Aunt Sharon’s Lasagna with my Twist

My aunt Sharon’s lasagna recipe is one of those full proof crowd favorites that I’ve reached for often for any potluck or dinner party. Like any lasagna recipe it is a bit labor intensive and this one also has you making the tomato sauce from scratch. It is VERY worth it though! My aunt’s base recipe uses ground beef and the only vegetable added was onion. My version includes more veggies and I never have ground beef on hand so…

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I use Italian sausage in place of the ground beef and I also add in bell pepper and spinach besides the onion for extra veggies that you don’t even know are there. I also throw in sliced green olives because I love them and their tanginess really adds a nice pop in the richness of this dish.

You can absolutely use a premade sauce here but this is a solid recipe that doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. One thing I love about this is that it also freezes really well. I’ll cook a whole pan then just freeze individual squares for when I don’t feel like cooking. I get eight dinners for me out of just one pan!

My aunt’s recipe called for a half cup of dried parsley but because I’m adding spinach I don’t bother with the parsley.

(Heck this almost sounds like a health recipe, two eggs, spinach, bell pepper, onion and tomato sauce! No calories at all if you ignore the four pounds of cheese and pasta lol.)

Probably the biggest change I made to her core recipe is that I use cream cheese instead of cottage cheese. (Its really good with either one.) It was actually my best friend’s husband who inquired about the lasagna I was bringing to a dinner. He sheepishly asked me if I could use anything besides cottage cheese because he hates it lol.

No problem!

I’m also not a fan of cottage cheese either. A local restaurant in my home town served a bowl of it as a side dish covered with raw onions and my dad and brother would cover it in black pepper and eat it with a spoon. They loved it. Just thinking about it makes me gag a little…

To be fair though as a kid who grew up lactose intolerant I also can’t understand how anyone can enjoy a glass of milk either. I never developed a taste for it. Most products that contained milk bothered my stomach so badly I grew to abhor it.

I still love a little cheese though!

The amount of cottage cheese needed for my Aunt Sharon’s base recipe was less than a carton of cottage cheese so I always ended up with some leftover that always ended up going to waste. Being able to use the exact amount of cream cheese, with none leftover, was a perk I jumped on and it melts beautifully into this dish.

(I have never made this dish with oven ready lasagna noodles but I’m sure they would work fine here and would certainly save quite a bit of time.)

I used to grate my veggies on a cheese grater when putting them in sauces like this one but now I use this adorable little food processor that I picked up on Amazon. I process my spinach, bell pepper and onion and cook half of it along with my sausage until its done. (Cooking tip: a potato masher is great for breaking up sausage while it cooks.)

With the sausage cooked I then add in all of my spices and canned tomatoes to simmer.

Then I drop my lasagna noodles into boiling salted water.

Then I move on to my cheese mixture.

To make it easier to work with I pop my cream cheese in the microwave first and then add in the other half of my veggies, the eggs and a cup of parmesan cheese and mix it up really well.

When the pasta is done, drained and cool enough to handle its time to start layering. (I find that the time it takes the pasta to cook is about the time it takes the sauce to cook too but I always start the sauce first.)

(LOVE THIS: I was cleaning out my cabinets this spring and ran into this little oil spritzer that I completely forgot I had. No more buying aerosol cans of cooking oil. This little gadget makes any oil “sprayable” and it works great!)

I spray a 9×14 inch pan with cooking oil and put a layer of red sauce down, then I lay down a layer of noodles, then 1/3rd of the red sauce, then 1/3rd of the cheese mixture, a sprinkle of green olives, a sprinkle of parmesan and then a layer of shredded mozzarella. I repeat until all of my ingredients are gone and cover the last layer of mozzarella with parmesan.

I bake it covered at 350 for an hour and a half and then uncovered until the cheese browns.

Like most lasagnas its best to let it rest for awhile. But make sure and cover while it cools so the toasted cheese on top stays gooey. The next time I make this I’m going to try the short cuts I mentioned earlier with already made red sauce and ready to bake lasagna noodles. I’m really thinking the savings in time and labor might be worth it!

(In the pictures you will see that I stretched this recipe out into a second square pan. DO NOT DO THIS. Its still good but its not nearly as good! I did this because I mistakenly doubled my cheese mixture and I hate how I always have so many lasagna noodles leftover as I am super frugal. In this case: DON’T BE LIKE ME. This left my lasagna in the pictures with not near as much red sauce as it deserved.)

Lasagna
• 9 Cooked Lasagna noodles
• 1 Lb Italian sausage
• 2 Cans tomato sauce (15oz cans)
• 1 Tblsp basil
• 1 Tblsp oregano
• 1 Tblsp pepper
• 1 Onion (finely chopped, pureed or grated)
• 1 Bell pepper (finely chopped, pureed or grated)
• 1/2lb Spinach (finely chopped, pureed or grated)
• 2 Egg
• 8oz Cream Cheese
• 3 Cups Parmesan
• 1 Lb Shredded Mozzarella
• Salt (to taste)
• Sliced Green Olives (to taste)

Cook your lasagna noodles in salted water until done. Brown your sausage, basil, oregeno, black pepper and half of your onion, bell pepper and spinach until cooked through. Add the two cans of tomato sauce to the sausage and simmer for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl combine 1 cup of parmesan, 2 eggs and 8oz of softened cream cheese along with the other half of the onion, pepper bell pepper and spinach. Salt everything to taste as you go. (I used a little garlic salt in my red sauce and onion salt in my cheese mixture.)

Oil a 9×14 inch glass baking dish and cover the bottom with red sauce. Add a layer of noodles, then 1/3rd of the red sauce, then 1/3rd of the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with green olives (if using) then cover with parmesan and a layer of mozzarella. Repeat. Cover and cook at 350 for an hour and a half. Uncover and cook until cheese is browned. Let rest covered until cool enough to cut.

Lasagna
• 9 Cooked Lasagna noodles
• 1 Lb Italian sausage
• 2 Cans tomato sauce (15oz cans)
• 1 Tblsp basil
• 1 Tblsp oregano
• 1 Tblsp pepper
• 1 Onion (finely chopped, pureed or grated)
• 1 Bell pepper (finely chopped, pureed or grated)
• 1/2lb Spinach (finely chopped, pureed or grated)
• 2 Egg
• 8oz Cream Cheese
• 3 Cups Parmesan
• 1 Lb Shredded Mozzarella
• Salt (to taste)
• Sliced Green Olives (to taste)

Cook your lasagna noodles in salted water until done. Brown your sausage, basil, oregeno, black pepper and half of your onion, bell pepper and spinach until cooked through. Add the two cans of tomato sauce to the sausage and simmer for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl combine 1 cup of parmesan, 2 eggs and 8oz of softened cream cheese along with the other half of the onion, pepper bell pepper and spinach. Salt everything to taste as you go. (I used a little garlic salt in my red sauce and onion salt in my cheese mixture.)

Oil a 9×14 inch glass baking dish and cover the bottom with red sauce. Add a layer of noodles, then 1/3rd of the red sauce, then 1/3rd of the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with green olives (if using) then cover with parmesan and a layer of mozzarella. Repeat. Cover and cook at 350 for an hour and a half. Uncover and cook until cheese is browned. Let rest covered until cool enough to cut.