A trip back to my childhood

Long time to see! After a month+ long hiatus, I'm back with another recipe for you!

This time, I'm going to share with you my family's lasagna recipe. My family has been making this recipe since I was a kid. All I've been able to discover about the recipe is that it came from a recipe magazine from the late 1970s.

It wasn't until this year that I actually started making this recipe myself, due to not having enough kitchen equipment to properly make it. As a bonus tonight, I'm also going to give you a slight alteration to the meat sauce for use as spaghetti sauce! :)

The Gorman Family Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1-1/2 LB ground beef
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 12-oz can of tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp oregano leaves
• 1/2 tsp thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1 bay leaf

Other layers

• 2/3 of a 16oz package of lasagna noodles
• 2 eggs
• 1 15oz container ricotta cheese
• 1 16-oz cube mozzarella cheese, sliced
• Optional: 1 16oz package of shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Heat some oil in a 5-qt Dutch Oven
2. Brown the ground beef and onion until all the juices have evaporated, stirring frequently.
3. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt, oregano, thyme, pepper, garlic salt and bay leaf. Heat to boiling, stirring frequently
4. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
5. Discard the bay leaf and spoon off any fat from the sauce.
6. Prepare the lasagna noodles according to package and drain.
7. In a 13x9 baking dish (or a special lasagna pan) arrange half the noodles, overlapping to fit the pan.
8. Combine eggs and ricotta cheese; spoon 1/2 the mixture over the noodles, then layer 1/2 the sliced mozzarella. Spoon 1/2 the meat sauce. Repeat with the rest of the noodles, cheese and sauce
9. [Optional] Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella on top.
10. Bake in 375F oven for 45 minutes or until heated through. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes.

Bonus Spaghetti Sauce

Alter the above sauce recipe as follows:

• Increase sugar by 1Tbsp
• After adding all ingredients add 1/2 cup of water at a time until sauce is proper thickness.
• Simmer according to directions for 30 minutes and enjoy!