Easy Lasagna

Last night was Italian night and I thought I'd finally try some true lasagna! Now, I didn't do everything from scratch. As a mom of a four month old I find it impossible to believe that anyone would unless they have a full time nanny or stay-at-home-husband/dad.

While mine did not turn out quite how I wanted it to, I know what went wrong and therefore you will benefit from my mistake!

In the end, it turned out delicious enough that my husband ate about four true servings of it... so two servings according to American standards.

Supplies:

- 1 lb ground, white turkey meat (or if you just can't do it, stick to ground beef!)
- 29 oz can tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp Basil
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder (or two fresh garlic cloves, minced)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 28 oz diced tomatoes, drained
- 15 oz Ricotta Cheese (Low Fat)
- 2 tsp Olive Oil
- 3/4 C Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- 3/4 C Parmesan Cheese, shredded
- 15 oz package of Lasagna (whole wheat if you can find it!)

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Brown the turkey meat and drain it of any possible grease. If you buy the white, ground turkey that's 97/3... you really shouldn't have much grease.
- Add the tomato sauce and seasonings to the turkey meat. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat or turn it off completely.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, olive oil, 1/4 C Mozzarella, and 1/4 C Parmesan.
- Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with 1/4 to 1/3 of the meat sauce.
- Put lasagna noodles on top of the meat sauce. Then add the 1/2 of the cheese mixture on top of that, as well as 1/4 C of Mozzarella.
- Next add 1/2 of the 28 oz of diced tomatoes and 1/4 C of Parmesan. Put another portion of the meat sauce and lasagna noodles on top of that and repeat the process.
- Finish the casserole by topping it of with the final noodles and meat sauce on the very top.

**HOWEVER, when I did mine I did not have enough meat sauce to put on the very top of the Lasagna noodles, therefore causing the very top noodles to bubble up and not cook thoroughly because there was nothing to keep the moisture in. I would suggest either buying 1 and 1/4 pound of ground turkey, or spreading the meat a little thin and adding sliced portabello mushrooms to give the lasagna more density. If you only have two layers of noodles, as I did, I can say that it may not turn out quite as well as you'd like it to!***

- Cover the Lasagna with tin foil and put in the oven for 50 minutes to an hour. For the last five minutes, remove the foil and sprinkle some extra Parmesan on top with Parsley flakes. It really adds a finishing, delicious touch!

ALSO, care to make it vegetarian? Skip the "turkey" and mix one pound of spinach into the ricotta cheese mixture and add a layer or two of portabello mushrooms!