As a Midwesterner, we show our love with food! And for us, love means Momma Jo’s Lasagna.
For special events like Valentine’s Day I always like to cook for T. His favorite meal is lasagna and my mom’s recipe is his favorite version of that.
The Recipe
When I first started dating T he insisted that all lasagna was equal. I kept arguing this was simply not true. He was famous for opening a jar of sauce, throwing in some hamburger and layering it with some noodles, baking it and calling it lasagna. I FINALLY got him to my mom’s house to have her lasagna and he’s never looked back!
- 2 lb ground beef
- 1 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup water
- 29 oz tomato sauce
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon Parsley
- 1 box lasagna noodles
- Brown your hamburger and place in a sauce pan with oregano, garlic powder, water, and tomato sauce and simmer.
- Combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, egg, and parsley. Set aside.
Making Lasagna
In addition to these items, you will also need 1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese. Once you have your meat sauce and cheese mixture combined, you may begin assembling your lasagna. Begin by layering meat sauce, noodles (uncooked), 1/2 cheese mixture, mozzarella, 1 c. meat sauce, noodles, cheese mixture, mozzarella, meat sauce. Ideally, you want the lasagna to sit overnight in the fridge, but a couple of hours will also do. Then, bake at 325 for 1 hour, 15 minutes with foil on. Remove from the oven and let set for 15 minutes before serving.
So, what’s so great about Momma Jo’s version? Well, taste is #1 of course. It has a fresh taste to it and it’s not heavy. The other thing that is so great? No cooking noodles! And, finally…it’s rather fast to put together! This is best if you can make it up and let it sit for a couple hours to let all the flavors meld together, but it’s definitely not horrible if you can’t! Give it a try and let me know what you think! I’ll share your thoughts with my mom too!
More Family Classics
Looking for more family favorite recipes? Here are some of ours!
We like lasagna. I don’t make it often because it’s a lot of work but your recipe looks more approachable. Also, I like that it’s light. Thanks for sharing one of your favorites.
Absolutely! Honestly, if it wasnt easy to throw together i wouldnt make it as often as I do for T. I’m about simple and great taste! I hope you like it!
Looks good! My mom loved lasagna too!
Moms are special like that, arent they?
A lot of good lasagna was cooked in that house, for sure!!!
Well, I must say…this recipe is the best there is!!
I love lasagna.
Thank you for sharing.
We love lasagna too! Thanks for stopping by!