Lasagna with Whole Wheat Garlic Bread

My family favorite dinner, serve with a wholewheat garlic toast and fresh tossed salad.

Liezle  my friend, here it is, so easy to to prepare good for potluck and make ahead dinner and freezes well. What I do to save  time, in the weekends I prepare a big batch of pasta sauce and divide it for pasta dishes like spaghetti or lasagna,manicotti or  macaroni hot dishes, so on the weekdays I just thaw out the sauce and cook the pasta or stick the lasagna I prepared in the oven. Save a lot of time in the kitchen and more time for my kids homework!


A box of lasagna noodles cooked Al dente(about 5-6 minutes) in boiling salted water,drained
2c. Ricotta cheese or substitute a  low fat cottage cheese
1 egg beaten or use 2 egg whites for low fat
2c.shredded Mozzarella cheese or any  cheese you prefer shredded(Asiago,Provolone or cheddar is good)
Grated Parmesan cheese

Red Sauce:

1lb. ground meat low fat(I used low fat chicken or turkey)or you can use low fat Italian sausage
2 big cans of tomato sauce  or  buy a big can of  prepared spaghetti sauce(save you time)
1T. Italian spice mix (optional)
1-8 oz fresh mushrooms sliced or canned mushrooms drained
2-cloves garlic chopped
1-chopped small onion
1- bay leaf or dahon nang  laurel  (as my Inang Daling say)
salt,pepper and sugar to taste(my family like it sweet so I add a little more)

-Brown the meat and drain all the fat, add garlic and onions and mushroom cook until fragrant add the sauce,spices salt ,pepper,sugar, let it simmer in low heat about 20-25 minutes set aside.

-In a bowl, mix beaten eggs, cottage cheese or ricotta set aside

-Preheat oven to 350
-Spray a Pyrex pan with a little oil and  put the red sauce at the bottom then the cooked pasta top with the cottage cheese mixture then shredded cheese.Repeat the layering ending with the red sauce and cheese on top . Bake uncovered until cheese melted and bubbly about 15- 20 minutes. Let it cool a little  before serving to thicken the sauce.

 Garlic Bread

Whole wheat Italian bread or french,baguette,ciabatta any sturdy bread will do
2 clove garlic cut into half or use garlic powder
butter or margarine

-cut bread into thick slices, spread butter and sprinkle garlic powder or if  using fresh garlic- rub  garlic into the bread then toast  on a skillet in medium heat until  brown on both side. sprinkle parsley or dried Italian herbs if you like.