Use Your Loaf

Like most people, I love lasagna. Layers of cheese and pasta and more cheesey goodness, with meat or veggies or whatever your heart desires as well. I have always been a bit initimidated by making it myself, but I saw a recipe for making it in loaf pans and was intrigued.

To me, the best thing about dinners that involve baking is that while the dish is in the oven, I can indulge my OCD tendencies and wash all the prep dishes. I abhor going to bed with any dirty dishes in the sink, and doing them while dinner is cooking means I can eat then watch The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love guilt-free. Or at least without dish guilt.

Loaf Pan Lasagna

Source: CookThink blog

This super-simple lasagna is made with no-bake noodles, lean ground beef and lowfat cottage cheese. It fits perfectly into two loaf pans, which means it cooks more quickly, too. Serves 5 hungry people or 8 toddlers.

Time: 30 minutes prep, 90 minutes total

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)

1 pound lean ground beef (I used super lean ground sirloin)

2 large eggs

2 cups (16 ounces) lowfat cottage cheese (I used nonfat)

3 cups marinara sauce (or one 24-ounce jar)

12 no-bake lasagna noodles (Trader Joe's makes good ones)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the oil, then the onion, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until onion begins to soften. Add garlic, thyme, and oregano, and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the beef, breaking it up as you drop it into the pan, and season with 1 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Cook the beef for about 10 minutes, breaking it up as it cooks, until no pink remains. Remove from heat.

3. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs to blend in a mixing bowl, and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir in cottage cheese, and set aside.

4. Spread 1/4 cup of the marinara sauce on the bottom of each of two loaf pans. Add a sheet of pasta to each, followed by another 1/4 cup sauce, 2/3 cup of the meat mixture, and 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella. Next, add another sheet of pasta, followed by 1/2 cup of the cottage cheese mixture. (It will be slightly runny, that’s okay.) Top each with another noodle, then 1/4 cup sauce, and divide the remaining meat between the two pans. Top each meat layer with another 1/4 cup mozzarella, then a sheet of pasta, and divide the remaining cottage cheese mixture between the two pans. Finally, top the cottage cheese with the last of the pasta. Divide the remaining sauce over the noodles, spreading it to cover them all the way to the edges. Sprinkle each with about 1/2 cup mozzarella.

5. Cover each pan tightly with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, and bake another 15 minutes uncovered, until cheese is melted and beginning to brown. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

6. To freeze cooked lasagna, let cool to room temperature, then cover the top with foil, wrap in plastic, and freeze up to 2 months. Transfer to refrigerator 24 hours before baking, with foil on top, for 20 to 30 minutes at 350F, or until hot all the way through.

* Post title taken from "I Keep Mine Hidden" by The Smiths