Beefy 6 Cheese Lasagna

So my hubby is a pilot and is on call every other week. When he is gone, we usually just have cereal and eggs for dinner, but I do make one dish he doesn’t like once the week he is gone. Pot Roast is one. Anything with ricotta is another. He HATES ricotta, and I find that slightly offensive, but I love him anyway.

Last night he was out on a flight and I really wanted lasagna. I thought I had all the ingredients to make my Easy Weeknight Lasagna, but I didn’t have any jarred sauce. But I did have 1 large can of crushed tomatoes and 1 can of tomato sauce. So after I stole some basil from my neighbor’s yard (shout out to Colleen if you are reading this), I decided to make some homemade meat sauce.

Sauce- Heat a dutch oven or large pot and add in 3 turns of olive oil. 1 onion diced cooked down for a few minutes, then add 3 cloves of garlic minced and half a container of sad sliced mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and  2 tablespoons of tomato paste and mixed well and let cook for a few minutes.

Side rant- If you watch any cooking shows, they tell you to cook the tomato paste down until it looks like rust and it gives off a certain smell. I don’t really know what the hell that means. I just cooked it with mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce, so of course it is going to look rusty. Everything at this point smells like garlic, so IDK? I probably am just cooking in the wrong order, but I don’t care. I cook how I cook. You do you!

Meanwhile I am browning some ground beef. Normally I would do everything in that same pan, but I didn’t this time. I only had to wash one more pan, so NBD. After the meat is browned, I add it to the sauce and mix well. I let it cook all together for about 20 minutes.

Lasagna-  I used no boil noodles. I layered the noodles and sauce with ricotta, mozzarella, and a 4 cheese Italian blend. Cooked at 350 for about 40 minutes. You could use Italian sausage or your favorite ground meat. If you are a vegetarian, leave the meat out.  I also made bruschetta with my farmers’ market tomatoes and stolen basil 😉