LASAGNA - Maynard's Lasagn

It takes 20 minutes to do the preparation time, another 1 hour and 10 minutes to cook, so allow an hour and a half MINIMUM before you plan to serve. It can stay out of the oven for a few minutes before serving, so even cooking 2 hours before serving would be good. This will give you plenty to eat, and you can refrigerate or freeze some portions for later.

• one 16 ounce box of Mueller’s Lasagna (the kind you don’t have to boil prior to cooking)
• one 1 pound, 10 ounce jar of Prego traditional spaghetti sauce
• 2 eggs
• one 15 ounce tub of ricotta cheese
• two cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
• ¾ cups of grated Romano cheese
• ¼ to ½ pound of hamburger Leaner is better for this recipe.

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cook the hamburger in a skillet on the stove, chopping it into small pieces. When the hamburger is finished, let it drain on a paper towel.
3. While the hamburger cooks, combine the following in a large bowl:
1. 2 eggs, and beat them slightly
2. 15 ounces of ricotta cheese
3. 1 ½ cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
4. ¾ cups of grated Romano cheese
4. Stir all the ingredients in the bowl with a fork until the mixture is smooth and even. Using a fork will help break up some of the lumps of the grated cheese.
5. Coat the bottom of the cooking pan with sauce. Don’t “paint” it on, but pour it on – but not too deeply.
6. Add a layer of lasagna, then alternate layers with sauce, cheese mixture, beef, lasagna, etc. The cheese mixture will not pour well, so use a slice of hard lasagna to help even it out. Be sure not to use too much of the cheese mixture too quickly, or you will run out too early. It is better to have more cheese on the upper layers than the bottom, because it will melt downward.
7. You will probably have a few slices of lasagna to use for the next meal, but that’s OK. I think I really use about 10 ounces of lasagna, but they don’t sell it in that amount.
8. At the top, be sure to end with a layer of sauce. Modern lasagna isn’t boiled first, but softens in the oven with the cheese and the sauce. To avoid hard pieces of lasagna, be sure to cover the top layer with lots of sauce.
9. On top of the last layer of sauce, sprinkle about a ½ cup of mozzarella to make a nice topping.
10. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, making it somewhat like a tent so the foil doesn’t press down on the cheese layer. Be sure the foil is sealed tightly around the edges of the pan.
11. Put in the oven.
12. Cook for 1 hour.
13. Remove the foil and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.