i volunteered to make lasagna for easter sunday dinner and then my mom told me to be at her house by 2:30.  which meant i had to have everything cooked and be dressed and ready to leave the house by 2:00.  and it usually takes me about 4 to 5 hours to make lasagna, so that was just not going to work out.

i decided to make the sauce saturday night and have it ready so that all i had to do sunday morning was prepare the lasagna and pop it in the oven.  doing this made my life so much easier!  actually, i may make lasagna more often than just once a year now that i figured out i can make the sauce the night before!  i think husband will be so happy.  it's one of his favorite meals ;)

so today, i'm going to share my lasagna recipe with you and show you how i made my meat sauce.  because let's face it, the sauce is what makes the lasagna good or bad!  i stole this recipe from my best friend, paula.  actually, most of what i know how to cook is because of her.  thank you, paulita linda for sharing your ways with me!

1. sauté/fry onions, garlic and tomatoes in oil until soft, add salt, pepper, garlic powder and adobo
2. add meat and cook until brown
3. add crushed tomatoes, both cans and paste (add tablespoon of sugar to cut acid)
4. wash and chop fresh basil and add
5. let cook for 2 hours-simmer on low with lid partially on.  stir every 15-20 minutes (cooked within an hour but the longer it cooks, the better)
6. in a separate bowl, mix eggs, a little salt and adobo and ricotta cheese
7. when sauce is done, take oven dish and add sauce on the bottom
8. layer pasta over the sauce, then ricotta cheese mixture, then sauce and shredded cheese, pasta, ricotta cheese, sauce, shredded cheese (layer 2 or 3 times)
9. top layer: no ricotta, just sauce and shredded cheese
10. cover with aluminum and cook according to time and temp on pasta box

and because sunday morning husband whipped out the camera while i was putting the lasagna together, here's a picture of me in my nightgown ;)


if you make this recipe, please let me know!!  do you have any special recipes you'd like to share??  i love cooking and trying out new dishes ;)

photographs by blissfulkaos.