Spinach Lasagna
Dish: Entree
Taste: 5
Preparation: 4
Recipe: 5
Cost: $$
Repeat? Yes
No link for this one. This is my mom’s lasagna recipe. We always had it when we were kids and I didn’t realize till I was about 14 that lasagna normally had meat in it.
Basic recipe is 1 package of lasagna noodles, 1 egg, 1 15 ounce countainer of ricotta cheese, mozerella cheese, parmasaign cheese, 1 package of frozen chopped spinach, 1 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes, 1 can of tomato paste, and 2 16 ounce cans of tomato sauce, plus spice to taste, we tend to use italian seasoning and garlic and white wine seasoning.
You start by combining the egg, ricotta cheese, mozerella cheese (we tend to buy it in the block size but one preshreaded package works just as well) and drained spinach in a bowl. Mix it till it is smooth. I start by combining the egg and ricotta cheese and then add in the other two ingredients. For the spinach you normally need to defrost it first and then drain the excess water from it in the sink before adding it to the mixture.
Mix together the tomato sauce and spices in another bowl. And boil your lasagna noodles or make sure they are ready to go.
We then take 2 8×8 pans, but you can also use one 9×13 pan depending on how many you want to feed (the recipe makes enough for 8 to 10).
Cover the bottom of the pan with tomato sauce. put the lasagna noodles over that, one layer cover the pan. Then spread half the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Cover with tomato sauce and sprinkle some parmasaign cheese on top of it. Then cover it with another layer of noodles. Repeat the previous step. Cover with noodles again and then put tomato sauce and parmasaign cheese on top, we tend to save some mozerella to sprinkle on top as well. Cook for 45 minutes covered with aluminum foil at 350, take off the foil and cook for 15 more minutes. Viola lasagna.
This also freezes really well so we make one to eat and freeze the other one before cooking it for later.
Taste: Tastes great, it is basic spinach lasagna yummy and cheesy. We have done this recipe a lot so the spices are always right for it.
Preparation: Takes about 20 to 30 minutes to make, so it is a bit more time consuming then some recipes. It is fairly easy to make once you have everything ready. It does use a number of bowls though so it does take up some space to make, uses a number of bowls and takes a bit longer then some recipes. If you make a second one at the same time though, it can just be stuck in the oven later and doesn’t to the time or even the ammount of dishes used to make the dish.
Recipe: We follow the recipe almost exactly, since it is just based off what my mom told me to do and we haven’t had it written down till now. Not much to vary in this. Though you could add another veggie into the mix if you wanted.
Cost: It costs around $10 to make, the package of lasanga noodles is between $2 and $4. The spinach is around $1.50, the ricotta is around $2.50, you should already have eggs, the mozerella is anywhere from $2 to $5. Most people have parmasaign cheese, but since you need the grated kind not the powder type it may add $2 or so to the bill. You should have all the spices. Tomato sauce and such I’m assuming most people have but if you need to buy it might be another $3 to $5 or so. So it could cost up to $15 but that should be the rare case. Overall it is a decent cost for a nice entree.