Midwest Dad's Meaty Lasagna With Cottage Cheese Recipe

Sometimes trying to find a way to use cottage cheese in a recipe can be difficult. Today we are sharing with you the perfect way to use up some cottage cheese in a satisfying meal. Lasagna has always been one of those family favorite, crowd pleasing, one pan dinners every child should grow up experiencing. In fact, it is a dish that has been around since the middle ages in Italy and has not failed to satisfy the developed taste buds these days. This recipe can be altered to fit your taste buds or dietary needs with ground beef or ground turkey, either way it will be a hit! Shout out to the Small's for sharing this pleaser!

Preheat oven to 375

Prep Water to Boil Noodles

• Put about 3 Quarts of water in a pan large enough to cover lasagna noodles bring to a boil
• Add ingredients to season your water:
• sunflower oil
• hot sauce
• lemon juice

While waiting on water to boil move on to next step. Time to brown the ground beef!

Now it is time to brown your meat and start the meat sauce!

• Add sunflower oil to hot pan
• Add Ground Beef, diced onion, garlic powder, chili powder, seasoned salt, black pepper, parsley, and liquid smoke.
• Cook until meat is browned, approximately 15 minutes (don't forget to chop and stir the meat as it's cooking)
• do not drain
• Add your choice of pasta sauce, and tomato paste and cook on medium heat for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

By now your pot of seasoned water should come to a rolling boil.

Time to add the noodles and cook until no longer hard but not mush! This only takes 7 minutes to achieve the al dente noodle. This simply means the perfect noodle, still firm to the bite instead of biting into a soggy noodle.

Then turn off the fire and now we will start to layer our dish

1. Spray your pan, preferably a large cassarole dish 13 x 9, or use some more sunflower oil to grease up your dish.
2. Do not drain or rinse the pasta noodles, instead pull them from the pot, shake them off or drip dry and layer them in the pan, brush each pasta noodle layer with sunflower oil
3. Layer Noodles (drip dried and brushed with oil)
4. Pepperjack Cheese, Mozzerella and Cheddar Cheese
5. Layer on some meat sauce about 3/4 of the prepared pan
6. Add alternating spoonfuls of cottage cheese and ricotta cheese
7. Sprinkle a mixture of the shredded cheese and flour
8. sprinkle more pepper! (optional...I just love pepper)
9. Repeat Noodle layering, meat sauce, cheese,
10. Final layer is a nice thick layer of shredded cheese
11. Cover with aluminum foil and Bake at 375 for 30 to 45 minutes,......

you know your lasagna is done when the smell starts to fill your house, the pasta will being to bubble and the cheese is melted with a beautiful brown crisp!

Serve by itself or with salad and garlic bread or bread sticks for the full Italian experience