The Nisa Family: Lasagna and Garlic Bread

After getting married, Lasagna was a dish that I made at home regularly. It was one of the first dishes I ever learned to make AND it happens to be Siuas favorite. He's such a pasta lover. Over time, I changed the recipe to better suit my family and their super picky taste buds. It's so easy to make homemade lasagna and it's a shame that the frozen store bought "take and bake" pans don't taste good at all. I told you the taste buds around here were super picky. ;-)

So I made this recently and actually remembered to take pictures for my blog. Thank goodness! So here is the recipe along with pictures and directions for super yummy lasagna and yet another kind of garlic bread. Did I forget to mention we're yummy bread lovers? Try it out, it's deelish!

This is what you need to make a big old pan. This recipe can be reduced by half to feed a smaller family.

2 big jars of spaghetti sauce (I usually buy whatever is on sale). If you use the "regular" sized jars, I'd get about 4.
4 pounds of ground beef or turkey
About 6-8 sausages (whatever kind you like, I use Farmer Johns cause they were on sale)
1 tub of ricotta cheese
1 big bag of Monterey Jack cheese
2 boxes of uncooked lasagna noodles

I always start off by boiling water and getting the noodles going. I usually do what everyone else does and season the water with a little salt (I hear it makes it boil faster too) and some vegetable oil to keep the noodles from sticking together. Just boil until they're "al dente" or cooked through with a little "bite" to them.

While the noodles are cooking I start to brown the meat. I just cook it until it's mostly brown and then drain the fat. I also rinse it with hot water. I know it sounds weird, but I hate the flavor of grease! So I leave the meat in the strainer and run a little hot water over it.

I also add some cooked sausage to my lasagna. It adds something to the flavor and makes it a lot heartier. I just chop whatever sausage happens to be on sale and brown it in a big pan.

After the sausage is nice and brown I throw the cooked meat into the same pan I cooked the sausage in along with the spaghetti sauce, ricotta cheese and garlic.

Once the meat mixture is all combined with the ricotta and seasonings I begin to put my lasagna layers together. I always start off with the sauce/meat mix on the bottom of the pan.

After that's spread all around the bottom I add a layer of noodles before adding more meat and then cheese. I continue in that order until all of the meat, cheese and noodles are gone.

The last layer should be cheese. You'll notice that the top layer has some cheddar cheese too. I ran out of Monterey Jack at the end.

Bake at 350 for about 45 mins to an hour. The cheese will be browned and gooey.

Before cutting into the lasagna you should let it sit and cool for at least 20 minutes to make sure your pieces don't slide all over once you cut into it. Once it's set, you should be able to get a good clean piece.

Both Papa and Madre kept me company while cooking and thought it looked super yummy. LOL

Now for the super yummy garlic bread. It's so easy that you can't NOT try it! Here is what you need -

Yup, that's IT along with a little yummy cheese for the top.

Mix the butter and garlic together and spread over the top of the texas toast. I usually just put a single layer on a cookie sheet and then sprinkle the cheese on top.

Throw the whole pan in the broiler (yes broiler!) for about 2 mins (be very careful because when broiling things can burn very quickly). Once you take it out it should be melted and toasty brown.