warm. Allow to simmer at least one hour, stirring occasionally. If I have time, mine simmers for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, for desired flavor profile.
3. Preheat oven to 375.
4. Boil noodles in water flavored with salt and a bit of olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking together. Just a drizzle will do. Drain when cooked al dente.
5. Because of quantity of this, I used a 14.5x11x2 wilton cake pan I had so it wouldn’t overflow. I sprayed it with olive oil cooking spray (any you have is fine so noodles do not stick). Each layer in this pan takes 5 noodles. Stir your meat sauce up and spread over noodles. I used 2 cups per layer in this recipe. After meat sauce, I put a thick layer of mozzarella cheese and repeated the process once more until meat sauce is gone. Meat sauce yields about 4 to 4 ½ cups. After cheese on 2nd layer, I put one more layer of noodles then put another thick layer of mozzarella, adding the muenster and provolone.
6. Insert toothpick over top so the aluminum foil does not stick to cheese. Cover with foil and bake 50 minutes. Remove foil and place back in oven to get a golden brown color on the cheese for about 10-15 depending on your color preference.
7. Remove toothpicks, cut and I hope you enjoy!!!!!

I made a bigger pan because of company. Normally I use a 13×9 and half of the ingredients. You do not have to use as much cheese, garlic, or Italian seasonings if you don’t want to. I do here because I like that all day cooked taste and bold flavors. I served this with texas toast garlic bread.

Most people do not like ground chicken and turkey because they say it has no flavor; seasoning the meat very well will fix this problem. Sometimes I use either ground turkey or chicken by itself and can still get the flavor of beef. If you choose to do this, you need to add a little water to the pan when you cook your meat. They have almost no fat so need a little help in the moisture department.

If you are looking at ways to make this low-fat, then using all chicken or turkey, and cutting down on the cheese or using a different lower fat cheese would be better. You could also use whole wheat noodles to cut carbs. If you are watching Sodium intake, cut out all salt and use no salt added tomato sauce. I have not found a good tasting fat free cheese. Low fat is about as low as you can go without gagging.

In this recipe, most of the fat comes from ground chuck and the 4 pounds of cheese I put on it. But man was it good. Ha. I hope you enjoy this and feel free to make variations as that is what cooking is about…making recipes with your own twist.