Lasagna Recipe with Garden Fresh Tomatoes

This year my garden included three tomato plants, plus a few plants from last year grew back. (Normally they only produce one year). With an abundance of fresh tomatoes, I decided to make lasagna. My dad and I also made salsa with the Ninja blender – one of our cool wedding presents. Here’s the recipe for a fresh, slightly sweet lasagna, depending on the tomatoes you use.

Ingredients

• 1 pound spicy Italian sausage (I used meat from my aunt’s farm)

• 1 pound lean ground beef (also from my aunt’s farm)

• 1 medium onion, minced

• 2 TBSP garlic, crushed

• 28 ounces fresh tomatoes, cooked for 10 minutes to become soft (you can also just use canned tomatoes)

• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste

• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 4 tablespoons chopped parsley

• 12 lasagna noodles

• 16 ounces ricotta cheese

• 1 egg

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded

• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

This recipe was adapted from the “World’s Best Lasagna” recipe at Allrecipes.com.

Directions

1) In a large pot (our new pans are Anolon), cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Leave meat juice in the pan. Stir in crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Season with basil, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered while moving on to the next step.
2) Boil a large pot of lightly salted water. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.