Any meal that is served with a side of french bread in this house is a family favorite! Any excuse for them to get this bread, is always a treat! I’m not a big fan of bread, but it’s fun to make and I know how much they love it!
Take a loaf of french bread from your local bakery. Slice it long ways down the middle. Cover each side with butter. Drizzle with light EVOO Sprinkle with Lawry’s Garlic Salt (Or you may substitute a Garlic Powder) Sprinkle with basil and oregano cover with shredded and grated Parmesan cheese and some shredded cheddar and mozzarella.
Bake at 350 for 5 minutes, then turn on broiler for a few minutes to help melt the cheese.
Lasagna is one of our all time family favorites and one of my favorite things to make. Sometimes when I plan my grocery list I ask my kids for meal ideas and then they help me cook on the night I make their favorites. Max picks lasagna a lot, so he obviously likes to help make it too, and he especially loves eating it! Here is my lasagna recipe. I put meat in mine, but it has so many veggies in it, you could easily leave the meat out and make a very yummy veggie lasagna. (Let me know if you try it this way!)
Max helping with lasagna
Triple Meat and veggie lasagna
Ingredients: 2 tsp EVOO 1 lb. Ground Chuck 1 lb. Ground Italian Sausage 1/2-1 green bell pepper – diced 3-6 red, yellow & red mini peppers – diced 4-6 mushrooms – diced 1 medium onion – diced 6 cloves garlic – diced 1 medium carrot – diced 15 oz. can tomato sauce 12 oz. tomato paste 15 oz. can diced fire roasted tomatoes or 6 fresh diced Roma tomatoes 1 tsp each basil, oregano, parsley 1-2 pinches red pepper flakes 1-2 tsp salt 1-2 tsp pepper 1 tsp sugar no boil lasagna noodles (I usually use 9) 16 oz cottage or ricotta cheese 16 oz mozzarella cheese 1-2 cups Parmesan cheese (I use grated and shredded) sliced pepperoni 1 cup water or red wine
Not sure about adding veggies?? My kids used to be picky about eating vegetables when they were little, so when I first started adding veggies to this, and many other recipes, I would dice them all in my Ninja first so they were so tiny, the kids didn’t know they were in there. Once they ate it and loved it, I started dicing them myself, so that they were bigger chunks and makes it so colorful too! It all depends on how big or small you want your veggies. (I love my Ninja, btw… if you don’t have one, I recommend it!)
Cutting veggies is my favorite!
Directions: Brown sausage and ground chuck in skillet with 2 tsp EVOO. Add diced veggies (except tomatoes) to skillet while meat is browning. Add garlic towards the end of the browning process. Drain grease once meat is browned. Add water or preferably red wine to pan and scrape up any bits from bottom with a wooden or nylon spoon. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and seasonings. Stir. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350
In 9 x 13″ casserole dish, layer noodles, meat mixture, pepperoni, cottage cheese, mozzerella, parm. Repeat until meat mixture is gone. I usually do three layers. 3 noodles on each layer.
Time saving tips: Sauce can be made the night before to allow flavors to marry longer.
Lasagna is also a great meal that you can make ahead of time if you do meal prep one day per week.
It also freezes well, so sometimes I will make two in one night, so I can freeze one for a future easy meal night.
Brown sausage and ground chuck in skillet with 2 tsp EVOO.
I love all the colors the veggies add.
Add diced veggies (except tomatoes) to skillet while meat is browning. Add garlic towards the end of the browning process.
We didn’t have enough lasagna noodles, even though I was sure I had checked before shopping. UGH. Oh well, we improvised with some fettucine noodles! 🙂
Layer noodles, meat mixture, cottage/ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan and pepperoni, then repeat layers.
OH SO CHEESY!!!
Browned and bubbly goodness
We like our cheese nice and browned. Just bake yours until the cheese is melted the way you like it.
